Cobalt Apps Community Blog

Dynamik Website Builder 1.3: New Default Design And More Responsive Than Ever

By Eric HammSeptember 19, 2013December 13, 201339 Comments

The Dynamik Website Builder and Genesis Extender 1.2 update was all about the Custom Options, providing several new powerful tools to display your content and structure your pages and posts. But Dynamik 1.3 is ALL about design, both in the “defaults” department as well as the way it responds to tablets and mobile phones.

Our main emphasis with 1.3 was to not only completely redesign the default styles of Dynamik (check out the updated Dynamik Demo Site), but to refine and enhance both the options that already existed as well as add any necessary options to bring it all together. Previous features like the various mobile menus have been completely reinvented to provide the best possible experience for both the developer as well as the site visitor. And a few new design options have also found their way into Dynamik to provide the end-user with an even more complete package to build their latest custom WordPress websites.

If you’d like to play around with the updated Dynamik Demo site in terms of viewing on various devices you can check it out on the Screenfly tool found over at QuirkTools.com. Read more “Dynamik Website Builder 1.3: New Default Design And More Responsive Than Ever”

Retina Ready Logos: A New Dynamik Feature

By Eric HammJanuary 20, 2014January 20, 2014Leave a comment

With Dynamik Website Builder 1.4.2 hot off the presses I thought I’d take a moment to share one of the new features found in this latest version of our flagship product.

This new feature gives you the ability to easily add a “Retina-Ready” (High Definition) version of your site’s logo, ensuring a crisp and clear rendering of your brand on high definition displays. From iPhones to iPads to MacBook Pros to Google’s HD tablets, your logo will take full advantage of those extra pixels instead of becoming blurry and pixellated. Read more “Retina Ready Logos: A New Dynamik Feature”

Introducing Dynamik Website Builder 1.5 and Genesis Extender 1.4

By Eric HammApril 30, 20145 Comments

With one of the biggest updates in quite some time (especially for Dynamik) I’m excited to finally release and share with our community these notable Cobalt Apps product updates!

First, before I touch on a few points I wanted to make it clear that for those wanting to cut to the chase and see all the new changes to Dynamik and/or Genesis Extender you can scroll to the bottom of this post and click on the appropriate changelog links. Also, the screencast just above those links will walk you through the main points of those lists. Read more “Introducing Dynamik Website Builder 1.5 and Genesis Extender 1.4”

Dynamik Version 1.6 Takes Skins To A Whole New Level

By Eric HammMay 28, 2014May 28, 2014Leave a comment

This was an exciting Dynamik update to implement as it involved taking an idea for Skins that had been floating around in my head for quite some time and turning it into a reality. This update allowed me to take the idea of the “Dynamik Skin” and solidify it by making the concept more concrete to the end-user, more malleable to the Skin designer and more useful for everyone. Read more “Dynamik Version 1.6 Takes Skins To A Whole New Level”

New Pricing & Licensing Structure For Cobalt Apps Products

By Eric HammMay 29, 2014Leave a comment

I’ve had the privilege to be a part of the WordPress community as a developer and seller of Themes and Plugins for over 5 years now. During that time I’ve witnessed many fads, phases and changes in business models. I’ve watched some small companies crop up out of nowhere and then disappear as quickly as they came and I’ve seen others find their stride and grow into quite profitable and reputable businesses.

During this time there has been one common thread that seems to keep winding its way through this short history of WordPress businesses and that is the idea of sustainability and recurring revenue. With a few bold businesses deciding to take the leap and be the first to implement license keys and yearly subscriptions for their products we began to see a new era unfold. Now it’s quite common to find “one year of support and updates” tacked onto the features list of your favorite premium WP products. The obvious reason for this is to ensure sustainability in your company as you strive to provide your current and future customers with the best products and support possible. Read more “New Pricing & Licensing Structure For Cobalt Apps Products”

A Fresh Focus For Dynamik Website Builder

By Eric HammAugust 6, 2014August 6, 20142 Comments

Dynamik Website Builder is quite a mature WordPress Theme with regard to code and feature refinements and has been a solid web design tool for some time now. But there has always been a very important missing element that, I believe, has kept it from being as useful and user-friendly as it could be. And before I beat around the bush anymore let me start by getting straight to the point: Dynamik Skins! Read more “A Fresh Focus For Dynamik Website Builder”

My Top 6 Blunders Of Bad Website Design

By Eric HammAugust 13, 2014August 13, 20145 Comments

Getting people to point their browsers to your webpages is critically important, but equally as critical is being able to keep them there and create for them a positive and rewarding first impression. This can be done in several ways, but in this post I’m going to be focusing on design and what NOT to do. Read more “My Top 6 Blunders Of Bad Website Design”

Introducing The Genesis Essentials Plugin

By Eric HammSeptember 4, 2014September 4, 2014Leave a comment

In the same way that our Genesis Extender Plugin is a kind of pared down version of our Dynamik Website Builder Theme, Genesis Essentials embodies the most basic and critical elements of Extender. I removed the more complex Custom Options (.i.e.. Custom Templates, Labels, Conditionals, Widget Areas and Hook Boxes) and made the Front-end CSS Builder an “editor only” version.

This is not to say that Genesis Essentials is lacking in any way, just further refined down to those critically important features that Genesis Child Theme users most utilize. Read more “Introducing The Genesis Essentials Plugin”

Dynamik, Extender & Essentials: Comparing Cobalt Apps Products

By Eric HammSeptember 10, 2014November 30, 201514 Comments

Please Note: Genesis Essentials is no longer for sale, but Genesis Extender, which has all that Essentials offered and much more, is still available.

Here at CobaltApps.com you’ll find three Premium Products that share the same DNA, but with different feature sets to accommodate the various levels of control our members need to tackle their latest WordPress/Genesis Web Design projects. These three products include Dynamik Website Builder, a Child Theme for the Genesis Framework, and both the Genesis Extender and Genesis Essentials Plugins. Read more “Dynamik, Extender & Essentials: Comparing Cobalt Apps Products”

Designing A Website From Scratch Using Dynamik Website Builder – Thoughts From The Developer

By Eric HammOctober 2, 2014February 18, 20208 Comments

Recently I created a pair of unscripted, unedited and quite in-depth screencasts where I went through the process of designing a website using Dynamik Website Builder. The first screencast focused on starting from scratch while the second one went into the process of Importing a pre-customized Dynamik Skin and then working from there.