Vantage Beta Launched

Ladies and gentlemen, Vantage beta is now available to all AppThemes Club members and beta testers. We are truly happy that we can finally pull the curtain back to give everyone a peek at this long-awaited and much anticipated theme. Here it is folks…Vantage, the business directory theme for WordPress.

So let’s get to it and see what this theme is all about.

What’s in Beta?

All the basics of what you would expect from a business directory theme.

• Business listings with business address, contact, website, social links and description
• Pictures including a thumbnail / featured image – pictures open in a lightbox

• Listing tags and categories (custom taxonomies)

• Reviews and ratings (custom comment type)
• Editable user accounts
• User dashboard to manage reviews and listings
• Keyword and location-based search using Google Maps API
• Multi-tier categorization system
• Search engine optimized
• Multiple page templates
• Editable menus in header and footer
• Email notifications for new listings and reviews
• Localization support

Vantage Extras

• All new custom forms and custom fields with an even easier to use AppThemes form builder (custom taxonomy)
• Refine search features with search radius, category and sorting filters
• User admin bar that leverages the power of the WordPress admin bar
• Easy log in form on every page

Sidebars and Custom Vantage Widgets

• Four fully widgetized sidebars: main, single listing, search results and single page
• Four widgetized spots in the global footer

• One widgetized spot in the global header, perfect for a 468×60 ad banner

• Create listing button is widgetized so you control where it is placed on a page
• Sidebar map widget with exact location of business listing
• Recent reviews
• Recent listings
• Popular and related categories
• Sidebar and footer ad widget
• Vantage social connect widget for footer

Monetizing Vantage

• Charge a fee for business listings
• View all transactions via admin panel
• Additional fee for home page and category featured listings
• Standard ad widget can be used in four pre-installed sidebars and four slots in the global page footer
• Widgetized location in the header that is perfect for a 468×60 banner

Taking Payments

• All payment gateways created as plugins

• Comes prepackaged with PayPal
• Uses PayPal Payment Data Transfer for greater security
• Test gateway for testing transactions on your site (available version 1.0)

What’s Planned for 1.0?

There are a handful of items that did not make beta but are planned for the first full release of Vantage.

• Completion of sidebar map widget
• Menu item that displays all categories
• Integration with ShareThis plugin
• Theme color options
• Themed log in, register and recover password pages
• Vantage help tab in admin
• Business listings tag widget
• Separate blog to promote your directory

What’s Planned for 1.1?

• User defined favorite listings
• Ability to add more than five images
• Allow business listing owners to reply to reviews
• Custom fields for user profiles
• Bank transfer payments plugin
• Coupons and discount codes for business listings
• Ability for business owners to claim existing business listings
• Responsive design for better viewing on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones

Beyond Vantage 1.1

• Improved map and location based search features
• Facebook log in, and potentially a Google log in, too
• More pricing options
• Child themes
• Contact business owner form

When Will All of This Become Available?

The beta testers are already hard at work and we’ll give them a week to see what they discover. While we anticipate beta testing to continue past next week, the development team will meet next Monday (Mar 12) to review the ticket list at that time. We will then create an estimated release date for Vantage 1.0.

Any release dates for 1.1 or beyond would be completely speculative at this point. We can only say that we want to release everything as quickly as we possibly can. As always, we will keep you updated as we get new information.

Until then, have a gander at our Vantage live demo. This demo will be updated regularly. As new features are added, you’ll see them in the demo.