Behold Maximus, a Crowdfunding Theme for Champions

Here at IgnitionDeck, we are often asked for more themes, more features, and more customization options.  We want to do all of those things, but we also want to make sure they’re done right. More often than not, this takes time.

But when we say we’re going to do something, you can bet the bank on it.

As some of you know, we’ve been hinting at a new child theme for Theme 500 for several months. The idea was to build a theme that places the focus on a single project, and one that offers a little more pizazz than our basic themes.

Today we’re very excited to announce its release. It’s called Maximus, and it not only offers a brand new look, but it also brings with it two brand new features for Theme 500 that we’ve quietly tucked away inside the 1.4 release.

It seems perfect that we are releasing our newest theme on the final day of 2013. This year has been the biggest and most successful year yet for IgnitionDeck, and Maximus is the perfect way to celebrate that.

With Maximus, you can put the focus on your project like never before – and with the deep integration with both IgnitionDeck Crowdfunding and Membership, Maximus is the ultimate package engineered to put your project on a pedestal and entice your audience to join the fight.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Crafted for the purpose of placing the crowdfunding project front and center, Maximus takes your project images and places them automatically into a full-browser-width slideshow at the top of the page. Take the time to choose strong photos and imagery, and your site will automatically grab the attention of your audience from the very moment it loads.

Get Straight To The Point

Crowdfunding data display is standard fare, as are reward levels and the all important video, but we believe that the most important aspect is getting to the point as quickly as possible – and with Maximus you have the power to do that with the form and function you feel best highlights your campaign.

The first new feature that Maximus brings to the Theme 500 crowdfunding framework is a brand new set of stackable content widgets, built specifically for the home page grid and project page.

Using the 500 Content Widgets, you decide in which order and style your message comes across.  Start with an opening paragraph and a strong iconic image, follow it up with your video, and then get into the nitty gritty, with style.

The 500 content widgets allow for complete control over the order of your content, while giving you pre-designed styles for the layout, to make it quick and simple to make your message clear.  We’ve even taken into account the fact that you really need more space than a little sidebar to describe your reward levels, so we created a simply designed level widget to describe your levels in extra detail, exactly how you need to, within the context of the rest of your project description.

There’s Over 16 Million Colors Available

The second new feature that Maximus brings to Theme 500 is support for the WordPress Theme Customizer, an option that Maximus takes to, well…the max.Typically, when selecting colors for a theme, you select based on the section you’re customizing (say, the menu, for example). This way of customizing colors often leaves you with a website that is an almost sterile experience.

With Maximus (and Theme 500), simply select your primary and secondary colors, the your site background and the text colors that go best with them, and Maximus does all the heavy lifting from there.  Watch in real time as you select colors and they’re applied to every aspect of your website – unleashing a gorgeous site. customized by you, in just minutes.

Get Started With Ease

Starting with Maximus makes getting your Crowdfunding Project going, on your terms, easier than ever.  And if you’re planning to use the advanced features like membership and recurring payments, Maximus is ready for that too.

Lastly, you’ll be pleased to learn that Maximus is IgnitionDeck Enterprise ready, making it easy to build your very own custom branded community site with our white-label crowdfunding product. This includes support for the excellent Theme 500 project grid, the project sorting navigation, and the color customizer integration for the IgnitionDeck Membership dashboard and front-end submission forms.

The Maximus crowdfunding theme is an evolution of our 500 Framework, but it’s also so much more. It represents the first product in a line of many more innovations and evolutions to come. We hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed building it.

Add Maximus to Your Collection