Meet the New 500 Classic

In 2012, we celebrated our 500th customer by building and launching the Theme 500 Crowdfunding Framework. In doing so, we fulfilled a promise made to our early backers, and made it even easier to build and launch a self-hosted crowdfunding website.

At the time, IgnitionDeck was still in its infancy, and the product was still designed and developed with a focus on single-project crowdfunding campaigns. But as the product evolved, so too did our crowdfunding framework, which now supports everything from single project crowdfunding, to the creation of white label crowdfunding platforms.

With the announcements that we have acquired the Fundify and CrowdPress themes, we hope to make clear that going forward, we have even bigger plans for the expansion of our product and theme offerings. And with a major product release on the horizon, you’ll soon be seeing a bit of this new focus in action.

With all of this excitement on tap, we believed it was important to give our best-selling crowdfunding theme a facelift. Theme 500 Classic has been a staple for our customers, having been used by thousands to build self-hosted crowdfunding campaigns and platforms, and because of that, we felt that it deserved our attention once more.

So while we have new themes in the pipeline, today we want to announce an update to a theme that so many of you are using already. It’s our way of saying, once more, thank you for your support.

500 Classic 1.3

When launching a crowdfunding campaign, first impressions are everything. Buyers will often make a purchasing decision within seconds of visiting your project. In their eyes, great design isn’t just appreciated, it is expected. It’s how they make a decision to trust you, and in the end, to empathize with your marketing message.

It was with this important understanding that we set out to re-design 500 Classic, breathing new life into a concept that is both fresh, and well-understood.

Fresh & Modern Design

First and foremost, we’ve replaced the dated, gradient heavy look of 500 Classic with a refined design that offers a mix of flat elements, light borders, and substantial typography improvements.

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We’ve also modified the somewhat unflattering social media sharing section and instead opted for an action sheet that for now, reveals on hover, and very soon, will reveal in a gorgeous lightbox.

Last but not least, we’ve simplified the above grid sorting menu in a way that opens up the space without sacrificing utility. Overall, we love the new look and think you will too.

A Simple, Yet Stunning Blog

Where before the blog was rather plain and unremarkable, it is now spacious and light, enhancing the appearance of the title bar with a new and improved thumbnail and headline treatment.

This new design gives your content the platform it deserves, while inviting your visitors to sit back and keep reading.

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Any Colour You Like

500 Classic is now fully integrated with the WordPress customizer, which means that you can modify almost every color in the theme on a site-wide basis, allowing you to easily differentiate your site from others in your competitive set, and create a unified site design that is sure to wow visitors new and old.

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500 Content Widgets

Every website is different, which is why it’s important that themes be flexible enough to keep up with content demands without sacrificing the quality of design. 500 Classic achieves this via the 500 Framwork’s stackable content widget area, which makes it simple to add, modify, and remove content as your demands change.

You can think of these as widgets as different sets of building blocks that allow you to create any number of home page layouts. Create full-width image banners, easily insert text with images, add custom classes, and set the colors of your text and background.

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Free Upgrade Available Now

If you’ve purchased or already own 500 Classic, then you’ll find the new version available for free on your IgnitionDeck Dashboard. If not, then use the links below to view the demo and purchase this new and improved crowdfunding theme.

While we’re very pleased with this latest iteration, we’re far from finished. You can expect the same focus on each of our themes going forward. It’s our goal that themes never age or retire, but instead evolve with the rest of the product line.

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