Catalyst License Options

Firstly, welcome back into the New Year on behalf of everyone involved with Catalyst Theme.

Normally these Feature of the Week posts focus on some aspect of functionality provided within Catalyst Theme such as SEO options, Custom Page Layouts, Widgets, Header options etc, but I’d like to kick off the first of this year’s posts by taking a look at something less functionality based but still very important as a feature in its own right.

So this week’s post is about the Catalyst Theme licensing options and the flexibility they provide to suit the requirements of different users.

There are three license options for Catalyst Theme, namely the Basic, Personal and Developer Editions.

Each edition has a different price point with access to additional resources included accordingly.

Catalyst Theme License Options

However, ALL editions include the same great Catalyst Theme features, functionality, settings and options that allow any user to design and build great looking websites quickly and easily.

For example, they all include the Catalyst Theme framework and its associated core functionality for SEO, Header layout, Navbar composition, Content and Page Layout formats with Advanced Options to cater for Custom Page Layouts, Widget Areas, Hook Boxes and Custom CSS coding.

They also all include the Dynamik Child Theme.

This is a powerhouse of a child theme which provides literally hundreds of design options covering almost every aspect of site styling and design, all through drop down selections and simple text fields that require no coding.

And all this functionality can be used on any number of websites whatever edition of the Theme is licensed, including Basic.

One difference between the editions is that the Basic Edition includes the provision of technical support for one site, the Personal Edition includes support for two sites and the Developer Edition for unlimited sites.

Other child themes (usually pre-designed to provide a specific feel for a given purpose, but often still very adaptable) and pre-configured skins for the Dynamik Child Theme itself are available in the Catalyst Theme Marketplace where both free and premium (paid) options are available.

Catalyst Theme Marketplace

As well as the premium products which are available for purchase by owners of all Catalyst editions, owners of the Personal and Developer Editions of Catalyst also get access to the free products in the Catalyst Marketplace including the free child themes and Dynamik skins available there.

The free products in the marketplace are not available to owners of the Basic Edition however.

Likewise, owners of all editions have access to the members forum for advice and ideas on implementing Catalyst Theme.

Only owners of the Developer Edition however, also get access to an additional exclusive section in that forum, the Catalyst Developer Resources area.

Catalyst Theme Forum Developer Resource Area

The Developer Resources area provides an area for those who want to talk about the deeper workings of Catalyst Theme and things like plugins, code snippets, templates, shopping cart integration etc and to find and share useful resources for site development with each other.

The Developer Edition also provides those owners with additional resources for developing their own child themes and allows you to become a Catalyst Marketplace Contributor where you can share, or indeed sell, your work to the wider Catalyst community.

This includes the Vanilla Child Theme which is exclusively available free of charge to Developer Edition owners only and can be used as the foundation for child theme development.

So, three editions at three prices to suit different requirements. And if you find your requirements change over time, you can just upgrade for the difference in license price at the time.

Have fun.

David.

David Pritchard is the author of the Catalyst Theme Cheat Sheet – the 250+ page guide that helps users make the most of Catalyst Theme. Licenced Catalyst Theme users can get their FREE copy in the downloads section of the Catalyst Theme forum. David also has a site that with guides to using Catalyst Theme, WordPress, SEO, internet marketing techniques and other topics at http://www.FastStepInternetMarketing.com