A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by Rachel over at b5media about the possibility of using the Revolution Streamline theme as a base theme for all of the blogs in their network. I nearly fell out of my chair when I opened that email…
Well it’s been a few weeks, and I have been working on a mockup of the theme for them to review, and I’m sure the process will take some time for us to get through.
For those of you who don’t who, b5media is a global new media network covering a wide variety of topics in entertainment, technology, beauty, health, music, travel, sports, business, lifestyle and a number of other topics.
There are over 300 bloggers in the network, and their sites receive over 30 million page views a month. Yes, I said 30 million… as in 30,000,000…
I want to personally thank Jeremy Wright for giving me the opportunity to work with them – this will greatly increase the visibility of Revolution to the blogging world. I also wanted to note that Jeremy has agreed to be a speaker at WordCamp Chicago in 2009.
(As an aside, the official dates for that are Saturday/Sunday June 6th/7th 2009 and we’ve confirmed that Matt Mullenweg, Mark Ghosh, Whoorl and Jeremy Wright are going to speak.)
Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know what’s in the pipeline with Revolution and how excited I am at the chance of having it used across the b5media network. Nothing is set in stone, but it appears that over the course of time, b5media will hopefully be run on Revolution. Just a matter of ensuring that we can make things work out!
congratulations. must be a milestone!
Brian, that is HUGE!
Hope it all comes together without too much hassle.
that is unbelievable…!
Big Congrats on the news. Well deservered.
I am looking forward to the release of 2.7 so we can see it in action!
Molly
Wow – this is HUGE! Nice job Brian, looks like you’re really moving faster than ever before.
Congratulations!
Their current theme is super ugly in my opinion ( sorry
) so I’m sure that Streamline will add enough professionalism and beauty into their blog network.
Why they never have direct ads on their blogs if they are so big, only Adsense … at least on ones I read … ok …that’s totally off topic
Congrats Brian – Revolution Streamline will be a HUGE improvement for b5’s network.
Brian, we’re as excited as you are
Matej: You’re clearly outside north america, UK and Australia, which is where our sales team focusses. We’ll get better at not having Adsense, but for the global visitors there simply aren’t enough local ad networks to fill the inventory so adsense is the best option for those folk
Responded previously @ matej, but yeah the templates need work. Lots of reasons for why they are the way they are, but we couldn’t think of anyone better to take our ethos of simplicity and wrap it with beauty like Brian. Totally excited to be working with him.
And re: adsense, there’s a very simple reason: you’re probably not in the US/Canada/UK if you’re seeing adsense. Soon we’ll add italy/australia/india to the list of non-adsense countries as we find more local ad networks
We love working with you, Brian – and the minute I saw the Revolution Streamline theme I knew it was totally the direction we were looking for! Really exciting stuff all around.
Hey Brian – Awesome!
Jane Boursaw
http://www.filmgecko.com
(b5’s movie blog)
finally! we’re fans of Revolution!
As a b5 blogger, and a Revolution Magazine user, I am so excited to find out about this. I’m looking forward to the new look! It’s about time, J, and you guys found the perfect man to do it.
It’s one piece of good news after another Brian. I really appreciate your work, I’m sure the whole b5media network will too.
I hope it all works out brilliantly for you, Brian. Great stuff.
I have two blogs and use a theme you designed on each of them.
http://www.wwangle.com uses blue revolution and http://www.samanthahalfon.net/worldgoneweb uses blue Zifandel
I really appreciate that your themes bring together a nice touch of design while remaining simple and clear. I hadn’t seen your streamline theme so far, is that one going to be up for download too ? What about the one you use on this very blog yourself ?
Anyway, congratulations to you!
Hey Brian, that’s great! Congratulations!
Hm, your themes are aptly named. That’s for sure
@Jeremy Wright
Thank you Jeremy for the answers, yes I’m from Europe so that’s why I don’t see it. Cheers!
Congratulations, Brian! That’s real success!
The day will come you do only cruises and other work for you… No wonder since Revolution themes are the best solution for WordPress.
Brian—
Awesome news! A huge congrats. You so deserve this. I’m having so much fun watching you grow your business. You truly are an amazing inspiration….
Congrats Brian, that is just awesome news!!! Way to go!!!!
That’s fantastic, Brian – congratulations!
Wow, congratulations Brian – you’re an inspiration, proving that hard work and focus really pays off!
OK, Wordpress 2.7 is officially out there. I want my Streamline theme.lol Just joking. Can’t wait til I can put it into action. Thanks so much for your hard work Brian.
Brian … this just adds another chapter to your quick amazing story from … humbly accepting that you know nothing about a subject … and then becoming such a huuuuuuuge contributer! WhOa! It is inspirational in so many ways. Maybe this is what I need … a little jolt of inspiration like this to help me get a Math Project I have been waiting to so long to get started … years! It is just so great to read that sometimes great things (even that email is a great accomplishment in itself – regardless of the outcome) do happen
Thanks for sharing your successes … as they are important to share! YaY! My first Starbucks since August … only 9 days away!
Congrats Brian!
That’s certainly quite the compliment when you get the call from b5
All the best.
Stu McLaren
Brian,
I am new to the blogging sphere and really like this theme. I have been watching your success with much interest for a while now, and I want to congratulate you. Can this the streamline theme be used with Wordpress.com or is it limited to the .org versions?
Dan
Congratulations Brian, that is a hell of a pick me up. Looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the gang in Chicago!
Brian great news to see success for you, I am user of your Revolution Blog Split 1.0 but getting to feel like I am needing a new look as to me the 3 col layout is getting to squeezy looking, as I try and add more video and pics in the main panel and ads and content in the right an left cols. I am no power user of blog themes but I really like the way yours look and will be eager to see what the new look will be
Congrats to all involved, I have been following b5, gawker, Federated etc for a while now, and wondered why they all use a mish-mash of different diverse layouts. It is about time one of these networks standardised on a single unified theme. I was just thinking what factors/features and thought process lead to b5 choosing the Revolution Streamline theme?
I hope Brian you keep us regularly updated with the progress…Good luck guys.
Brian, I’m a big fan of your work and have been using one of your themes on my blog for a while. I, too, am looking forward to you releasing Revolution Streamline for download. There are many elements (such as the video page) to the design that would be very useful to those of running small personal blogs. I read your interview regarding releasing the theme so I assuming there is hope. Is there a timeline for its release as is? Can we contact you to purchase Revolution Streamline as is?
Thanks
I feel late to the party, but as a b5 blogger, I was excited to hear that we’re getting our new design from you. My words were, “rockin, that guy’s a wordpress genius.” Can’t wait to see the new design
Hey,
I know it’s kinda late. But anyway, congrats!
The Hand of God is certainly upon you!
Best regards,
Melvin Neo
Not a milestone until we work things out and they launch with Revolution!
Me too – they’ve been great to work with so far, now we roll up our sleeves and get dirty!
Thanks, yeah I’m purposely waiting for WP to officially release 2.7 before I do any more work on the Streamline theme – just to make sure…
Always moving fast Matt – just some times it’s more visible than other times.
Thanks Rob, I am hoping that I am able to step up and provide b5 with what they want!
Glad to see everyone else is as excited as we are
But to put expectations right: this is a 1000 hour project, so will take some time to complete. However you should see blogs start to transition in late jan or early feb 
Sure sure, NOW my comment shows up. Brian, feel free to remove one of the duplicates, or not
Hey Jeremy – while you are testing out WP 2.7, it’s time to go get yourself a Gravatar as well!
Hmm, odd that it works on my blog. Will tinker later
Rachel – thanks for the feedback so far, and for being super cool to work with!
Glad to hear it!
Great to hear this coming from a b5 blogger – guess there is a number of people who write for b5 that are familiar with Revolution?
LOL, thanks Chris – I don’t know what one good piece of news after another means, maybe the move to open source?
Thanks David, appreciate that!
You can follow the comments from this post in terms of whether or not the Streamline theme as it is now will be released – I addressed that in my comment. As for the one on my blog now, it’s actually based off Streamline, just styled a bit differently.
Thanks Melissa, I tried hard when I was thinking of the name – and by the way, I LOVE your footer section, even considered ripping it off!
Thanks Wulffy, I’m glad you think that way of Revolution. And yes, my ideal life would be to live on a cruise boat and do work from international wifi internet access.
Thanks Susan, always appreciate your kind encouragement!
Thanks Andy, it really is fun being able to live out my dream of working on the internet from Starbucks, while my wife is able to stay at home with my son!
Thanks Rebecca!
Appreciate that, and yes, hard work it is – endless nights of coding, coding and coding.
I know of at least 2 who have used Revolution themes. And it’s been talked about in one of our internal chats.
Agreed. Gimme gimme gimme. Just kidding. Take your time to get it right (as we know you will)
If you need in this case some employees…
Thanks Stu – appreciate that, and yes, I feel very lucky to be working with them.