A year ago, at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas, PageLines announced the release of Platform, a drag and drop design framework for WordPress. The product offered some cool CMS design options, a drag-and-drop layout editor, and a fully configurable template builder for creating custom websites. PageLines’ Platform has since been downloaded 400,000 times and has become one of the most popular frameworks on WordPress.org over the last year.
Back at BlogWorld Expo today, PageLines announced today that it will launch version 2.0 of its framework on December 8th, which will include a nifty new marketplace: The PageLines Store. For developers, designers, or people who want to build cool websites without worrying about coding, this should be of interest. The store is basically an app store for “drag & drop” sections, plug-ins, sections, and themes — all of which have been built by developers for the PageLines community. Apps in the store will range from drag and drop sections that customize the style of a website to an integrated system for eCommerce or a community forum and other functionality.
For developers, the PageLines Store offers the opportunity to get exposure to several hundred thousand users, while taking a 70 percent cut of every sale. And developers get to set the price.
The startup is also announcing the PageLines Developer Community, Workshops and LeContest, which will all be “focused around educating and helping designers and developers become successful with PageLines”, according to the startup’s blog post. In terms of the contest, all developers have to do is build a cool plug-in, drag & drop feature, etc., and PageLines will select a few of the best entries to launch at LeWeb ’11 in Paris this December. For more info, check the contest out here.
As for PageLines v2.0, the new framework will include an improved layout editor, an intuitive UI, responsive design, dynamic color handling, and improved performance, says PageLines CEO Andrew Powers. The new framework will be sold via PageLines’ website, and the cost for a regular license will be $197. The developer version, which will include integrations for Mediawiki and Vanilla forum software, will be available for $397.
