Project Management Theme for WordPress

A Capable Project Management Theme For WordPress

basecamp is too expensive
Project management solutions like Basecamp are too expensive. Although $20/month doesn’t sound like a lot of money for what it offers it can really add up over the course of a year(s). You have to feel good about the move to online software if you’re a developer. Development languages like Ruby on Rails have enabled developers to quickly launch web apps that are scalable and often times more effective than native applications. The problem though, is that the old pricing models are more favorable to the consumer. Say you DO buy a Basecamp subscription and your team uses it for 3 years – Was the software worth $720 over the course of this period. Hello no. Where in the past you could buy a program for a one-time fee (say $50), we’re now expected to pay monthly dues, lured in by the promise of frequent updates and feature add-ons. Basecamp isn’t that revolutionary. The redesign is nice yes, and they do make it dead simple for non-techies to use but it’s not worth the money.

wordpress to the rescue

WordPress to the Rescue

Then in comes along a WordPress theme that can handle (or at least in the future) many of the features of paid project management solutions and all it will cost you is a little WP knowledge and a hosting plan. WordPress is perfect for collaboration because its original purpose is social in nature – blogging. The comment capabilities and baked in social features make it perfect for project management and/or collaboration.

Features of Project Press

Some basic things you would expect for a project management platform:
Overview of Current Projects –

Current project “list” view.

An important feature for obvious reasons. Chances are that you’ll be managing multiple projects and there needs to be a clear way for people to navigate to them. It offers 3 “view” options – list, table, and grid. To the left is a screenshot of the list view. It’s quite simple in execution and even includes a project deadline reminder under each item.

This theme look good on mobile devices.

Project Deadlines – What’s PM software without a deadline feature? This keeps all collaborators onboard and makes sure your project is finished in a timely manner.
Fully Responsive – Super important, especially with something like project management where people are constantly checking the status of a certain project. Using a responsive design is a lot easier that building a native app. We viewed this theme on an iPhone and it displays nicely. It’s also not too shabby on the iPad version (although there’s little difference from the desktop).

Add User Profiles from the Frontend – No logging into the WordPress backend to add new users. All of this can be handled from the front end, a tremendous relief for those of us who get weary of letting everyone in the backend.

Who We’d Recommend Project Press to

Anyone that has a novice understanding of WordPress and is looking to cut costs associated with paid project management tools. I know Basecamp is the darling of the design and development world but I’ve always thought it was too expensive and that there has to be better open source alternatives. This theme offers many of the features for what is basically a fraction of the price.