BlogStarter – Free WordPress Theme for Developers
Monday, May 11th, 2009 3:46 am
Categories: Downloads, WordPress, WordPress Themes.
Tags: Free WordPress Themes, web design resources, WordPress, WordPress Themes, WPJumpStart
With this post I am announcing my very first WordPress theme. It is called ‘BlogStarter’ and is made specifically for WordPress developers (like myself) who are looking for a quick and easy way to get a new blog theme going. It is actually two seperate themes, a two-column verion with a widget-ready sidebar and a one column verison, complete with working dropdown menu at the top.
VIEW LIVE DEMO – BlogStarter Two Column Version
VIEW LIVE DEMO – BlogStarter One Column Version
DOWNLOAD Both Themes (.zip)
If you are interested in reading about why and how I created the theme you can go here: BlogStarter – Behind the Scenes.
The Basic Features:
- Two Column Version has a Basic Two-Column blog layout
- One Column Version is ideal for quickly making photography blogs, with lots of space for photos.
- 960px wide (easily adjusted)
- no background colors or images (so you can quickly add your own)
Highlights:
- WordPress 2.7.1 compatible (including threaded comments)
- Includes wp_head() and wp_footer() hooks to ensure plugins work.
- Widget-ready sidebar
- Super-Organized CSS for fast, easy editing
- Standard WordPress layout – (No made up div names)
- Easy naming convention for background images (‘bg_body.jpg’, ‘bg_page.jpg’, ‘bg_header.jpg’, etc.)
- Includes all basic template files: index, header, foooter, sidebar, page, single, archive, comments, search, 404, image, functions (empty functions.php file), searchform.
Changes:
- Version 1.1 (released 5/27/09):
- Fixed and cleaned up some CSS
- Added a theme settings page to the admin area (easily taken out or edited to fit your new theme). For now it is only a couple links, eventually I will add a message about whether there is a new version available.
- Dropdown menu in the OneColumn version works better – lists archive in a dropdown, categories in a drop down, and the blogroll in a dropdown.
VIEW LIVE DEMO – BlogStarer Two Column Version
VIEW LIVE DEMO – BlogStarer One Column Version
DOWNLOAD Both Themes (.zip)
BlogStarter is now part of the WpJumpStart System
I would suggest that you work on the layout by using some sort of a grid to align stuff and improve the typography. Just my opinion. Thanks.
Hi Raymond,
I appreciate the feedback.
But the point of this theme is that it doesn’t have any of that. When I start a new site, I spend too much time erasing then redoing all of the extra style.
I don’t want to have to undo things just to get to a starting point. I guess this is where the difference between my approach and child themes comes in.
Because I do 100% custom sites, it is more work for me if I start with a theme that has some kind of layout and typography already.
This is not for anyone who wants a theme that is ready out if the box. This meant as the starting point for a custom theme.