More Blogging Themes, Please

Just a suggestion for theme developers…one thing that has bugged me about WordPress for a while is a lack of simple blogging themes. Yes, there are a few out there, but the majority of themes available are so niche-y and overdone. Personally, I find certain design trends a bit tedious, namely masonry, alternating featured images and asymmetrical lines. Ugh! Just give us some simple themes that are lightweight, attractive and use nice typography.

I completely understand the need for business themes, but the blogging side of things is underrepresented, IMO, especially with so many people leaving social media.

OK. /rant over :wink:

6 Likes

I’m not an expert on themes by any means, but can you point us towards a couple of lightweight, no-nonsense examples that you like for blogging?

@janelockwood Not sure what makes a theme good for simple blogging other than it not being a niche theme design…? A lot of the default WordPress themes look pretty boring and more on the side of “too simple”, well at least to me.

Myself I keep to my own blank canvas starter theme with everything in it, which I then “skin” with new images/styles/typography for each project… There are enough basic in-built controls now to do that, but it would be nice to make even the “blank” canvas prettier. Also having some pre-made skins at some stage would be a cool in-between step though.

It would be cool to have some “default” themes for ClassicPress (to move away from the twenty-x series) but I’m not sure when that will happen, and what the criteria for that would be… worth discussing those sooner though.

Here is one I found: Blog Kit

It’s simple and made just for blogging. The only thing I would change is the buttons (make them an outline instead of solid), but that’s a minor gripe.

I’m currently using Atomic Blocks, and I like it, but it really needs a sidebar option.

Hope this helps.

2 Likes

Have a look at the very new Amble from RoughPixels:
https://www.roughpixels.com/amble/
It makes me nearly want to start a new site with that theme! But I have already enough sites to take care of - and the theme may become useful if some theme does no longer work with ClassicPress.

The author is indeed familiar with the ClassicPress project and has promised that his themes will be supported for ClassicPress (as well as Classic Editor, obviously) along with Gutenberg.

3 Likes

That’s a nice theme. I wouldn’t pay $60 for it, though.

To be more clear, I was talking about free blogging themes. I should have said that in my original post.

Thanks for the suggestion.

It would be cool to have some “default” themes for ClassicPress (to move away from the twenty-x series) but I’m not sure when that will happen, and what the criteria for that would be… worth discussing those sooner though.

I think we’ve covered that ground in this petition: Issues · ClassicPress/ClassicPress · GitHub

1 Like

I like themes such as Write, Lingonberry and First.

I understand. Have you considered some of those nice themes, that seem to be working with ClassicPress, although I have not checked with the author? (You might want to contact him first in order to make sure: I have tested two, I saw no issue.)
http://www.andersnoren.se/teman/

I like Cazuela for straight blogging and simple sites. Although it has not been updated for a few years, it still woks with all of my updated plugins.

That theme has not been updated since 2013 and is likely a security risk. Even though it works with your plugins, you should find a new theme that is still supported.

Thanks for the mention for my Amble theme :slight_smile:
I just signed up for the forum and I saw the topic started by @janelockwood and it peaked my interest for future theme releases. I’m actually planning to put out more blogging themes, but not overly bloated with features from hell…and yes, free versions as well.

I’m about to talk with ClassicPress about themes in general, because I’m considering transitioning away from WordPress, or at least put more emphasis on ClassicPress.

6 Likes

Thank you, Andre. :slightly_smiling_face:

Great news Andre (and welcome!),

I’m very interested in seeing themes that are (1) not overly bloated and (2) designed for ClassicPress. It would be even better if they were (3) free :grin: (but I’d actually be happy to pay to support a theme designer who supports CP)

1 Like

You are very welcome :slight_smile:
I know you mentioned free; I do have one theme waiting in the WordPress theme review queue which is a free version of the Storytime Pro theme. Although it’s still about 4 weeks away from being reviewed and going live there, it is available for free download.

If you have other ideas what you want to see in themes, let me know. I’d love hearing what people want rather than me just creating what I want.

2 Likes

@ozfiddler Thanks! Everyone loves free, even me :slight_smile: but what I usually do with themes is offering a free + premium version of each design. As mentioned, even though my themes work on ClassicPress, I am giving serious consideration to transitioning over to just being ClassicPress based themes.

I just emailed the team on what future requirements themes will need as ClassicPress develops and gains ground.

2 Likes

OK, great. Since ClassicPress is a targeting the business market I think that lean and fast is probably a big priority. I don’t need lots of bells and whistles.

One thing I would personally like to see is a good “industrial” theme - one that would suit a large manufacturing company or similar. I don’t mean ecommerce with lots of attractive images to entice people to spend money; more for a company that is a wholesaler and just wants to make information available to their clients, in a clear and professional way.

So many sites these days are image-heavy (and the images are mostly meaningless fluff).

4 Likes

I could not find a download of the Free versions of your themes, neither on Roughpixel site nor on Wordpress search

The Salal theme can be found here: Salal – WordPress theme | WordPress.org
And the other theme Storytime is in their Review queue (waiting to get reviewed) https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63779 (click on the ZIP link there)

1 Like
3 Likes