If you’re a developer, you may take for granted how easy it is for you to create a child theme for storing customizations separate from the parent theme. This one seemingly simple task can pose a significant hurdle for your average WordPress user. Without understanding the best practice of creating (more…)
Getting a theme approved for the WordPress directory can sometimes take months, depending on the number of corrections required and reviewers available to handle the queue. As part of a larger plan to make things more efficient, the WordPress Theme Review Team is making progress towards automating many of the (more…)
Dyad is the latest free theme release from the folks at Automattic. It was designed to suit creative websites, with written content and photographs receiving equal treatment. The theme is actually a fork of Receptar, a theme by WebMan Design. The original split-screen, book-like design for single posts was created (more…)
If you’re a fan of the scrolling single-page parallax style themes, OnePress is a new one on WordPress.org that may pique your interest. After less than a month in the official directory, it has already been installed on more than 3,000 websites. OnePress was developed by the folks at FameThemes (more…)
Magnus is a beautiful new photoblogging theme that landed in the WordPress Theme Directory last week. It was created by Hugo Baeta, whose work you may have seen in the WordPress.com design handbook and last year’s subtle refinements to the default admin color scheme. Magnus is Baeta’s first theme to (more…)
The development team behind TGM Plugin Activation released its new generator last week. The popular tool is a PHP library that allows WordPress developers to require or recommend plugins for a theme or plugin. It essentially helps walk WordPress users through installation and activation of plugin dependencies in the admin. (more…)
After two years in business, Jami Gibbs is selling Rescue Themes. The niche theme shop specializes in products for nonprofits, politics, breweries, and e-commerce websites. Gibbs did not publicly disclose how much revenue the shop is generating, but Rescue Themes has seven products available on Themeforest ranging in price from (more…)
Automattic’s team of theme developers announced the release of Components today along with a suite of themes that extend the popular Underscores starter theme for specific use cases. These include a classic blog, modern blog, portfolio, magazine, and business theme. The new Components website lets theme authors download a theme (more…)
Last April, WordPress Theme Review Team member Jose Castaneda proposed that the team adopt a standard change log format. Theme authors are not yet required to keep a change log but the general consensus is that it’s a good practice that benefits users. Castaneda revived the topic of change logs (more…)
Today is normally Thank a Plugin Author Day which motivates users to thank plugin authors but based on discussions from last year’s event, I’ve decided to add theme authors to the mix. The purpose of the day is simple, give thanks and express gratitude to WordPress plugin and theme developers. (more…)
Jack Slingerland started hacking on WordPress in 2008, but recently his career has taken him a bit further afield from it than he would like. By day he is a Senior Software Engineer at CA Technologies in Raleigh, working in React/Redux, Node, ElasticSearch, Grails, and Groovy. But at night he (more…)
Briar is a new minimalist theme that landed in the WordPress directory last month. It’s the type of bold, non-flashy theme that puts the spotlight on content and images without trying to stuff widgets into the reading experience. Briar was created by the folks at Slicejack, a Croatia-based development company (more…)