Hexa: A Free Colorful WordPress Theme Highlighting Post Formats

The latest trend in WordPress blogging themes is to put post formats on center stage with a colorful palette selected to highlight the variety of content. Hexa is a beautiful new example of this trend in action. The theme launched last week on WordPress.com and hit WordPress.org over the weekend.

Named for the geometric shapes used throughout the theme, Hexa connects each post to the next with a colorful line extending from the hexagonal icon designated for each. This bright, geometric design is perfect for crystallizing your thoughts into structured posts.

Big Featured Images

One of the distinguishing features of this design is the large (842 pixels wide) featured image area above posts, as seen on the index and archive pages.

If you’re switching to Hexa, appropriately-sized featured images are something important to consider. However, you can always regenerate thumbnails.

Hidden Extras

Hexa keeps its three widget areas neatly out of sight with a unique pull down section, activated by the corresponding icon in the header.

The icon menu in the header also pulls down a hidden search bar, navigation and social icons. Anything peripheral to the content is kept out of sight unless opened by the visitor.

Custom Header, Background and Menu

Hexa’s customization options are built into WordPress’ native customizer. You can add your own header or background image. The theme has support for one custom menu and its design matches the color palette:

Check out the Hexa demo to see this theme in action. Self-hosted WordPress sites can download Hexa for free via the “Add New” theme menu. If you like Hexa, you may also be interested in Sorbet, another theme with a similar structure for widgets, post formats and social links.