Gateway: A Free WordPress Theme Built on the Foundation Framework

Gateway is an elegant and eye-catching new theme that recently landed on WordPress.org. Since its release less than a week ago, the theme has already been downloaded more than 1400 times. It’s easy to see why it’s an instant hit – the versatile design is perfect for writers, businesses, or personal sites.

The homepage design for Gateway includes a full-width header background image, a spot for featured posts, and a featured video. All of the theme options can be found in the customizer, including logo upload, accent color and background settings.

Gateway includes a custom page template for the home page as well as a full-width template. 404 pages also have a unique design. The theme includes support for one primary navigation menu and four optional widget areas.

Support for Jetpack Users

Gateway has built-in support for nine different Jetpack features, including contact form, infinite scrolling, post sharing, related posts, site icon, shortcode embeds, carousel, and tiled galleries. If you use any of these features on your site, the theme’s design will integrate theme seamlessly.

Check out a live demo to see Gateway in action with all of the supported Jetpack features activated.

Gateway is Rescue Themes‘ debut on WordPress.org. The theme and plugin shop was founded by Jami Gibbs in May of 2014. Rescue Themes builds products that are specialized for niches and organizations with a particular focus on humanitarian efforts.

Gateway was created using Underscores, Devin Price’s Customizer Library, and Zurb’s Foundation Framework.

“I find Foundation to be easier to selectively include components, keeping the theme lean,” Gibbs said. “I also like the different grid options available, centering columns, offsets, etc. Last but not least, it’s developed in Sass.”

Rescue Themes’ primary avenue of distribution is currently through Themeforest. Gibbs is one of a handful of WordPress theme authors who are trying to make a difference by selling themes that conform to WordPress.org Theme Review standards.

“I know Themeforest hasn’t always been the greatest place to find quality products,” she said. “A few of us are trying though.

“I think a lot of theme devs think they’ve always developed to WP standards and I was among that crowd until I enlisted the help of Emil and Justin’s Themereview.co for the Merch, which I released earlier in the year,” Gibbs said. “Since then, I’ve release another premium theme, Brewery, and now Gateway – all built with those standards in mind.”

To reinforce her knowledge of best practices, Gibbs also volunteers as a reviewer on the WordPress.org Theme Review team. The rigorous process of getting her theme approved took months, but she finds it to be worthwhile both for brand exposure and for giving back to the community.

So far Gateway has been successful at attracting downloads on WordPress.org, and Gibbs plans to release more free themes as time allows. If you want to use the theme and need help getting started, you’ll find solid documentation and demo content available for Gateway on the Rescue Themes website.