I’d like to give you a quick preview of this years upcoming new default design for WordPress.
The current default WordPress theme Twenty Twelve was not well received by many WordPress users. It’s the perfect design for creating child themes however many people felt that it was a little too plain. I love it’s minimal look but I do feel that the design was not a huge evolution from the previous default theme, Twenty Eleven.
Last week WordPress lead developer Mark Jaquith gave everyone a peek at this years upcoming design Twenty Thirteen. WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg wanted a design that had “a focus on blogging and great support for post formats.
First thing you will notice is how colourful the design is. The previous three default designs (2010-2012) were all minimal designs with no colour. They have stated that “this theme was meant for blogging, and it’s not a blank canvas”. This is contrast to all previous designs which were purposely designed with a minimal style so that people could modify theme easily. This theme has been designed as a theme bloggers can use right out the box.
(Click on the image for a full preview of Twenty Thirteen)
As you can see, the design has been created with a single column in mind. I’m of two minds as to whether this is a good thing or not. It does make it easier to read content but I don’t like moving important things such as the search box, recent post links and newsletter sign up box right to the bottom of the page.
Thankfully, the theme can support a sidebar, there’s just no demo of this as yet. Hopefully a sidebar can be accomodated without affecting the design.
It supports post formats and he header image has a fixed height and width so larger images will be cropped to fit the design. It also has an interesting 404 template.
The colourful design of Twenty Thirteen may divide opinions however I think it’s great. It’s a beautiful design and I can see a lot of bloggers using this theme when it’s released. No release has been set as yet though we do know it will be launched as some point this year.
What do you think of Twenty Thirteen?
Kevin
Link: Introducing Twenty Thirteen
I really liked Twenty Twelve, but I think Twenty Thirteen is just a step too far. I am not a huge fan of this type of blogging theme as I don’t believe the format lends itself very well to the reader…….but there will always be some that are happy and some that are not!
I hope they have put some further development time into the back end options that could help developers (& theme hackers
!
I thought Twenty Twelves back end options were poor at best, and that the theme should include a fully configured panel with numerous options that could then be removed (or switched off) if required.
Specifically the Ups Themes Framework (http://upthemes.com/upthemes-framework/)
With all that said I really appreciate all the developers working so hard (for free) to make Twenty Eleven, Twelve & Thirteen & look very much forward to Fourteen!
Maybe I expect too much, or maybe the developers simply do not believe what I am specifically looking for is at all necessary.
I do however wish them all the best with the launch of this theme, and hope it is well received (as I am sure it will be) by the WordPress community.
I think it’s a good designer for personal bloggers who want to publish an online journal. For most of us, it isn’t as practical as there is no where to place ads, newsletter subscription boxes etc. It’s effectively a well designed Tumblr theme in that respect.
What the default WordPress design does is drive forward the standard of designs for everyone. Premium themes from places like ThemeForest are miles ahead of the default WordPress theme but every time the default theme is updated, the bar is raised.
I can’t see me using this theme here, just because it would be difficult to monetize my website using it.
Kevin
Kevin, I like the bright colors used in Twenty Thirteen WordPress theme. Glad it got an option to use sidebars too. Focusing more on Post Formats helps to create a personal blogging theme easily. I want to try this theme on my personal blog. I know its not yet officially released, but any way to download it?
Hey Ramsay,
Not yet. I think it will be a while before a beta version of it is released.
Though I maybe wrong. They may have released it to developers so that people can help improving it. Though I’d be inclined to wait until the theme is finished.
Kevin
Its on Github: https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/archive/master.zip
I really love this theme because of its bright colour, the modern look and it also supports sidebar. Personally, I find it really hard to find a free theme like this so I’m looking forward to Twenty Thirteen release. I’m a fashion blogger so this theme is perfect for someone like me.
i’ve tested this theme on my personal blog.
i love the color and the design. this theme looks perfect without sidebar. this theme is a trully blogging platform.
I really love this theme because of its bright colour, the modern look and it also supports sidebar. Personally, I find it really hard to find a free theme like this so I’m looking forward to Twenty Thirteen release.
Yeah it is a nice theme. I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of people that love the design.