New WordPress users are greeted by a now familiar sight when they first install WordPress, Kubrick. But it’s gotten too familiar. It’s been three years since Kubrick became the new default. It’s time for the WordPress community to think about a change. Let’s have some fun and think about new WordPress themes.
Why We Need a New WordPress Theme for the Default
The default theme is the face of WordPress. It’s the first thing you see on a default installation. It should make you feel comfortable and excited at the same time. Right now the default theme is comfortable, sure, but it’s not really exciting anymore. It was exciting once, remember. But it’s getting tired now.
Plus, WordPress has changed and is changing quickly. The default theme has kept up technically, but it’s lost the WordPress feel. When you think of WordPress, of where it’s at today, is the default theme really what comes to mind? Does it look still look like the face of the best blogging platform around?
The WordPress community is insanely talented and smart. I think we can come up with something new.
A Candidate for The Next WordPress Default Theme
I could name a few obvious candidates for the next WordPress Default theme but I’m going to talk briefly, in the hopes of sparking some ideas, about just one, The Sandbox.
Dynamic class generating functions that can take the design load off of PHP and let your stylesheet handle most of the work, carefully edited code that reflects the universal list of needs of bloggers, and Microformats that ready your content for the coming semantic web; all these things and more make most WordPress themes look like a whole lot less from a developer perspective. Code-wise, The Sandbox is the standard all new WordPress themes should be meeting.
In other words, The Sandbox is a WordPress theme that makes theme development as easy as possible.
This is why The Sandbox is likely to move into the WordPress core. Once it’s there theme developers can release CSS-only themes. This could be a huge advance in theme development for WordPress. There’s only one problem. No one likes how The Sandbox looks. Even if it moves into the WordPress core, we would still need to come up with a default stylesheet that defines The Sandbox as it’s template.
Or maybe, we should come up with another theme entirely as the next WordPress Default theme.
What Should We Look For In a WordPress Default Theme?
Excitement, advances, ease of use, impeccable standards. These are some of the words and feelings that pop into my head when I think about WordPress and I don’t think it’s too much to expect a new default theme to reflect that.
Leaving all the technical details aside, the next WordPress default theme should do at least two things: help further advance WordPress and WordPress theming.
This is sort of a tall order, but it’s important. And this is where you, the WordPress community, come in. I want to start the discussion around the next WordPress Default theme. But I can’t do it alone.
Luckily, I have help.
The Contest
iThemes has generously donated 7 of their premium themes to help encourage some creative thinking about the next WordPress default theme. You can check out the themes here.
Grand Prize: Your choice of 4 single-use license iThemes themes.
First Runner-up: Your choice of 2 single-use license iThemes themes.
Second Runner-up: Your choice of 1 single-use license iThemes theme.
Please note: Revolution will not be included in this offer.
How to win
It’s easy to win. Just let the community know what you think the next WordPress default theme should be like. All you have to do is leave a comment here with your great idea or ideas. Any idea is fine. You don’t need to be a theme developer, all you need is an opinion. Not enough room? Write a post on your own blog outlining your ideas (and to make sure I find it, leave a comment here with a link to your post). The three best ideas/proposals, as judged by iThemes and ThemeShaper, will be awarded the prizes. If we think they’re good ideas, you win! Simple.
Comments will be closed on this post at 10:00 pm central time, Monday, March 24—marking the end of the contest— and winners will be announced in a post Wednesday, March 26, here on ThemeShaper, along with a summary of the ideas—including a few ideas that didn’t place (I’m sure there will be lots of good ones).
I think it goes without saying that creativity, originality, and enthusiasm will go a long way.
Good luck!
Update: Comments are closed on this post and the entries are being judged. Winners will be announced in a post Wednesday, March 26, here on ThemeShaper.
30 Comments
Ian, I really like the fact that you are trying to find a way or an idea to replace the default WordPress theme.
However, the contest seems somewhat vague.
I just don’t understand what type of ideas you are looking for. Use Sandbox. Create a new default style for Sandbox. Would these be acceptable ideas?
I think if you are going by opinion on “ideas” a poll of the WordPress community would be a more fair way to declare a winner.
I am interested to see how this pans out…
Hey, Will. I modified the text somewhat. But for further clarification, any good idea is a potential winner. Possible ideas:
Maybe not the best ideas. But they’re ideas! Seriously though, that’s what I’m looking to generate, ideas for an awesome new default theme that we can all marvel at. iThemes and I are going to pick out what we think are the best ideas, or proposals, and give them a prize for their efforts. Not fair, no, but it’ll be fun. I’ll do a bit of analysis in the contest follow-up and, of course, since this is a public blog, anyone can take the resulting info and do with it what they will.
Hopefully, this will get everyone talking and we will see some polling (and maybe more contests!) on some other blogs.
Also, feel free, anyone, to influence my decision by saying “so-and-so’s idea rocks!” But please, no negative comments on anyone’s ideas. Unless they involve Comic Sans. That’s just asking for it.
And just what is wrong with yellow Comic Sans and/or MySpace? Seriously.
I’m looking forward to seeing the ideas roll in.
simple, whitespace, grid-based design for the next Default WP-Theme!
Ahhh!! What a shame
Please note: Revolution will not be included in this offer.
To my mind, that is the only theme worth buying. And as far as the contest goes - I like the default WP theme right now. It should stay the same!
What if, instead a fixed default theme, there were a set of options to let the user choose the kind of theme to be installed as default? For instance: 1, 2 or 3 columns; fixed or fluid width; colorfull or minimalist; etc. It would be a first degree of customization while the new user gets acquainted with the inner workings of the platform.
Ian, I’m with you: Sandbox should be the default theme. And it should also come with a handful of style sheets reflecting some of the more popular applications and design preferences. For example, it could include layouts for a magazine-style site, a portfolio, a minimalist design, a Web 2.0 design, etc. (these would have to be fairly basic, since more elaborate themes do require hacking the Sandbox code).
I don’t think there needs to be one, recognizable, out-of-the-box look for WordPress. Offering multiple layouts based on Sandbox would reinforce WP’s reputation for ease-of-use, power, and flexibility.
Hey there, nice post!
Anyhow, in my opinion, K2 (http://www.getk2.com) should be the next default theme for Wordpress. Wordpress comes with Classic and the old Kubrick which is out dated. K2 hasn’t had a stable release in a while, but It has some amazing features like no other theme. With a little bit of improvement (If WP adopted it and worked on it), It can be the next big thing. It’s got many features such as cropping and changing the header, a asides category for it, pre-installed plugins, and many more things which can be found at getk2.com. That is just my personal opinion, but K2 can go a far way If improved a bit more!
- Geek Madness
A theme that is user-friendly would be great, with color! The pre-packaged themes are all quite boring, and could use a little pick me up. Multiple stylesheets would be nice, with optional color changes - diferent fonts as well as background/graphics. A rotating header image, along with pre-installed plugins for those that are not savvy enough to install them on their own.
Consider me part of the contest and the discussion involving a new default theme for WordPress.
Free themes, that’s always good.
However I do agree with Max, Revolution is the theme most people would go for.
Probably the number 1 theme they sell, so that’s why it’s not availible in the contest I guess.
My entry:
First off, the currect default theme is really boring, both by use of colours and layout.
Rightfully so, because the WP theming community is so vast and always expanding, it would be of no use to dedicate to much time into creating an uber-standard, default theme.
Who uses the default theme anyway? Some people like blue, some like it red, some like it all white and crispy. So forget about using colours and try and set a kickass default theme.
Instead, the default theme(s) should demonstrate the real power behind wordpress.
It’s versatility. As it is now, plugins and widgets are put on the background, while they should be one of the greatest assests of WP.
Sure, it’s all well documented in the codex and all, but if you are new(er) to WP, you first start looking for a new theme (obviously), because noone wants to blog with a default theme.
But searching for a theme is a huge task because of the ever expanding themi-nators out there.
What I would like to see in the default theme is the option to generate (through the WP admin) your layout. You want a standard blog-look? You want 2 sidecolums? Maybe 3? A big footer, small footer? You want the width of your content block to be wider? Logo here? Image there? Everything drag and drop style.
Sure, widgets do this (to some degree), but then you’re dependant of the theme you’re using.
Phew long entry …
Trackback from my site coming this evening :p
Design aside, I think Sandbox is too complex for the average user. For all it’s semantics and code perfection, it’s just too much. I mean, we’re talking about a demographic who went ape over widgets…
A minimalist, grid-based design is probably the best way to go for a default theme. It has to be generic enough to appeal to the masses (we are talking about a default), easy enough for total noobs to figure out, flexible enough so intermediate users can make it something of their own, and powerful enough so theme developers can really run with it. Tall order, but since we’re dreaming…
I’d have to agree with Charity on all points. Sandbox may be elegant for the designer, but does the average user ever do any theme design? Most don’t, they just upload a free theme or find someone who will create one for them.
There is a reason why the default theme is called default. It’s a basic theme that works, and that is probably one of the reasons why Kubrick is still being used. It works, out of the box, with no “tweaking”.
Skip the idea of the Sandbox theme as the default. While many have sworn by it for development I personally find it useless and not what is required for majority of the users.
1) It has bloated code
2) most people do not have idea what extra code is all about
I would actually suggest something else and while not fully according to what you asked, please bare with me.
I personally suggest a system were when you download or install WordPress during the process you have option of choosing a theme from a handful of themes.
Should we change the default theme ? I think so. But we should keep it as simple as possible and with a design that would be appreciated by a maximum of people. Sme comments before were talking about k2 and Sandbox. K2 is far too complicated if someone would like to customize a bit his theme. I used it for years and I would nt use it anymore. Sandbox is a very well coded theme but made more for designers than users. Nobody would like to use that theme for his blog ! ^^
We could ask ourselves too if there is a need for a default theme. I don’t see many people using it today… My opinion here is that you will always find people t use it for weeks or months while looking for a better one. That is why I think that this theme must be simple (design and code), and should offers several options like colours, 1 or two sidebars, left or right, serif or sans serif, just to give the possibility for the user to customize it simply and easily so he could feel that his blog “looks like him” !!
I think the new default theme should fall in line with what I think is the future of WordPress themes - options controlled through the WordPress GUI. Currently news/magazine themes are all the rage but I think that will soon die out. A vastly under utilized feature of current themes is the ability to take advantage of hooks in the WP code to give users a huge amount of control over every aspect of their themes via an option menu in the admin area, much like the Shifter Theme series.
We don’t necessarily have to get rid of Kubrick as I’m sure there are lots of folks who like it but it can be replaced as the default - just leave it in the themes folder where it is along with Classic.
Here is my participation: http://limetouch.com/archives/the-next-default-wordpress-theme/
I’d vote for the markup of sandbox with the look of something likeblogtxt.
I would suggest, as many said before, the sandbox theme, but with an options page to easily change colors and favored fonts, number of columns and the location of the sidebar in general (left, right, bottom).
I think the next theme should be able to teach beginning users of wordpress more about the basics of Wordpress. Rather than simply clicking on the theme, I think it would be awesome if the next them contained a mini database of Wordpress how-to’s that the user could peruse at his own leisure.
I also think the header should be more customizable. I’d vote for something like Derek Punsalan’s Grid Focus.
A Nytimes.com theme would be fine.
I can’t agree with you more.It’s time wordpress changed the default theme and you are spot on about it not being the face of what wordpress is today.Amd it’s obvious that the new and the most promising themes are three column blogs.Yeah we’ve seen four columns come and go.But nothing ticks like a three column blog.I have seen many nice themes provided for free wordpress hosted blogs and I think “The Digg 3 Column” is a perfect one for a default theme.I have two reasons:
(a) It’s not complex at all,but really is easy on the eye and is way way way more professional looking than the Cubrick.
(b)Digg is a top notch site,if this theme was not there,how many people do you think would be dreaming to have a layout like digg?See,never change a winning note!I mean theme.
But I understand that more than us suggesting themes you would like to know what we think a default a theme should have.We have seen some themes that give you the ability to swap from two columns to one column.I don’t think this is very complex for the starter.Because if you know how to download a theme and upload it through your server it should be easy as “ABC”.So yes,the number of columns should be changeable.Also I think the average blogger is not always “Goth”.The default theme should be easy on the eye and ofcourse “Goth” themes are very easy on my “Goth” eyes but the average default theme should be somewhat light in colour and ofcourse should look professional.Did you know that I almost gave up blogging trying to look for that perfect theme?
A magazine theme for a default theme?Major no!no!It will be too complex and may not fit in the needs of the average personal blogger.Many bloggers (unsuccessfuly) entre the scene trying make money online after seeing the likes of “Pro blogger” “Chow” and “Shoe”.So for starters I think a default theme should be AdSense compatible.
I would still like to suggest another theme though,I think the theme “Twenty-Eight Thirteen” is a perfect theme for a default theme.Because of its minimalistic features,AdSense compatibility and ofcourse the three columns.Wish you the best of luck with your blogging!!!
the default theme for the next wordpress will be as simple as possible, no gradient, two or three colums (customized), but supporting tabs in the post (well, this is my wish actually).
I also like to add a welcome page with recent posts and comments list.
option is one of the best wordpress themes, but I guess it won’t be the default one.
In my view, the next default WordPress theme should be one that is customizable and — aesthetically — minimalistic. I would prefer a simple page with rounded corners and the ability — through an options page (and/or stylesheet schemes) — to change the header image, default colors (links etc.), number of columns, and whether or not to have a sidebar (or sidebars). I would also prefer a theme that would allow for the incorporation of a navigation bar (with subpages), which brings me to the most important requirement of the next default WordPress theme: it needs to be able to work (and by this I mean look the part) as both a blog theme and a CMS theme. Too many themes are one or the other. The ability to change and customize through options and schemes makes allowance for this.
Currently, I run the Mandigo theme on 3 different sites, with various plugins enabled. I would like to vary the themes I use but find it to be the most customizable. It allows for all that I have discussed above (and more). For visual reference, the sites are listed below.
http://breakingoutthewindows.com
http://centerpointgainesville.com http://highschoolbattle.com
Consider myself for the contest. My suggestion is:
For a default theme - I say leave it as blank / simple and as much of a “skeleton” as possible. No images whatsoever. The most there should be are some post font and size formatting, positioning as well as colors.
This way - we let the community dress their blogs up with all the beautiful themes out there.
Also - it’s a default theme - which NOBODY uses anyway. I think it just makes sense to leave it bare bones as possible.
*hint - if for some reason the new default theme changes to something “real pretty” - think of all the blogs that will keep this theme. Now that would be ugly.
I think there should be a very ugly default theme, but only if several other good looking themes are included with the default download from wordpress.org. Then new users would see quickly how easy it is to customize your site under the Design menu.
I posted my answer to this question on my blog:
http://www.iseemylife.com/lifes-moments/what-should-the-next-wordpress-default-theme-be/
This is an interesting question to consider and I enjoy reading all the responses and look forward to seeing what WordPress does choose as their default theme!
Turn everything into a widget, so you can construct the layout of your page using drag-and-drop. Posts on top, sidebar on bottom, title in footer? Done. No posts, just a list of Pages? Done. Colour-pickers for the CSS-clueless. Options for fixed-width or fluid. Custom image header upload.
It would be horribly bloated but impress the newbies and the techbloggers. To appease old-schoolers, introduce Sandbox as the replacement for Classic and toss a couple of stylesheets on top of it. Sandbox should also be the fallback theme for third-party themes which lack the full complement of templates.
But honestly? Stick with Kubrick. One, its ubiquity encourages people to seek out or design better themes, and two, it makes it ever so much easier to identify sploggers ;)
I like your suggestion to start with the Sandbox theme and simply create the default theme with CSS code. I would suggest something simple with a small splash of color (probably blue). For example, the theme found at http://www.sndbx.org/results/designs/essay/ would be good if it had a little color added. But it’s not bad as is.
Comments are closed on this post. Winners will be announced in a post Wednesday, March 26, here on ThemeShaper.
Thanks to everyone who entered. I’ll have something for you on the follow-up post.
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Themeshaper WP contest, premium themes to win…
Head over to Themeshaper and take a look at their contest.
You have a shot of winning a premium theme. All you have to do is vocal your opinion about the default WP theme and what you think could improve.
From their website:
It’s easy to win. Just l…
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[…] ThemeShaper is running a contest. To participate, all you are need to do is voice out on what the next default WordPress theme should be like and leave a comment in the post. The prizes? Premium WordPress themes not including Revolution from iTheme. The contest closes on the 24th of March 2008; 10pm central time. So if you are interested in winning one of those premium themes, you don’t have much time left to submit your entry. […]
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