Weblog Tools Collection

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While Matt Mullenweg attended the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco just a few weeks ago, he previewed a new theme which looks like might be the perfect WordPress theme for photographers called Monotone. Monotone was developed by Noel Jackson and is a very unique theme in that, the color scheme changes based on the photograph being displayed. Here are two screenshots showcasing the theme in action with two different photographs.

Monotone takes the first image attached to a post and samples colors from it for use in the surrounding layout. Each post needs to contain one image, and optionally, any text you want. The theme does the rest, pulling colors out of and resizing the images for use in the design. You can use the visual or the HTML editor in wordpress to input your image and supporting text.

One of the only problems I’ve seen with the Monotone theme is that, sometimes the link colors blend in with the background making them difficult to see. Other than that, some of the photos really pop out at you thanks to the surrounding colors.

Monotone is generally only available for WordPress.com bloggers because the images must be uploaded to WordPress so they can resize them and extract the colors properly. For more information regarding the Monotone theme, check out the WordPress.com April Wrap Up.

As a side note, if you would like to use this theme on a self hosted WordPress blog, you will need to visit the Automattic SVN and then download and package the following files.

Also, if you happen to be using the Monotone theme on your WordPress.com blog, provide us a link so we can take a look at it!

One Column Themes

Simple Gray

Simple Gray is a one column theme which features dark tones of gray and mauve. The theme does not have any sidebars but does sport a extended footer.

Two Column Themes

Just Lucid

Just Lucid is a simplistic two column theme. The menu for the theme is shown to the left hand side of the page instead of the top. The sidebar and footer area are both widget ready. The theme contains stylesheets for 800px and 1024px width.

Three Column Themes

Written

Written is a 3 column widget-ready theme featuring a personal photo, full-width footer in black, white and blue/green.

Zoxengen

Zoxengen is a 3 column widget-ready theme with theme options.  The theme uses a bright color and has a section for feature articles and 6 spots for adding 125*125 banners.

Four Column Themes

LivingOS TAU

LivingOS TAU is a four column widget-ready theme. The posts are displayed in newspaper of magazine style grid format.

Two Column Themes

Statement

Statement is a clean and professional looking WordPress theme meant for intellectual blogs like education, science, culture, books etc. The theme is WordPress 2.5 ready with gallery functions enabled.

GreyBox

GreyBox is a two column widget ready theme with space for advertising 125×125 banners right at the top of the page. The theme is simple and has a thick black border surrounding the main content.

Three Column Themes

Revolution

Revolution Blog is a 3-column Widget-ready theme created with clean and elegant look. The theme is largely made up of blue colors and has 2 sidebars to the right of the content.

Peacemaker

Peacemaker is a three column, widget-ready WordPress theme. The theme sports a header from B-36 Peacemaker which was a strategic bomber. The theme makes use of sober colors which includes gray and white.

WhiteDust

WhiteDust is a fluid three column outfit, plain white background with a splash. The frontpage shows the latest post in full followed by titles of the latest eight aligned on the frontpage, while the sidebars are enabled with recent comments, flickr feed, enabled with flickr support, pagenavi support, related posts and recent comments.

One Column Themes

TJ-Clean

TJ Clean is a simple, clean cut yet feature-full WordPress theme which is great for sites where content is king. Ideal for personal blogs as it includes integration with Flickr (photo sharing), Last.FM (music sharing) and status updates from Facebook/Twitter (and others). This theme is also XHTML Strict 1.0 and Valid CSS 2.1.

Two Column Themes

30April

30April was created by the theme author to celebrate his birthday. This theme contains widget support, is fixed width, contains an extra footer, theme options to make changing and editing the theme easy and built in gravatar support.

Milky Conversations

Milky Conversations is a two column, widget ready theme that is based off of the White As Milk theme, written by Azeem Azeez. The theme has been released under GPL and is fully compliant with the license. As the name implies, this theme is pretty white with black text and a little bit of orange thrown in via the RSS icons.

Three Column Themes

Khaki Traveler

Khaki Traveler was developed by Jeremy Clarke. It has a tan color scheme and a travel themed header. It is also a three column widget ready theme. It has gravatar support as well as tagging support. It has a top navigation menu with an easy to access log-in form.

Hybrid Themes - Themes Where The Number Of Columns Can Be Configured

Choice

Choice is a highly configurable theme that supports either 2 or 3 columns, is widgetized, theme options to control the themes background color, theme text weight, theme heading color, number of sidebars and whether or not your slogan appears. The theme also has native tag support.

One Column Themes

Integrati

Integrati is a single-column theme with the sidebar below the post. This theme has a built-in recent comments and previous posts section in the sidebar.

Fun with Minimalism

Fun with Minimalism is a one column theme without widget support . The theme provides an admin screen to make choices over the default colours, the colours used for each category, or post in that category, the feed link and the position of the feed icon.

Simple

Simple is a really simple theme with one column and good use of colors and fonts. The theme loads fast and has a tabbed footer at the bottom of the page.

Two Column Themes

PassionDuo

PassionDuo is a clean theme, with rounded corners and 2 columns. It is advertising ready and it comes in 3 different color versions: red, blue and green.

Nature Blog

Nature Blog is a two column theme with a widget ready sidebar and footer. The theme has space for 121×121 or similar sized square ads and comes built in with a styled calendar for use with widgets.

Mag on Wood

Mag on Wood is a magazine style widget ready two column theme. The themes background is based on wood. There is ample space for advertising in the theme.

One Column Themes

Cranky Hemingway

A one column theme based on the Hemingway theme. This theme also sports a extended sidebar in the footer area to display additional content.

Two Column Themes

Libertine

Libertine is a minimalistic theme specifically made for WordPress 2.5. It contains support for Gravtar, new image classes and more.

WP Bats

WP Bats is a two column, fixed-width, widget ready theme. The theme comes build in with page links navigation.

Grayplicity

Grayplicity is a two column widget ready theme. The theme comes with a CSS file that is compressed and used by the site so if you try editing the style.css and nothing changes please make changes in the header to use style.css.

Codescheme Blue

Codescheme Blue is a fixed-width, 2 column widget ready theme. The pages have a horizontal tab menu, using the CSS ’sliding-doors’ method and are generated automatically.

Three Column Themes

Thoughtlog

Thoughtlog is a 3 column theme that features a Springtime header. The theme is widget ready and contains two headers one with text and one without it.

Two Column Themes

Elegant Orange

Elegant Orange is a very simple WordPress theme with a nice elegant style. The sidebar is widget-ready.

Rainbow

Rainbow a clean, light-colored template with a rainbow strip at the top. There is a area in the header to add a note or announcement for your readers. The theme is widget ready.

FedBurned

FedBurned is a fixed-width, widget ready 2 column with right sidebar theme. The theme resembles designs from Feedburner.

Professor

Professor is a theme which seeks to put text and images first and foremost, and create a pleasurable reading experience. It also has a option to show a feature post on the top of the home page.

Underwater

A unique theme where the readers experience content as if they are reading it under water. The theme has a dolphin image in the header.

Two Column Themes

Blog It 750

Blog It 750 is a minimalistic two column theme with a sidebar big enough to hold two 125 x 125 banner ads. The theme is available in white and blue, black and blue, & black and red colors.

RC2

RC2 is a lightweight 2 column theme with a top bar. The theme is simplistic and is widget ready. The theme loads quite fast since it uses minimal images both in the background as well as the page.

Excel

Excel is a two column theme which sticks to a strict horizontal grid. The theme has rotating header images, post ad integration, author comment styling and built in separated comments and trackbacks.

LouisBrooks

LouiseBrooks is a fixed-width, 2 column with right sidebar theme, with a little Deco styling. The theme is widget enabled and compatible with WordPress 2 and above.

Simple Power

Simple Power is a two column theme with a dark background and header. The content section is consists of a single sidebar to the right side. The theme is widget ready.

Two Column Themes

Inverted Headline

Inverted Headline is a dark theme with white and gray text. The theme has 4 widgetized areas in the sidebars which you can customize.

Three Column Themes

Multiplayer Tech Blog

Multiplayer Tech Blog is a three column WordPress theme for technology blogs with blue and yellow colors. The sidebar is placed at each side of the content.

MilaMira - Two authors blog

MilaMira is a unique concept in a theme where the theme allows users to show separate sections for different authors. The theme is targeted at blogs which have two authors. Please read the customization options to set up the theme to show content from different authors. You can setup one author to use the left side of the page and the second one to use the right side of the page.

Ad Clerum 3.0

Ad Clerum is a three column theme which includes a redesign from the original Ad Clerum theme, three levels of drop down navigation and a new posting feature where you can post in two different sections of the right sidebar.

Missing Kids

Missing Kids is a charitable theme released in collaboration with The Prevent Deliquency Project. The theme displays a flashing banner that updates from National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids.

Two Column Themes

Colourise

Colourise is a two column theme which is made up of dark colors, it sports a gray colored text on a dark background. The theme comes built in with recents posts and comments listing in the footer area.

Colourise Theme

WP Brown

WP Brown is a two column widget ready page with valid XHTML and CSS. The theme is largely made up of brown colors.

WP Brown Theme

Three Column Themes

Grunge Style

Grunge Style is a three column theme with in built support for flickr, pagenavi support, custom field options, related posts and recent comments. The theme sports a wooden background with a grunge unique style.

Grunge Style Theme

Blue Jeans

Blue Jeans is a three column theme which is based on the popular denim. It sports the material in the background and also has trendy buttons in the sidebar headers. If you are a denim lover you will definitely like this.

Blue Jeans Theme

I came across this blog header generator via TechWack.com Big Huge Labs is the company behind this header generator which takes an image from either your local machine, Flickr, Photobucket or a linked image and creates a custom header image for you to use on the Kubrick WordPress theme. The generator provides options to align the visible part of the image in case it needs to be cropped. You can also choose whether to add credit to the image or not.

Linking to an image I found on a quick Google image search, this is what I was able to come up with. Click on the image to see the full size.

Big Huge Labs allows you to edit your result, save the image or share it through links or email. You can also elect to start over if you choose.

Although I hate seeing Kubrick being used all over the place, it’s nice to see such a generator service for those that would like to do things this way. I realize the default Kubrick theme has the option to upload a new header image but it’s no where near as nice as this generator.

Two Column Themes

Mercedes

A fixed width 2 column theme which sports a Mercedes in its header. The theme is widget ready with a 2 column footer.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Blue Ecstasy

Blue Ecstasy is a simple, usable, and customizable widget-ready theme based on the famous Kubrick theme. The theme lighter than the original Kubrick theme.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Simply News

Simply News is a two column widget ready theme which makes use of red, black and while colors.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Three Column Themes

Night Whimsy

A three column theme which makes use of blue colors and also includes a illustration created by the author. The theme is widget ready.

Demo | Release Page | Download

One Column Themes

Elegance

A simple 1 column theme featuring light gold and plum colors. Valid XHTML and CSS. Two headers included, one with text and one blank.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Two Column Themes

Ferrari

A theme for Ferrari lovers who love to drive those machines or atleast dream about it. This is fixed width, 2 column widget ready theme.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Three Column Themes

Simple Theme One

Simple Theme One is a simple three column theme with content in the center and one sidebar on each of the sides. The theme is widget ready.

Demo | Release Page | Download

CorpTheme

Corptheme is a minimalistic theme which comes in four flavors - CorpBlue, CorpRed, CorpGreen & CorpBlack. The theme includes drop down for pages and sub pages.

Demo | Release Page / Download

For most of you, WeblogToolsCollection.com has become your number one source for new WordPress theme releases. Since Keith introduced the small thumbnail previews and demo links, theme posts seem to be better liked by our audience. I appreciate Keith’s attention to detail and look forward to his regular theme and plugin posts.

Smashing Magazine has published an article which highlights at least 20 free WordPress themes to choose from. Some of these themes look as if they could almost be considered premium but they are still free. My personal favorite is 5ThirtyOne while Probama comes in second. Although I’m a little bummed that the article didn’t feature Justin Tadlocks Options theme. I feel that it would have been a nice addition to the post.

At any rate, make sure you read each themes license agreement as they can vary from theme to theme. This is especially true when it comes to using the theme in a commercial environment.

One Column Themes

Rainbow Feather

Rainbow Feather is widget-ready fluid one-column three-segment theme with vivid colors. The theme is available in 6 different languages.

Demo | Release page | Download

Two Column Themes

Flower Grunge

Flower Grunge is a widget ready two column theme with valid xhtml and css. The theme is made up of variants of the brown color.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Three Column Themes

WP Wedding

WP Wedding is a three column widget ready theme based on marriage. The header of the theme pictures a newly married couple. Quite useful if you want to advertise your marriage to your friends.

Demo | Release Page | Download

33Module

3 Column theme with the sidebars placed to the right and left side of the content. The theme also has a large footer area.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Two Column Themes

Triology Next

This is a two column themes with 4 different variations. The theme comes inbuilt with a lot of customizations and inbuilt plugins.

Demo / Release Page / Download

Three Column Themes

Black and Red

Black and Red is a simple three column theme. The theme is aesthetic to look at and also comes in Black and Blue colors.

Release Page | Download

Aperio Prototype

This is a theme specifically created for image heavy sites: photographers, illustrators, designers. It is built on Sandbox for power and flexibility.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Over the weekend, I caught a glimpse of what was supposedly a new design for the WordPress Themes Repository. As was explained by Steven Hodson, the screen shots were taken from his browser when he visited the theme repository. The screen shots showcase a carousel view for browsing through themes, icons for navigating and downloading themes, a single page view which displays detailed information regarding the theme ect. No matter how hard I and many others tried, we couldn’t get the theme repository to display in the same way that it did for Steve.

Lloyd Budd stopped by my blog post and left this as the comment:

Hi Jeff, those screen shots are fake. I’m 100% certain. I just checked and there isn’t any code, nor has there been, to produce that type of experience.

I’ve been subscribed to Steve’s blog for quite some time and he is not one to post fake images or fake content. I believe that one of two things happened. The first is that, this is quite possibly a fluke. I don’t know how I would explain it, except that it’s wrong. The second thing is that this could be a theme repository setup on a website to mimic the current repository albeit with a different way of browsing themes. After browsing the web for quite some time looking for themes, I have come across numerous sites which have a theme showcase which is nothing more than a different setup for the theme repository.

Then, a fellow WordPress blogger Mike sent me an article that was written by 5thirtyone which reminds users that you have to be careful where you download your WordPress themes from. I must of missed the boat back when this event took place, but there was an incident where themes that were hosted on the official theme repository were being hosted on 3rd-party theme galleries such as WP Sphere. These themes were the same with the exception that the themes that were being hosted on the 3rd-party theme gallery websites were riddled with malicious code/malware.

I think now would be a good time to remind current users, especially new ones of WordPress to only download themes from the author’s website or from the official WordPress Themes Repository. Please note that not every site hosting a WordPress theme is bad. However, downloading a theme that is outside of the authors website or the repository is a risk that may not be worth taking.

Two Column Themes

CoolWater

CoolWater is a two column widget ready theme which is largely made up of green and blue colors. Overall the theme looks aesthetic.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Squared

Squared is a two column theme based on sandbox and is customizable through the admin panel. The theme is available in English and Italian.

Release Page | Download

Three Column Themes

Chronicles

Chronicles is a three column widget ready theme made up of brown color. The content area is large enough to hold medium sized images.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Anumati

Anumati is a theme based on World of Warcraft. The theme is largely made of purple colors and its content area can be used to show of smaller images.

Demo | Release Page | Download

One Column Themes

WP-Photogenic

As the name suggests this theme is specifically made for photo blogs who update their content using pictures. The theme is single column and does not feature any sidebars.

Demo / Release Page | Download

Two Column Themes

Monochrome Gallery

A two column magazine based theme with a AJAX based post slideshow on the home page. The home page also displays category post with thumbnails. You can also find a extended sidebar in the footer. Only for WordPress 2.3 and above.

Demo | Release Page | Download

FreshMedia

FreshMedia uses some fresh and lively colors and provides with a widgetized sidebar and footer area, though the huge header steals some screen real estate in the first scroll.

Demo | Release Page | Download

BoxTube

This is a two column theme with vibrant colors and some nice graphics. The theme also sports a extended sidebar in the footer area. Overall a nice looking theme with some handy options for advertising.

Demo | Release Page | Download

Three Column Themes

Deep Fear

Deep Fear is a three column theme which makes use of dark colors. Again the huge header steals screen real estate in the first scroll.

Demo / Release Page | Download