In this post, we’ll look at everything the new default theme has to offer. We’ll examine what’s new, what’s carried over from Twenty Twenty-Three, as well as the theme’s pros and cons. That way, you can decide if it’s an option for a present or future website project.

Concept and Design Philosophy

Twenty Twenty-Four shipped with WordPress 6.4 and heralds a significant shift in the conceptualization of WordPress themes. It aims to be universally adaptable and suitable for any type of site and topic. For that, it delivers less of a single coherent theme and more of a large collection of design patterns and aesthetics you can combine according to your needs.

Departure From Past WordPress Default Themes

In the past, WordPress default themes often had a more niche or narrowly focused design. For example, in Twenty Nineteen, the focus was mostly on typography and the theme worked both for blogging or as a template for a static business website.

Similarly, Twenty Twenty, with its focus on readability and clarity, was perfect for writers and publishers. It provided an excellent framework for textual content and big visuals. On the other hand, it lacked the versatility needed for portfolios or multimedia sites.

Twenty Twenty-One embraced minimalism and was primarily aimed at bloggers and small businesses. Its simplicity was ideal for content-focused websites and a clean, straightforward layout. However, the default subdued color palette wasn’t really suitable for any type of website.

These themes, while effective within their specific scopes, were somewhat limited in their usability for a broader range of website types. Each had a distinct design philosophy that, while appealing, did not necessarily translate across other kinds of websites.

Twenty Twenty-Four Has a Wider Scope

Twenty Twenty-Four, on the other hand, caters to a broader range of use cases. It specifically targets three key user groups: entrepreneurs and small business owners, photographers and artists, as well as writers and bloggers. This tri-focus approach comes with templates and patterns that are versatile enough to suit various professional and personal website needs.

Comparing Twenty Twenty-Four to its direct predecessor, Twenty Twenty-Three, reveals a clear evolution in design philosophy. While Twenty Twenty-Three was a minimal version of Twenty Twenty-Two, focusing mainly on community-submitted style variations, Twenty Twenty-Four puts a spotlight on the latest WordPress design features.

Its approach is less about pushing a single overarching design. The focus is more about providing an invisible framework that empowers users to bring their creative visions to life.

Customization Options and Flexibility

Twenty Twenty-Four brings a rich palette of customization options to the table. It comes with seven distinct global style variations, offering you the freedom to choose and switch between different design aesthetics.

Default

The default style of Twenty Twenty-Four comes in a light color scheme with a not-quite-white background color, dark grey accents, and a simple elegance. It uses two font families, Cardo for headings and Inter for body text. It also offers ten colors, twelve gradients, and five duotones as part of its options.

Ember

The Ember variation presents a fresh and dynamic appearance of the new default theme. It adds a bright orange overlay to images and switches to Jost and Instrument Sans, both non-serif fonts, while using soothing background colors to offset the lively color splashes.

Fossil

Next up, we have Fossil. It turns the original typography on its head by using the serif font for body text while using the serifless typeface for headings. Color wise, it goes with earthy hues (offering five different ones) and uses rounded buttons for a more organic outlook. I could see it as a great option for a wellness-related website.

Ice

This style variation closely aligns with the default theme design and uses the same color palette. However, it showcases a system font for headings and the Inter font for body text. Together, they create a clean and sharp aesthetic that echoes the theme’s original setting with a solid range of color and gradient choices.

Maelstrom

Maelstrom revolutionizes the default style with a multitude of enhancements. Using a blue and white color palette, it has a similar approach to typography as the Fossil variation. The only difference, it uses Jost for body copy. The result is a design that looks elevated yet modern.

Mint

The Mint style introduces a refreshing twist by incorporating changes in color palette and font families. It showcases Instrument Sans for headings and Jost for the body copy. This results in a distinct and contemporary visual aesthetic that sets it apart from other variations. It also makes you hungry for mint-chip ice cream.

Onyx

Onyx, the dark version of the default style, introduces a more elegant color palette (with a whopping ten colors) as well as gradient and duotone combinations. It caters to users who seek a refined and sophisticated online presence, with its classy color scheme and visually captivating elements.

Rust

Finally, the Rust style variation adds a sandy color scheme of just three hues while otherwise maintaining the original design. It’s a great theme variation for adding more lively colorization while maintaining the understated nature of Twenty Twenty-Four.

Twenty Twenty-Four: Available Page Templates

Twenty Twenty-Four comes equipped with a comprehensive set of built-in page templates, each designed to accommodate different aspects of website design and functionality. These templates are:

1. Single Posts — A standard template for individual blog posts.
2. Page With Sidebar — Similar to the Single Posts template but includes a sidebar, offering additional space for widgets or extra information.
3. Search Results — This template is responsible for the display of searched content.
4. Pages — A basic template for standard pages.
5. Page With Sidebar — A variation of the page template that includes a sidebar.
6. Page With Wide Image — This template offers a wider image at the top with the title and content in two columns below.
7. Page No Title — A page layout without a page title, offering a cleaner look for certain types of content.
8. Index — The default template for the home page or main blog roll. It also functions as the fallback template for all pages according to the template hierarchy.
9. Home — Specifically designed for the homepage, this template can be customized to create a unique first impression. It’s also the sample homepage you’ve seen throughout this Twenty Twenty-Four theme review.
10. Archive — This template neatly organizes and displays content in all archive pages such as for categories and tags.
11. Page: 404 — A template for the 404 error page, allowing for a custom design instead of a generic error message

Patterns and Template Parts

One of the highlights of Twenty Twenty-Four is its collection of nearly 40 design patterns, which you can find under Patterns in the Site Editor. These are pre-designed blocks you can easily customize to create pages or posts without having to do so from scratch.

Patterns come in two flavors: section patterns and full-page patterns. The first variety includes things like banners, calls to action, different ways to display blog posts, and media galleries.

In addition, the theme also comes with eight full-fledged page patterns. They range from the Business home pattern that is visible on the default Twenty Twenty-Four homepage over a project overview to an about page and more.

In addition to these templates, Twenty Twenty-Four also includes template parts, however, they are few in number. There is exactly one header and two general template parts. Officially, there is also only one for the footer, however, you can find three additional footer designs among the patterns.

Nevertheless, with these templates, template parts, and patterns, Twenty Twenty-Four simplifies the editing workflow. The theme allows you to build entire websites with minimal customization if you want to, thanks to its comprehensive range of templates and the flexibility offered by its patterns and parts.

This approach not only makes it easier for beginners to create professional-looking websites but also offers experienced designers a solid foundation to build upon and customize.

Typography and Aesthetics

As we have seen earlier in the style variations, the Twenty Twenty-Four theme likes to play a lot with typography. One of the central pillars here, which is responsible for the sophisticated look of the default style, is the Cardo font. It’s an Old Style serif typeface that adds a bit of refinement to the site’s appearance.

This font choice reflects a contemporary design trend that prioritizes aesthetic sophistication while maintaining a classical touch. This makes it particularly suitable for sites aiming for an elegant and polished look.

For paragraph text, the Twenty Twenty-Four default style uses the Inter font, ensuring text is clean and easy to read. This choice enhances the overall readability of the website, making content more accessible and engaging for visitors. Inter complements the elegance of Cardo, balancing sophistication with practicality, and contributing to a modern and user-friendly interface.

In addition to those two typefaces, Twenty Twenty-Four also includes the Jost and Instrument Sans font families in some of its style variations. These fonts further allow you to choose typography that best fits your site’s personality and design objectives. Plus, you can also pick from a sans-serif and serif system font.

Overall, the default color palette of Twenty Twenty-Four is light, offering a fresh and inviting appearance right out of the box. This light palette enhances the site’s visual appeal, creating a welcoming and modern atmosphere.

The carefully curated style variations mentioned above all work beautifully with the theme’s patterns and templates. They provide you with plenty of choices for personalizing your site’s design, ensuring that Twenty Twenty-Four can adapt to a wide range of visual preferences and needs.

Challenges and Limitations

As seen in this review, the Twenty Twenty-Four theme brings a host of impressive features and capabilities to the table. Yet, it’s important to recognize that no theme is without its challenges or limitations. Here are some key aspects to consider:

• Comparative Complexity — Twenty Twenty-Four, with all of its customizable options and advanced features, might present a steeper learning curve compared to its predecessors. This could be particularly challenging for WordPress beginners or those accustomed to simpler themes.
• Balancing Flexibility and Simplicity — The theme’s flexibility, while a strength, can also create issues for some. With more options to choose from, some people might find it more time-consuming to set up their site exactly as they want it — or just not as obvious how to proceed. It’s a case of having too many options.
• Feature-Rich vs. Speed — While the theme offers a range of features and customization options, these could potentially impact the site’s loading speed and overall performance. This is especially true for those who may not be well-versed in optimizing site speed alongside feature-rich designs.
• One-Size-Fits-All Approach — While the theme aims to be multipurpose and adaptable to various niches, it may not meet the specific needs or preferences of all users. Certain niche websites might require more specialized themes to effectively convey their unique brand or message.

Performance and Optimization

When assessing a WordPress theme, performance is a critical factor. A theme that looks great but loads slowly or hampers site efficiency can negatively impact user experience and SEO rankings.

With the forming of the Core Performance team, the WordPress project has recently re-emphasized the importance of making loading speed a front-and-center feature. This was also a consideration during the making of Twenty Twenty-Four. Contributors noted and addressed performance issues.

Apparently successfully so. A quick performance test on a temporary website did not reveal any glaring speed issues. GTmetrix gave it a B in performance with an ok Largest Contentful Paint of 1.8 seconds. For a pretty long, completely unoptimized homepage with numerous images, that is acceptable.

Sure, this isn’t really a representative sample since page loading speed depends on a variety of factors but it does point to a solid base for a well-performing website. It’s also important to note that even more performance enhancements and fixes are promised for the WordPress 6.5 release.

Put the Twenty Twenty-Four Theme to the Test

As we wrap up our review of Twenty Twenty-Four, it’s clear that this latest WordPress default theme is a bold step forward. It offers a blend of sophistication and versatility and legitimately stands out for its wide range of customization options.

The thoughtful use of fonts like Cardo and a flexible color palette add to the aesthetic appeal. The multitude of templates and template parts included cater to diverse website needs.

Overall, the theme is a great demonstration for the capabilities that WordPress offers for theme and website design. It invites users of all skill levels to take advantage of them.

Are you planning do your own review of Twenty Twenty-Four? Share your thoughts and plans on embracing this new default theme in the comments below!

The post Twenty Twenty-Four Theme Review: All the Features, All the Facts appeared first on Torque.

Fortunately, you can easily create a block theme with the Create Block Theme plugin. After customizing your theme with the Site Editor, you can export it as a custom block theme. Then, you can install it on other websites instead of having to rebuild your design from scratch.

In this post, we’ll explain what a block theme is and how you can use the Create Block Theme tool to build one. Then, we’ll show you how to do this in three simple steps. Let’s get started!

What Is a WordPress Block Theme?

When Gutenberg was launched as a part of WordPress 5.0, it completely transformed the content creation experience. That’s because its new Block Editor allowed you to customize posts and pages by adding different content blocks:

In 2021, WordPress extended this feature even further. The 5.8 update launched Full Site Editing, enabling you to build your entire website using a block-based system. With the Site Editor, you can add theme blocks to your website, create block templates, and more:

To start using Full Site Editing, however, you’ll need to install a block theme. Simply put, these are themes that are built with Gutenberg blocks.

Here are some of the functionalities you’ll gain when you install a WordPress block theme:

• Edit any part of your website without code
• Customize colors and typography with Global Styles
• Improve site speed by only loading styles for rendered blocks on the page
• Add accessibility features like a Skip to content button and keyboard navigation

Using a block theme, you can have complete control over your site design. Previously, it would have been difficult to edit theme files without coding skills. However, now anyone can customize a website by simply building and editing block layouts.

An Introduction to the Create Block Theme Plugin

In many cases, website owners and developers create custom child themes to help them personalize a website. A child theme is simply a theme that inherits the appearance and functionality of its parent theme. Using a child theme, you can safely edit a block theme without losing changes with new software updates.

You can build a child theme by creating a new theme folder and stylesheet with the parent theme’s coding. It sounds simple enough, but it often involves using complicated techniques that can be difficult for beginners.

Luckily, the developers at WordPress created the Create Block Theme plugin to solve this issue. Thanks to this new tool, you can easily export your edited block theme:

That means, you can build custom block themes and then use them on other websites. After making changes with the Site Editor, you can download your new design as a child theme, clone, or style variation of the parent theme. This can simplify website design and make it more accessible to users of all levels.

How to Create a WordPress Block Theme (In 3 Steps)

Now that you’re aware of block themes and their advantages, let’s discuss how to create one in WordPress. This way, you won’t have to edit theme files every time you need to build a new block theme.

Step 1: Install a WordPress Block Theme

To create your first block theme, you’ll need to start with a parent block theme. Using the WordPress Theme Directory, you can choose from over a hundred different options. Here, simply click on the Block Themes tab to add a Full Site Editing filter:

Once you find a block theme you like, you can download it. Then, go to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard to install and activate the new theme. For this tutorial, we’ll be using Twenty Twenty-Two:

Now you’ll need to select Plugins > Add New and search for ‘Create Block Theme’. Next, install and activate the plugin:

Before you start editing your theme, you’ll need to also have the latest version of the Gutenberg plugin. If you haven’t already, make sure this tool is also installed, activated, and updated.

Step 2: Customize Your Theme With the Site Editor

Next, you can open the Site Editor and modify your block theme. To do this, navigate to Appearance > Editor (beta):

This will open the Full Site Editor. Here, you can click on specific elements like the header or footer to change the block settings:

By clicking on the duotone circle icon in the top right corner, you can update the typography, colors, and layout. You can even choose one of the default theme style combinations:

If you need to add new blocks, you can select the + button. From this list of options, you can simply drag and drop elements onto the page:

To view your theme templates, click on the WordPress logo in the upper left corner. Here, you can select either Templates or Template Parts:

Depending on your design goals, you may want to add new templates. Alternatively, you can edit the available default options:

After selecting a template, you’ll open the template editor. You can edit this page by adding new blocks, block patterns, or template parts:

Ultimately, there are nearly endless ways you can design your block theme. Once you’ve made all the necessary edits, save your changes.

Step 3: Export Your Block Theme

To reuse this block theme on other websites, navigate to Appearance > Create Block Theme. This will enable you to export your new block theme in a few different ways:

If you want to export the theme with the changes you just made, select Export. However, here are the alternative export options available with the Create Block Theme plugin:

• Create a child theme: Downloads a new child theme using the activated theme as a parent.
• Clone the current theme: Clones the activated theme, including all of its assets and user changes.
• Overwrite theme files: Saves the edits as theme changes, then deletes the user changes.
• Generate blank theme: Builds a boilerplate theme within your site’s theme directory.
• Create a style variation: Saves the changes as a Global Styles variation of the activated theme.

If you select Export or Overwrite, you can simply download your theme files. For any other option, you’ll need to provide a theme name, description, theme URI, author, and author URI:

The only exception is the style variation. This requires just a Variation Name:

After you select one of these options, click on Create theme. This will download your custom block theme as a .zip file, which contains all the edited theme files. You can then install this theme on other sites to speed up the development process.

Conclusion

Before Full Site Editing and block themes, creating your own unique website design was a complicated process. If you’re a WordPress beginner, you might not have had the necessary coding skills for the job. However, now, the Site Editor and the Create Block Theme plugin can work together to radically simplify this formerly tricky task.

To recap, here’s how you can create a WordPress block theme:

1. Install a WordPress block theme.
2. Customize your theme with the Site Editor.
3. Export your block theme with Create Block Theme.

Do you have any questions about creating your first block theme in WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post How to Create a WordPress Block Theme (In 3 Steps) appeared first on Torque.

It was released with the most recent update, 5.6, and can be downloaded today.

Ready to take a peek under the hood? Then let’s do this!

Twenty Twenty-One: An Overview

Alright, let’s start this review with a bird’s eye view on what the new Twenty Twenty-One is about.

Minimalist Design

The look and feel of Twenty Twenty-One is quite minimalist in nature. It comes with a single-column layout, a widgetized footer, and two locations for menus.

Like it’s predecessor, Twenty Twenty, the new default theme is built on top of another theme. In the case of Twenty Twenty-One, the basis is provided by Seedlet, a theme published by Automattic.

This choice is deliberate due to the way the ancestor theme uses CSS to makes it easy for web developers to modify it. We will get into that in detail further below.

Aside from basic layout, Twenty Twenty-one offers a simple color palette based on pastel hues because, as design lead Mel Choyce-Dawn puts it “Pastels and muted colors are pretty in right now.” The default is green but you also have additional options, including black and white.

Focus on Accessibility

Besides the minimalist design, Twenty Twenty-One puts a big emphasis on accessibility. In this theme, making it available to users with all abilities is not just an afterthought but a main feature. The developers aim to make it WCAG 2.1 compliant.

One of the more interesting features to achieve that is its dark mode support. More on that below as well.

Taking Full Advantage of Gutenberg

Like other default themes before, Twenty Twenty-One is meant to be used with Gutenberg. It’s only meant to provide a basic canvas that users can customize to their needs using the block editor.

For that purpose, it comes with a wide support for block features including:

• Custom block font sizes and line height
• Controls for font color, background color (including gradients), and link color
• Responsive media embeds

The theme also ships with a number of block patterns that you will get to know in this post.

Easy Customizability

Twenty Twenty-One uses system fonts for its typography, which is a good for performance reasons.

In case you don’t know, system fonts are typefaces installed users’ operating systems. Unlike custom fonts, there is no need to download them from a remote web server in order to include them on your pages. Instead, the browser can directly pull them from the local hard drive.

In addition, Mel Choyce-Dawn said her goal was to provide neutral fonts so the theme would be usable for many purposes and to make it easier to create a child theme. The aforementioned CSS markup is another step toward that direction.

All clear so far? Then let’s dive deeper into what theme has to offer.

Twenty Twenty-One Review: Theme Customization Options

As a first step of the in-depth review, we will have a look at the customization options that Twenty Twenty-One ships with. You find all of them in the WordPress Customizer under Appearance > Customize.

Site Identity and Custom Logo

Under Site Identity, you can set a custom logo, a site icon (aka favicon), and determine whether to display the site title and tagline inside the header.

This is fairly standard. Any logo you add appears centered above the site title, tagline, and menu.

However, when you disable the tagline and site title, it moves to the left and appears in same line as the navigation menu.

The optimal size for the logo image is 300 x 100px. You should also use a transparent background or the same background color as your website for best results.

Colors & Dark Mode

Under this panel, you are able to select the background color from a simple color picker. The aforementioned pre-set color schemes are located at the bottom. Clicking Default gets you back to initial pastel green.

Like Twenty Twenty, the font color automatically adjusts to changes to the background color to maintain sufficient contrast for reading.

The most interesting setting here, however, is the checkbox to switch on support for Dark Mode. When enabled, it will add a toggle button in the corner of your site to switch to a version of your website with a dark background and light text.

The toggle disappears when user scrolls down. Dark mode will also automatically activate when a visitor’s device has it enabled (to find out how to do that, check this post on Wired).

If you are planning to use this featured, make sure to check what your site looks like in dark mode. Especially have a look at the visibility of logos, contrast, image brightness, etc.

Seeing as dark mode is one of the web design trends 2020, it’s cool to see such a seamless integration in a WordPress default theme.

Navigation Menus

The theme has two menu locations: the primary navigation below the header section and another inside the footer.

The latter also supports a social menu. That means when you add links to social networks, Twenty Twenty-One automatically converts them into the respective icons.

This is something that was already present in Twenty Nineteen but it’s nice to know the new theme also supports it.

Twenty Twenty-One Editor Options

Since Gutenberg functionality is one of the main focuses of this release, of course we also have review what Twenty Twenty-One offers here.

Well-Executed Editor Styles

The first thing that stands out is that the theme takes full advantage of editor style sheets. The editing experience looks the same as your front end, custom background color included.

This includes dark mode. When you switch this feature on or off on the front end, it also applies to Gutenberg.

A Wide Range of Block Patterns

As mentioned, the Twenty Twenty-One default theme focuses heavily on the use of Gutenberg block patterns. You find them by clicking the plus symbol to add a new block, choosing Browse all, and then picking the Patterns rider.

Here’s is what the theme has on tap:

• Large text — Exactly what the name says. A large heading block (font size is set to Gigantic by default) stretching across the entire content area.
• Links area — Title/call to action with links to social networks or an email address.
• Media and text article title — Image on the left, title, separator, and paragraph on the right.
• Overlapping images — Three overlapping images vertically aligned.
• Two images showcase — Larger media & text block on the left, smaller, framed image on the right.
• Overlapping images and text — Overlapping vertical elements, both images and text.
• Portfolio list — A list of projects including thumbnails, divided by separators.
• Contact information — Three columns for contact information and social media profiles.

Here are all of the block patterns on one page (note how they all come with sample content):

Of course, everything is fully customizable and the editor also offers the same color palettes as seen in the Customizer. This way, you can make sure the colors all fit together.

By the way, if you want to contribute your own block patterns, you can do so here (requires login to Github).

Developer-Friendly Features of Twenty Twenty-One

As mentioned at the beginning of the review, because of its theme of origin, Twenty Twenty-One also offers interesting features for web developers and designers. This is immediately visible when you open up its style sheet.

As you can see, it is filled with CSS custom properties aka variables.

In case you are not familiar with variables, these are stand-ins for recurring values. So, for example, you can define a primary color for your site at the beginning of the style sheet like so:

--global--color-primary: #28303d;

When you now want to add this color to an element, you can use the variable instead of the color declaration.

.navigation {
	color: var(--global--color-primary);
}

It’s also possible to assign a variable to other variables:

--global--color-border: var(--global--color-primary);

The benefit: If you want to make broad changes to your theme, such as setting a different primary color, you only have to modify a single place instead of doing a search and replace through the entire file.

This makes customizing your theme or child theme a lot more comfortable and quicker. As mentioned earlier, this is one of the main ideas behind Twenty Twenty-One.

Also, while CSS variables are a relatively new feature, they are safe to use as browser support is excellent.

A Look to the Future: Front-End Editing

Ready to have your mind blown? Alright, get ready.

There is a second development version of Twenty Twenty-One called Twenty Twenty-One Blocks. You can find on Github together with Blocl versions for Twenty Twenty and Twenty Nineteen.

If you download, install, and activate Twenty Twenty-One Blocks together with the latest version of the Gutenberg Editor plugin, you find a new option called Site Editor in the WordPress dashboard.

A click on it sends you to a screen where you can edit the front end of your site with a Gutenberg editor-like interface.

You can do things like add social icons to the menu, add and remove spacers, change the position of elements, and more. If you have ever worked with a WordPress page builder, this will seem very familiar.

You can also make changes on a page template-basis. This way, you are able to edit the design of single posts, pages, category archives, or your 404 error page. The same is possible for template parts like your header and footer.

In addition, you are able to modify global styles like colors, fonts, or even the default styling for available blocks.

In short, it lets you completely change the look and feel of your site without any coding. Pretty cool, right?

However, note that this is an experimental feature that won’t make it into WordPress core in the upcoming release. Yet, it’s a chance to have a look at the potential future experience in the WordPress platform.

Final Thoughts: Twenty Twenty-One Review

The release of a new WordPress default theme is always exciting. It’s an opportunity to have a look at best-in-class technology, trends in web design, and new capabilities of the WordPress platform.

Twenty Twenty-One does not disappoint. Under a simple and subdued exterior lies loads of functionality. Block patterns, dark mode support, and the focus on CSS variables and accessibility are just a few of the highlights that put Twenty Twenty-One on the forefront of the current state of the WordPress ecosphere and web in general. In addition, the Block version gives you an exciting view of the possible future of WordPress full-site editing.

Overall, it’s a modern, slick, and technologically advanced theme that’s easily customizable. We are excited to see what others will make of it. The theme is scheduled for December 8, 2020 (together with WordPress 5.6).

What’s your take on Twenty Twenty-One? Anything you are particular excited about in this theme review? Let us know in comments section below!

The post Twenty Twenty-One Theme Review: Well-Designed & Cutting-Edge appeared first on Torque.

Regardless of your reason for wanting to check what theme a WordPress site is using, there are many tools that can assist you. These include several online software detectors and browser extensions. Fortunately, they’re all relatively straightforward to use.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you may want to know what theme a WordPress site is using. Then, we’ll look at three ways to identify them. Let’s get started!

Why You May Want to Identify What Theme a Website Is Using

As you may know, a lot of thought goes into building an effective and visually appealing site. One of the most important choices you’ll want to make right at the beginning is which theme to use:

WordPress themes typically enable you to style your webpages and individual components such as footers and widgets. Ultimately, yours will determine how usable and extensible your site will be. Although you’ll often be spoiled for choice, whittling down the thousands of options to the perfect design can be tricky.

Overall, changing your theme once your site is live can have negative repercussions, such as loss of brand recognition or broken content. You may even need to undergo a complete rebranding process. Therefore, you’ll want to take the time to choose the right theme from the start.

If you’ve found a design you want to mimic – whether for a client site or your own – then it would be smart to identify the theme behind it so you can replicate it. There are, of course, other reasons you may want to find out the theme a website is using. For example, you may want to recreate a site to practice your design and development skills.

How to Identify What Theme a Website Is Using (3 Easy Ways)

As we mentioned earlier, there are many tools available for checking which theme a WordPress site is using. We’ll look at three ways that illustrate the general process involved and highlight specific features of each that stand out.

1. Identify the Theme Using an Online Detector

One of the easiest ways to identify what theme a site is using is to employ an online tool such as WP Theme Detector (WPTD):

You simply need to enter the site’s URL and click on Experience the magic of WPTD to get started. A standout feature of WPTD is that it can detect both parent and child themes:

Although we’re discussing themes, note that WPTD also lets you check what plugins a site is using.

Another useful online tool that can help identify themes is Sartori Studio’s WordPress Theme Detector (WTD):

As with WPTD, simply enter the relevant URL to view the necessary details. These include the theme name, author, description, and even a link to the official homepage. WTD can recognize your theme correctly even if the website uses minified code (which might remove identifying details):

WTD updates its database regularly so that you can also detect relatively new themes. If there are issues identifying one – which might result from customization or if the site doesn’t use WordPress – you’ll see an error message explaining it.

It’s worth noting if a theme’s been modified, some tools will be unable to detect the original. However, since each uses a different database, you may want to try multiple theme detectors to get the most thorough results possible.

2. Find the Theme’s Name Manually

You can also find out a website’s theme by checking for it manually. This typically requires you to view the site’s source code. The steps vary slightly depending on which browser you’re using, so you may need to look up the exact instructions for your preferred platform.

To get started, open the relevant website in your browser. Then, right-click on the page and select Inspect:

This should open a new window displaying the site’s code:

What you’re looking for is the main CSS file linked in the page header. It should be named style.css and will be located in a directory named wp-content > themes. You can speed up your search by using the Inspector’s built-in search box:

Once you’ve found the appropriate file, click on the link to open it in a new tab:

Notice that the theme details are right at the top of the file, including its name, author, version, descriptive tags, and more.

3. Check for the Theme Using a Browser Extension

Apart from using online tools and checking manually, there are also browser extensions such as WordPress Theme Detector and Plugins Detector (WTDPD)  that you can use to identify the active theme on a WordPress site.

This is a solid solution if you’re using Google Chrome as your go-to browser:

Once you’ve successfully added WTDPD to Chrome, you’ll only need to click on a button in your toolbar to use it:

WTDPD can show you the theme name, version, and more. Again, just as with the online theme detectors we mentioned above, this extension can also show you what plugins a site is using.

Using WTDPD is arguably the most convenient method to identify the theme a site is using, as you don’t need to leave your current tab.

Conclusion: How To Find Out What Theme A Website Is Using

Regardless of your reason for wanting to check what theme a WordPress website is using, you can quickly find the information you’re looking for and move on to achieving your goals. When you have an effective design in place, you can fully optimize your site for success.

To recap, here are three ways to discover what theme a WordPress site is using:

1. Identify the theme using an online detector such as WP Theme Detector.
2. Find out the theme manually by checking the site’s source code for its style.css file.
3. Check for the theme using a browser extension such as WordPress Theme Detector and Plugins Detector.

Do you have any questions about identifying what theme a WordPress website is using? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post How to Identify What Theme a Website Is Using appeared first on Torque.

If you’re thinking of making the switch to Twenty Twenty, you should know how it holds up against other themes, and whether it’s suitable for your purpose. While it makes a great default starter theme, it might not be the best for everyone.

In the review below, you will find the major positive and negatives of the Twenty Twenty theme. Read over its features and decide for yourself if it has what you need.

An Overview of Twenty Twenty

With the release of WordPress 5.3 came WordPress’ official yearly default theme Twenty Twenty. The update included several hundred improvements to Gutenberg. Consequently, it is appropriate that the theme focuses all around the new editor’s functionality.

Twenty Twenty takes a lot of inspiration from Chaplin, a similarly minimalistic theme designed with the block editor in mind. While Twenty Nineteen was the first theme to be built around Gutenberg, its successor expands on this focus, encouraging you to experiment and build your site from the ground up. It also does a much better job of giving you room to work without being entirely bare-bones.

The new theme features a simple but bold design, with a full-width style. This is a first for any default WordPress theme. It lacks a sidebar but includes a header and footer. You can tweak the colors, of course, and built-in editor styles mean you’ll be able to tell generally how your post will look even from within Gutenberg.

Those are the basic stylistic features, but there’s quite a bit more under the hood. Let’s crack open Twenty Twenty and see what else it has to offer.

Twenty Twenty Theme Review – The Positives

Twenty Twenty has a few unique features that make it stand out. It’s not just a basic theme with no substance; while it may look minimalistic on the outside, there are some interesting features buried in the code. This includes its variable font and automatic color contrast.

Let’s take a look at the positives of Twenty Twenty and all the good things it brings to the table.

Flexible Design

One big plus of Twenty Twenty is that its clean design offers unlimited potential. The theme is suitable for just about any kind of website. Blogs and news sites will look best with the focused, centered layout, but it could also reasonably power a portfolio, a business site, or anything you can think of.

The theme’s design is simple, but bold and universally appealing, and this makes it a great starter template. No matter what kind of project you’re trying to create, whether a small static website or something far more complex, Twenty Twenty’s simplicity makes it suitable. That’s why it’s a great default theme for WordPress users.

Readability, Accessibility, and Responsiveness

These days, themes can’t just be pretty on the surface. They also need to be readable, responsive, and accessible.

Too many people design with flashy animations and bright colors without stopping to consider if their site is actually easy to read. Poor font and color choices will contribute to a higher bounce rate. This is especially true for vision impaired users where a lack of readability is intolerable.

You could spend a long time working with other themes to carefully audit how accessible your background’s color contrast is. Or, you could use Twenty Twenty, where all this is already figured out for you.

Cleaner designs lend themselves better to readability and accessibility, and as already mentioned, this theme is all about minimalism. But it’s not just that: its font’s main focus is readability, and it’s very pleasant on the eyes. Even at very small sizes the typeface still looks sharp.

Responsive design might not be the most exciting feature these days, but Twenty Twenty does scale very well and looks great at any screen size.

And one cool extra feature is the automatic color contrast adjuster. For people with vision impairments, higher contrast is necessary to navigate a website. And for all users, a proper amount of contrast helps reduce eyestrain. With Twenty Twenty, all you have to do is pick your site colors and they automatically adjust to an acceptable contrast.

Tools like Contrast Checker existed before, but this theme does it all for you.

Variable Fonts

Twenty Twenty comes with Inter, which uses new and experimental variable font technology. These fonts are built off of the OpenType font format, which brings greater customization to web fonts.

Variable fonts allow you to adjust line width, boldness, and other minute aspects of its appearance using CSS. But it all resides in a single font file, reducing space and allowing you get more diversity out of just one typeface. Inter’s website has a demo you can play with to see for yourself.

If you like Inter but wish it was a bit less bold or a little more spaced out, just tweak how it looks and you’re good to go. You wouldn’t notice just looking at the theme that a majority of it uses the exact same font throughout.

Works Well with Gutenberg

Many themes even now don’t play well with the block editor. Some simply haven’t seen an update since before the removal of the classic editor, while other theme creators just don’t bother making it work nicely with its successor.

With Twenty Twenty, you don’t have to worry about that, as the entire point of the theme is giving you a sandbox to play with Gutenberg. It supports the full width alignment option and every other block in the editor with no strange display issues. Plus, as mentioned, you can see what it will look like right in the back end.

Even if you’re not interested in using Twenty Twenty on your main website, it’s still a great template to put on a staging or local site and start testing out the block editor’s capabilities. If you’ve always wanted to experiment but couldn’t find the right theme for it, this is your opportunity.

Great Base Theme to Build On

Twenty Twenty’s purpose isn’t to provide you with a pre-decorated theme that already looks gorgeous with minimal tweaking. While its simplicity may be appealing to many, it admittedly does take some work to make it yours.

However, that just isn’t its purpose. Twenty Twenty aims to provide you with a template to experiment with, a simple base that gives you something to work off of without having to code an entire theme from scratch. In addition, it’s an uncomplicated default theme for new users to get the hang of WordPress with.

Set up a child theme and go to town with HTML, CSS, and even PHP tweaks, and you’ll find that Twenty Twenty’s best asset is not getting in the way. And seeing as how well it works with Gutenberg, you have plenty of room to customize your site.

While the clean design can work just fine without much more than a little personalization, you’ll get the most out of this theme if you use it as a stepping stone to experiment with plugins and code.

Twenty Twenty Theme Review – The Negatives

While Twenty Twenty has more positives than negatives, every theme has its downsides. There are some features you may not like, or that simply make it unsuitable for you.

Here are a few of Twenty Twenty’s aspects that may have missed the mark. None of them are definite deal-breakers, but as mentioned before, the theme isn’t for everyone.

Simple, Bare-Bones Look

Some people may find Twenty Twenty’s minimalism appealing, but others will dislike how simple it is. It’s not as populated or beauty-focused as other free themes on the WordPress repository, like Hestia or Lyrical. Not to mention the hundreds of gorgeous paid themes out there that look amazing out of the box.

As already mentioned, that’s by design and just not Twenty Twenty’s purpose. It doesn’t come with jaw-dropping design all on its own. You’ll need knowledge of HTML and CSS to achieve that yourself.

While the new default theme is prettier than the objectively more basic Twenty Nineteen, and has seen a much more positive reception by the community, it’s still very minimalistic and not suitable if you’re looking for a theme that has more aesthetic potential without much coding work.

Limited Customization Options

Even within the theme customization screen, there’s not a ton you can do. You have the usual options that can hide and disable certain elements such as the search bar, and of course the ability to tweak colors, or customize widgets like the header and footer.

The automatic contrast adjustment of colors is pretty interesting and you can see it update in real time, but that’s the most exciting thing you’ll find. Compared to other (free) themes that have a richer variety of customization options, it’s a little disappointing.

Slow Variable Fonts

The Inter font has caused some complaints. While it was designed to be as fast as possible, being served through Google Fonts’ quick interface, user reports claim that it can tack on two seconds of load time to your site.

Unfortunately, this is just a reality of using web fonts. Forcing users to download font files from off-server will always be slower. Variable fonts’ dynamic nature probably doesn’t help the load times much either. While web fonts are always a little slower, there have been more complaints about Inter in particular.

Variable fonts also haven’t been extensively tested and are very much experimental technology. Most — but not all — browsers support it (some not fully, or only with extra configuration that isn’t enabled by default), but few sites have made use of them. So they may not be well optimized yet.

There are some suggestions in the thread above you can use to potentially speed up load times a bit. It’s also important to follow general website optimization tips like compressing images to keep your load times under five seconds.

But if speed is something you’re absolutely unwilling to sacrifice, you might want to find a theme that makes less use of heavy web fonts or has the option to turn them off. Also, be sure to speed test your site to find out if its actually the font that slows it down.

Gutenberg-Friendly, Minimal Theme

Twenty Twenty isn’t right for everyone. It makes a great starter theme for those who are just beginning to work with WordPress, with its clean and readable design. It also has quite a bit of potential as a base for those who need a small and unobtrusive template to start with.

And some users might enjoy its minimalism, or its features like Gutenberg support, automated color contrast for accessibility, or full width design. If that’s what you are looking for, Twenty Twenty is good for beginner and advanced users alike.

However, if you’ve already chosen a beautiful theme you really like, or are expecting a lot of customization options, it’s probably not worth the switch. Twenty Twenty isn’t made to be a fully-featured, groundbreaking theme, but to show off the newest core feature: the block editor. If you’re looking for something gorgeous with lots of user-friendly customization options, it might be best to look elsewhere.

Otherwise, make use of its refreshingly simple design as a base to create something great.

Have you given Twenty Twenty a spin? What are your likes and dislikes? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The post Twenty Twenty Theme Review: Features, Pros & Cons, And More appeared first on Torque.

However, using a WordPress starter theme can lessen the burden significantly. These ‘blank’ themes offer a functional foundation for you to work from. Of course, in order to get the most from a starter theme, it’s important to choose one with the right features. Doing this can make your development experience and final WordPress products more successful.

In this post, we’ll explain what a starter theme is and explore the benefits of using one. Then we’ll walk through four cool features to look for when selecting the right starter theme for your project. Let’s get started!

An Introduction to WordPress Starter Themes

A WordPress starter theme is a blank canvas that includes a minimal design and basic structural code, which you can use as a basis for the theme you want to develop. Many don’t include layouts, while the ones that do tend to keep things simple. Starter themes also come with code you can use for displaying posts, comments, and pages:

There are many advantages to using starter themes as a WordPress developer. First, they can take care of a lot of the heavy lifting and menial coding. A starter theme can also provide you with helpful insights, tips, and best practices to follow, serving as an invaluable guide throughout the development process.

While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, it’s worth noting the difference between ‘starter themes’ and ‘parent themes’ or ‘frameworks’. Parent themes come pre-styled and ready to use. Similarly, frameworks often include custom filters, hooks, and tags for child theme development, which isn’t the case with starter themes.

Instead, starter themes are what you can use to create your own parent themes. They’re not meant to be used as-is. If that sounds like what you need, there are many places you can look to find them, as we covered in a previous post.

While there are plenty of free starter themes to choose from, there are also premium options with costs ranging anywhere between double and triple digits. If you can afford the investment, the advantage of a premium starter theme is that you usually get access to a wider selection of features and capabilities.

4 Features Your WordPress Starter Theme Needs to Have

As we mentioned above, there’s a wide range of starter theme options to choose from. The best one for your needs will depend somewhat on your budget, as well as the extent of the functionality you’re looking for. However, there are four features we recommend looking for in your starter theme, no matter what you’re trying to accomplish.

1. Fast Base-Level Speed to Help Improve Your Theme’s Performance

By deciding to work with a starter theme, you’re already getting a head start on the development process. However, choosing an option with a fast base-level speed can further expedite the process.

Speed plays an important role in theme and site development. In addition to facilitating a smoother design and development workflow, lightweight starter themes can translate to faster WordPress products – which can improve both their User Experience (UX) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

There are a variety of factors that can influence theme speed, including styling and scripts. You’ll want to start by looking for starter themes that use non-intrusive code. This makes a theme more lightweight, keeping loading times faster.

Additional indicators of a starter theme with a fast base-level speed include:

• Lazy load image components
• WebP support
• CSS and JavaScript optimization/minification
• Async or deferred script loading

We’d also recommend using a site speed testing tool such Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom Tools:

You might already be familiar with these tools for assessing the speed of web pages. However, along with live sites, you can also use them to test the demo version of any starter theme you’re considering:

The results should provide an accurate snapshot of what you can expect when you use the theme for your own project. You can also compare them against other popular starter and WordPress themes, in order to see how they stack up.

2. Drag-and-Drop Functionality to Make the Theme Development Process Quicker

If you wanted to create a WordPress theme completely from scratch, you could. However, realistically, using a starter theme helps to minimize and even eliminate a lot of the hassles that come with that approach.

In the same vein, using a starter theme with a drag-and-drop interface can further ease your experience. Drag-and-drop builders make it simpler to achieve virtually any design you want. Starter themes aid you in creating the unique theme or product you envisioned; the convenience of drag-and-drop capabilities lets you bring that idea to fruition faster.

With this type of starter theme, you can use pre-built modules and blocks to arrange and rearrange components. This lets you create new page layouts and designs without the need for additional coding. CyberChimps is an example of a free WordPress starter theme that is responsive and includes drag-and-drop functionality:

Another great option is Flynt, which uses Advanced Custom Fields Pro to offer a back-end drag-and-drop interface:

We suggest checking the feature lists of any starter themes you’re considering, and looking to see if they include this functionality.

3. Style and Layout Libraries That Offer Easy Access to Design Options

When you first begin exploring starter themes, you’ll likely notice that each one is configured a bit differently. Some come fully loaded with features, while others only provide the bare minimum you’ll need to get started.

If you’re looking for a starter theme with as few bells and whistles as possible, there are plenty of options to choose from. These themes can help you minimize clutter, reduce bloat, and eliminate the need to worry about any extraneous or unnecessary code.

However, if you’re looking for a way to save as much time as possible during development, we recommend using a starter theme that comes with style and layout libraries. These features can be useful when it comes to designing your theme, because the various styles and customizations you’ll want to use are right there.

You can preview how they will look, use the elements you want, and simply discard anything you don’t like:

The key is finding a theme that includes most or all of the features you’ll use, and minimizes those that will only be a distraction. Style and layout libraries can be particularly helpful while you’re still learning the ins-and-outs of starter themes since they make it easier to experiment with different customization options.

While you should be using a starter theme as the basis for your own theme’s styling, pre-designed layout options, and detailed stylesheets can be both informative and useful. You don’t need to rely on them, but it can help to simply know that they’re available.

Plus, if you do decide to use pre-designed layouts and components, you’ll know that they already adhere to crucial best practices. This can be particularly helpful if you’re new to theme development and trying to decide the best approaches to use.

4. Premium Components to Use for Larger-Scale Projects

The components you’ll need to build your theme depend largely on the size and scale of your project. While you may not always need every solution included in a starter theme, having access to more advanced, premium components when needed can be very helpful.

While some themes only come one way, others offer multiple packages to choose from. For example, the Flynt starter theme comes in three tiers. There’s a free version with basic components, and two premium tiers:

All three versions include useful features you’d expect from a WordPress starter theme. You can also use the theme on an unlimited amount of sites. However, by paying a little extra, you gain access to more layout options and other premium components.

This brings up another key point when browsing starter themes and considering the developer tools that are included. You’ll want to think about not just what you need for any existing projects, but also what might be useful in the future.

Finally, be sure to look for starter themes that are actively maintained. That way, you can avoid those that haven’t been properly tested or are using outdated concepts. Themes that are actively updated are more likely to be using the most updated developer tools that can make your job easier.

Conclusion

When you’re building a WordPress theme, it helps to have a strong foundation to work from. Starter themes offer exactly that. However, it can be difficult to decide on the right tool, given the wide range of options that are available.

In this article, we’ve discussed four key features your WordPress starter theme should have:

1. Fast base-level speed.
2. Drag-and-drop functionality.
3. Style and layout libraries.
4. Premium components.

Do you have any questions about WordPress starter themes and how to choose one? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post 4 Features Your WordPress Starter Theme Needs to Have appeared first on Torque.

Creating an appealing and SEO-friendly ecommerce site is key to enhancing engagement with potential customers and helping them convert to loyal customers. WordPress is usually the first choice for ecommerce website development due to the variety in terms of themes, content management excellence, and plugins to make your site feature-rich.

For beginners wanting to try their hand at WordPress, there are hundreds of thousands of themes in the repository. However, if you’re looking to scale or update your existing website, these paid themes are great for an ecommerce site.

Let’s dive in!

1. Hudson

Provided by TeslaThemes, Hudson is a modern ecommerce theme design. It has a playful feel about it and creates a comprehensive online shop with a slider to showcase products. You can also add a gallery to present your products and allow your customers to search by most popular, recent, and featured products.

2. Foxy

If your goal is to find an elegant theme for your online shop, look no further than Foxy. Provided by Elegant Themes, this theme has been designed with shortcodes, responsiveness, and WooCommerce connectivity. So, you can utilize this versatile theme to sell anything from shoes to gadgets. The theme provides a slider to showcase new and trending products. You also get the freedom to create separate product pages with images, descriptions, reviews and product suggestion sections. All these features improve the overall shopping experience and boost the conversion rate.

3. Flatsome Responsive WooCommerce Theme

Due to its responsiveness, this theme is highly popular. Flatsome contains video functionality and banners with slider and parallax. The great ratings and number of sales on Themeforest tell the whole story of how this theme has impressed a lot of users. Items such as Google Maps and testimonials are easily possible with the shortcodes. The page layouts help in creating portfolios and wishlists. There is a mega-sized menu, appealing blog, and newsletter widgets to improve the SEO-friendliness of your site.

4. Divi

Divi is another ecommerce solution from Elegant Themes that gives WooCommerce connectivity. This theme is popular for its flexibility. You can customize the design in many different ways using the editor. It takes simple dragging and dropping to design elements such as video sliders, pricing tables, videos, tabs and more. You can customize your product pages according to your needs. There are more than 18 templates available already along with 46 modules of content. This makes designing much easier.

5. Shopkeeper

You can choose this theme to achieve a modern feel and appeal on your ecommerce site. The theme allows a full-screen space to provide a beautiful image. So, you can welcome visitors with an engaging picture. The header area enables buttons and text to help with the navigation. Product galleries look sleek, which successfully promotes your items. You can reduce the development effort by using the pre-built layouts.

6. MayaShop

MayaShop comes with eight premium sliders. The background and color choices never seem to end, which allows you to find ones that already fit your branding. The homepage allows you to showcase featured and new products. The zooming feature on product pages helps visitors make their choices. Along with that, you improve product page quality with sections such as related products, reviews, social media buttons, and comments.

7. Inspiro

If you want your ecommerce site to concentrate on pictures only, this is the right theme. Inspiro provides a simple yet effective online store that supports video. Managing the menu of this theme won’t take too much effort. The various categories and filtering options in product galleries make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. The sidebar and footer areas stay visible even on the product pages. Each product page contains images, tags, related products, and descriptions as well.

8. Hugo

Create your top-notch superstore with this excellent ecommerce theme. Hugo looks beautiful and contains massive features. The theme supports WooCommerce and offers multiple widgets to showcase products, important categories, blog posts, and more. The header area makes navigation extremely simple for site visitors. You can provide offers and filters as well. The product pages allow beautiful images and a sleek design.

9. Brutal

Brutal is the perfect solution for someone looking for a really minimal look. The theme allows a lot of customization, which allows you to design a site that clearly matches your business. The homepage includes a big-sized header as well as a slider. The product image representation in collections is modern, and you can easily include images of all your products. The product page complexity varies as you can select size, gender, and color as well. These features make this theme a good fit for clothing and fashion brands.

10. BiShop

BiShop connects easily with WooCommerce. The design is classic and clean and allows you to generate a header module including text and button. The product collections can be visible from your homepage.

11. Ketty

This stylish, modern, and clean theme is perfect for a fashion company. The theme contains a grid layout, or card-style, presentation. The design structure is minimal and the theme is responsive. There is a background option for videos. The features include multiple layout choices, mega menu, blog, social media buttons and a lot more. The theme is compatible on Prestashop as well as Magento platform.

12. Subas

If you are planning to sell electronics, gadgets or other technology-based products, this is the theme for you. Subas comes with two-tones of layout, offering proper space to highlight products. You will be getting shop variations, mega menu, sliders, color choices, multiple currency support, Google Maps, plus a lot more.

To conclude

Any of these themes will bring your ecommerce site to the next level. Just download and start selling today!

The post Best WordPress Themes To Boost Your eCommerce Website appeared first on Torque.

These versatile themes offer varied options for personalization as well as provide you with an array of features. The best parts of these themes are photo galleries, integration of maps, customized domain name, social media integration and many other options.

These are some of the best ones.

1. Bellevue

One of the finest themes for travel blogs, Bellevue, is particularly known for its simplistic design and multitude of features. Among its many attributes, the most prominent include the ability to show schedules on the calendar, the compatibility with WooCommerce, availability of five logos and sticky header options. The theme also adds demos to help the users who want to do quick website customization. Here is a list of its exclusive features:

• Event calendar support
• Access to 350 links of appealing photos
• Fully customizable which means you can make changes to fonts, color, widgets, and page builder etc.

2. Jevelin

Jevelin is a feature-rich and a versatile theme that enables you to add an array of things to your blog. It is an apt theme for a blog that uses different types of files and functionalities. With an easy-to-use interface and an appealing design, this theme can be used by professional travel bloggers and industry experts to showcase their portfolio and share their traveling experiences.

The highlights of this theme include:

• Complete customization
• Shortcodes that enable you to style the look

3. Bon Voyage

This is a wonderful theme for the travel bloggers who want to migrate from a basic travel blog to a professional travel blog. With this theme, you can bring the best out of your travel affairs and include the best shots of your journey and share your best moments.

The best features include:

• Availability of MotoPress Editor Tool
• Access to stock photos
• Integrated with fonts library
• Responsive design with retina-ready feature

4. Trawell

One of the best WordPress themes that nomads and travel experts can use is Trawell. What makes this theme stand out is the ease of installation that takes only five minutes. The distinguished features of this theme are:

• RTL language support
• Availability of multiple layouts
• Plugins available in different languages
• Integration with Google Maps
• Supports WooCommerce

5. Zermatt

This stunning theme can be the attractive face of your travel blog. It features a transparent navigation menu that shows a weather widget. The best thing about this theme is that you can just drag and drop custom widgets and start using them.

The other notable attributes of this theme include:

• Page templates
• Photo galleries
• Image sliders
• Booking forms

6. The Traveler

This theme is unique for its grid-based style of layout. It is particularly suitable for professional photographers who take photos as they travel. The layout allows you to publish different types of posts that you can share with your audience.

In addition, the theme offers a range of options to customize your blog in terms of its appearance. Depending on your requirements, you can change the background, color, fonts and the overall design of your blog. The other significant features are:

• Fully customizable
• Completely responsive
• Availability of social sharing buttons

7. Mountry

As its name suggests, Mountry is a perfect theme for mountain climbers and trekkers. It is equipped with eight different homepage designs as well as myriads of multipage templates. In addition, it comes with a “Drag and Drop” page builder. The other features of this theme are as follows:

• Accessibility to multiple themes
• Mobile-friendly design
• A mobile-ready design
• Comes with tutorials for updates

8. Sanremo

Known for its simple and minimal design, Sanremo is a theme you can’t get your eyes off. Apart from looking exceptionally elegant, it is also highly customizable thanks to the WordPress Live Customizer. It is a blend of various features that include social sharing widgets, appealing image sliders, and eye-catching graphic elements. Here is an overview of its salient features:

• Based on the bootstrap framework
• Compatible with mobile devices
• Fully customizable

9. Travelop

Intuitive design, user-friendly functionality, and endless options, this theme is a treasure for travel bloggers who want to fully optimize their website. What really deserves a mention about this theme is the preview window that allows you to see the changes as you update your blog so that you have an idea of how your blog looks to the end-user once all the changes are made. Some of its key features are:

• Availability of drop-down menu
• Integration with social media
• Usability with Google fonts

10. INFRA

This eye-popping theme makes it easy for travelers to attract visitors. Created in a traditional webpage layout, you can use this theme to publish your travel stories. It comes with six different skins that you can choose for your specific type of blog. It comes with a fabulous navigation area and excellent features that give you more wiggle room for customization. Among them, the most popular are:

• Visual Composer
• Multiple image options
• 100% Responsive design

11. WPVoyager

This theme makes content the star. With its simple and minimal design, it makes it easier for users to read the content and be easily guided by the website. Look at some of the stand-out features:

• Integration with Google Maps
• KML support
• Usable on different devices

12. Travelkit

This theme provides a complete package for the tourist agency and travel experts. It has five different demos that you can use to show the tourist attractions within your particular area. The theme has many distinct features to help visitors find the places of interest. There is also a Visual Composer plugin that allows you to customize the layout of your website. The other useful attributes of the theme are:

• 100% responsive design
• Compatible with PayPal
• Advanced theme options panel

13. Embark

For travel agency and tourism companies, this is a very beautiful theme that offers plenty of options in terms of design and user experience. It comes with varied options to facilitate the visitors at different stages.

Whether the visitor needs to book a place, check the time availability or create his profile, he can perform all these tasks with a breeze. In addition, the visitor can choose from more than 100 payment gateways to make the payment. Here is an overview of its key features:

• Access to 20+ modular page templates
• Create layout as per your requirement
• Retina ready and touch optimized

14. Ultra

Ultra is a multipurpose theme that has many ready-to-use websites that you can install with just a click. It comes with a “Drag and Drop” page builder to make changes in the theme layout. You can also create your own layout if you are not satisfied with the available options.

The highlights of the theme are given below:

• Smart layout features
• Section scrolling
• Mega menu option
• Image filters
• Integration with WooCommerce

15. Universe

Suited for a variety of niches including the travel industry, this WP theme is popular mainly for its simple and elegant design. The USP of this theme is its simple installation process that takes only a few steps and several minutes. This theme is particularly known for its content-friendly layout that accentuates the essence of your content. The other options in this theme include:

• Available in 5 different languages
• Unlimited range of colors
• SEO-Friendly

Download any of these themes, renew your passport, and start traveling today!

The post 15 of the Best WordPress Themes For Travel Websites appeared first on Torque.

So, if you also want your piece of the cryptocurrency cake, here is the list of features for your future cryptocurrency business. Once you are done with the list, have a look at the collection of free and premium cryptocurrency WordPress themes to find the template that will bring you rewards in the nearest future.

What Features to Look For in Cryptocurrency WordPress Themes

• Professional Design. Cryptocurrency is an online invention. It means that people who choose this digital asset are experienced enough to tell the difference between an amateur and a professional website. That is why it makes sense to choose cryptocurrency WordPress themes from the marketplaces that specialize in top themes for WordPress and have a good reputation for being reliable web agencies.
• Intuitive Page Builder. Without a drag-and-drop functionality, it may take you quite some time to launch your cryptocurrency website, especially if you are not a web guru. So, why not choose a WordPress theme that offers this functionality and facilitates the start of a website to the fullest?
• Live Customizer. Let’s face it – it is tiring and time-consuming to reload a page every time you make a tiny adjustment to its design and layout. If you value your personal time, pick a WordPress theme with Live Customizer to view all the changes on the go.
• Pre-populated Pages. Usually, cryptocurrency websites are multi-page. In practice, it can mean long weeks of adding those pages, figuring out their layouts, and filling them with content. If you are too busy for this, then choose cryptocurrency WordPress themes with pre-made pages. Believe it or not – it is much easier to edit pages than to create them from scratch.
• Free Updates. The online world has been evolving at the unprecedented speed these days. That is why you are as a website owner should be ready to roll with the punches and adapt to all the changes quickly. The best way to do it is to settle upon a cryptocurrency web theme that will offer free updates.
• Long-term Tech Support. Things with your cryptocurrency website can get really messy from time to time, especially if you are a beginner in the web design world. Therefore, it would be nice if you have a tech manager to rely on in cases of emergency. Of course, the long-term 24/7 support is the best option you should stick to!

Free & Premium Cryptocurrency WordPress Themes You Should Give a Chance

The post 10 Free & Premium Cryptocurrency WordPress Themes: Features to Look For appeared first on Torque.

Start with the basics

To create a blog, you have to know how to use WordPress and choose a theme. There are many beautiful free themes you can get right from the repository. Think about the content and how it will be represented before searching for a theme.

Here are some of our favorites

Medium By jojoee

This option is perfect for coders. Here you can share blog posts about coding tips and findings. It is a very convenient feature for every blogger who wants to have an adequate feedback about the information he or she posts. The style of your website will be minimalistic and stylish.

Journalistic By lighthouse

This theme is perfect for a local online newspaper, a list of events, or any other journalistic content. This option is already SEO optimized. By creating an educational or informative blog, you can learn how to SEO optimize your content and make it popular. It also has a responsive design with is working on any mobile devices.

Brigsby By wpHoot

This is a premium theme that will run you $46, though there is a free version. This is a pretty template for various blog topics like beauty, traveling, photography, romance, relationship, etc. Another important feature is ecommerce adaptation, that means that once your page is popular, you can easily sell products or services. It also has an image slider and is ready to be translated to any language.

Focus By SiteOrigin

This theme makes it very easy to create beautiful and unique content. It is good not only for blogs but also for video content. It has a stylish and responsive video player for MP4 format. If you plan on creating video content instead of text, this template is perfect for you.

Which theme to choose?

Each of the themes is free and has a premium support option. They will all help you create a beautiful college blog that you can share with future employers.

The post Great Themes To Build A College Blog appeared first on Torque.