Comments on: A Theme Called 2010

By: The Exciting Future of Wordpress! Part 2 | Fresh

The Exciting Future of Wordpress! Part 2 | Fresh — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:05:29 +0000

[...] gate with our eROI Starter Theme however, I learned that Automattic was already in discussions of creating a new default theme for 2010. I think it would also be a great idea to have multiple default themes depending on the type of [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:28:15 +0000

My guess is it will be a minimalistic, but pretty theme released in version 3.0.

I can’t imagine a full blown framework like Thematic or Hybrid type being used as there’s just too much functionality built into those to be suitable as a default theme.

By: Mal Milligan

Mal Milligan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:13:34 +0000

There are several purposes for a default theme… getting newbies online fast and intuitively, troubleshooting when your premium theme has a blowout, highlighting the WP technology for reliability and intelligent design, and of course continuing the open source collaboration. I would like to see the new default theme to include drag and drop layout the way widgets are now… and the way blogger has been for years. I’d also like to see a configuration panel where basic css changes can be made by newbies like default width, sidebar width, background color and image, wrapper colors, header image, footer image. That can be done in a bullet-proof way so newbies can bypass it and users on the learning curve can play with the ability to reset to default values when they get in trouble. Premium Themes have better support and more elaborate configuration options than WP can possibly provide, so they should not feel threatened by advances built into the WP default theme.

By: links for 2009-12-15 | Links | WereWP

links for 2009-12-15 | Links | WereWP — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:04:11 +0000

[...] A Theme Called 2010 In 2010, there will be a new default theme that will be shipped with WordPress called 2010. We do not know much more, but there is room for imagination this way. Do you have ideas? (tags: wordpress theme 3.0 2010) [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:56:25 +0000

I have to agree with Nathan. This will be a base for learning, not an attempt to jump over the premium theme authors.

By: Nathan Rice

Nathan Rice — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:33:50 +0000

I wouldn’t get too excited.

If the theme isn’t developed in-house (like P2 and Monotone), then it will probably be farmed out to a relatively unknown person. A possible exception to this might be them taking something like Sandbox and bringing it into 2010. I doubt very seriously anyone who charges money for themes will be considered for the role.

I also highly doubt that the theme will be loaded up with hooks or filters or any other framework-esque features. The default theme has always served as a sample theme. I wouldn’t expect to see that change.

More than likely, it’ll be a bare-bones theme with excellent, minimal markup structure, well commented PHP and CSS, and liberal use of dynamic classes to accomplish the design. Kubrick’s major flaw has always been it’s outdated code.

I’d also expect to see some CSS3 and maybe even HTML5. After all, the theme IS called 2010.

By: Anthony Cole

Anthony Cole — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:47:12 +0000

I think that the new default theme should be extremely well documented – even if some of it’s overkill, the loop or anything else.

I definitely think that creating a master “parent” theme way is a good idea; it makes things easier for developers – but at the same time, it should learn from the mistakes of all the major theme frameworks out there – to quote Dion Hulse, some of them are just plain “doing it wrong”.

I think the emphasis should be more on writing good code over making it do everything – because it just can’t do it. I think elastic is a smothering pile of crap, and that no one should touch it. Headway tried and failed at doing the same thing. There’s plugins to do everything such as twitter or what have you. Kickass typography wouldn’t be bad either – and something that looked stunning would rock. Matt Thomas probably has something up his sleeve for that.

All-in-all, I’m sure the core team will do a great job of implementing it, though.

I guess the real question – is is this going to spearhead the way for canoical themes?

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:44:18 +0000

My guess is it will ship with 3.0 with the merged codebase since the merged codebase will be philisophically a new beginning. To get an idea of what it might look like, visit http://testbp.org.

By releasing Buddymatic I demonstrated that a theme could be BuddyPress capable without being BuddyPress dependent. I think it would be appropriate if the new default theme had that capability.

By: Brad Potter

Brad Potter — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:33:39 +0000

I hope the new default theme is white with square corners and has a template example for every file in the official hierarchy. I also hope a lot of thought goes into the names used for ids and classes. Set the standard so to speak.

960px fixed width
Horizontal navigation
2 and 3 column examples (files not a theme option)
Well structured style sheet
Extensive commenting in code
Great examples of popular template tags

By: Dumitru Brînzan

Dumitru Brînzan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:30:17 +0000

I think that this “2010″ theme could even be developed by a reputable theme developer, with the possibility to “enhance” the experience by buying child themes.

Of course this theme would have some cool features included, such as changing parts of the layout / colors, twitter / social widgets, etc.

All I hope is that it won’t try to jump over the premium theme developers’s heads :)