free theme Archives

The wait is over: The free responsive WordPress theme Anaximander is now available for you to use through my new course WordPress: Building Responsive Themes on lynda.com. If you don’t already have a lynda.com subscription you can follow this link – lynda.com/trial/mor10 – and get a free 7 day trial. As you can probably deduce, this theme release is a bit different, so let me explain how and why. But first, check out the features:

Anaximander features

Anaximander is a fully built out responsive WordPress theme built to use all the latest features in WordPress 3.4.1. Theme features include:

Fully commented and explained theme files
Flexible height header image functionality
Custom background colour
Custom header and link colour
Full Theme Customizer integration of all theme functions
Superfish main menu with advanced flyouts
Responsive menu for smaller screens
Masonry index front page
Automatic video embeds on front page
Responsive videos through FitVids
Responsive images
Featured images
Three post formats: Regular, Video, Image
- Regular displays the post as is
- Video displays any oEmbed video on the front page
- Image displays the featured image at the top of the single post
Custom social media icons in the super-header
Advanced search and 404 pages with latest posts
Related posts feature with option to switch to Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
Optional footer widgets
and much much more

A theme you understand

Anaximander was built as a learning tool as well as a modern WordPress theme. The idea of Anaximander was always to ship it in such a way that using it was a learning process. This is how it works: To get Anaximander you have to follow the WordPress: Building Responsive Themes course on lynda.com from beginning to end. You start off with a static version of the theme and end up with a fully responsive theme with tons of extra features like jQuery Masonry, Superfish, and Flexslider built in.

The WordPress: Building Responsive Themes course takes the viewer through the process of converting Anaximander to a responsive theme addressing most of the issues raised by working with responsive themes including how to deal with layouts, images, videos, and menus as well as how to make the theme fit all screen sizes and work well for as many visitors as possible. The course also demonstrates how to incorporate JavaScript plugins and tools properly and provides the viewer with best-practice guides on how to make any WordPress theme responsive.

How exactly is this free?

I’m sure your next question is “How is this a free theme when I have to have a subscription to lynda.com to get it?” There is a simple answer. If you don’t already have a lynda.com subscription you can follow this link – lynda.com/trial/mor10 – and get a free 7 day trial. That’s enough time to follow the course and get Anaximander all set up. I know this looks like some sneaky marketing ploy, but it really isn’t. The whole point of Anaximander is for it to help you learn how to build responsive themes and give you a solid understanding of how the theme works. That’s why it’s not being released as a completed theme. To ensure that the theme would be available to anyone I was able to set the course up so that the static version of the theme is available to everyone including free trial subscribers. Bottom line is the theme is free to anyone who wants it.

It’s been a long time coming, but Design is Philosophy finally has a new look and better functionality. The new theme which I activated over the weekend is called “Anaximander” and sports everything a modern WordPress theme should have: Semantic valid HTML5 throughout, responsive layout through CSS3 media queries, carefully enqueued javascripts where necessary and index pages running Masonry for ease of use.

The name “Anaximander” comes from my new theme naming standard. Inspired by the WordPress release naming standard I have chosen to name my themes after famous philosophers starting with Thales and movin up through the ages. The philosophy geeks out there will already know this, but Anaximander is the 2nd classical philosopher on that list. If you are curious you should go check out the Wikipedia page about Anaximander (the philosopher, not the theme).

Anaximander is a work in progress and I launched it here on Design is Philosophy to put it through its paces. That means more functionality will be added in the near future (AJAXified infinite scroll on index pages is first on the list) and I will be expanding theme options and customizability. Why you ask? Because Anaximander was built to be shared.

Anaximander: The Free WordPress Theme – coming to your WordPress site in due time

Yep, as with my previous non-client themes Anaximander will be released to the masses at some point in the not too distant future. But not in the normal way: Though I can’t really say anything about what’s in store for Anaximander, it will be released as part of a bigger plan. Unfortunately I can’t be any more specific than that. But stay tuned and you’ll find out.

Browse, play, and report back

Anaximander (and by extension Design is Philosophy) has a lot of tricks up its sleeve – from Masonry to responsive layouts to other stuff. I would love it if you took it for a spin, opened it on your different devices, left a comment and reported back if something didn’t behave the way you expected. I want to build this theme out to make it as user friendly as possible and that means the front end must be flawless. Your input and suggestions are welcome.