I've recently been putting some time into creating a blank theme/starter theme/theme framework for WordPress, so I thought I'd put it out there for everyone to use.

 

It's not even remotely finished yet and I'll be adding more features as and when I think of them (and replacing some of the Twenty Ten functions that are still in its functions.php as I go), but any and all feedback is good feedback, so here it is.

 

Tabula Rasa

 

If you have features to suggest/bugs to report/etc, please pipe up - preferably on GitHub so I can keep track of them. Thanks, and I hope you find it useful.

 

Edit: for best effect, try my custom wp-config.php as outlined in this blog post, to ease migration of your WP projects from localhost to live.

Edited May 9, 201313 yr by Renaissance-Design

What good timing! I just came here to ask for suggestions on starter themes for my next project.

I was just thinking about re writing the one I use (I use the 1140 grid system/stakers mixup with some customisation), but I will check this one out first

 

Does it have a responsive css grid built in?

Does it have a responsive css grid built in?

Not yet, but that's on the list (easy enough to swap one in). I'm concentrating on the PHP side first; it's already more secure by design than any other blank theme I've seen.

Just out of curiosity, why Twenty-Ten? Do Twenty-Eleven and Twenty-Twelve have security issues? I would have thought it would be the other way around.

You really thought about safety and simplicity in your config, Awesome!

 

I will give your starter theme a try

 

Thanks for the hard work!

Just out of curiosity, why Twenty-Ten? Do Twenty-Eleven and Twenty-Twelve have security issues? I would have thought it would be the other way around.

I used to use Starkers, which was built on Twenty Ten and shared most of the same functions.php - I was familiar with it, so it seemed like a good starting point. I remember Twenty Eleven being horrible to work with because a lot of the layout was done with negative margins, and while there's new stuff in Twenty Twelve, it's mainly the stuff we tend to strip out when building a custom theme.

 

Edit: I'll expand on that a little more. By more secure, I mean that the theme automatically adds a fairly comprehensive set of security rules to the .htaccess file.

You really thought about safety and simplicity in your config, Awesome!

Thanks. Gonna be doing a bit more work on it later this week.

Edited May 13, 201313 yr by Renaissance-Design

Can't wait to see the rest of your work on the theme!

 

Do you have some other features you want to add to the theme in mind?

 

Cheers :B

Do you have some other features you want to add to the theme in mind?

I need to add options page handling, throw in some default options (eg excerpt length) and make it easy for devs to add new options with as little code as possible. Next up is probably rewriting the metabox class, because I just threw in a third party one. I'm also going to add bbPress support (and possibly BuddyPress too).

 

Edit: After I've done the bbPress/BuddyPress support I'll probably be looking for folks to add translations.

Edited May 13, 201313 yr by Renaissance-Design

Nice nice

 

I don't know if this is possible, but you might want to add shortcodes as default. I know you can make them for themes, at least that's what I do

 

bbPress and BuddyPress would be awesome features to have as default!

 

You are on a good way

Awesome job, Chris! Thank you!

Awesome job, Chris! Thank you!

No probs, mate. I'd love to see what you make with it, as well as any practical feedback.

I used to use Starkers, which was built on Twenty Ten and shared most of

the same functions.php - I was familiar with it, so it seemed like a

good starting point. I remember Twenty Eleven being horrible to work

with because a lot of the layout was done with negative margins, and

while there's new stuff in Twenty Twelve, it's mainly the stuff we tend

to strip out when building a custom theme.

Of all the blank themes I've used Starkers was my favourite. I agree that Twenty Twelve seems overly complex. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. Thank you!

I don't know if this is possible, but you might want to add shortcodes as default. I know you can make them for themes, at least that's what I do

What shortcodes would people find useful?

What shortcodes would people find useful?

 

I would say fluid columns and tabs, tabs are not as important though.

I would say fluid columns and tabs, tabs are not as important though.

 

Good call. That's exactly the sort of thing that would be useful to the largest number of potential users.

 

I'm really motivated to get a lot of work done to it this weekend because a certain well-known WP author told me yesterday that it "looks awesome". I'm pretty chuffed.

Good luck

You might want to add buttons for example

 

You can also add short codes for video, could be handy

I think I may just use this over the weekend for client work.

 

"Looks awesome" is a great endorsement from Jeff

I don't know if this is possible, but you might want to add shortcodes as default.

 

Coming back to this idea, I've decided against adding them directly in the theme. I may add a plugin to handle that, but someone elsewhere pointed out that if I include shortcodes in a theme, they'll break if the user decides to switch theme.

Just a brief update on Rasa: I've switched it to use a fluid grid by default, and added an awesome new developer feature. Install the latest version from GitHub, log in and set WP_DEBUG to "true" to see some MAGIC.

Edited May 24, 201313 yr by Renaissance-Design

Imma try