Now that WordPress 2.7 has been released, I am ready to get started on the next major redesign of my site. Before I begin any new WordPress based design I take a copy of the default (Kubrick) theme and dump all of the styles, extraneous functions and extra mark-up, as well as add a general browser reset style sheet. I then go about my business of creating a theme that will display the information I want it to, the way I want it to look.

Over the past 6 months, I have been skipping this first step and just downloading Elliot Jay Stocks’ “Starkers” theme which was also a stripped down version of the default WordPress theme. Unfortunately the release of WP 2.7 has some new functions that I can’t be take advantage of with the Starkers theme. This being the case, and the fact that I don’t know if the good chap from across the pond will update the Starkers theme, I decided to go back to my old routine of converting the default theme to a “blank slate” on my own.

Since I went to the trouble of doing this, I decided I would also offer it up to anyone who might like to save some time themselves. Hopefully you find this useful. If you do, please feel free to download it and do with it as you please. It is completely free, with no strings attached except for one. If you find this useful and know someone else who might, tell them about it.

Changes to the default theme:

• All styling removed
• Reset stylesheet added
• Any functions relating to the default theme have been removed
• All presentational markup has been removed
• Any class name that wasn’t useful to a new design has been removed

Disclaimer: This theme is offered for free, and “as is”. I will try to help out where I can though, so if you run into any issues, please comment on this post and I will do what I can to help. That being said, there is no warranty, or guarantee that I will be able to offer support.

Download the Blank Slate Theme here

Update: Kyle Skrinak recently contacted me about the Blank Slate Theme. Coming from a Drupal development background, he was accustomed to the Drupal Zen Theme and decided to make some modifications to the Blank Slate Theme to suit what he was accustomed to. He asked me if I would like to post it to the site for anyone else coming from Drupal to consider using. I think it is a great idea, and if you are interested you can Download it here.

The changes made to the original Blank Slate Theme in Kyle’s words: “I’ve incorporate some of the goodness I’ve come accustomed to in the Drupal Zen theme (which adds a few more nested divs — but gives some more control) I’ve also stripped out much of the blogging/RSS/who-posted-what noise, since that’s not the kind of site we do… Also, being visual, I’ve added some default page geometry, so it’s not really a true blank slate — and I’ve stripped out the sidebar. Talk about customization. Finally, I’ve moved the content’s position in the HTML so that content comes before navigation for SEO optimization. the HTML/CSS validates.”

Thanks to Kyle for submitting this modified theme. If anyone else would like to, drop me a line!