Update 11-26-2012:
WordPress 3.5 will be released soon and with that update I will be creating a new blankSlate theme to take advantage of the update. Stay tuned for more info. Also, I have added blankSlate on github and plan to with the new version as well. The idea is that the community can work on this together and make it the best it can be. You can download or fork the repo here. Feel free to add to it and send me a pull request to update the theme for all.
Update 3-15-2011:
The blankSlate Theme has been updated to better support WordPress 3.1. Clicking the download link below will get you the newest version of the blankSlate theme. A couple of things to note with this version. First, I left many of the div tags in the loop files. I did this because quite honestly I was tired of adding them back in. Second, my daughter is teething and I have 4 themes to build that required the use of this theme. That being said, I was more rushed than I would normally like, so if you find anything wrong with the theme, please let me know and I will correct it immediately for everyone else!
WordPress 3.0 has been out for a couple of weeks now. With that in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to redo the blankSlate theme and make it compatible with the new functionality that WordPress 3.0 has to offer
For those of you who aren’t already familiar with the previous version of the blankSlate theme, it is a theme that has been stripped of all style and structural elements. For me, a blank canvas is the perfect way to start any new design! I created this and share it with everyone because it saves time. I always took the time to strip out what I didn’t need from the default theme to use as a starting place for creating themes. Having the blankSlate theme in my toolbox eliminates this first step and saves me valuable time.
Previous versions of the blankSlate theme have been based on the Kubrick theme that was WordPress’s default theme. WP 3.0′s release however added new functionality, and the new default theme, twentyten, to go with it. While the previous version of blankSlate is actually still compatible with WP 3.0, it lacks some of the new functionality such as custom post types and navigation menu management. So if you use the previous version and want to continue, feel free to do so. If you want to take advantage of some of the new features however, you will need to add the supporting code to that theme, or just download blankSlate 3.0
Changes to the default theme:
- All styling removed
- Most structural markup has been removed
- Eric Meyer’s Reset stylesheet added
- Class and id names that are not dynamically created have been removed
Things remained the same
- Divs surrounding posts were not removed
- Divs surrounding the widget areas in the side bar and footer were not removed
- Most of the functions in the functions.php file were left alone
- Style sheets for the WYSIWYG editor in the back end were left in tact
This theme is completely free to do with as you please. It is released under the GNU General Public License with no strings attached except for one: If you find this useful, and know someone else that might find it useful as well, tell them about it!
I must admit that I was a little rushed when I created the new version. I think that I got everything, but if you happen to notice anything that I missed, please let me know so I can make the proper updates.
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 blankSlate Theme here
[...] UPDATE 6-29-10: The blankSlate theme has been updated to be compatible with WordPress 3.0.View the post about blankSlate2 [...]
Awesome man, thanks alot!
Great starter theme – just what I was looking for. Thanks a lot!
Same here! Thanks a lot for sharing! A good starter theme is sooooo usefull…
Awesome – all my wordpress themes bar the original two or three I made have been based on blankSlate – it’s too bad searching blankSlate on wordpress.org doesn’t turn this up (I was hoping for one reflecting the twentyten upgrades), but then I remembered all themes include the author’s website address and voilà! here I am.
Good show old chap, good show! All other starter themes come with some basic structure, but I like the absolute blankness of yours. Allows freedom of design while including full functionality.
I always leave your credits in the theme when I build on it.
I like the blankness of it. Just wish the header, and bg functions were ripped out as well so it was a cleaned up theme.
Thanks! on this site http://www.wordpressfunctions.com are some goof wordpress functions for in the functions.php of your wordpress theme! functions in wordpress has never been easier.
Now using BlankSlate for about my 6th project. You’re a life-saver! Takes a little bit of the pain out of working in WP.
Thanks for this – Will be using it in an upcoming project.
Hey.. thanks for sharing your blank slate theme. For the longest time I was using an old Sandbox theme that was not made for 3.0
Anyways.. THANKS!! I can’t wait to get into it.
I do have one question for you. What is the twentyten.pot file?? I have never noticed this file in other themes before
Hi Lindsay, Glad you found some use for the blankSlate theme. The twentyten.pot file you asked about has something to do with translation capability. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much more about it. It is included with the original twentyten theme, and I left it because I didn’t see any reason to delete it. I don’t think it is necessary to keep unless you are going to use plugins to assist with translation though. I hope that helps a little bit!
thanks for the quick response.. So far I am very happy with how quickly I am able to build my theme on top of yours, but I came across one more question.
I dont know if this is a meant to be this way or it is a glitch, but in the POSTS and PAGES admin area, I am missing most of the default meta box. For instance;
Discussion
Excerpt
Custom Fields
Revisions
there might be other ‘default’ ones.. I looked in your functions.php but I didn’t see anywhere where you defined this and I have added these for new custom post types, but never had to actually add them for the default post types.
ohh ps – you should set a “notify me of followup comments” button on your site so I dont have to remind myself to come back and check up
I took your advice and have added the “notify me of followup comments” functionality, thanks for the recommendation!
Ohhh KAYYY never mind! I haven’t played with the 3.1 much yet, but apparently they – by default – hide it. got it
Sorry I didn’t reply to this sooner! Looks like you found the answer though. I should warn you, I haven’t actually had any time to test this theme with WP 3.1, so if you find any other issues, please let me know.
So far no issues, but because I am not a wordpress guru yet, and have little experience with custom meta boxes, this might be an issue with ME and not the theme.
I am having a reall hard time registering custom meta boxes (not custom fields) with this theme.. Just curious if you have done this and if you can give me a pointer.
THANKS for adding the notification button. makes it easier for me to keep up with things
Found an unmatched in the footer. No huge deal but maybe take a look. Thanks for this.
Ok.. I just came back here to check in with you.. I think it might appear that this has been relatively abandoned?
I think I am going to have to switch back to just using twentyten and stripping out my own HTML/ That is upsetting. Too bad
Hi Lindsay, the blankSlate theme hasn’t been abandoned, or this site either, I have just been too busy to do any writing! I will try to write some new posts soon.
Hey there,
Thanks for the great theme! Anyone have any idea how to change the Height and Width of a post feature image?
Within Functions.php I’ve tried to change where it says 940 and 198 below.. but no luck!
// The height and width of your custom header. You can hook into the theme’s own filters to change these values.
// Add a filter to twentyten_header_image_width and twentyten_header_image_height to change these values.
define( ‘HEADER_IMAGE_WIDTH’, apply_filters( ‘twentyten_header_image_width’, 940 ) );
define( ‘HEADER_IMAGE_HEIGHT’, apply_filters( ‘twentyten_header_image_height’, 198 ) );
Thanks for the help!