I am very happy to announce that I have released a free WordPress theme called Shades of Blue. This is something that I have been wanting to do for quite some time, and am very pleased with the way the theme turned out. Feel free to download the theme and take it for a spin!
The sidebar and the footer are fully widgeted, and the navigation is coded for drop-down menus. Shades of Blue has been developed to accommodate threaded comments and sticky posts.
For those of you wondering, yes – at some point there will be more “Shades of…” themes. I have plans to develop stylesheets for additional color schemes in the near future. So go on, and check out the demo of the theme.
Below is a screenshot of the theme’s front page, styled for Sticky Posts:
Below is a screenshot of the post page, with threaded comments:
Very, very nice.
It’s looks like a theme that people could easily make their own. Nice work. I hope their is a three column version in the future. I’m still using your revolution blog which is one of the best pure blog themes I have ever come across.
Wow Brian!! That is very nice!! I love the two sidebars and those top tabs!! Very creative!!
Am I missing something? There only seems to be one sidebar.
I think Susan misspoke, because there only is one sidebar…
Sorry about that, I was trying to multi-task here at home at the same time I was posting, I went I liked the look of the side bar how each section has its own box.. sorry Brian…and everyone!!
That’s great that you contributed one of your themes back to the community Brian. The official theme directory is certainly in need of more well constructed themes, and this will be a welcome addition!
The footer widgets are an especially nice touch.
Thanks, I thought adding a widgeted footer section would help make the theme a little more relevant to how WP is used nowadays.
Yeah, it seems like the super footer is here to stay.
What a coincidence! I just finished setting up a new website/blog and need a fresh theme for it. I’ll use until I got to make my own theme. I like blue (who doesn’t?) and I think Shades of Blue would go well with the new site.
Great to hear!
The Theme is good, but too much Blue:-) But the Widgetplace are Top!
Thanks – the blue can easily be changed.
Thanks for the theme, its awesome.
Nice theme and it is good to see top designers ‘giving back’ to the WordPress community with free designs. However, I have to agree with a previous commenter that it doesn’t go beyond what is already available for free. In the words of my tween: the design is so 2007.
For the sake of saying, not all people who are using WordPress want an overdone free theme with all kinds of options that they can’t figure out. Not all people use Twitter and want to stream their life. Some people are new to WordPress, and need a clean, well coded theme to work with, and have areas that are widget-ready. It’s not meant to go beyond other free themes, but a dependable theme that’s equipped to handle WP2.7 features (threaded comments and sticky posts) and also promises no spammy links in the footer. I hope this doesn’t come across as defensive, just stating why I created it the way I did.
Spot on!
Brian, Very nice, clean theme.
I totally agree with your last comment. I’m one of those you mentioned. I’ve been doing design for almost 20 years, and websites for over 10 and yes, NEW to WP just last year. What I have noticed is that some of those “free” themes are, well, Junk. Especially for someone new to WP…. So, it’s great to see you release one of your own, knowing it will be well built (coded), equipped to handle WP2.7 features, (HUGE!) and a great addition to the “free” themes available.
I wish you the best with it.
Steve
BTW – To those of you who do not like the blue; click on the colors tab/shades of pink and refresh!
Hello,
I really like the theme, it is simple and clean and ready for modifications.
I also see a similarity to new studiopress.com design
Thanks, Brian, good job. As ever.
This is a really cool theme very easy to work with. I just updated it on my blog and I’m really pleased with the effect.
To good to be free Brian!
Thanks
Lynne
Isn’t this is a blue colored version of the Studio Press theme at http://www.studiopress.com/services
No probs, it’s actually clean and fair enough, Loved it!
Thanks for sharing it for free.
I’ve been testing it out and it’s pretty sweet. The one criticism I’d have is that the sidebar is not so great for standard advertising sizes.
Side note: I wish you had RSS feeds or email notifiers for replies to comments on this blog.
And shades of blue.
This is an awesome theme and free too, eh?
Thank you so much Brian.
Vida
This is really nice, I downloaded this theme and I am applying it on my blogs. One of the very first things that I learned in IM is to make an eye-catching blog/website. This theme is good for everbody I suggest that you start to use it now!
Thanks for the share
Nice, Brian! Where would we find the pink rendition you mentioned?
Beautiful template! How do you increase the size of the sidebar while keeping the same width of the blog without disrupting the structure?
Fastidious idea and it is honorable to see top designers ‘giving back’ to the WordPress dominion with loose designs. Yet, I soul to concur with a early commenter that it doesn’t go beyond what is already forthcoming for supply. In the words of my tween: the designing is so 2007.
Right now, i would say this is the one of the best simple FREE wordpress theme there is. Would be using this wp theme sometime soon. By the way Brian Gardner, would there be any support offered with ” Shades of Blue” WP theme on Studio Press support forums if when this theme gets updated with any advance options like some of the revolution/StudoiPress themes?
Shizz, just looked @ studio press forums, yeah just saw the support section for shades of blue theme. Hope that the updated version sometime in the near future for this shades of shades of blue theme would still be free.
Hi Brian
Blue is my favorite color, and this template is very soothing and has a very relaxing design.
From:
Stacy
Very nice and professional theme. Thanks Brian.
As I’m not experienced much in WP, i have a few questions:
1) How can I make your styling for Sticky Post work. I think Sticky post is not WP 2.7.1 default feature.
I tried with WP-Sticky plugin but your styling still not work
2) Same question on threaded comments
… nice photo
Sorry, Sticky Post works fine with WP.
Cool theme Brian Gardner! If I’m not wrong, this theme looks like a child theme of “StudioPress” main site. Right ? I love this theme man, finally I found a theme for my personal blog
Thanks for sharing for free!
Very nice Brian,
I use your old Revolution Business theme as the core of my business site – but for my blog I’m increasingly tending towards simplicity – as per this theme.
Rgds
Ian
I think the option to have comments on pages as well as posts would be nice too. I have added it on one site I have created but I always forget about that stuff when the themes are updated. I’m creating an affiliate site with the theme and will probably develop a child theme for it when I have time. I created one to widen the left content slightly but I am going to widen the sidebar a little too to accommodate 250px wide ads and I will also try to change the header area so people can insert their image logo and have a 468×60px banner ad at the top. I can share the child theme when I am finished with whoever wants it.
I would like to use your version. Let me know when it is available.
Thanks,
Yip
Hi Brian,
On this website I just translate your theme in French. So thanks a lot for your high quality theme you create !
Regars,
Yann Fahrni
Sweet! As clean as it gets, squeaky if you will.
Love the emotion blue puts out. Brian your work is appreciated.
Peace.
its a great theme brian. i am a fan of the simple clean approach to wordpress themes. people can very often ‘over design’ themes but yours looks spot on. 1 question, if i download the theme am i able to customise it myself?
Very nice!! Can’t wait to take it out for a ride! I assume the license is included?
Btw, did you know that there are hundreds of blogs out there in the mom-blogging community based on Downtown Java? Hundreds. And hundreds, actually.
You’re something of a legend. 
Thanks for this post! Will come back later and wiil try to download the thing.
where i can get the pink version?
pd: great theme
How can I be notified whenever you give out free themes or something changes? Your the best at what you do!
Thanks
A very nice theme! Congratulations for a job well done… once again.
More power!
Great, clean design. Especially diggin those tabs! Thanks for sharing, I’ll pass this cool Theme on!
As a WP “n00b,” I have to say that this is a great theme. I also like that the code is really easy to follow and modify.
Shades of Blue has eased me into WP theme development, which had previously seemed a little daunting.
Thanks Brian
Very beautifull theme. I have one question though; Is there a way to ‘delete’ the dropdown-function, so that the top links do not display multiple pages.
Thank you for the theme!
hi
This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.
Helen
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Hi, love this theme.
I would really love to know how to add more tabs/links at the top right of the page – i’m currently limited to 5 and need 6?
If anyone can help, please do i’m a newbie and have been trying to figure this out for days.
Thanks
Nice – I adore blue. Thanks for the good job on this theme.
Love your Shades of Blue theme! How do I make it so it shows 5 or 6 tabs across the top like in the screenshots? My site displays only 4.
Thanks
Tim
Hi, I like it very much and use it in my website.
And I encountered a problem, when I tried to add pages by adding “Page Number” and “PageNavi”, neither of them is work.
Could you please tell me how to fix the problem?
Many Thanks~
Very nice theme.
Thanks!
Hi!
Congratulations on the nice work: clean and elegant theme!. I’m trying to use it for my school website but so far I’ve encountered two problems. The site is in Spanish and I haven’t managed to change the “home” tab on the main page and “protected” for posts with a password into their Spanish equivalents.
I’m far from an expert in php I’d be very grateful if I could get some help to tune it to suit my needs.
Thanks in advance.
Juan Fondón
Great theme, just what I was looking for.
thanks
Love the comments section and clean look of this theme.
I’m working on customising it so I can shift my website from Code Blue to Shades of Blue (seems like I have an affinity to your Blue themes!) I LOVE code blue but haven’t been able to successfully turn it into a 2 col so this one shld do the trick.
ps: reg threaded comments, any chance that can be customised to be in the same line as all other replies within replies? I.e. the 2nd 3rd 4th comments linking to an initial comment instead of the step ladder..
Yay! Thanks mate!
Thanks for this theme which I have just started using for my blog which I migrated from blogger to WP.
Sweet theme, looks really clean!