7 Free WordPress Themes for Journalists

We've covered WordPress quite extensively here at 10,000 Words, including must-have plugins and a workflow for running your news site using WordPress and Google Docs. It's extremely important for every journalist to have a portfolio online which profiles their work, and WordPress makes it extremely simple to do this. Another great selling point for WordPress is the ability to switch up the design of your site on a whim using a theme, transforming it from a mere blog into a real showcase. Here are seven WordPress themes below which I think are great for journalists and emphasize content with a professional design. Oh, and they're free too! Blue Bubble BlueBubble is a great theme for photo journalists, video journalists, or anyone who wants a nice clean theme with the addition of photos for each post. Images are automatically resized for each post, and the theme includes a built-in contact form and the option to add up to 16 social media profile links. Demo | Download Constellation For those of you who have a little design knowledge and know-how under your belts, Constellation is a great theme for you to use. It has a solid HTML5 base and a minimalist design that puts the focus on your content. The real selling point of the theme is how it changes based on your display. Try viewing the demo and resizing your browser. The theme design scales for mobile devices like a dream, which is a concept known as responsive web design. Demo | Download Extricate Photographer and web designer Tom O'Doherty's Extricate is a WordPress theme built on the grid system and includes built-in options for adding social sharing links. The demo site really explains all the features of the theme, like styling for images and videos and re-sizable column options. Demo | Download Grid Focus Derek Punsalan's Grid Focus is one of the most popular grid system-based WordPress themes available. The three-column layout and multiple sidebars allow you to customize your content offerings as you see fit. It's a very well-designed theme built on a solid code foundation. Demo | Download Minimalist Perhaps the most austere design out of the bunch, Minimalist gets right to the point of showcasing your content. Because there are no images in the theme file, it loads extremely fast on most computers and mobile devices. When you click each title, your content expands into view like an accordion. This also goes for the links in the sidebar. For a clutter-free page, try this theme on for size. Demo | Download Seven Five Seven Five has a nice clean design which lets your content shine. The good thing about this theme is that you can also link information from your social media profiles to create a livestream-type experience. The demo features photos from Flickr, videos from Vimeo and YouTube, and tweets from Twitter. The theme has an easy admin panel to change font colors, border colors, background images, and more. Demo | Download Yoko German web design company Elma Studio created a fresh, modern and flexible WordPress theme. Like Constellation, Yoko is built on the concept of responsive web design, which means the design of the site will automatically scale based on your screen's resolution. A central image at the top of the page brightens the page and serves as a great focal point for the user. If you like Yoko, make sure to check out Elma Studio's other responsive WordPress theme, Ari. Demo | Download

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7 Free WordPress Themes for Journalists

Maurice Cherry

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Maurice Cherry