Standard Theme: A WordPress Theme Made by Bloggers for Bloggers
I realized that I haven’t explicitly mentioned to this growing community of TentBloggers the fact that I use Standard Theme to power this blog and that it is, without question, my WordPress Blogging Theme of choice.
Sure, I’ll admit it – I am 100% biased since this Blogging Framework is something that I built with my own hands!
But it has grown so much and has been so well received (Mashable noted it to be one of the Top 8 WordPress Themes out there!) that I’ve been forced to build an amazing team around it so as to support the growing interest from bloggers who simply demand excellence and quality when it comes to their blogs and the blogging themes that they use.
I built this WordPress Theme simply because there was no other theme out there that was able to meet my exacting needs, which were many:
- It had to meet the highest requirements in terms of CSS/XHTML validation, load-speed optimization, and strict semantic development techniques (I’m a software developer by trade).
- It had to include, natively (without bloat and without extra plugins), industry-standard best practices as it related to Search Engine Optimization. No ifs, ands, or buts here! I spend valuable time creating value for others in terms of content and I don’t want my blog and information architecture to screw it up for me in terms of search engines!
- It had to be flexible in terms of design so that I could throw on a beautiful coat of paint without compromising the code-layer below.
- I wanted it to be minimal, pleasing to the eye, and exceptionally functional as it related to social sharing capabilities, Feedburner integration, and more.
- I needed advertisement spaces (so I could pay my bills!) that were intuitive and easy to manage, so I baked it right in!
- It had to be fast, load quickly, and respond even more quickly to my visitors. Local access to jQuery, CSS3 options, and native WordPress 3.0 features were locked and loaded.
And more. As you might imagine, there was nothing out there like it so I simply had to develop it myself!
Since then, people like Chris Brogan, Michael Hyatt, and more daily are converting their WordPress-Powered blogs to our solidly-coded and industry-standard based theme.
Needless to say, I’m extremely proud of it and I’ve been seriously blessed to have some raving fans (many of you!) and an amazing community that surrounds it. What more could someone ask for?
If you have any questions about Standard Theme then please feel free to ask me via the comments! Even better, you can ask many of the other TentBloggers here that use the theme for their thoughts on using it!
Just like Levar Burton said on Reading Rainbow:
But you don’t have to take my word for it!
Make Money Selling Standard Theme!
Finally, did you know that I created an Affiliate Program for it? You can actively sell the Standard Theme to your community and visitors to your blog! We’ll give you 50% of the final sale!
What is an affiliate marketing program you say? It’s one of the many ways in which bloggers make money and a few sales of Standard Theme can easily put you “in the black” as it relates to your yearly web hosting costs! Pretty sweet, right?
Don’t Forget That You’ll Need…
Please don’t forget that Standard Theme is a self-hosted only WordPress Blogging Theme and that you’ll need a web host before you can use this theme.
Not sure which one to use? I list 20 of them here that I’ve personally used and recommend.
In addition, I’m running a promotion through Dreamhost that’ll give you an extra domain name for life! Check that out here.
Thank you for Standard.
More than just blogging, Standard is great to build non blog sites as well. The versatility of it is amazing. I love being able to make it do ANYTHING I want to make it do!
Standard paired with using WordPress as a CMS is unstoppable and pretty sick. I love it!
sure thing kyle!
Standard Theme is simple and easy to use. Great support team around it too!
thanks dewitt! we want to keep that part in tip-top shape!
Yes, saves you lots of headaches. It’s a good investment.
It’s ill and sick! (it’s really good).
thanks josue!
Standard Theme is like the one thing you want for Christmas, but you have to wait till Christmas.
Just a little longer…
Love it man.
hah!
I am building my new site on Standard Theme. Michael Hyatt http://michaelhyatt.com/ put out a new post today regarding the results of using the theme. Pretty impressive.
sure thing greg! i had a blast working with mike on that project!
Seriously, I learned a ton about CSS and coding simply from the Standard Theme.
…and from the affiliate sales, have earned back the investment of initial cost and hosting a few times over.
So thanks for making an awesome theme, John!
sweet! that’s great brett!
I was a newbie to WordPress, but standard theme made my learning curve minimal. Thanks, John, for developing this and making it available.
sure thing tom!
I have and LOVE the standard theme!
Question: Is there any way to stop Standard Theme automatically adding categories to the navigation without having to manually remove them?
we’ll take a look.
High five for Standard Theme! I just updated a couple weeks ago and so far I dig it.
awesome chris!
I’ve only developed one site using Standard Theme (katdish.net) and it was a quite pleasant experience!
I’ve not had a chance to get my hands on Standard Theme 2 but I’m looking forward to the day a client wants me to build them a site with it!
I like Michael Hyatt’s review today: http://michaelhyatt.com/five-reasons-i-converted-my-blog-to-standard-theme.html
yup. we referenced that above!
I just made the switch and the experience makes WordPress fun again!
I did see something happening on several other people’s blogs (that use StandardTheme) that is happening on mine as well:
The copyright and theme name in footer overlaps with the categories.
Do you know how to prevent this?
I am sure I am doing something wrong…
you just have to manage the categories well or not show them.
Thanks for the push…I have been pruning them!
word.!
I have been using the standard theme on my site for a few months now. I cannot thank John enough for developing such a great theme.
I would rocommend it to anyone looking for a quality custumizable wordpress theme.
sure thing adam!
I’m looking at using Standard Theme to redesign almost all of my websites.
What does the ‘concurrent domain’ license mean? Does that mean we can pay once and use it on multiple sites?
yes.
So far I love Standard Theme 2 and it is true, the support forum is great. Since I’m not into the coding, I can speak from a layman’s perspective that it is very user-friendly and, coupled with WordPress, I can’t imagine a more souped up combo. Thanks, John, for your great work!
thanks randy!
John,
Thanks for the great heads-up on Standard Theme. Do you have any suggestions on finding persons to develop a relatively simple site/blog with Standard?
I’ve tinkered with WordPress as well as Headway for WordPress so I could do it myself, but I would really like something that looks more professional.
Thanks for all you do!
todd,
i’ve helped out more than a few people on stuff like this, just like Michael Hyatt and Chris Brogan listed above.
feel free to email me if you’d like!
All right, I’m convinced. Just bought it. You rock, John
thanks ed!
I love your theme. Can I have it? Whats your price. Thanks!
Greetings from switzerland
I have dowload and purchase your standard themes. Great! But I have a problem! I can’t upload my personal images on the pages. What’s wrong?
Thanks for help!
Roger
most likely it’s a permissions issue. are you a community license holder?
Yes, I’m, thanks for your info. It’s work! Great!
sure thing bro!
I’m ready to give blogging a serious attempt and am ready to purchase! I’m hoping this is the proper forum to ask: if one purchases a Single License, can an upgrade be later made to a Supported License? Thanks, John for all the fantastic things you are doing for the blogging community.
yes. definitely!
and good luck with that migration!
Thank you. And thank you!
Any end-of-year special discounts for TentBlogger readers on Standard Theme? When you did your black Friday special I didn’t have the money. Now I have a little! Please?
we’re thinking about it…..!
Today is the last day of 2010… any more thoughts on an end-of-year discount?
Also, would Standard Theme be a problem to use on a blog that is entirely in Spanish?
ben, we might have a sale in feb.
Hi , I just purchased the Standard theme, now which file to I upload into my wordpress dahboard?
you need to upload it into wp-content >> themes folder!
Hey I’m a several attempt failed blogger, but I hope to give it another go. I currently use one of your free themes, but as I attempt to rejoin the blogosphere I was contemplating going standard. While I consider myself somewhat tech savy, I definitely fall short in the area of web. All that said, do you feel that someone of minimal web/wordpress knowledge can greatly benefit, and maximize use of the standard theme?
Thanks,
Chris
standard theme is about your content. so, yes! design is obviously secondary (as you can see by this blog here.)
Are there “best practices” for migrating from my old WP theme over to Standard? Will I have to manually tweak every post and image to resize, etc?
you might have to do a few tweaks, yes. there are some best practices in terms of inserting images (like width=100%) but most people don’t even think of that before switching themes.
Tentblogger, I love Standard Theme! Just built 3 sites with it…
http://www.bryanfeller.com
http://www.bryanfellerassociates.com
http://www.dyslexiacorrectionspecialties.com
Keep it up!
God bless,
Bryan
wow, this is awesome! you’re a fan and it shows!
Where does this thema free download. Please’m crazy behind a free grateful
this isn’t free.
Hi John Saddington,
I have bought two books (using wordpress and headfirst wordpress) and found your site far more helpful and enjoyable to read as I embark on my first blog. Even though I’m a newbie, I’d like to start off right and decided to self-host at Dreamhost using WordPress. I really love the colors of the free Liquorice wordpress theme but am a bit worried about using it for the long term. I’d like to buy the Standarf theme but wonder how easy it would be for me to mimic the colors of the Liquorice theme and insert an image on the upper left hand corner of the header. If I go the supported route (depending on cost) is this something your team would be able to help me with?
Thank you for all the advice you freely give on this blog.
Genevieve
ah, thanks so much!
it would take some effort and some skill to mimic the theme that you currently have but it’s definitely possible.
our support team wouldn’t be able to customize the site for you but would be able to point you in the right direction.
The Standard Theme support license comes with access to tutorials and one of them shows how to change colors.
Awesome. Thanks to you both.
Genevieve
sure thing!
This is a great blog with a ton of good info…I am impressed to say the least. I look forward to your words of wisdom…and your humor. Oh, one more thing! Where did you get your cartoon images of yourself? They are great!
-Charlee-
Thanks!
also, i got it here: http://tentblogger.com/caricature/
and here:
http://tentblogger.com/brand-image/
and… do you have a gravatar? you need one! http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
This motivates me to start a blogging career. Thanks John.
sweet! glad a theme could do that for you!
Hope you can help me to start this thing. I miss expressing my thoughts thru writing. I was a member of school publications before. Thanks John.
sure thing kirby!
make sure to get a gravatar: http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
This looks like an amazing theme/platform. I have been wanting to build my own theme, but I am leaning heavily towards purchasing Standard and building my theme off it, even though I’d be happy with it right “out of the box.” No chance it goes for a discount again? Hey, it’s worth the ask.
not right now…
but perhaps in the future!
Cool man. Like I said, just asking.
Hey John,
this might seem kind of like a lame question to ask you, but I am considering buying the Standard Theme; the only contender is the Genesis framework.
I was wondering if you could tell me why you think the Standard Theme is better.
Thanks!
hey calvin.
this might seem like a “lame” answer but i use it because i believe in it’s value and it works. and, i mean… come on… i built it!
Haha
Okay, I was just wondering. Standard theme looks great and simple and focuses on the content, but for some reason, Coppyblogger looks REALLY great, visually and functionally.
So I am just wondering and shtuff.
Thanks for replying
yeah. copyblogger does look great! i was just playing, btw.
genesis is a great theme. do what’s right for you!
Sweet. Thanks for your advice! And if I built a theme, I would rock it too. More power to ya
Well I got Standard Theme. Happy Birthday
When I get comments from people with no avatar, their avatar shows up as a ? and not as the “little monster,” as I selected in the preferences. What gives?
tom,
have you checked the standard theme settings? did you change it there?
I *believe* I did. The avatars show up in the dashboard, but not on the public site.
perhaps it’s a permission issue in your theme folder. do you have a support license?
I’m so new to this, I’m not sure. How can I tell if I do?
did you buy the suppor license?
hello, i am very interested in Standard Theme. But i prefer to put 728×90 ads on header.. Does this theme allow me to do that?
you could if you’d like. if you purchase the support version you can get help with this!
I have recently read that Standard theme is indeed one of the best premium WordPress themes available in the market. Best coded and SEO friendly too! I will definitely check it out.
it is…!
I’m looking to acquire a premium SEO friendly theme for my blog and I was wondering if there is a way to drive-test Standard Theme for few days on my site to test all the functionality and to get a glimpse of how this theme will dress my site…
no, not at this time. but… i’m thinking about this as being even possible…..
I’m a honest guy and I won’t use this without paying for the work put into. I just wanted to see if it’s suitable for my blog and it looks good in it…
ah. thanks man! i appreciate it!
Finally working on migrating the Wooly Yarn to WordPress now. Just bought Standard Theme
Just my way of saying thanks and supporting your efforts here, John!
awesome! rock it out!
John, Feel like a tool for asking this but…do I have to have wordpress.org to use Standard Theme or can I use it through wordpress.com?
Thanks,
jason
jason… right now you have to use wordpress.org… but perhaps in the future…
I think the standard theme is best for people whom need a skeleton template in which they can add to it and customize for there own website needs. The standard theme right now is my strong decision to go with that instead of other themes.
thanks man! we love that!
John- When does Standard 3.0 come out? I seem to remember reading it would be released soon, but I’m drawing a blank on the exact release date! I’ve been creating content like a mad-man to be released into the wild on my two sites, and I’m waiting for the New Year to unveil them.
early next year. it’s going to be nutso… i can’t wait to get it on here…!
Will there be any issues transfering the content from my Blogger blog into Standard Theme?
start with moving to wordpress.org first… and then head to standard theme…!
http://tentblogger.com/migrate-blogger-wordpress/
Any idea on how to make my nav bar with a gradient tone?
Thanks,
Brian
do you have a support license?
Hi John,
Does the Standard theme have out of the box capabilities to have additional sidebar navigation like bbgeeks dot com has?
Sincerely,
Brian
it doesn’t have some of those things out of the box, but you can get it to do that if you wished.
I am pretty close to pulling the pin on the purchase of Standard Theme but there is one feature I like with my current theme, PrimePress and that is it allows me to have a changing header image on my blog. If you go to http://aushiker.com and reload it you will see what I mean.
Is it possible to this with Standard Theme?
Thanks
Andrew
this is a feature you could add with a bit of code, if you’d like. our community support forums would be glad to help..!
can’t wait for you to be a part of our growing community! we’re passionate about publishing…….!
Andrew Priest : :
Hello! I oversee the support forum for 8BIT / Standard Theme.
Let me pull that pin out for you.
thanks michael!
Thanks for information about the code. I assume the Standard Theme community is only available to purchasers. Is that right?
Andrew, I really like your blog! I built my blog three months ago with ST. I’m using the theme with no mods to the code at all, and the blog is already averaging 300 – 400 page views a day, and growing at 15-20% each month. That growth is over twice as fast as the blogger blog I built on the same topic.
I’m no expert, but the only thing I can attribute that kind of growth to (besides awesome diy posts!) is my well-spent money on Standard Theme.
P.S. I’m not an affiliate for ST, so my glowing endorsement is unbiased.
thanks ken!
i think your gravatar is broken…?
I see my gravatar on my comment above. What do you see?
ah, it’s fixed now.
I really liked your post of April 19. We do forget how to dress sometimes when we are not out in the public. But I never thought about dressing for blogging in the sense of writing the same language of the people we are blogging to. Great information. Thank you for sharing.
Bonnie
you’re welcome bonnie!