Development is always a fun endeavor and when it comes to WordPress, every equation in the game changes. WordPress currently hold a quarter of the web and is growing at a steady rate without any chances of falling down.
WordPress development can be very fruitful for any developer as the market is immense and opportunity lies on almost every corner. For newbies, the learning curve can be a bit on the higher side but the veterans familiar with the web will surely have an easier time.
There are hundreds of WordPress theme frameworks and starter themes that make the development even easier, keeping in mind that the developer completely understands the framework being used.
Let’s start our journey of “Free WordPress Theme Frameworks”. We list the best frameworks and starter themes out there, keeping in mind that there are probably hundreds and thousands of them out there.
Roots is basically the cleanest framework out there and it boasts with its clean WordPress code output, URLs and clean head.
The installation is preceded by demo files being loaded. Some customizations like defining the permalink structure, creating a homepage automatically loads when you first activate the framework.
Also Read: Creating a Website: Top 10 Awesome Tools and Resources
Currently, Roots includes 960.gs, Blueprint CSS, Adapt.JS, foundation by Zurb, 1040px Grid, Less Framework 4 and Bootstrap by Twitter. It also includes 2 widget areas.
Bones is a starter theme which simplifies themes development. It supports HTML5, Mobile First start theme mainly targeted on per project basis, best suited for rapid development.
Bones come preloaded with Sass, custom Post Types and Custom Dashboard functions. Currently, Bones is available in three versions: classic, HTML version and responsive.
Other features Bones include are breadcrumbs, page navi, HTML5 video and many more.
Thematic is an open-source, SEO friendly and highly extensible framework from ThemeShaper. It features grid-based layout samples, widget-ready areas, styling for all popular plugins and many more.
The theme is mainly targeted at beginner’s bloggers and professionals alike. It also supports child themes which are available for upgrading purposes.
Whiteboard is a powerful and clean approach to WordPress development. The theme includes only the core of WP functionality.
The framework uses LESS styling which is perfect for mobile support and responsive design. It also supports lots of major WordPress functionality like background, manageable menus, header images, several widget areas and many more.
Reverie uses latest technologies like ZURB’s Foundation and HTML5 Boilerplate to keep up-to-date. The framework is extremely flexible and supports mobile devices out of the box.
Reverie includes customized output for caption, WordPress menus and pagination.
It also supports responsive design, SEO optimization and child theme. Currently, Reverie is available under MIT license and provides a good support for their framework.
Hybrid is another WordPress framework that deals with the easy approach to WordPress Development. It is 100% open-source and is built on the community.
The framework comes with features like breadcrumbs, media grabber, micro data, cleaner gallery, theme layouts, post templates and many more.
HTML5 Reset is a style-free theme mainly designed to help the project get off the ground. The theme includes major functionalities like Starter CSS declaration, a widget-ready sidebar, Semantic HTML5 markup, jQuery, modenizr and many more.
It also supports integration with services like Readability and Google News.
Suffusion is just another WordPress Framework which supports cross-browser functionality. The framework offers features like one/two/three column, 19 widget areas, flexible-width formats, 18 pre-defined color schemes, 10 pre-defined templates, featured posts, tabbed sidebars, a magazine layout and many more.
Yoko comes with useful functionalities like Responsive web design, cross-browser compatibility, translation ready and many more.
Presswork is a unique entry in our “Free WordPress Theme frameworks”. It is the only framework that supports front-end editor.
The front-end differentiates from the other framework currently available in the market. The front-end also supports Google font selector so that you can easily change fonts according to your liking.
It also includes a PSD file so that further customization can be done. It has 2 widgets and 2 menu areas.
Conclusion
This ends our list of “Top 10 Free WordPress Theme Frameworks and starter themes”. Ofcouse, the list is no way complete and can be expanded more. The list showcases hand-picked guide to our readers. If you think the list is missing any starter theme or framework, do share it with the community by commenting below.
Very informative. You shared a wonderful collection. Thanks for this.
Well, I have been using TemplateToaster having superb features. I think it should be added to this
excellent theme generator list for blogs and websites.