Free WordPress theme: Elegante

When we re-launched our site a few months back, we built the entire thing on WordPress and integrated our existing blog into the new design. This left the old blog design orphaned, and so – rather than let it gather figurative dust on our server – we’ve decided to release it to the public as a free WordPress theme.

In fact, we enjoyed the process of creating this theme so much that we plan on doing it again. From time to time, we’ll post a free WordPress theme on our blog for you to download and enjoy. Check back soon or subscribe to the feed so you don’t miss out.

Features

This theme is essentially a re-purposed and enhanced version of our old blog theme. It won’t make you coffee, but it will make your blog look good.

Widget ready
Supports threaded comments
sIFR enhanced (minimal configuration)
Random, rotating banner images
One-click social bookmarking
Segregated search results (pages styled differently than posts)
Localization support (interested translators please leave a comment below)
Support for WordPress’ Custom Header API

Testing and validation

Tested W3C valid (XHTML 1.0 transitional and CSS 3)
Tested in Firefox 3, Safari 4, Internet Explorer 7 & 8, and Chrome
Tested at resolutions from 1024 x 768 to 1680 x 1050

Requirements

WordPress 2.7 or higher

Download or try the demo

Grab the zip file below (658 kb) or try out the fully functional demo first.

I’ve included documentation in the zip file that explains how to install and customize the theme; however, feel free to post a comment if you get stuck (or if you find a bug).

Alternate versions

sIFR support also requires some extra work, and we like to keep things simple. If you just aren’t interested in using sIFR on your blog, you can grab the latest version without sIFR support.

Download version 2.3 (no sIFR) (509 kb)

As of 2.2, we decided to drop support for Internet Explorer 6. To keep our theme accessible to users of IE6, we’ve kept the older 2.1 version available. This version has been fully tested in that browser and works fine.

Download version 2.1 beta (1.74 MB)

Legal

The Elegante WordPress theme is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3. In plain terms, this means you are free to download, modify, and use the theme for commercial or personal purposes, provided that you keep the footer link, which reads “Elegante website theme by 3 Roads”, intact and unchanged.

Change Log

2.3 (23 December 2009)

Added localization support
Completely widgetized the sidebar
Added support for WordPress custom header API
Added support for SEO custom fields
Changed to a GPL compatible license

2.2 (30 October 2009)

Added support for child and grandchild pages
Added support for sIFR dropdown menus (when child pages are present)
Added new styles for HTML embedded in comments
Added new styles for HTML tables
Enabled comments for pages
Improved image styling (large images no longer break layout)
Comments and trackbacks now display separately
Dropped support for IE6

2.1 Beta (1 October 2009)

Added sIFR support for special characters
Actually included the sIFR Flash files this time…
Updated documentation on how to configure sIFR

2.0 Beta (16 September 2009)

Initial public release

49 comments

J
September 26, 2009

I am in love with this theme! Thanks for releasing it as free.

What could make it better? Theme options where you could select what images you want to show in the header or the option to not show any images at all. Also, option to upload your own logo or not show a logo but just text.

You can definitely tell a lot of time was put into the theme and it is definitely beautiful!
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  September 26, 2009
  
  J,
  
  Thanks for the kudos; I’m thrilled that you love the theme
  
  Excellent suggestions — I’ll jot these down and look into working them into the next version. I can’t provide a timeframe right now, but stay subscribed to this post and you’ll get the updates.
  Reply
Michael
September 26, 2009

This theme certainly deserves the name you have given it.
Did you set out to make an elegant theme, or did you name it retrospectively when you saw the results of your work?

There’s some lovely typography in your schema, and it comes at a good time for me; starting a new blog very soon. Thanks!
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  September 28, 2009
  
  Michael,
  
  ~~No nested comments in this theme yet. Gotta work on that~~
  
  Like all of our WP designs, we come up with the name at the end (retrospectively, as you put it). I decided the theme looked elegant, hence the name.
  
  If you end up using our theme for your new blog, I’d love to hear about it. Send us a link!
  Reply
Abounding Media
September 26, 2009

Very nicely done. Typography is great, colors are perfect, background is good. Excellent release. Thanks.
Reply
J
September 28, 2009

Looking forward to see the next release. I’d love to use it as my theme for my blog with the changes I suggested.

Best free theme I have seen in a long while!
Reply
Al Lustie
September 29, 2009

I have uploaded the theme, but continue getting the error form WordPress that the “Stylesheet is missing”. Anyone else have that problem? I have moved the style sheets here and there, but with no luck. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  September 30, 2009
  
  Al,
  
  I sent you an email directly — let me know if you’re still having trouble.
  Reply
  - Al Lustie
    September 30, 2009
    
    Thanks for sending an email — it has not arrived yet. I look forward to getting it. (1:28 MDT, 9/30)
    Reply
Jesper
October 1, 2009

Hi, really beautiful theme. Got a problem with characters “Æ, Ø, Å” in the sIFR generated headlines (they aren’t printed). Any chance the theme can be configured to show them?

Cheers
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  October 1, 2009
  
  Hey Jesper,
  
  Thanks for your comments. I uploaded a new version of the theme (beta 2.1) that includes support for these special characters.
  
  I had to update the sIFR Flash movie to include some extra embedded characters, so you should be all set. The demo also features a post with special characters in the title to illustrate that they work.
  Reply
  - Jesper
    October 1, 2009
    
    Cool, thx!
    Reply
Ray
October 2, 2009

I trying to find this line inf the sifr-config.cc but it;s not in what I downloaded. Any idea

var hypatiasans = { src: ‘../flash/hypatiasans.swf’ };
Reply
Ray
October 2, 2009

Actually I can’t find the sifr-config.css file in the download.

Thanks
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  October 2, 2009
  
  Ray,
  
  I apologize, but the documentation had a typo (now fixed). You should be looking for js/sifr-config.js, not css/sifr-config.css.
  
  Sorry about that! Please post again if you have any more trouble.
  Reply
  - Ray
    October 3, 2009
    
    Ryan,
    
    Thank you very much for the correction. This theme is one of the nicest, best put together themes I have seen. Thanks for releasing to the community.
    Reply
Johan
October 6, 2009

Would it be possible to add localization support in the future? So that us foreigners can fully enjoy this seriously wicked theme.
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  October 6, 2009
  
  Johan,
  
  Great thought; I’ll add that in the next release. If all goes according to plan (hah!), that will be by month’s end.
  Reply
Ryan Burney
October 31, 2009

Just a heads up that 2.2 is fresh out of the oven. Probably the biggest new feature is support for sub-pages. I’ve also posted a sIFR-less version for those who don’t want to worry about any advanced configuration.
Reply
Julien
November 3, 2009

Thank you very much that’s a great theme !

In 2.2 many bugs of the previous version are corrected and it is much faster to load (maybe because I took it without sIFR).

Only one little problem remains on my site : the “Search the blog” widget is displayed although I did not set it in the admin panel. If I set it, then I have it twice. Is there a way to remove it ?
Reply
J
November 21, 2009

I am still in love with this theme but also still waiting on the theme options. Looking forward to future updates!
Reply
Ryan Burney
November 23, 2009

@Julien,

Wow, sorry for the delayed response… I hadn’t thought of just having the search form as a widget; I’ll look into that for the next release. For now, look in the theme’s sidebar.php file and remove all instances of the function get_search_form().

@J,

Glad to hear it — stay tuned for future updates, including the ones you mentioned in your first comment.
Reply
- Julien
  November 23, 2009
  
  Yes that’s what I did : a tiny change in code.
  
  Now it looks how I wanted it to look like, and it’s great !
  
  Just one detail : some widgets of the sidebar (archives, categories) have no margin on top or bottom, so these widgets are “stuck”. But it is not really a problem.
  Reply
Ryan Burney
December 23, 2009

Just a heads up that 2.3 is now available. Big updates are (1) localization support and (2) support for the WordPress custom header API so you can adjust your logo from the WP admin.

@Johan,
If you’re interested in a translation, let me know and I’ll post it.
Reply
Static | ahnternet
December 28, 2009

Hey Ryan,

This is an awesome theme! I’m thinking of using it on my blog, but I was wondeirng if this design could somehow be editted so that I can have the blog just fill up the entire page for a 1024×768 resolution user? This is because space is important to me and I’d much rather have space I can use for writing and sidebar than just loosing space to the background pattern.

Thanks!
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  December 28, 2009
  
  Hey Static,
  
  Thanks for the kudos You can certainly change the width of the theme; you’ll need some knowledge of CSS and a graphics program. I recommend Firefox and Firebug so you can change the CSS on the fly.
  
  There is a containing DIV called wrapper, which you can adjust to whatever width you want. For a 1024×768 resolution, I recommend a max of 990px (the width is currently 890). You can also set it to 100%. You’ll also need to change the width of content and (possibly) sidebar.
  
  The graphics program is necessary because you’ll also want to change the width of the images/bg_wrapper.png image. I suppose you could also just remove the image, or set the background to white. Maybe in a future version I’ll make a fluid width layout.
  Reply
  - Static | ahnternet
    December 28, 2009
    
    Hey Ryan,
    
    I’m going to fiddle around with it quite a bit and see what I get. I’m trying to change the color scheme of it too actually, but not sure how that’s going to come out just yet.
    
    Thanks for your help though!
    Reply
Static | ahnternet
January 1, 2010

Just wanted to say that the theme doesn’t seem to be too flexbile with going 990 px all together. It’s probably due to my limited knowledge in coding though, rather than the way you coded the theme.

Please do update me when you get a fluid or a 990px version out.

Thanks!
Reply
dadou3x
January 20, 2010

Hello,

I love this theme, really amazing,i’m wondering to know if there is a french translation?

Thanks for all.
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  January 20, 2010
  
  Dadou3x,
  
  Thanks! The latest version of the theme supports localization. If you’re up for providing a French translation, I’ll include it in the theme and re-release it ASAP.
  Reply
sunsimo
January 23, 2010

Hi,

i am ready to translate this theme into french, thanks to dadou3x who did tell me that he need a translator !
Reply
- dadou3x
  January 23, 2010
  
  Great
  Reply
sunsimo
January 24, 2010

@Ryan Burney how to process and what i do for french translation ?
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  January 25, 2010
  
  @sunsimo,
  
  Thanks a million for being willing to translate!
  
  If you do a Google search for “how to translate a WordPress theme” you should find some good how-to articles. Here is one tutorial and here is another that I found helpful.
  
  When you download the Elegante theme you’ll see a file called elegante.po in the root folder of the ZIP file. That’s the one you need to use for translation.
  
  Good luck and thanks! You can send your .po file to web AT 3roadsmedia DOT com.
  Reply
  - sunsimo
    January 27, 2010
    
    @Ryan,
    Thanks for these tips, let’s start translation
    Reply
  - dadou3x
    February 12, 2010
    
    what about the french translation !
    Reply
Naveen
March 30, 2010

The latest version does not seem to have the logo linked to the home page URL. How I can do that?

Thanks for an amazing theme.
Reply
- Ryan Burney
  April 2, 2010
  
  Hi Naveen,
  
  That is an excellent point — I will address this shortcoming in the next release. For now, you can edit your functions.php file to make the link appear.
  
  Around line 88 of your functions.php file you will see a line that reads:
```
#header #logo, #header #logo span { display: none; }
```
  Delete the display:none bit and replace it with:
```
height:0;
overflow:hidden;
padding-top:68px;
```
  Reply
  - Naveen
    April 2, 2010
    
    Ah! worked like a charm. Thanks a lot.
    Reply
Bone
August 9, 2010

Thanks Ryan for this very elegant theme. I’m using it for my medical blog.
I got a problem though. Some of my readers complained they can’t open my blog on internet explorer. i did check too and yes the usual IE has stopped working and needs to be shut down. I tried deleting my plugins one by one and then the sIFR. Without the sFIR the blog worked. But then, I really like the SIFR. Can you help me fix this?Thanks.
Reply
- Ryan
  August 9, 2010
  
  Hey Bone,
  
  I’m sorry you’re having trouble with the theme – yes, IE can be a pain, but it should be working for you. Couple of things come to mind – it’s probably a JavaScript error from sIFR or a setting on your browser.
  
  If you can send me a link to your blog I will take a look.
  
  Another thing comes to mind: I’ll work on releasing a new version of the theme that uses a different (simpler) font replacement technique that should not have any issues.
  Reply
  - Bone
    August 9, 2010
    
    @Ryan, wow.hanks for the fast feedback. Here’s my blog. http://remomd.com . Currently I removed the sIFR links in the header to work with IE. Thanks
    Reply
Lindsey
July 4, 2011

Hello, I love this theme! However, my titles won’t display anywhere on the page. When the page first loads, the titles appear and then disappear. How do I fix this?

Also, any way to make the logo link back to “home?” or How do I make home a page so that it appears as a nav option? Thanks!
Reply
- Lindsey
  July 4, 2011
  
  Oh, nevermind the question about linking the logo back to home – I found the answer to this in the above thread. Still can’t figure out why my titles don’t display though. They DO display on my mobile. I’ve checked safari, firefox and chrome.
  Reply
  - Lindsey
    July 4, 2011
    
    My apologies, forget the whole comment! I was able to figure it out in your extremely helpful instruction manual. Thanks again!
    Reply
Lindsey
July 6, 2011

Hi, for some reason my recent comments widget won’t display comments posted on my site. It works fine if I use other recent comment widgets, but not the widget that came with your zipped file.

Also, the widget titles aren’t displaying like your sample with the bolded words. It does this on page navigation and search the blog, but none of the others. How do I fix this?

Thanks!! Really love the theme.
Reply
- Ryan
  July 7, 2011
  
  Hi Lindsey,
  
  Thanks for the kind words on the theme. We honestly haven’t updated the theme in quite some time, so chances are good that the widget included with the theme isn’t compatible with newer versions of WordPress.
  
  The theme also uses sIFR for font replacement, which is a really outdated font replacement method. I recommend using Cufón instead; chances are good that your missing titles are related to the use of sIFR. Let me know if that helps…
  Reply
Eva
July 23, 2011

Hey, I was just wondering if you had any plans on updating this theme in the near future so it’s compatible with WordPress 3.x?

I’d really love to use it!
Reply
- Ryan
  July 25, 2011
  
  Hi Eva,
  
  I’m glad you like the theme
  
  I’m sorry to report that, currently, there are no plans to update this theme (We have so much going on!); however, if there is enough interest, we would do an update.
  Reply