Even though WordPress was originally conceived as a platform for bloggers, over the consequent years it has evolved into the limitless multi-purpose CMS we have today. It is this versatility that has resulted in the release of a stream of themes that are packed full of every conceivable layout, web UI elements, and of course, options pages that allow you to design your site without ever touching a line of code.
Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten that WordPress is fundamentally for bloggers and writers. And the thing is, all most bloggers and writers want is a clean content-focussed theme that offers a distraction-free environment for their readers enjoy their posts. Which means that the vast majority themes that are currently available (both premium and free) are far too overblown for what they actually need.
We are here to help. Below we have compiled a bunch of clean, some bordering on the minimal, content-centric WordPress themes for writers and bloggers. And the best thing of all is that they are all free!
Free WordPress Themes for Writers & Bloggers
Typesense
Typesense is a no frills content-centric single column theme that has been designed purely with writers in mind.
Less
Built using the dynamic stylesheet language Less, Less is an extremely minimal and lightweight theme. The theme folder is also surprisingly sparse, containg only theindex.php, style.css, function.php file and a js folder (for fitvids.js). Perfect for writers or bloggers that are looking for lots of white-space.
Lingonberry
Lingonberry is a clean and simple theme for users that need a distraction-free environment for their readers. It supports all post formats and comes with unique styling for each.
Tabinikki
Tabinikki, meaning “Travel Diary” in Japanese, is a lightweight and minimal blogging theme. Its template files and stylesheets are all well commented making this theme very easy to edit and setup.
Crisp Persona
Built for blogging, Crisp Persona is a clean WordPress theme with crisp fonts and colors to highlight your content clearly.
Balloons
The minimal Balloons theme has a parallax scrolling single-column layout, with plenty of space in the footer for widgets. You can choose between either English or German as the front-end language.
Svbtle
WP-Svbtle is not only a clean and spacious content-focused blogging layout, it also comes packaged with a WP admin theme in the same style. Install the front-end theme as you normally would, and to install the admin theme move the wp-svbtle folder to the root of your WordPress installation, and then login into yourdomain.com/wp-svbtle and your new super clean back-end experience will be live.
Cascade
Ulnlike the other themes on this page, Cascade is a multi-purpose theme with 12 optional layouts, various post layouts, multiple drop down menus, 12 widget areas and support for all 10 post formats.
Required
Required is an easy-to-use content focused theme for bloggers that are looking for a simple and no frills platform for their content.
Book Lite
With its focus on typography and white space and being heavily inspired by old classic novels, Book Liteis a fantastic platform for writers and bloggers.
DW Minion
DW Minion is a simple and clean blogging theme that has been designed for bloggers that need a minimal layout for showing off their content.
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