Ask HN: Good WordPress themes for dev blog?

Hi HN!

In the last couple years I've played with several blogging platforms--hand rolled, Jekyll, Medium, Ghost, WordPress--and found that WordPress is the one I enjoy using the most. Strange, I know, but it is what it is.

Problem is, I haven't been able to find too many themes that work well for a developer blog. Most of the official themes, as well as ones on third-party marketplaces, seem to be geared towards either magazine-style websites or image-heavy portfolios.

I'm looking for a theme with a simple sticky sidebar/top bar for navigation, and a stripped-down reading experience. The focus should be good typography and readability.

I get a lot of consulting work from my blog, so I'm willing to pay for this. In fact, I've been talking to some programmer friends and some of them have offered to pitch in cash to get an actual designer to build this from scratch.

Before I go down that route, though, I'd like to know if I can buy something off the shelf that's suitable for a dev blog. Do you guys know of something?

2 comments

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shouldbworking 9y ago ↗

My clients mostly liked Avada. It's easy to deal with mainly. Still requires a bunch of CSS hackery to get things setup how you want but that's pretty much just how WordPress is.

I recommend statically generating the site from the WP code and using pure HTML if it's just a straight blog. No worries about the constant WP security holes and terrible performance then :) .

I'm of the clan that believes a website is your office nowadays though, so if your forte is tech consulting I would advise you to do it custom and throw some little personal touches in there.

If you think WordPress will work I highly recommend the managed services Flywheel and WPEngine. They main dealing with the BS parts of WP easier.

illuminea 9y ago ↗

I recommend going for a theme that doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles that you probably won't end up using. The default WordPress themes are simple and could possibly suit your needs. In particular, check out Twenty Fifteen: https://wordpress.org/themes/twentyfifteen/.