At this time we’re comfortable to introduce Radcliffe 2, a refreshed model of a tried-and-true WordPress theme. We’ve optimized it for pace, and added new options particularly with small-business web sites in thoughts.
Radcliffe 2 was a collaborative effort by a number of members of WordPress.com’s Theme Crew. We needed to replace the favored theme for a extra mobile-centric panorama, and so as to add new options that our small-business clients want.
Some particular design concerns for cell embody:
Commonplace fonts: Radcliffe 2 makes use of system fonts — fonts which are already out there on computer systems and cell gadgets — somewhat than loading its personal customized fonts. This reduces page-load time, since websites not should load particular font information, and advantages folks searching your web site on cell gadgets. Like with different WordPress.com themes, the fonts can be changed using the Customizer.
No sidebar: For a extra constant expertise between desktop and cell screens, Radcliffe 2 has a single-column, no-sidebar structure. This helps websites retain the identical appear and feel, whatever the machine used to load it.
We’ve tailor-made Radcliffe 2’s different main options for small-business websites:
Brand Resizer: For an ideal match, improve or lower the dimensions of your emblem.
Type Packs: On the lookout for a unique really feel on your web site? Type Packs let you customise your design to match your model in seconds. Try Trendy Bauhaus, Classic Paper, or the Upbeat Pop Type Pack choices! Every pack consists of distinctive colours and fonts that create a cohesive type.
Contact Data: That is a straightforward method to show your telephone quantity, electronic mail tackle, bodily tackle, and hours of operation in your web site’s header or footer. Cell guests can merely faucet in your quantity to instantly name your enterprise’s telephone.
Featured Immediate: Create an attention-grabbing space with textual content, a linked button, and a background picture to attract guests to a selected space of your web site.
You possibly can be taught extra about Radcliffe 2 by studying the Theme Showcase documentation, testing the demo, or making an attempt it out by yourself web site!
The unique Radcliffe was launched virtually 4 years in the past by Anders Norén, a prolific and proficient themer.
Chatting with Anders about his theme, it’s clear we will credit score Radcliffe’s daring photos and typography to its predecessors. “Radcliffe was my fourth free WordPress theme,” says Anders. “The earlier three, Lingonberry, Hemingway, and Wilson, are all fairly conventional weblog themes with a skinny content material column and (within the case of Hemingway and Wilson) a sidebar with widgets. I needed to do one thing a bit completely different with Radcliffe. One thing that used the complete width of the display for individuals who need their photos to take up more room.”
The unique Radcliffe theme.
The outcome was a theme that balanced eye-catching featured photos with a deft therapy of the written phrase.
Anders’s ardour for creating free WordPress themes, initially a passion, led to his profession in internet design. He notes that whereas know-how and WordPress have modified, some issues haven’t.
“The fundamental tenets of what makes a WordPress theme — and an internet site — nice are nonetheless just about the identical. Accessibility, an excellent structure, thought-through typography, sensible performance, and a few small, user-experience enhancing prospers right here and there.”
His design course of has developed too, however the core function of why he creates stays. “I begin in no matter finish I’ve in my head and pull on that thread to see how lengthy it goes,” he says. “If the only view comes first, I attempt to get a really feel for the way the archive view would match along with it, and vice versa. The remainder grows from there. It’s not a really structured strategy, I’ll admit. And that’s one of the best half about releasing themes without cost. The one requirement I’ve set for myself is that I’ve enjoyable doing it.”
Filed beneath: Themes 
