WordPress Twenty Fourteen Theme: A Review

New Year, New Theme?

The Ups, Downs, and Sideways of Twenty Fourteen

TJ List9-Feb-2014

Metro Detroit WordPress Meetuphttp://maxim650.com | @TJList

Introducing Twenty Fourteen

http://twentyfourteendemo.wordpress.com/• Released on December 12, 2013• New Default Theme for WordPress

Version 3.8

The Claims

"In 2014, our default theme lets you create a responsive magazine website with a sleek, modern design. Feature your favorite homepage content in either a grid or a slider. Use the three widget areas to customize your website, and change your content's layout with a full-width page template and a contributor page to show off your authors. Creating a magazine website with WordPress has never been easier."

http://wordpress.org/themes/twentyfourteen

RESPONSIVE…Magazine Website

Desktop (1600x1200)

Laptop

iPad 2

Phone (Galaxy Nexus)

Responsive Design

• Wide Screens– Left justified– Background colors and images are available

• Laptops– No background color or image

• Tablets– Where did my menu go?

• Mobile Devices– Prepare to swipe. A LOT.

FEATURED CONTENT…shown in a Grid or Slider

Simple Controls

• Just tag it!• Appearance / Customize to change

options• Works great for Posts• Can’t feature Pages• Display limit is 6. Tag more, but they

won’t show up.

TEMPLATES…Standard, Full Width and Contributor Pages

Layout Options

• Standard Layout – Images– Images–More Images

• Full Width… – Isn’t for content– Sidebar behavior is odd

• Contributors–Move along, nothing to see here.

USABILITY…limited options make it hard to break. Or customize.

Useful Plugins

• http://wordpress.org/plugins/fourteen-colors/

• http://wordpress.org/plugins/fourteen-extended/

IF TWENTY FOURTEEN WERE

…a dress, it would work well on a model. It is limited off the catwalk.

Twenty Fourteen Summarized

Strengths• Great for photos• Simple, clean,

readable• Responsive Features

works well for featured content

Limitations• Poor for text-heavy

content• Restrictive Page

Layouts• Responsive Features

hide menus

More Reading

• http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpress-twentyfourteen-theme-a-flawed-beauty/

• Sample sites using Twenty Fourteen• http://uscasce.com/ • http://twentyfourteendemo.wordpress.com/