First Theme of 2009: Grid Focus
We’re happy to announce the launch of our first new theme this year: Grid Focus, by Derek Punsalan.
It’s a clean and simple three-column theme with a couple of special features you’ll dig:
- Two widget areas. Widgets on Grid Focus can be placed in two sidebars.
- Front page icon synced with your blavatar. The blue icon that appears on the front page of Grid Focus by default will change to your blavatar if you’ve uploaded one.
Enjoy!
Jan 12th at 8:24 pm
It’s a good News !
Jan 12th at 8:32 pm
This looks like a wonderful theme. It has many important aspects that I feel are missing from The Journalist theme. Bravo!
Jan 12th at 8:42 pm
Oooo, At first glance I like this because I use a lot of photos and the gallery option. Will try it out asap.
Jan 12th at 10:06 pm
@Bronx: You can use galleries on all of our themes.
Jan 12th at 8:42 pm
It is quite good, but I miss more choice and more support for widgets …
Jan 12th at 8:58 pm
Lovable ! I think i am gonna try it
Jan 12th at 9:11 pm
Lovely. We definitely need more choice in themes. When will the threaded comments be up?
Jan 13th at 1:47 am
Keep an eye on the news blog this year for updates on comments features
Jan 12th at 9:11 pm
It’s great. But how can I remove the blogroll and meta widget at the right? ‘Cus now I have the links at two places on my blog. I couldn’t get meta removed though I removed it at widget settings.
When blogroll and meta are where they are, the posts are so tight. the posts don’t have enough space.
Jan 15th at 2:43 pm
Please contact Support if you’re having trouble adding or removing widgets to your blog.
Jan 12th at 9:13 pm
Looking gr8
finally.
any link to download it from ?
Jan 13th at 1:47 am
If you are on WordPress.com, that theme is already available for you in Appearance > Themes in your dashboard. It is available here for use on WordPress.org installs.
Jan 12th at 9:21 pm
Nice theme, but not to my taste. I hope you have a variety of themes coming up.
Jan 12th at 9:29 pm
Gorgeous! Drag-and-drop editing of widgets would be nice too.
Jan 12th at 9:37 pm
thanks alot
Jan 12th at 9:38 pm
I’m still waiting for a “newpaper” theme. This is amazing but not my kind
Jan 13th at 1:02 am
Have you checked out Journalist?
Jan 12th at 9:43 pm
It is a pleasing theme, but I’m too attached to having a big customizable header. A new theme is always an exciting thing, though. Looking forward to seeing more of them this year! Thanks.
Jan 12th at 9:52 pm
looks good! thanks WordPress!
Jan 12th at 9:55 pm
This does look like a theme more suited to budding photographers and anyone wanting to show off any kind of images. I’m not sure how good it would look for block text posts. It’s nice and clean cut though and I’m sure a lot of people will dig it!
Jan 12th at 10:06 pm
this looks like a good option
wordpress needs a widget to list all your posts in date order; i’d like that!
Jan 13th at 12:59 am
The Recent Posts and Archives widgets might be what you’re after.
Jan 12th at 10:19 pm
Oh – no individual header image. What a pitty …
Jan 12th at 10:43 pm
One question: Can you change the width of the content and sidebar layouts with the CSS upgrade?
The content width seems too narrow right now and, if I decide to change themes, the narrow layout will adversely affect my archived material.
Thanks so much.
Jan 25th at 7:39 am
masterclasslady, you should be able to change the width of the sidebar in Grid Focus, however, each theme is a bit different and doing that could require some advanced CSS. You can always give it a try using the Preview button in your Edit CSS page. Check out the WordPress.com CSS forum and these CSS links for more help.
Jan 12th at 10:46 pm
I like this and if I start a new blog, I might try it, but it’s not right for my current blog. Keep ‘em coming.
Jan 12th at 10:52 pm
Great theme! Derek’s work is awesome!
Jan 12th at 11:02 pm
Wow this is a very nice theme thank you.
Jan 12th at 11:03 pm
Just in time, year 2009!
Hello, Grid focus template!
Thank you, Derek Punsalan
Jan 12th at 11:27 pm
I must be missing something…I don’t see it showing up in the selection of available Themes.
Jan 13th at 10:23 pm
It is on page three under Appearance > Themes, in alpha order.
Jan 12th at 11:33 pm
Oooh! Two widget columns. I like, I like
Jan 12th at 11:40 pm
it looks great, but not my style. i agree with guiye when he says there should be more choice on our end for widgets.
Jan 12th at 11:45 pm
thanks super theme
Jan 13th at 12:05 am
Nice! I will see how this looks with my photo bog. Thanks.
Jan 13th at 12:06 am
clean and simple, i dig. i tend to prefer themes with one column being much larger than the others though.
Jan 13th at 12:27 am
yay new themes!!!! keep em coming! =D
Jan 13th at 12:31 am
hmmm, i’ll have to check this out!
Jan 13th at 12:53 am
Thank you for adding another Theme…was getting kinda boring with playing with the ones available…could we have more with flexible width themes pls?!
Thanx again!!
Jan 13th at 1:12 am
more themes, alright?
wordpress is utterly cool!
Jan 13th at 1:21 am
Hi Heather,
Its nice theme, but not my choice, I’d prefer to choose Misty and Albeo, I’m waiting for more exciting theme.
Thanks for the information.
WP still the best!
-Evi-
Jan 13th at 1:23 am
Sweet new theme. Could you make a new version of FRESHY?
Jan 13th at 1:58 am
thank you for new themes
Jan 13th at 2:07 am
Congrats! Great choice..I was waiting for grid focus since long..
Jan 13th at 3:00 am
Yeah!! A new theme!! It looks good so far : )
Jan 13th at 3:15 am
great ,
is custom heder available ?
Jan 13th at 7:08 pm
No, not for this theme. You can filter for that feature in the dropdown under Appearance > Themes.
Jan 13th at 3:15 am
great ,
is custom header available ?
Jan 14th at 12:55 am
Not for this theme. You can see what other themes have custom headers by selecting that filter from the dropdown under Appearances > Themes.
Jan 13th at 3:21 am
looks great!
I think I’m going to try it
thanks!
Jan 13th at 3:29 am
I’m very much looking forward to the new Comments Features. Great work to the creators here at WordPress and to Derek who did Grid Focus. To put it more mildly, Well done.
Jan 13th at 3:43 am
Sounds good, I’m a relative newbie, Where can I find it and how can I learn to use this feature. I like to use a lot of pictures too.
And this time I am checkmarking the box for emails because I can never find the responses to my posts. Sorry, I told you I was new.
Thanks so much.
Jan 15th at 2:54 pm
You can find this and other themes under Appearances > Themes in your dashboard. Check out Support for more help getting started.
Jan 13th at 3:53 am
sweet! even though I like my theme i might do it on another site…
Jan 13th at 4:19 am
oh, clean and organized. Might try it.
Jan 13th at 4:22 am
How about a good search engine which is capable of mining the old articles?
How about a way to set up an index page with a table of contents?
Jan 25th at 7:40 am
These are both really good suggestions.
Jan 13th at 4:23 am
At last, a theme that can display more visually.
Will check it out.
Thanks a bunch.
Jan 13th at 4:34 am
splendid!!!!!!!!!!!
Jan 13th at 4:36 am
This is a very nice looking theme…. but still not quite what I need. I would like a four column theme that allows me to put the blog in one medium-large width column, an RSS feed in another medium-small width column, a third column like the second for another RSS feed, and finally a narrower fourth column for other widgets. None of the current four column themes quite work for me. In particular, none have the simple design I would like.
Jan 13th at 4:42 am
Sounds good, thanks.
Well, m usin’ mobile right nw. Maybe will try it later.
Jan 13th at 4:43 am
bravo!
Jan 13th at 5:20 am
nice, good and beautifful…thanks
Jan 13th at 5:47 am
I feel a strong urge to use this theme, but then again probably everyone else looking for a change would use this. Hehehe I’ll wait for the next themes to be uploaded. Very nice theme though.
Jan 13th at 6:10 am
I’d like to be able to utilize widgets at the bottom of my pages, as well as alongside, ideally for any theme.
Jan 13th at 6:24 am
wow, nested pages! don’t think i’ve seen this elsewhere. very clean–i may have to give it a test drive!
keep bringing us more more more themes! (thank you!) and i vote for flex widths, customizable headers, and fonts that are large enough to read both in the posts and in the comments please oh please
Jan 13th at 7:05 am
bravo!!!!
Jan 13th at 8:37 am
Good job! You’re adding a lot of themes in the last months, but not a black/dark one. I, for one, would love a new one. Is any black theme on the line?
Jan 20th at 1:55 am
Thanks for your suggestion. Stayed tuned to the news blog for updates on new themes
Jan 13th at 8:37 am
Good news, I like it, thank’s !
Jan 13th at 9:19 am
Well done Heather! Looking forward to the new theme.
Thanx!
Jan 13th at 6:57 pm
Don’t thank me, thank Derek and our design team
Jan 13th at 9:25 am
hmmm… not my kind of theme, but thanks for adding it.
Jan 13th at 9:28 am
Who do I have to hug to get another Photoblog Theme??!?!?
Please please please please…. You guys are SOOO awesome, but the photoblog thing is one type you’re a little thin on…
Jan 13th at 9:36 am
I like the way WordPress always try and introduce new things. New Grid Theme isn’t really for me, but I am exploring others that I like. Well done WordPress for trying to keep us all happy! lol.
Jan 13th at 9:42 am
It is too simple, however thanks for adding
Jan 13th at 9:42 am
this theme sucks…
Jan 13th at 9:44 am
I like the “Browse by Topic” feature of this theme. I am not into 3-column page though.
BTW, I told Justin Tadlock of WordPress.org that I wished he would develop a theme for wordpress.com.
This was his reply:
“I’m not even sure how to get a theme on WordPress.com. If Matt ever opens up the WordPress Theme Marketplace, I’ll definitely add some themes.”
I really wish Mr.Matt would open up the WordPress Theme Marketplace. I like the style of Justin Tadlock’s themes. It’s simple, yet you’ll love to see the site theme again and again. Usually his themes have “Excerpt” feature for blog posts, and that’s another feature I’m looking for in a theme.
Do I sound demanding?
This is just a wish. 
Jan 13th at 10:00 am
Might be an idea to tag it with ‘three columns’ ?
And if only this came in two columns like The Journalist, sigh
R!
Jan 13th at 10:31 pm
The three-column filter now displays Grid Focus.
Jan 13th at 10:35 am
Nice theme. I’d like to use a version of this that had two columns.
Jan 13th at 10:47 am
Thanks, but my widgets do not work with it.
Jan 13th at 6:38 pm
We don’t allow javascript, Flash, or iframes for security reasons. If you’re having trouble with an HTML widget, please contact Support.
Jan 13th at 11:26 am
Great theme,but need a theme that looks like washingtonpost.com,cnn.com or bbc.co.uk website.
Jan 13th at 12:15 pm
That’s one thing that would be great … flexible width themes. For me a two column, flexible width, with customisable header.
DavidA
Jan 13th at 12:25 pm
great theme! modern and clear
Jan 13th at 12:27 pm
Looks good and I’m tempted to try it out.
Jan 13th at 12:28 pm
Thanks and great to hear that, since there are so many widgets out there, 3 columns themes will definitely gain a lot of popularity. What will it be available? i do not seem to see under appearance yet. Will it be possible to have a customised header?
Jan 13th at 10:31 pm
You can see Grid Focus on page three under Appearance > Themes. There is not a custom header option for this theme.
Jan 13th at 12:29 pm
concentrate…focus….quality is better than quantity…
2×2=4
4×4=16…
Jan 13th at 12:43 pm
Not diggin’ it. I can’t get into it.
Jan 13th at 12:55 pm
nice theme..
but i still love depo masthead..
i agree.. we need a lot of NEW themes…
Thanks anyway..
Jan 13th at 1:01 pm
focus on grid huh? might as well try this, but i’m looking for another theme that suits me^^
…so i’ll stick with my default
Jan 13th at 1:39 pm
Oh wow, thank you!
Jan 13th at 1:54 pm
Isn’t the enduring obsession with blue and grey a little, I don’t know, 2006? It was nice to see some innovation going on last year with genuinely new themes such as Monotone and DePo Masthead, so it’s disappointing to see you falling back on something that’s been knocking around for nearly two years now. We already have plenty of similar themes from that era, how about adding something more contemporary?
Jan 13th at 2:01 pm
BTW, the only thing I wished you could add to this theme, if at all possible for later changes like a version 2, is to allow visuals of 500px × 375px because that’s the size I like to post on my photoblog. ^^
Jan 13th at 2:16 pm
A pity that the main header is in uppercase fonts…
don’t these designers know that uppercase is a long time passè, gone forever ???
anyway thanks, I’ll wait for WordPress’ next
Jan 13th at 2:37 pm
Nice theme, looks very clean and fast loading..
Jan 13th at 2:45 pm
Been looking for a clean theme like this. Thanks WP and Derek!
Jan 13th at 2:56 pm
already using it, thanks a lot. i love this section: Browse by Topic. It’s useful for blog that have many categories. moreover, it’s clean and tidy layout. like it so much.
Jan 13th at 3:21 pm
Love this theme. Please please come up with more 3 column themes.
Jan 13th at 3:58 pm
I wish, somehow, that it would be more obvious to the casual blogger how some of these themes can be the base for a customized look.
I think if there was a showcase of sites that use customized themes using the base themes available at WordPress.com would be cool and help those designers who do good work with CSS get their name out there.
With that said, I am glad of all the cool stuff WordPress is doing, and there continued effort to giving us all sorts of themes to use. I think we have almost 20+ themes at our disposal. Keep up the good work.
Jan 13th at 4:15 pm
Thanks alot wordpress!
~Caligirl998
Jan 13th at 4:39 pm
neat!,
hopin for more
( can’t have enough 
)
Jan 13th at 4:43 pm
good theme, need more
Jan 13th at 4:49 pm
Nice. So where is it in the wordpress.com Manage Themes? I can’t find it. Or is this not available to wordpress.com users even though this is a wordpress.com blog? Just asking.
Jan 13th at 6:32 pm
Grid Focus is currently on page three of the Appearance > Themes, in alpha order.
Jan 13th at 4:49 pm
Great news. I’m already using it in one of my blogs.
Good job, Derek!
Jan 13th at 5:04 pm
Hm…nice. I’ll try it an other time!
Jan 13th at 6:06 pm
Awesome, thanks!
Jan 13th at 6:09 pm
Looks unbelievable! Sleek, stylish, has that come hither look while establishing a don’t waste my time attitude.
I was talking about Heather’s new pic… the new theme is ok… I guess.
^_^
Jan 13th at 6:23 pm
Looks great – thanks
Jan 13th at 7:25 pm
Oh I like this one. Will give it a try later.
Jan 13th at 8:28 pm
mmmm great theme but not really my taste of themes
Jan 13th at 8:41 pm
It’s a good theme, but I prefer darker themes (but not black). Gray is best because it’s easier on my eyes. This one is too bright for my tastes, but I’m sure it will appeal to someone out there.
Kudos to WordPress for making new themes available.
Goon
Jan 13th at 9:05 pm
It might be helpful if you tagged it “three columns” in keeping with the other 3-column themes.
Jan 13th at 10:37 pm
Grid Focus now displays on the three-column filter page.