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Posted: Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 8:24 pm. Filed in Themes.


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New Theme: Andrea

by Lance Willett

Our newest theme is Andrea, a gorgeously minimal two-column theme with an unusual blue color scheme.

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Though the design may seem simple on the surface, once you try it you will appreciate its flexibility. I love Andrea both for its elegance and for its level of customization, and I think you will, too.

This theme includes two layout choices. The default layout is wide, yet flexible: the main column becomes wider or narrower depending on the size of your browser window. It is smart enough to adapt not only the width of the main column but to also adjust your images to make sure they fit correctly.

The alternate layout option is fixed-width—and narrower—to give your site a controlled, form-fitting feel. To enable this layout option visit Appearance→Theme Options.

Andrea is loaded with customization options, including Custom Menu, Custom Background, and Custom Header.*

Designed by Lucian Marin, Andrea is now available for WordPress.com and, for self-hosted WordPress.org sites, from the WordPress.org Themes Directory.

Quick Specs (all measurements in pixels):

  1. Wide, flexible-width layout (default): the site width adjusts between a minimum width of 900 and maximum width of 1280 (the main column limits are 700 and 1000, roughly). Images in the main column have a maximum width of 1000, and the custom header image is 1270 in width.
  2. Narrow, fixed-width layout: the site width is 700 and the main column width is 500. Images in the main column have a maximum width of 500, and the custom header image is 690 in width.

* Andrea allows both title and description text to be hidden completely from the custom header area.

Update: An astute reader noted that maximum size for the flexible width should be 1280 pixels—which is in fact correct. We’ve updated the layout to be 80 pixels wider, which means the main column images can be 1000 pixels wide and your header image should be sized to 1270 x 260 pixels.


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190 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. David Hutton

    Too blue for me!

  2. chaitanyaprakash

    The new theme—Andrea—is really pleasant. It goes with all sorts of moods.

  3. Steves

    Minimal is always good! :) Thanks for sharing your new theme!

  4. webmistress

    You guys and gals just keep on rolling out the themes don’t you? Give yourselves a pat on the shoulder for a good job well done.

  5. الهام - روح پرتابل

    Nice coloring, I love this blue spectrum.

  6. Judea Jackson

    Great theme, would LOVE to see it with a feature image/ post preview option.

  7. Motivator

    It’s beautiful… I like it… Thanks!

  8. Mauricio L.

    Might have to try it out. Having a width layout option is awesome.

  9. flosplace

    I like it a lot!!! The blue is nice enough, but not being a fan of blue, can we change that blue background to a color of our choice? Could we have a theme like this where we can also change the font in each article without having to know any programing? Please oh please!!! Last but not least, can we have some more female oriented themes that can be used with fashion/makeup blogs??

    Thanks for all the great work on these themes – some of these are absolutely wonderful!!!

    • Ian Stewart

      The blue background in Andrea can be changed to any color—or image—you like by visiting Appearance > Background in your dashboard. More themes with more customization options are coming—including, hopefully, some more fashion/design-oriented themes.

  10. Silva

    Changed immediately to it. Been looking for a solid looking theme for ages, since K2 was becoming a bit boring after…. 2 1/2 years. This is it.

    Just one thing, isn’t it possible to add an option to swap the sidebar to the right?

    • Ian Stewart

      Positioning the sidebar on the right side of the layout, isn’t currently a theme option with Andrea but it might be something we’d consider as a future theme enhancement. In the meantime, if you consider yourself experienced with CSS, that’s something that can be accomplished with our Custom CSS upgrade.

  11. Lucy

    What about a simple, two or three column theme that has the icons for Facebook, RSS, Twitter and Flickr? Kinda like the Notepad theme, but not so iPhone looking. I like Structure, but that featured post thing is annoying. Get rid of that and add the icons and you’d have a perfect theme!

  12. VatuBarok

    Plowing a way for the next generation of customized themes, and looking good along the way!
    And my fav name, as well!

    Is it true you can make the background go all black? Then sign me up, I’m taking this one for a spin tomorrow for myself! :D

  13. mynameiscassiex

    Great theme! I think it would really match the tones of a lot of blogs.

  14. YOKE

    So far, I think Fjords is my favorite layout.

  15. PC-Meniac

    Awesome….sure is fantastic!

  16. nktrygg

    Pretty. I think I’ll have to preview it.

  17. JL

    Yay, thanks so much for such a quick response to some of our suggestions about wide-set themes!
    I’m not so fond of the “unusual blue” though. Does custom background mean I can change the color?
    Thanks again! =D

    • Ian Stewart

      Yep, the background is totally customizable. Visit Appearance > Background from your dashboard to see all the options. This is a feature we’ll be adding to as many themes as possible.

  18. Maryam

    Nice theme. I like the frequent theme updates. Thanks a lot for that. :)

  19. keikomushi

    Love the features and layout, but I think it would be better if you had color scheme options for this theme. Otherwise, it is great to see another release from the WordPress.com theme team.

  20. Elena

    Yay, it looks so good!

  21. Andrea

    Love the name ;P

  22. Jane

    More girly themes, please? :)

  23. onebigadventure

    Nice, though i can’t say it would suit my blog, But im sure some people will find this useful :)

  24. thipen

    I will test it today =D

  25. kristenoutoften

    I’m really impressed by the range of variety in the themes, but I still like it simple :)

  26. jandoe

    You guys are spoiling us with so many themes! (…and i love them all!) :)

  27. VatuBarok

    I turned it black, and it might just become my favorite theme yet! <3

  28. icegig

    It is so nice.

  29. Little Professor

    Nice theme. I still prefer Motion though. I think you should make a theme with a moving background.

  30. ironbutterfly989

    I love this theme. Although, I was wondering if there’s anything in purple. Been waiting for a purple theme for a while now.

  31. Dallas O'Malley

    Thanks for some color. Whew. Saw Greyzed now this! On a roll! Thanks for listening with out requests for color variety.

  32. Car

    This is wowtastic!!

  33. shekharonline

    Agreed to Debbie. The comments should be placed at the bottom. BLUE is so coool ;) . BTW which is the theme in which this post appears :)

  34. qlooop

    Fun, beautiful blue.

  35. michiko

    Finally an add to the few flexible width layouts! I’d definitely go for it if it were in some neutral color instead of blue. I hope you make more themes with a flexible width.. there are only so few one can use for posting images that are 700+ px wide.

  36. Ummie

    Feminine and lovely. Good effort!

  37. sid

    I always love flexible width themes… I will try in a couple of days. :)

  38. Aditya

    Theme made me go “Meh” for some reason :)

  39. Dea Silenziosa

    I’ve just adopted ‘Andrea’ (flexible-width layout) in my second blog!
    I think i’ve chosen a beautiful custom image header, that matches with the blue color of the theme: I like the result so much!
    Thanks guys! :)

  40. calippo palsu

    I knew this theme would make it here! The best feature of this theme is the flexible width with a maximum limit. Only if it had option to change font color, i could have used it with a white background. Anyways its a wonderful addition.

  41. cmblake6

    VERY nice. I quite like that one as a possible alternative to what I currently use.

  42. George Kazazis

    I like it and I am using it now but with a more gray than blue color. Thank’s for all of this work about themes.

  43. dailycharbucksfix

    Oh holla! Lovin’ the new theme!

  44. topmlmsystems

    Very elegant, I must say!

  45. jeremiahandrews

    I noticed with this theme is that it is Left Handed. (the widgets) are on the left. I rather prefer them on the right hand side of the frame. I did click the theme into my box for a bit, but went back to twenty ten. I wonder if the columns can be reversed? from left to right??? I love the blue color and the look of the theme. The layout of the columns messes with my mind though,

  46. Rokugatsu

    Ahh, this is exacly what I was looking for! Too bad we can’t change text color. Because of that we can’t use white/light background sinds text is also light.
    Anyway, Im going to change my theme soon! Thank you!

  47. niceartlife

    Stylish theme, I like it.

  48. mondoprinte

    Nice… but now I’m blinded by the blue colour ;-) !

  49. Jane

    It’s nice! But please, can you add more magazine style themes?

  50. Aiman Amani

    Oh, my! This is so beautiful! Oh, if only my father would allow me to switch themes…

  51. seoulgurl11

    I like it, I just might change my background now ;)

  52. Byron Producciones

    This theme has the name of my girlfriend, cool!!!

  53. anill07

    Very nice… great theme!

  54. Pingback: Uusi teema: Andrea (Blogi: WordPress.com News) « Tukisivusto
  55. Wilhelm2451

    I like it, but I always find left hand side bars disrupt the flow of my reading. If it had the option to swap to a right hand side bar I’d be using this theme even now.

  56. didosujaya

    The lovely blue … so calm, dude.

  57. nadiaqh

    You picked a nice color of blue… that makes a huge difference in appearance. I like it!

  58. Nur Meryem Seja

    It looks nice.

  59. Nick

    I like the ability to change from fixed-width to adjustable width. I look forward to more color options.

  60. Bern

    Nice theme, although I’m not using it yet, this one looks great. :) Simple and elegant.

  61. Heather

    This is a beautiful theme, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can we have it with a 3-column option? Y’all have been putting out some great themes lately, but sadly all 2-column, or only with multiple column footers… I want this theme too! :-(

  62. mattvolke

    Very sharp! You guys are awesome. I <3 WordPress

  63. r

    I would be all over this theme if it were in white or black… it’s so hard to find a theme that fits images correctly.

  64. Roxy

    Sweet looking theme! I really like it… but I probably won’t change. I’m very set in my ways, and change is not good for me. ;-)

  65. seaportsoapopera

    I like the blue! Really soothing and calm!

  66. Raqueeb Hassan

    Great theme! Much better.

  67. dorothy272

    Hi – yeah – this theme is great! Only thing is i am doing a blog about cats – can you make a theme that is furry or says meow or something? :D

  68. imaginethatnz

    Hi. Wow, I have to say, I am blown away by the responses people have given for this theme. Please don’t get me wrong, this is a fine theme, and has some good options with it.
    I am commenting on the comments, rather than the theme itself.

    Comments like “Awesome”, “WOW”, “Beautiful”, “Neat”, “Gorgeous!”, Speechless”, “Great”, “cool”, “Creative”…really? Is it that amazing? Maybe I’m just a grinch, but its just a blue background with a white text menu… Hey this is just my humble opinion.

    • Lance Willett

      We think it’s amazing, that’s why we chose to launch it. And it’s great to hear that the majority of you like it, too.

      Remember, it’s more than just a pretty design—which is what I wrote about in the post, starting with:

      Though the design may seem simple on the surface, once you try it you will appreciate its flexibility.

      Great themes work great under the hood, too.

  69. twishasharma

    I really like it, specially the colour. Its relaxing to the eyes.

  70. duaunta

    Oh .. oh .. I want that theme in my blog.

  71. Sylvi

    I LOVE this theme and used it immediately when I saw it online! So I can show my pictures in there full beauty – and can use WordPress FINALLY as my website, because of the custom backround and custom header… Just GREAT! Thank you!

  72. Pacha34

    Flexible width seems like such a basic need for a webpage. I looked at my page on a friends computer and the pictures were covering up the writing. So, I’ll give this a shot.

  73. Uki Uki Saki

    WOW! AWESOME! Gotta change mine soon!

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