New Theme: Matala
Today we’re excited to launch Matala, our newest theme. You might recognize this one — it was once the primary theme for ma.tt, Matt Mullenweg’s blog. Last year, Matala was released to the WordPress.org Themes Directory, and now we’re thrilled to bring it to WordPress.com.
The Matala Theme
Originally designed by Nicolò Volpato, Matala’s bright colors and dynamic shapes are suggestive of designs seen in Talavera, a pottery tradition common in Puebla, Mexico. Grungy textures, hand-scribbled icons, and whimsically tilting text in the main navigation menu join the colors and shapes to give your blog a bright, playful look.
You can use Matala’s fun design as is, or create a look of your own with a custom background image and custom header image.
Matala comes with three widget-ready areas: the right-hand sidebar and two columns at the bottom of your post content column. In addition, there is a full-width page for single-image pages, an option to display a small “Random Photos” gallery on single-image pages, and support for six post formats — aside, status, quote, video, image and gallery.
Learn more about Matala’s features on the Theme Showcase.
Jul 13th at 1:16 am
like like like! ♥
Jul 13th at 1:17 am
I LOVE it!
Jul 13th at 1:19 am
If only there are more themes with transparent text background option so it merges with the background. I’ll wait ’til the time comes…
Jul 13th at 1:43 am
You can change the color of the header text in Appearance > Header, and it will blend in with the background. You can also upload a transparent PNG or GIF as your custom header image.
Jul 13th at 1:21 am
Love the background.
Jul 13th at 1:40 am
Cool theme, but I think I’ll stick with Chateau
Jul 13th at 1:49 am
I looove it! Just replaced my old theme. And I can even change the color! Sweet! Thank you! =)
Jul 13th at 1:51 am
You’re welcome. Glad you like it.
Jul 13th at 1:57 am
What a colourful theme!
Jul 13th at 2:02 am
I like the scrapbook look of this theme. I think I will have to try it out and give the Choco theme a bit of a rest.
Jul 13th at 2:07 am
Hooray for colourful themes!
Jul 13th at 2:09 am
Finally–another whimsical theme! Hope to see a few more of these in the future (It’s always nice to have options):) For now Koi is still the best fit for my blog, but I wanted to congratulate you on the awesome new theme.
Jul 13th at 2:13 am
Cool, WordPress.com theme keep pushing out new theme every week, this is a plus for WordPress.com users!!
By the way, just hope that WordPress.com team put more focus to photography blogger – it really a BIG market. So far there is not much choices of free theme for photos sharing / photography related…
Jul 13th at 3:03 am
We’re listening. We have many more themes — including themes centered around photo-sharing and photography — on our radar.
Jul 13th at 2:25 am
I like it!♥
Jul 13th at 2:30 am
Changes on the old theme make a world of a difference. But what I need is a flexible three-column theme.
So, keep more themes coming, please. Cheers!
Jul 13th at 3:07 am
We have many more themes coming.
Jul 13th at 2:33 am
Love it feels warm, thanks
for the warm fuzzy
Jul 13th at 2:34 am
Another new theme. Great. Keep ‘em coming.
Jul 13th at 2:41 am
A very happy background there! Wish WordPress.com provided us some wallpaper choices to go with certain themes…like yours.
Jul 13th at 2:44 am
I love the colors!
Thank you for bringing this to the table!
Jul 13th at 3:11 am
A beautiful theme. I love it!
Jul 13th at 3:14 am
I love this template.
Jul 13th at 3:20 am
That’s one cool theme
Jul 13th at 3:38 am
It’s gorgeous ！
Jul 13th at 3:45 am
I like it. It’s a fun theme that’s colorful and it has some nice features too like the 6 post formats. I especially like the full-width page for single-image pages, and an option to display a small “Random Photos” gallery on single pages.
Jul 13th at 3:51 am
Sweet I have been waiting for this theme since Matt mentioned about adding this theme to the WP.com theme directory.
Jul 13th at 4:06 am
Just love it
It’s a wonderful theme for a personal blog. I wish I could use it only for the diary section.
Jul 13th at 4:21 am
LOVE it! So hippy and retro…MORE scrappy, whimsical, grungy textures, hand-scribbled icons, PLEASE!!!!!!!
Jul 14th at 12:15 am
So glad you love it. We have plenty more themes on the way.
Jul 13th at 4:45 am
Beautiful to say the least ..
Jul 13th at 4:53 am
Oh, wonderful! Really! Thanks!
Jul 13th at 5:03 am
Like it, thank you!
Jul 13th at 5:05 am
Great new colourful theme.
Jul 13th at 5:19 am
oh wow! omg its so pretty!!!!
Jul 13th at 5:19 am
Cool and looking forward for that!!!!
Jul 13th at 5:38 am
That’s one sweet theme, and it’s free? Hard to believe. I’m guessing the post format incorporations are like Mystique? Are there any other themes with similar capabilities?
Jul 14th at 12:22 am
We have quite a few themes in our Theme Showcase that support post formats. Take a look at them to see how each one implements the post formats.
Jul 13th at 5:52 am
I do love it. Thanks.
Jul 13th at 5:56 am
Very pretty! Thanks for making it available.
Jul 13th at 6:00 am
Love it
Jul 13th at 6:06 am
That’s lovely!
Jul 13th at 6:30 am
Love the idea of the random image widget at the bottom of the attachment page. Would also love to see the addition of a random single image widget for our sidebar! It’s one of the most often questions I get asked on my Not-the-Official-WordPress.com Gallery FAQ.
Jul 13th at 11:41 pm
Hi there. Thank you for the suggestion. If we decide to add a random image widget in the future as an enhancement to the theme, we will be sure to let you know.
Jul 13th at 6:34 am
Really funky – not right for my blog, but maybe for a future project. Great work, keep them coming. You know we all love new themes!
Jul 13th at 7:08 am
cool
Jul 13th at 7:23 am
Awesome!
This is suitable for young people
Thank you
Jul 13th at 7:24 am
Background is more prominent than foreground. Specially the big circle.
Jul 13th at 4:27 pm
Yes, the background is one of the major emphases in this theme. You can emphasize the foreground by either setting a background color or uploading a low-key custom background image.
Jul 13th at 7:33 am
Wow. I mean, really… WOW!
I’m a big believer in matching a theme to the tone of a blog — so considering I blog about the crazy aftermath of my crazy divorce (in a somewhat snarky, sometimes cynical way), I’m thinking this may not be the best match. At least not now.
Thanks for this new, very FRESH option. I *heart* choices!
Jul 13th at 7:37 am
Sooo wonderful, I’m using your theme rigth now. Nice work !
Jul 13th at 8:06 am
I love this! Thanks!
Jul 13th at 8:12 am
This has a very refreshing feel to it
Jul 13th at 8:15 am
I like it, so much.
Jul 13th at 8:16 am
wow!
Jul 13th at 8:25 am
Love the creativity and colors. Stands out!
Jul 13th at 8:41 am
cool…
Jul 13th at 8:45 am
I *heart* this theme! Finally a theme that catches my heart ;D
Jul 13th at 9:05 am
Matala here in Uganda means lights!
Jul 13th at 9:14 am
Looks great.
Jul 13th at 9:19 am
How sweet to see this old friend of mine again. Thanx Matt for keeping your promise to share your old theme with the community.
Jul 14th at 2:59 pm
My pleasure! It’s really the theme team that did all the work here.
Jul 13th at 9:24 am
Wuha! That looks nice! I like it! All the beauty colors!
Pretty!
Jul 13th at 9:26 am
its nice and beautiful
Jul 13th at 9:29 am
Very artistic! At first, I thought it was inspired by Matala in the Greek island of Crete and Hippies’ activities and designs. Still, captivating and pleasantly fresh with nice features too.
Jul 13th at 9:29 am
It’s too colourfull
Jul 13th at 4:08 pm
Sorry this theme is not to your tastes. Hopefully the next theme we release will be more to your liking.
Jul 13th at 9:46 am
Nice one!
Having a large customizable header/background like this gives room for a lot of visual possibilities. This couldn’t have arrived at a better time! I’m about to make a poetry blog and I just might use this theme.
Keep them coming, Theme Team!
Cheers!
Jul 13th at 9:57 am
beautiful of color themes…. nice work
Jul 13th at 10:45 am
already switched to this theme… i have mine on a minimalist white.
i wish i could retain the grunge-type edges even if i change background / header. still, great theme! 
Jul 13th at 4:05 pm
Hi there. With the Custom Design upgrade, you can use CSS to add your own grungy textures to the edges.
Jul 13th at 10:47 am
Wow. It’s cool. Nice job.
Jul 13th at 11:00 am
Very beautiful. Congratulations!
Jul 13th at 11:33 am
Like it!
Jul 13th at 11:33 am
Yep looks good to me
Jul 13th at 11:51 am
we need more group themes
ones that have author images right up-front with pictures and more details about each author perhaps to the right! The only one I have seen now is P2 and it is just like twitter! no fun 
Jul 13th at 2:42 pm
We will take your suggestion into account — we’re always launching more themes
— but in the mean time, you can use the Authors Widget with any theme.
Jul 13th at 11:53 am
Love the look and feel…especially as the header and the background images can be changed. I bet that the artistic-types are going to go crazy about it. It will need a lot of work for me to use this theme (I already use a background image – but it’s too formal and won’t go with the casual and fun nature of this theme.) Will post a comment here, if I do. Thanks WordPress, for keeping us on our toes
Jul 13th at 12:08 pm
Thank you! I love this theme! The colors really grab you. I’m curious to see how my readers like the new look.
Jul 13th at 12:35 pm
nice
Jul 13th at 12:42 pm
The colors are just stunning! Love it.
Jul 13th at 12:42 pm
This is one of the amazing themes so far. Lots of thank to WordPress.com!
Jul 13th at 1:03 pm
Nice.
Any themes on the horizon that center around telescopes…and…astronomy?
Jul 13th at 3:59 pm
Howdy. We have many new themes on the horizon. Thank you for your suggestions, will definitely take them into account.
Many of our themes allow you to upload a custom background and custom header image. This helps you to customize the theme so that it focuses on your interests. 
Jul 13th at 1:15 pm
I am so happy! I’ve been admiring this for a while and thought the .orgers were so lucky to be able to use it! Yay! Thank you!!
Jul 13th at 1:18 pm
Very nice!
Jul 13th at 1:18 pm
Very colorful. I think it would work well for someone who doesn’t have many images and wants to spice up their blog.
Jul 13th at 2:25 pm
I wanted to switch but when I tested the custom background feature the tattered paper elements went away too, which is a shame, and since the menu was see-though it made it sort of unreadable. I was close to switching though. Keep ‘em coming! I’m 90% thrilled with my Fruit Shake theme but there is such a colossal amount of white space under photos that it makes thumbnail galleries just look silly XP
Jul 13th at 11:25 pm
When you add a custom background to Matala, the theme’s own background images will be disabled to allow your custom background to shine. With the Custom Design upgrade, you can use CSS to tweak the menu’s design to make it more readable with your custom background.
Jul 13th at 2:49 pm
The best theme I’ve seen! Thanks for that….
Jul 13th at 2:55 pm
This one is gorgeous! Also just wanted to say thanks for all the new themes. Love the frequency and quality.
Jul 13th at 3:15 pm
Well done.
Jul 13th at 3:36 pm
So many beautiful themes lately…I’m using Fruit Shake right now, but when I get tired of that, this will be one of my top choices to change to. Thanks so much for this ornate, colorful theme!
Jul 13th at 3:56 pm
Looks great
I’m using the new fruit shake theme you brought out last week, love it! 
Jul 13th at 4:11 pm
Oooooh, niiiice!
Jul 13th at 4:17 pm
This is so pretty
)
Jul 13th at 5:26 pm
Love it! This is something i would imagine on a travel blog, or something like that. A definite choice for when i need to change mine.
Jul 13th at 5:48 pm
That’s fantastic! So pretty! =)
Jul 13th at 6:04 pm
Nice , but what is the maximum displayed width for images ?
Jul 13th at 11:12 pm
The theme will display images up to about 635 pixels wide on regular pages, and up to 848 pixels wide on single-image pages.
Jul 13th at 6:21 pm
Supergorgeous theme! I just changed mine to Chateu and got all my Widgets fixed, but I’m going for this one next time. Changing theme is like changing furniture or curtains
Jul 13th at 8:23 pm
So pretty and intricate! I love it! A theme with sass!
Jul 13th at 8:36 pm
So pretty! I think I’ll try this out for my reading list blog.
Jul 13th at 9:54 pm
Would really love some musical or theatre toned/styles templates! Just a thought … or request …
Jul 13th at 10:49 pm
We have many more themes on the way and we will take your suggestion into account.
Jul 13th at 10:48 pm
So colorful! I am a veteran theme hopper but I utterly LOVE this one! Don’t feel the need for changing backgrounds nor for a custom header. Now I am middle-aged, I am more attracted to bright colors than when I was younger – sounds backward, doesn’t it? This is absolutely lovely. Thank you. I can live with this theme for a long time
.
Jul 13th at 11:49 pm
The header is simply tooooo much!
Jul 14th at 12:02 am
You can upload a custom header or background image of your own to tweak the theme more to your liking.
Jul 14th at 12:36 am
Just switched and am happily fiddling with the design. Loving it so far for the different posting options which I’m interested to try, and for the fact that I can still post pretty LARGE pictures. Like others, I do wish I could keep some of the grungy edges and fiddle with link colors perhaps, but I’m happy enough with it so far. Thanks!
Jul 14th at 12:48 am
Incredibly pretty and vibrant, really tempting me to explore a change of look for my blog.
Jul 14th at 3:52 am
Nice, now I need to find a reason to to start another blog lol.
Jul 14th at 4:29 am
Love the theme, but it’s not for me, too girly for my blog.
Jul 14th at 8:32 am
Dang! And I just changed my theme recently. So don’t want to change again in a long time but WordPress is making that impossible for me.
hehe
Thanks for this new theme, anyways!
Jul 14th at 9:42 am
i like it.
Jul 14th at 4:25 pm
I have to thank you for this theme. I have been waiting for this type of theme for almost 2 years now. I absolutely love it. I hope you make more that are like it.
Jul 14th at 4:47 pm
I’m using your theme right now! Wow…very colorful! “It’s only…Matala…but I like it”
Dear greetings vom Germany!
Jul 14th at 4:50 pm
This is a wild thing!