Free WordPress Theme Framework: Biblioteca

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May 13th, 2010

After redesigning WPShout a couple of months ago, I decided to add some advanced features to the theme, package it up and release it into the wild. The result? Biblioteca. It’s a mix between a magazine theme, a tech blog theme, a bloggy theme and a theme framework – it looks quite nice out the box but has a solid library of advanced features including an advanced theme options page, widgets all over the place, in post SEO options, the lot. The features list is as follows:

A practical theme framework that offers a solid starting point for any WordPress theme.
Plug and play – works out of the box, with an extensive options page.
Awesome SEO. Everyone talks about their theme having ‘awesome SEO’, but Biblioteca doesn’t just let you believe it, it has options for setting the post title and description.
Featured content gallery – Biblioteca uses Chris Coyier’s jQuery slider.
Extensive options page – pictured below, the options page lets you change a ton of options, from the width of the sidebar to the contents of the footer to the ads in the sidebar to your Analytics tracking code.
Magazine look – you want a fancy featured content gallery? Biblioteca has one. Enable/disable it from the opions page.
Tech blog look – you want a couple of posts featured below the main featured content gallery? Biblioteca has got one of them; it’s widgetised too.
Bloggy look – you just want a blog? Biblioteca can do that as well. Just set the options in the options panel.
Drop down navigation – Biblioteca has some rather nice drop down navigation.
A ton of widgets – Biblioteca has an ever expanding number of widget ready areas in all sorts of places that allow you to easily pop text just about anywhere.
Fancy footer – the three column footer here on WPShout is often complimented and you too can have one – Biblioteca has one which you can enable/disable from the options page.
Auto image resizing – set an image to display on the homepage and it’ll automatically resize itself.
Multiple layouts – through the options panel you can change the layout, having a thin main content area, a slightly larger main content area or an even bigger main content area.
The list goes on – just download it and see for yourself!

When creating Biblioteca I wanted to make something that would allow me to rapidly develop future themes, something I’ve done. Whether that makes it a ‘framework’ or not I don’t know. What I do know is that if you’re a designer looking to create an awesome WordPress theme but you don’t want to start from scratch, you could do worse than base your theme on Biblioteca. If you’re not a developer, then by no means are you alienated from using Biblioteca; the advanced theme options and in-post SEO options make it a great choice for any blog – take a look at WPShout and you’ll see; pretty much all I’ve done is change the background on the theme.

As in accordance with WordPress itself, the theme is GPL, although offered ‘as is’ with no free support. You can see the theme live here and grab the download it here. Enjoy!