WordPress 3.8 came with a new default theme. It's a radical departure from previous themes. TJ List takes it for a spin.

1. New Year, New Theme?
The Ups, Downs, and Sideways of
Twenty Fourteen
TJ List
9-Feb-2014
Metro Detroit WordPress Meetup
http://maxim650.com | @TJList

2. Introducing Twenty Fourteen
• Released on December 12, 2013
• New Default Theme for WordPress Version 3.8
http://twentyfourteendemo.wordpress.com/

3. 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

4. …Magazine Website
RESPONSIVE

5. Desktop (1600x1200)

6. Laptop

7. iPad 2

8. Phone (Galaxy Nexus)

9. 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.

10. …shown in a Grid or Slider
FEATURED CONTENT

11. 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.

12. …Standard, Full Width and Contributor Pages
TEMPLATES

13. 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.

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

15. Useful Plugins
• http://wordpress.org/plugins/fourteen-colors/
• http://wordpress.org/plugins/fourteen-extended/

16. …a dress, it would work well on a model. It is limited off the catwalk.
IF TWENTY FOURTEEN WERE

17. 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

18. More Reading
• http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpresstwentyfourteen-theme-a-flawed-beauty/
• Sample sites using Twenty Fourteen
• http://uscasce.com/
• http://twentyfourteendemo.wordpress.com/