Early Theme Adopters: McKinley
In our Early Theme Adopters series, we focus on bloggers creating great sites with the most recent additions to our Theme Showcase. Today, let’s visit some of the sites that are already using McKinley, a modern, visually striking theme.
With a highly readable type and the option to display full-width featured images and gallery sliders, McKinley makes your site look energized, but never busy.
Among its other great features are three custom color palettes, distinct looks for post formats like quotes and links, and an adaptive widget area that self-organizes into neat columns in the footer. It comes as no surprise that since its launch in January Mckinley‘s already become the theme of choice for thousands. Here’s a sample of some notable early adopters.
elizabethpaterson.com
In this site, the sons of late artist Elizabeth Paterson showcase and catalogue their mother’s paintings. It’s a lovely tribute, and the art is treated with all the respect it deserves.
They created a homepage with an elegant, full-width slider featuring Elizabeth’s work, as well as designated pages for the different media she worked in, like oil and watercolor. The pages are all easy to find with the theme’s clear, customizable menu.
.documenting.the.obvious
Peter, the Berlin-based photographer behind this captivating photoblog, capitalizes on McKinley‘s sleek out-of-the-box look. From architecture to concerts, the theme’s streamlined look keeps the visitor’s eyes where they belong: his photos.
Colorado Basiks
Courtney and Drew Basik blog primarily about food, as well as about other activities they enjoy, like traveling and hiking. They’ve created a bright, inviting site with McKinley.
A custom header channels the same cheerful vibe the reader also encounters in their food posts (which are also organized in a beautiful recipe page). Their photos look particularly sharp against the theme’s crisp background, while their custom menu helps visitors find content quickly and smoothly.
In case you’re looking for more inspiration from sites using McKinley, take a look at:
- German photographer Sascha Rheker’s blog, with stunning, full-width images.
- Novelist Amanda Mininger’s clean, inviting site.
- The website of Canadian juice bar, The Green Moustache.
Stay tuned for more examples of sites using recently-added themes — and if there are any particular themes you’d like to see featured, feel free to leave us a comment.
- April 9, 2014
- Customization, Themes
WordPress.com News 
Ben, this looks like an almost perfect theme for photo-bloggers or photo journalists… thanks for sharing it. I’ve been using the suits theme for a few weeks now, and am absolutely in love with it, but this could be a close second for the things I look for in a blog – simplicity, responsiveness, image prominence.
I’ll be keeping this one in my back pocket… thanks!
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I may need to play with this one. I just fired up my photoblog again after a couple years of neglect and inactivity and switched over to the Triton Lite theme, but hmmmmm….Thanks! 🙂
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Easy on the eyes and simple. I agree with Shane. It is suitable for the photo blogs.
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I really like Amanda Mininger’s blog. The McKinley theme is a great fit. It really looks clean and appealing.
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What do you mean by early theme adopters?
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“Early theme adopters” refers to people who have taken a theme that we’ve launched recently and customized it to match their personal style.
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Thanks a lot for being included here, Ben. I’m honoured and flattered at the same time. And thanks for sharing the links to the other fine blogs.
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I just switched to Ubud theme for my butterfly blog. It is exactly what I have been looking for in a theme for ages! I’d really love to see what some other people are doing with it. I really enjoy the early adapters feature…I always get inspired by the selections.
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Loved reading this post!
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