Early Theme Adopters: Eighties
In our Early Theme Adopters series, we focus on bloggers creating great sites with recent additions to the Theme Showcase. Today, let’s visit a few sites using Eighties, our newest free theme.
A theme named after the decade that gave us daring teen comedies and cutting-edge synth pop was bound to be a crowd-pleaser. And indeed, in the few weeks since Eighties was released, it’s garnered tens of thousands of fans who are using it on their sites.
Eighties may have been created with personal bloggers in mind, but its balance of striking visuals and flexible design makes it a good choice for anyone looking for a memorable, easy-to-customize website. Here are some of the theme’s most noteworthy features, already expertly used by our favorite Eighties early adopters.
A bold header area
Big and Splash were both huge box-office hits in the 80s. Both can also describe the theme’s header area, a full-width visual statement that draws visitors in immediately. Case in point? paper chambers, a crisply designed site by TC Shillingford, a Philadelphia-based blogger who writes on popular culture, sports, and more. TC’s gorgeous custom header images, along with a slender, modernist custom font, immediately make the site stand out.
Bilbiolkept, a literary blog by Edwin Turner, also recently made the switch to Eighties. The theme complements the site’s thought-provoking content, featuring an ever-changing roster of header images that welcome visitors with fresh visuals every time they stop by.
Tailor-made post formats
Eighties offers several unique stylings for different types of content, including the video, quote, and status post formats. Still on Biblioklept, here’s a great use of the image post format, which gives extra oomph to pictures and photos:
Featured images you can’t miss
With Eighties, you can create a powerful visual effect when you use the featured images option. Sleepy Coffee and Fables, a photo-heavy blog by a writer passionate about travel and snail mail, displays a well-chosen photo to set a distinct mood on each post.
Here, for example, is the featured image from a post on night photography:
And another one, this time from a post about journaling:
Note that the theme has the option to display full-width featured images, too.
A clean slate
With its ample, bright white space, and endless possibilities to create bespoke designs, Eighties can be turned upside-down: from a recognizably brash theme to one that recedes into the background. A great example of the latter is the professional site of Madeleine Hawks, a doula practicing in Austin, Texas.
From her About page to the Resources page, Madeleine’s site is an exercise in minimalism — but one softened and made welcoming by handmade drawings and a cheerful color palette:
Madeleine has created a website with a static front page, so all of her content — including her contact information — is easy to find for the first-time visitor.
Even more ways to customize
Eighties also lets you tuck away your main navigation with a pop-up custom menu in the header area, and includes a sleek (optional) social links menu. For the designers, illustrators, and other visual artists among you, the theme also supports our Portfolio feature.
Are you using Eighties already? Tell us what it was that made it the right fit for you.
- September 26, 2014
- Customization, Themes
WordPress.com News 
I like this theme. Not sure if it would work well with my blog but might give it a try, I think it’s time for a change!
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I used Eighties for my Climate Change Hoax/Anti-Climate-Change blog. since its title was so short anyway, I wanted a theme that displayed a gigantic title that immediately grabs one’s attention. I’m not much into the slider header though…probably just a personality quirk of mine. But the Eighties theme showcases content in a clean manner, and so together with its numerous features, it’s a great theme!
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As a lover of all things 80s (big hair, bright colors, happy music, cheesy movies) I’m surprised I didn’t choose this theme. I like something more minimalistic for now, but perhaps a bold change in the future!
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Are you planning to do a nineties 🙂
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Just have to add a link to the awesome bbPress theme extension for the Eighties theme 😉
https://wordpress.org/plugins/eighties-bbpress/
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I love the eighties theme…even though it is quite bold, it works as a minimalist theme quite easily. But the best feature is the retracting side bar – I love the look of a blog that is full width with no sidebar, but do miss the sidebar. The eighties theme gives me both. Brilliant!
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It was my first choice, but my title wouldn’t fit. Am I missing a setting that allows a font size adjustment?
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Changing the title font size (or any font size, for that matter), is possible with the Custom Design upgrade, which gives you great control over the visual details of your site.
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I think that it is a really fun theme to work with.
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Well I did grow up the eighties and love the bold headers so perhaps I’ll use the eighties in the future, thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for this post. I’d been looking for a new theme for ages, but nothing seemed to fit. I wanted a deeper header, and I’m a lover of white space. Eighties gives me both, I love the minimalist look, (I actually wouldn’t describe it as big, bold and glorious) and it seemed to be working better for lengthy discussion comments than my previous theme did. I could quibble with the header font, but I could always change that via header photos.
All in all, it’s a good one that I wouldn’t have found if you hadn’t mentioned it on here.
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I use the theme for my first and only blog and I like it
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I use this theme for my blog that I have just started today. And I’m in love with it.
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This is true I’d like to test it on my blog… But I am very fond of dark background which fit my style and universe. I’m afraid my creation can’t be as striking with Eighties theme, although I really, really like it!
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Just wanted to say that I’m lovin’ “Eighties.” I’m using it at my Clowning site:
http://amuktime.wordpress.com/
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I love this theme so much! I instantly selected it as a new blogger on WordPress…I was just drawn to its boldness! It’s the perfect theme to set the tone on my blog!!
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