Hybrid is the Most Customizable and Elegant WordPress Theme Framework Ever

WordPress is undoubtedly the best blogging platform. The best thing about WordPress is the awesome ecosystem built around it. It provides bloggers with a storehouse of themes, plugins, tweaks and numerous other resources. I have been playing around with WordPress for over three years now, and have tried numerous themes and plugins. However, I always keep coming back to the WordPress theme that you see on this blog currently. It is called the Hybrid Theme.

Hybrid is not just a theme. It is a theme framework for WordPress with numerous child themes. It is the perfect example of how a theme should be. It offers numerous options and customization for both novice and power users. In case that scared you, we will simplify things, helping you get started with the Hybrid Theme Framework.

I am a big fan of Hybrid. I used to have Hybrid on my blog back in 2009. A few months later, I settled for Swift theme by Satish, which is another awesome and fast WordPress theme. It recently got a free version with HTML5 support, but the looks on this Hybrid is unbeaten. It is quite elegant, almost as good as the ones from Woo Themes. As you can see, I have come back to Hybrid.

After starting with Hybrid, there are tweaks like showing post excerpts on homepage, showing adsense under the post title, under the menu and removing duplicate meta tags, you might want to try out.

Getting the Hybrid Theme

Hybrid Theme can be downloaded for free from its official website. It is an open-source theme framework. You can share your work as long as you keep the original title and license. The developer of Hybrid Theme, Justin Tadlock has done a wonderful job, by making this theme available to people. To download the Hybrid Framework, visit this URL and setup the theme just like you would do with any other theme.

Hybrid Options

After you have setup Hybrid Theme on your WordPress blog, it is time to explore the options it provides. Theme Hybrid provides an extensive list of widgets for us to use. In fact, most of the page design can be managed with widgets. There are widgets for two sidebars on the right, the footer, the header, the part above the footer and so on.

This ensures that you do not have to write any complex hacks to get a desired page design and content placement.

The theme files

The files in Hybrid theme are not arranged as any other conventional theme. It is a theme framework, so it has to maintain a high level of customization. All these pages serve particular purposes and they are well documented.

While some of these files are sidebar elements, others serve as templates for various blog pages.

Child Themes

Now comes the interesting part. Using the Theme Hybrid framework is incomplete if you do not install one of their child themes. This is as simple as installing just another theme. You simply have to copy the theme files beside your Hybrid Folder, and it will appear in your WordPress theme selection. Select the child theme, just as you selected Hybrid.

I am using the Hybrid News child theme.

Support Forum

Hybrid is an open source framework, and the developer of Hybrid earns through selling support forum membership. Though, the support is top notch, and he offers code and setup help. With such a wonderful theme, you can go ahead and take a decently priced premium membership. It will ease the task of the initial setup, which can be a setback for beginners.