Below are our most popular themes, running on the latest version of the Theme Blvd framework. You’ll get the most out of our developer documentation by using one of the these themes.
Theme Blvd Framework
The Theme Blvd framework is used across all of our commercial WordPress themes, to streamline a consistent experience for users and developers.
Jump Start serves as the foundation for our internal theme framework development workflow. From there, the framework updates gets distributed and incorporated into our other commercial WordPress themes, like Denali and Gnar.
While we work hard to provide all of the practical end-user features that compete with the best WordPress themes out there, we also work hard to maintain the most extendable themes we can, for child theme developers.
This combination of optional user features and developer features make our theme stand out, and empower you to grow with your theme. You may find that in the beginning, you’re relying heavily on user features and plugins, but as you move along, you’re disabling user features and extra bloat, in favor of more child theme customization.
Your Framework Version
Within your Theme Blvd WordPress theme, it’s important to understand what version of our framework it contains, which is completely separate from the actual theme version.
Knowing this version number will help you to find the relevant information, when you’re browsing articles here on the developer docs website. It’ll also help you when you’re browsing our available WordPress plugins, to determine which are right for your website.
For the current framework version, in the latest version of your theme, see the theme compatibility table.
And to find the framework version of the theme currently installed on your website, go to Appearance > Theme Options, within your WordPress admin, and find the framework version in the footer.
Extendability and Customization
All of your theme customizations, that extend past what you can do from within your WordPress admin, start by implementing a child theme. From there, the possibilities are endless.
If you’re not all that familiar with the WordPress child theme concept for making customizations, the following articles will help you get started.
- Child Theme Concept
- Child Theme Setup
- Switching to a Child Theme After You’ve Already Started Building Your Website
- Using a Child Theme vs Creating Plugins
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between Jump Start and the Theme Blvd Framework?
While Jump Start serves as the base for our internal framework development workflow, it is its own complete WordPress theme, with its own unique functionality. The Theme Blvd framework itself gets used across all of the commercial WordPress themes we sell. This includes the Jump Start WordPress theme, along with many others.
Do all Theme Blvd themes have the same version of the framework?
We work hard to always keep our theme framework moving forward, and then implementing those changes into new WordPress themes, as well as the previously published ones.
However, the reality is that usually not all themes out there are going to always be on matching framework versions. While we’re always trying to keep older themes up-to-date, this happens over time, and not all at once.
How do I know what framework version my theme contains?
First, make note of your theme’s most recent version and what version of the framework it contains. — See Themes Compatibility Table
Second, we understand life happens and you’re not always up-to-date with the latest version of your theme. To see the current framework version of the theme installed on your site, go to Appearance > Theme Options, and look in the footer. Here, it will tell you your current theme version, framework version, and link you to your live changelog.
What’s the deal with framework v2.4 themes?
When browsing the theme compatibility table, you’ll notice several currently maintained themes, running framework v2.4.x.
These are older WordPress themes, originally published 2010 – 2012, which we still maintain. While the framework 2.4 cycle doesn’t contain many of our latest features, we still currently maintain it, and continue to make sure it works securely with the latest version of WordPress.
Version 2.5 marked a significant milestone in our theme framework, that came with a lot of structural changes and feature enhancements. It’s currently undecided which framework v2.4 themes will inevitably get a major remodel to make it onto the latest framework cycle.
A newer framework version exists that the latest version of my theme doesn’t have. Can I update the framework myself in my theme?
No, unfortunately it doesn’t work like this. We work hard to maintain our themes to be as current, as possible. Whatever framework version is in your latest theme, is what you’ll need to keep. But rest assured that we make sure all maintained WordPress themes always work with the latest WordPress.
With that said, due to the strcuture of our framework development workflow, note that Jump Start will always contain the latest version of the framework.
How do I sort out the confusion of finding information for different themes with different framework versions?
Trust us, we understand this can all be a bit confusing; this is the reality of managing a large theme framework across many commercial WordPress themes, over many years.
First and foremost, know your framework version. Knowing this version number will help you when you’re browsing developer docs here. Also, when you’re looking through our plugins, it’ll help you to understand what features they all contain, and if they apply to your installed theme or not.
When you’re browsing articles here on the developer docs website, make sure to make note of the Applies To field in the sidebar, when viewing an article.
Can I build my own parent theme, using the Theme Blvd framework?
The Theme Blvd framework has been designed exclusively for us create our commercial WordPress themes, and it’s not intended to be used as a drop-in framework for creating third-party parent WordPress themes.
Our theme framework serves as a base for our commercial theme development, and provides a solid, extendable foundation for customers, in their child themes. So while we release all themes as 100% GPL, we do not personally support or condone the use of our framework to create third-party, custom parent themes.