If you’ve ever searched for a WordPress theme on WordPress.org, you’ve probably found that none of them are suitable for your personal blog. Most tend to be complex designs that you’re sure someone created with a specific look in mind, but they don’t suit you.

A friend from work mentioned something similar almost 6 months ago, so when she tweeted a suggestion to design something like the Posterous look (it’s a very nice simple but popular look), I offered to help, figuring it would take no time at all to create something similar in WordPress.

So I copied the Kubrick theme and stripped out the styles, adding new ones in place, and 15 minutes later I had something beginning to take shape to show. In the end it took me about 2 hours, having never written a WordPress theme before, to get it to what it largely looks like now.

I submitted it to the WordPress.org theme directory, and a couple of weeks later it was approved and many people started downloading it. WordPress.org lists new and updated themes on the theme portal front page, giving them a much needed boost in promotion until they fall off those lists (“Newest Themes” about 1.5 weeks at the time, and “Updated Themes” about a day or two).

Since then, people have tweeted, blogged, and even contacted me on Facebook about the theme. It has now had over 2000 downloads.

One thing that I regret is not having put a link in the footer in the initial release (missing almost 1000 of the first downloads). When I had added that, I could easily see who’s using the theme.

As for what the theme looks like, you’re looking at it right now. Unless of course you are reading this in the future and I’ve changed the theme for some reason, in which case you could preview the theme on WordPress.org. I’ve written a web page describing how to sort out the sidebar over here, so be sure to check that out if you are thinking of using the theme.