DW Timeline: A Free WordPress Theme With a Unique Layout

DW Timeline is a beautiful free theme created by the folks at DesignWall. It is based on the Roots framework and features a unique timeline display for posts, inspired by Facebook’s timeline layout. DW Timeline was designed to showcase your blog or portfolio site.

Customizable Header

The homepage design supports a large customizable header image:

After you upload your own header image, DW Timeline has a few extra options built into WordPress’ native customizer that will help you to achieve an effect similar to what you see in the demo. The theme lets you define two colors for the header mask, as well as a background color for the site title.

Timeline Layout for Posts

Posts are arranged in a timeline format with pagination controls on the right side of the page. Clicking these will scroll you further down to the next set of posts. The number of pages is controlled by the number of posts you select in the Settings > Reading panel.

Single Post Design

Featured images are shown as the header on individual posts. If the image is not large enough, it will be stretched. Therefore, if you’re using this theme, you’ll want to select featured images that are large enough to make this work nicely.

In addition to its unique homepage design, the DW Timeline theme has some nice details baked in that make your site responsive and readable:

Post grid option by Meta-box

Customize panel for: Header image and background, call to action button

Support for 6 post formats: Standard, Gallery, Video, Image, Quote and Status

Clean code using Theme Wrappers

HTML5 Boilerplate

Micro-format

Relative URL

Multilingual ready

Of course, it’s not easy to know what this theme looks like until you try out the live demo and test the timeline/pagination controls.

A Pro version of the theme is available from DesignWall, which includes a more intuitive treatment of navigation on mobile devices, a front-end posting form and an alternative mint green flat design.

If you want to make a big splash on your hompage and arrange your posts in a timeline format, this theme might be just the ticket. DW Timeline is available for free from WordPress.org.