New Theme: Blask

Today I’m happy to introduce Blask, a free portfolio theme designed by Mel Choyce.

Blask

Blask is a modern portfolio theme that uses a clean, minimal layout to showcase your work. The bold grid design keeps the spotlight on your projects, and scales to fit any screen size. Blask also lets you share your thoughts and engage in a conversation with your visitors through the beautiful blog page, which shares the same minimal look.

Blask – single post view

You can make Blask your own by adding a logo, customizing the menu, and adding links to your social networks.

Whether you’re an illustrator, designer, or photographer, Blask is the perfect outlet for your creativity.

Read more about Blask on the Theme Showcase, or activate it on your site from Appearance → Themes!

Whimsical Worlds: Artists to Follow Now

From colorful journal pages to creatures made of salvaged materials, here’s a glimpse at the imaginative worlds of textile and multimedia artists on WordPress.com.

The Pale Rook

We discovered Glasgow-based textile artist Johanna Flanagan after stumbling upon her post, “Artist’s Statement: Part Two,” and were immediately pulled into her curious world of dolls that are hand-drawn, sewn, and embroidered. We love her delicate, narrow-waisted figures in cross-legged positions, many of which are created with recycled fabrics and threads she’s collected over the years.

“Odette,” The Pale Rook, Johanna Flanagan

The free Sketch theme and built-in portfolio feature showcase Johanna’s characters in a simple yet sophisticated grid, which is separate from her blog posts. (You can enable a portfolio on a number of free and premium themes.)

Anouk de Groot

The world of Anouk de Groot, a folk artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, is full of fantastic creatures — ones you’d encounter in fairy tales or eerie dreams. Think mermaids on jaw bones. A sheep skull with gold and black illustrations. A textured painting of a folk tale bride.

“Horned Mermaid Jaw Bone,” Anouk de Groot

Anouk’s imaginative world spans multiple sites: in addition to her website, she houses her label of textile and paper art dolls (Pantovola: Cabinet of Childhood) and a blog “where wild things are drawn” (Baba Yaga Land) both of WordPress.com. It’s important for artists to establish their brands online, so we like how the winged woman illustration on her website’s left sidebar transforms the premium Studio theme into her own, via Studio‘s custom logo feature.

Busy Mockingbird

Mica Angela Hendricks’ blog name says it all: she’s always busy working on art projects, from custom portraits to resin monster puppy dolls to her well-known series of collaborations with her young daughter. She often shares her own takes on characters in popular culture, too (check out her recent Mad Max illustrations).

“Collaborating with a 6-year old,” Busy Mockingbird, Mica Angela Hendricks

On her blog, Mica displays a custom background of select illustrations in circular frames. A custom background is a simple, immediate way to showcase your style (and it’s a free feature on many of our themes).

The Smallest Forest

“I feel compelled to articulate living and loving with my hands,” writes Nat at The Smallest Forest. The bookbinder and illustrator, who is currently exploring Venezuela with her husband, observes new places and cultures and translates them in vibrant ways, splashed across personal journal pages.

“Making Money in My Spare Time,” The Smallest Forest (CC BY -NC 2.0)

Like Johanna at The Pale Rook, Nat uses the Sketch theme, but her front page displays her recent posts in a traditional blog format — so, you can see how this theme works in different ways. Nat also publishes photography of her wanderings, and Sketch‘s full-width template displays both her images and artwork beautifully.

Get inspired by more art in the Reader, and explore related tags like textile art or multimedia art.

Google Fonts: Free Typefaces for Your Site

We’re really happy to announce that we’ve added over 30 free Google Fonts to your Theme Customizer. Even better, you don’t need any upgrades to access them; these fonts are free for everyone.

Go to WordPress.com → Customize to see the new Fonts section in the sidebar. From there you can browse and preview typefaces like Gentium Book Basic, Libre Baskerville, Merriweather, and Ubuntu. When you select a font, you’ll immediately see your site in the preview with that font applied. For most font choices, you can also change the size and style of the text.

Have you always wanted your headers to be rendered in Fondamento italic? How about Cinzel bold? Now they’re just a few clicks away, for every site on WordPress.com.

If you are still looking for that perfect typeface and Google Fonts aren’t for you, all the Typekit commercial fonts are still available for those sites with the Custom Design upgrade.

We can’t wait to see what you do with the new Google Fonts on your site! If you have suggestions for other typefaces that you’d like us to consider adding, please let us know in the forums or in the comments below!

WordPressers Making a Splash

We read hundreds of blogs and websites every day, from up-and-coming voices and established pros alike. We love visiting those sites on WordPress.com, but it’s just as rewarding to see other platforms embrace the work of writers, journalists, and artists who regularly publish here, introducing it to new audiences.

Here’s a selection of WordPress.com bloggers who recently made a splash.

A mathematician at work

Terry Tao is a veteran blogger, publishing prolifically on his site since 2007. He also happens to be a Fields Medal recipient and one of the leading mathematicians working today. The New York Times Magazine just ran a fascinating profile of Tao and his work by Gareth Cook. Cook follows Tao around the UCLA campus as he explains his most important contributions to the field.

Even those who experience great success through their college years may turn out not to have what it takes. The ancient art of mathematics, Tao has discovered, does not reward speed so much as patience, cunning and, perhaps most surprising of all, the sort of gift for collaboration and improvisation that characterizes the best jazz musicians.

Tao has earned a reputation for being a gregarious, generous colleague — and the piece is studded with testimonies of his collaborative spirit (including a cameo appearance by Izabella Laba, a fellow mathematician and WordPress.com blogger).

Highbrow laughs

The Toast, a humor site with a literary, feminist bent (and a self-hosted WordPress site to boot) has been one of the web’s favorite destinations for satire and witty writing since its inception. And just in the past few weeks, two WordPress.com bloggers had pieces in the site’s lineup.

Author Lauren James, a young adult writer with a physics and chemistry background, recently wrote “The Hogwarts Houses of the Periodic Elements: A Critical Analysis,” a post as full of unrepentant geeky fun as its title suggests. And last month, linguist, internet language specialist, and blogger Gretchen McCulloch published her most recent essay, “A Linguist Explains How We Write Sarcasm on the Internet” (essential reading for all bloggers, naturally).

Via Gretchen McCulloch’s essay at The Toast, a proposed early-20th-century “irony mark.”

You should visit Gretchen’s earlier contributions to The Toast, as well as her frequent articles at Mental Floss.

Beyond hot takes

Bloggers share writing in a variety of genres and tones on their sites, from short, impassioned reaction pieces to probing longreads. The same versatility is easy to discern in the pieces we highlight here.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, a sociologist and blogger renowned for her powerful prose, recently reviewed Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, one of the season’s most talked-about titles, at the Atlantic.

My mother once told me that black progress meant fighting for your children to never know you. Coates knows his son’s body is vulnerable but he worries first here about his son forgetting.  He is afraid of losing his son to the “new black” of multiculturalism that absorbs blackness and spits out beige history, beige politics and beige faiths.

“On Manliness and Joan Didion,” a thought-provoking blog post by writer and teacher Frank Strong, patiently explores the murky boundaries of gender in Didion’s writing voice, as well as in discussions of her work. Frank’s essay was picked up last month by The Millions, a prestigious online literary magazine.

Lastly, just this past weekend Rebecca Schuman, who blogs frequently at pan kisses kafka, scored a viral hit with her Slate column, “I Am Terrified of Taking My Child Literally Anywhere.” It’s a raucous, absorbing piece on parents, misbehaving kids, and the people who mistreat the latter — and especially on our dangerous tendency to react to these stories online with unnecessarily extreme rhetoric. It’s a great read for anyone who ever sat behind a crying baby on a flight (or for anyone who was ever the parent of such a baby).

Was your blog just featured in the media? Has a recent post generated a healthy dose of buzz? We’d love to know about it — share your story with us in a comment.

August in Blogging U: Blogging 101

Have you just started blogging (welcome!), or are you looking to breathe new life into a blogging habit that’s fallen by the wayside? Blogging U. is a great way to get on track, with bite-size assignments, a supportive community, and staff to support you. This August, we’re offering Blogging 101— and registration is now open!

Blogging 101: Zero to Hero — August 3 – 21

Blogging 101 is three weeks of bite-size blogging assignments that take you from “Blog?” to “Blog!” Every weekday, you’ll get a new assignment to help you publish a post, customize your blog, or engage with the community.

You’ll walk away with a stronger focus for your blog, several published posts and a handful of drafts, a theme that reflects your personality, a small (but growing!) audience, a grasp of blogging etiquette — and a bunch of new friends.

I have fallen in love with blogging all over again. It’s been wonderful. I am learning so much, and my blog is looking better than ever.

Elle, The Adventures of a Samurai, a Seanchai, and 4 Fairy Ninja

How do Blogging U. courses work?

Blogging U. courses exist for one reason: to help you meet your own blogging and writing goals.

• Courses are free, flexible, and open to all.
• You’ll get a new task to complete each day, along with our best advice and favorite resources. Do them on your own time, and interpret them however makes sense for your specific blog and personal goals — we’re not grading you, we’re not checking to make sure you complete every task, and there’s no “wrong” way to use the resources we give you.
• We’ll send you a new assignment via email each weekday at midnight GMT. Weekends are free.
• Each course will have a private community site, the Commons, for chatting, connecting, and seeking feedback and support. Daily Post staff and Happiness Engineers will be on hand to answer your questions and offer guidance and resources.

Ready to register?

Just fill out this short form! There’s no automated confirmation; you’ll receive a welcome email just prior to the start of your course. If you’re on a mobile device or reading this via email and don’t see the form, you can register with this link.

New Themes: Libretto, Lovecraft, and Publication

Happy Theme Thursday! Today we’re introducing three new free themes to our collection: Libretto, Lovecraft, and Publication.

Libretto

Featuring big, bold drop caps and oversized images, Libretto is ideal for showcasing longform writing or stunning imagery. Its classic design and typographic details will give your blog a sophisticated, elegant look. Fully responsive, the theme adapts easily to tablets and other mobile devices, ensuring that your content is easy to see.

Libretto is a fork of Readly, originally designed by WPShower.

Get to know Libretto in the Theme Showcase, or give it a spin by activating it from Appearance → Themes.

Lovecraft

Lovecraft, by Anders Norén, is a fashionable solution for your personal blog or website. Prominent custom headers and featured images give your visuals a bold presence, three footer widget areas offer plenty of space for secondary information, and striking typography and attention to detail makes your content the star.

Check out Lovecraft in the Theme Showcase, or activate it from Appearance → Themes.

Publication

Meet Publication, an elegant blog and magazine theme that features full-screen Featured Images, crafted by Automattic’s own Thomas Guillot. It’s perfect for sites about fashion, food, travel, or design. With balanced typography, colors, and attention to detail, Publication helps you create visually stunning posts.

Learn more about Publication at the Theme Showcase, or set it up by going to Appearance → Themes.

Four Food Blogs to Follow Now

From sweet to savory, these four fantastic food blogs will satisfy your appetite. If you enjoy eating (and who doesn’t?!), check them out and follow them in your Reader so you won’t miss a dish.

The Dinner Party Collective

The Dinner Party Collective is a collaborative blog dedicated to “reinvigorating the delicious lost art of dinner parties.” The DPC features seasonal full-course menus, photos, and recipes from apéritifs to dessert (complete with wine pairings, no less!) ideal for dinner groups of six to eight. Blogger Margot leads an international troupe of food and wine lovers who contribute recipes and knowledge to each menu’s selections.

The Winter Menu, Southern Hemisphere, June 2015 by The Dinner Party Collective

Cupcakes and Curries

Vasun is the blogger behind Cupcakes and Curries. Based in Singapore, she cites her grandmother as her culinary inspiration. Vasun’s posts combine detailed recipes, enticing photography, and advice on how to make each recipe your own. We came for the Pepper Chicken Masala but stayed for the Thai-Style Minced Meat Pasta. Be sure to check out Vasun’s recipe list.

Thai-Style Minced Meat Pasta by Vasun

Jane’s Pastisserie

If you’re in the mood for dessert, visit Jane’s Pastisserie. Jane, a chef on the South Coast of the United Kingdom, loves to experiment in the kitchen and hopes to own her own bakery/tea room. Jane’s baked goodies look so yummy you could lose yourself for hours drooling over her recipe list. For starters, check out the Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart, the Easter Nest Cupcakes, and the Classic Buttery Scones.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart by Jane

Draw and Bake

Pia Dirks has always loved to draw food, including the cans and containers for basic ingredients. Draw and Bake is a fun mashup joining Pia’s love for baking and drawing. Here you’ll find fun, colorful, illustrated recipes for everything from Muesli Mounds to Za’atar Carrot Salad.

Muesli Mounds by Pia Dirks

Which food blogs do you visit for inspiration and cooking courage? Share your favorites with us in the comments.

Reader Refresh

Today, we’re proud to present an improved version of the WordPress.com Reader. We’ve made the Reader faster, with shorter load times and smoother scrolling. We’ve also improved the way we display posts, so you can now see the highlights of each story at a glance.

The new interface works just as well on a mobile device as it does on your computer, so it’s simpler and faster for you to catch up on blogs while on the go.

Keeping track of recent posts from the blogs and sites you follow is now both easier and more fun. Our new cards — which preview each post’s content — highlight great photography and make it easy to scan for something that looks interesting. New typography has improved readability, while the new Full Post View pushes the interface to the background, allowing you to focus on the story, whether it’s composed of text, pictures, or video (or any combination of these).

All these improvements work for nearly any site on the web, not just those hosted on WordPress.com: if it has an RSS feed, you can follow it. If the site happens to be a WordPress.com site, though, just look for the Follow button at the bottom of the page — click it, and you’re done.

We hope you enjoy the improved Reader!

Please note: these changes currently affect the web Reader only; we’re working on bringing these improvements to our iOS and Android apps soon.

Heading to BlogHer ’15? So are we!

BlogHer ’15, one of the biggest and best annual conferences for bloggers, lands in New York City later this week, from July 16th through the 18th. You’ll find hundreds of passionate bloggers, workshops to hone every aspect of your blogging, incredible keynote speakers like Ava DuVernay and Gwyneth Paltrow — and us!

At our Happiness Lounge in the expo hall, you’ll be able to get one-on-one help with your WordPress sites. Staff from across Automattic will also be leading mini-workshops on some of the topics you care most about, and our “WordPress Insiders” panels bring multiple WordPress.com staffers together for informal panels to give you a range of takes on everything from tools to traffic.

The WordPress.com booth hums with activity at BlogHer ’14.

Interested? Here’s the complete schedule:

Friday, July 17

• 10 AM: WordPress Insiders: Our Favorite Dashboard Tools
• 11 AM: Express Yourself: Quick Tips for Customizing Your Site
• 12:30 PM: Make Connections: Using Jetpack to Share Your Content
• 1:30 PM: WordPress Insiders: Our Favorite Traffic-Boosting Tips
• 2:30 PM: Fight for Your (Copy)right: Intellectual Property Basics
• 3:30 PM: Making Blogging a Habit

Saturday, July 18

• 10:30 AM: Lock Down: Securing Your Site with Jetpack
• 11:30 AM: WordPress Insiders: Our Blogging Quirks
• 1:30 PM: Your Site, Your Brand: Social Media and Beyond 
• 2:30 PM: If You Publish, They Will Come: Traffic and Growth Basics
• 3:30 PM: The Hidden Gems of WordPress.com

You’ll find us at booth 1108, just inside the entrance to Hall One. Stop by — we’d love to chat WordPress or blogging, or just say hi and shower you with swag!

If you can’t be there, you can always follow the fun on Twitter with #BlogHer15 — we’ll also be tweeting with the #WPlovesBlogHer hashtag.

New Themes: Baskerville and Edda

Happy Theme Thursday! Today I’m excited to introduce two new free themes to our collection.

Baskerville

Baskerville was designed by Anders Norén, and it displays writing, photos, and videos in a dynamic, grid-based layout. It features unique layouts for different post formats, to make different kinds of content pop. Baskerville’s design adapts to any screen size, big or small, so your posts always look their best.

Get to know Baskerville on the Theme Showcase, or give it a spin by activating it from Appearance → Themes.

Edda

Edda, designed by Mel Choyce, is flexible enough to be used as a photoblog, personal journal, or tumblelog. The theme’s sepia-toned images and stylish color give your content an elegant, vintage look and feel.

Check out Edda on the Theme Showcase, or try it out on your blog by activating it from Appearance → Themes.