WordPress Magazine Theme Released

Posted August 05, 2007 • 1,215 Comments

MIMBO is a clean, customizable magazine-style theme for WordPress. It’s also a simple framework which can be modified with child themes, discussed further down in the documentation. Read more about the latest features.

mimbo

Download from Github

Mimbo Theme (ZIP, 208KB)

Requirements

Mimbo requires WordPress 2.7+ and GD Library installed on your host server. GD Library is bundled with any server running PHP 4.3+.

Support and Discussion

If you are using Mimbo for a project and have emergency questions, I strongly recommend using one of the Experts over at WPQuestions.com, a problem-solving community for WordPress.

WordPress Questions

Donate

Mimbo first launched in August 2007, becoming WordPress’s first magazine-style theme. If you use Mimbo extensively, especially for commercial projects, please consider donating a few bucks to help this popular project evolve:



Getting Things Configured

mimbo

  1. In your control panel, click Appearance->Mimbo Options and select your featured categories. This will insert content in the left sidebar of the homepage.
  2. Go to Users->Your Profile and fill out a bio
  3. The author photo also requires that you have an account at gravatar.com
  4. Go to Appearance->Widgets and add some content to the right column

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. I’ve installed the theme, but an error says, “Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() “.
    See the first item in “Getting Things Configured” above.
  2. How much do you charge for customizations?
    Sorry, I am not available for freelance jobs currently.
  3. How do I add images to the homepage?
    Custom fields are longer required, as in past versions. The thumbnails you see on the homepage and category pages are automatically pulled from the body of your posts and resized dynamically–no extra effort is required. If the thumbnails don’t work, make sure permissions for /mimbo/, /scripts/ and /cache/ are all set to 0777.
  4. Why does my lead image look funny?
    Make sure you are starting with an image that is 260px wide or larger. Photos can be shrunk, but not stretched.
  5. How do I add a post to the lead story box?
    This makes use of the WP 2.7 sticky post functionality. In the control panel, select Visibility->Stick this post to the front page.
  6. Why are some pages not loading?
    Did you upgrade to WP 2.7?
  7. How do I insert advertisements?
    Install the WP125 plugin and drop the widget into your sidebar. Then go to Ads->Settings and make sure to unclick “Include default ad stylesheet?”, as Mimbo comes pre-styled for this plugin.
  8. How do I make my homepage excerpts look neater?
    By default, the_excerpt function uses the first 55 words of the post, including the original formatting. This can make things look messy on your homepage. If you’d like to write a separate excerpt for your posts, use the Optional Excerpt field in your Write panel.
  9. How do I change the number of posts in the middle column and on the category/archive pages?
    This number is set in the control panel under Settings->Reading->”Blog pages show at most”.
  10. How do I switch on the custom Archives page?
    Just create a new page and make sure to select “Archives” from the template dropdown menu.
  11. How do I add a favicon?
    Create a 16×16 image, name it favicon.ico and drop it in the theme’s /images/ folder.

Customizations and Child Themes

If you plan to customize Mimbo, please consider creating a child theme to make future upgrades easier. The following child themes are currently available:

What is a child theme? It’s a smaller theme which inherits most of its code/functionality from its parent. They also work in conjunction, example: Mimbo must be installed first before Vintage Green can be activated.

Why are child themes useful? Because they allow you to append simple stylistic changes (colors, typography) to your child theme folder, superceding the styles defined in /mimbo/, without actually touching them. Because the two packages are kept separate, your work does not get overwritten each time Mimbo is upgraded.

Since the release of WordPress 2.7, you can also add templates (ex: sidebar.php) to your child theme folder, thus overwriting the parent sidebar. But if you overwrite multiple templates and make significant modifications, it is up to you to track/compare your changes the next time Mimbo is upgraded.

For more on child themes, check out these posts:

Localization

Mimbo is fully localized to make it available to a wider international audience.

Download the Language Pack (90KB)

Languages included:

  • German – thank you, Simon
  • Slovenian – thank you, SpinX
  • Malaysian – thank you, Feratik
  • Hungarian – thank you, Dezso
  • Spanish – thank you, Frank
  • French – thank you, Jerem
  • Indonesian – thank you, Muhammed
  • Greek – thank you, Evangelos
  • Farsi – thank you, Hadi
  • Brazilian Portuguese – thank you, Guilherme
  • Simplified Chinese – thank you, imycard
  • Polish – thank you, Karol
  • Russian – thank you, Dmitriy
  • Swedish – thank you, Thomas
  • Norwegian – thank you, Lars
  • Danish – thank you, Mads
  • Romanian – thanks, Sebastian
  • Finnish – thanks, Antti
  • Italian – thanks, Playmos
  • Betawi – thanks, Gon
  • Dutch – thanks, Matthias
  • Turkish – thanks, Kartal
  • Tagalog – thanks, Hanne
  • Latvian – thanks, Johannes

If you want to contribute a translation to the pack, there is a blank en.po file included with Mimbo. Open it with an app like PoEdit, translate it, save it with the correct filename and email it back to me.

New to translating? View more extensive instructions»

Changelog

  • Version 3.0 | Jan 31, 2009 | Details
  • Version 2.2 | Nov 27, 2007 | Details | Download
  • Version 2.1 | Nov 3, 2007 | Details
  • Version 2.0 | Oct 18, 2007 | Details
  • Version 1.1 | Aug 11, 2007 | Details
  • Version 1.0 | Aug 5, 2007