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.
Live Demo
Download
Installation
- Download and unzip the file
- Move the folder into “/wp-content/themes/”
- Log in into your WordPress control panel
- Click Appearance->Themes
- Select the “Mimbo” screenshot
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
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
- In your control panel, click Appearance->Mimbo Options and select your featured categories. This will insert content in the left sidebar of the homepage.
- Go to Users->Your Profile and fill out a bio
- The author photo also requires that you have an account at gravatar.com
- Go to Appearance->Widgets and add some content to the right column
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much do you charge for customizations?
Sorry, I am not available for freelance jobs currently. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Why are some pages not loading?
Did you upgrade to WP 2.7? - 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. - 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. - 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”. - 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. - 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:
- “How to make a ‘child theme’ for WordPress”
- “Any WordPress Theme Can be a Blank Framework”
- “Creating WordPress Child Themes”
- “Ian Stewart on Child Themes”
- “Parent/Child Themes in WordPress”
- “Exploring WordPress Frameworks and Child Themes”
- Theme Inheritance
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
- Spanish – thank you, Frank
- French – thank you, Jerem
- Greek – thank you, Evangelos
- Farsi – thank you, Hadi
- Brazilian Portuguese – thank you, Guilherme
- Simplified Chinese – thank you, imycard
- 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
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»
9:33 pm
Darren,
Thanks for your generous effort with this. I’ve been playing around with the WP tags since your previous article in this series, and having a reference example like this theme is a great help.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers – GD
1:27 am
This is an amazing theme! Really – you did such a good job with it. I love it!
10:36 am
Very unique theme!
I never thought you will release it when I first read your tutorial. :D
9:38 pm
Thanks for the feedback, guys. If you choose to use the theme for an online magazine you’re launching, send me the link and I’ll include it in a roundup of Mimbo-enabled sites sometime soon (I’m already seeing a few popping up in the referrers).
2:06 am
Great theme Darren.
I’m trying it out on a music blog/net label site.
8:30 am
Nice theme, i like the magazine style. I’m already using it on my site.
1:07 pm
I’m using this theme for my upcoming magazine. Check the link out. I promise I’m actually going to do some customization of the theme soon, I’ve just been busy. What is the license on Mimbo by the way?
1:14 pm
Mimbo is under the GNU/GPL license, for what that’s worth. I urge people to do whatever they want with the theme — leaving the credit link in the footer or in the CSS is always appreciated.
A few people have asked about the “Read More” function inside the Lead Story. Please see item #8 in the Release Notes for further explanation.
7:47 pm
I still don’t know how to make the features images to show up. I’ve uploaded them into the main article but didn’t worked. How do I do this?
11:05 pm
Bruno, check out #8 in the original article. The images should be referenced in the_excerpt (make sure to use an absolute path), or you can always create a custom field for them instead.
4:57 pm
Great theme, love the simplicity of it. Thanks for sharing it.
9:43 am
Thanks for making this theme!
7:08 pm
Hey. I should have said this much earlier (I was one of the people who requested this), but I got sidetracked with other stuff. Anyway, I want to say thank you for putting the theme together. I really appreciate it. Thanks again.
10:09 pm
I’m trying this theme out for a new blog that I’m working on. I really really like what you’ve done with the custom homepage template. It has gotten me to look at templates in a whole new light. It really goes to show the extendability of good old Wordpress.
8:45 am
Wow, its so clean and neat. i will be using it.
11:47 pm
It looks really good in fact. I am planning on a redesign of my site and your layout is some what similar to what I had in mind for my site.
8:52 am
i have been looking for sometime for a theme that does just this, awesome…however being a bear of very little brain i find it a leetle tricky, as my daughter would say. any chance of a “dummies guide to mimbo” for thicko mountaineers like me! seriously i think it is a swee piece of work and will no doubt spawn a thousand on-line magazines – Rock on !!
4:30 pm
Darren this theme/cms is great and I have also been looking to do something like this for my tech site and for a video game site I’m launching. I’m sure this it straight forward to a lot of people but I’m pretty new to WP. What would you charge to get my layout done and arranged so I can work on writing and reviewing products.
I can learn it on the back in and take it apart to figure it out, but putting it together is my challenge.
3:29 pm
how to insert widgets? i’ve inserted it into the sidebars wizard in the WP dashboard but the widgets don’t show up.. can anyone help me??
10:26 am
Man… thanks… I’ll be converting my current magazine blog – http://www.hoodgrownonline.com to use mimbo over the weekend….
if all goes well… i’ll have it done by Monday…