If you need a WordPress theme that uses the modern technologies of HTML5 and CSS3 then you’ve come to the right place, in today’s post I am listing the best free complete themes and blank themes / theme frameworks that you can use as a base to build you own.
Free HTML5 Themes
Busby
My very own Busby theme is built with HTML5 and CSS3, it’s a clean blogging theme for personal sites.
Yoko
Yoko is a modern and flexible WordPress theme. With the responsive layout based on CSS3 media queries, the theme adjusts to different screen sizes. The design is optimized for big desktop screens, tablets and small smartphone screens.
Spectacular
Free WordPress theme that aims to provide a warm and pleasurable atmosphere for personal musings and ramblings.
A HTML5 Theme
You are free to use this theme for any purpose – both private and commercial.
Grey
Grey is generic enough to be used for almost any kind of blog. Whether you’re looking to setup your own design blog, a blog about photography, fashion or whatever your passion, the Grey theme should suit your needs. It is built on a simple layout, but with lots of little touches of subtle detail and texture.
Temple Gate
The design of Temple Gate is inspired by the spirituality and simplicity of Japanese Temple Gate.
TwentyTen Five
Built to accompany an article in Smashing Magazine, TwentyTen Five is an HTML5 upgrade of the default WordPress TwentyTen theme. It’s completely free, easy to build on, and brings brand new HTML5 elements and functionality to WordPress.
Euclides
Euclides is the perfect theme for those who write tutorials online. While we concentrate on web developers, anyone can use this theme.
Twilight Theme
A clean and professional looking WordPress theme with built in Jquery image slider. This theme is coded in HTLM5 and CSS3.
California
This simple one column WordPress theme is based on the idea of micro blogging and would be best suited to a video or photo blog. The theme is built on HTML5 and CSS3.
Free HTML5 Starter Themes & Frameworks
Constellation Theme
The Constellation theme is the perfect starting point for any WordPress project. It gives you the flexibility to provide bespoke styles for different devices, totally up-to-date HTML5 code which is fantastic for SEO, a flexible grid system on top of all the other goodness bundled in to the HTML5 boiler plate.
Handcrafted WP
Handcrafted WP is a starter theme built for WordPress developers who are doing more than building blogs. The theme is based on Ian Stewart’s Toolbox Starter theme and Paul Irish & Divya Manian’s HTML5 Boilerplate plus some other awesome features based off our years of experience. This is not a framework, but an almost-naked starter theme that gives you a rock solid starting point for crafting a serious website on the WordPress platform.
Roots
Roots is a starting WordPress theme made for developers that’s based on HTML5 Boilerplate, Blueprint CSS (or 960.gs) and Starkers that will help you rapidly create brochure sites and blogs.
PressWork
PressWork is a free, open-source theme framework built for WordPress 3.2 using HTML5 and CSS3. It was created out of a need for a framework that catered to all types of users. As developers, we needed it to be powerful enough to allow for complete customization, which is why every element in PressWork can be hooked into.
Starkers
Well it’s been roughly 2½ years since Elliot Jay Stocks first released Starkers, a completely naked WordPress theme for designers and developers to build on.Like so many others I found Elliot’s theme invaluable, and so about 7 months ago I decided to create an HTML5 version that others would be able to use.
Whiteboard
When developing WordPress themes, a large amount of time is spent writing the same code over and over again. We found it annoying. Whiteboard Framework for WordPress is the solution.
Bones
Bones was created after years of editing and reusing the same template to develop custom sites. It came from trial and error and tons of experience customizing templates. I trimmed the fat on stuff that you don’t really need as well as adding things you almost always have to use plugins for. HTML5 & well written & documented CSS, yea it’s in there.
HTML5 WordPress Shell
A great starting point for quickly creating WordPress Themes using HTML5.
HTML5 Reset
We’re excited to present the HTML5 Reset WordPress Theme — a style-free theme designed to help get your custom WordPress project off the ground.
Pagelines Platform
Platform is an drag-and-drop theme-design framework for WordPress and HTML5. It will help you do amazing things with your site, faster & easier than ever before.
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