Monoline

  • Free
  • Blog
  • 5 styles
  • WordPress 7.0+
  • PHP 7.4+
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Overview

A dark-first block theme for developers and technical writers: tutorials, TILs, how-to series and release notes, with code blocks that look the part.

Monoline is a refined terminal look for a technical blog: near-black graphite, a signal-lime accent, hairline rules, IBM Plex Sans for reading and JetBrains Mono for headings, labels and code. The home page is a changelog: ISO dates in a left column, topic chips, titles and summaries, with a sidebar of series, most-discussed posts and topics. Posts get a sticky table of contents beside the article on wide screens, a TL;DR box, series navigation as a module list with ticks for the parts before the one you are reading, and a quiet "save for later" reading list.

Built in, with no plugins needed:

  • Code blocks with a header bar, a language tag (add the class language-js, language-php, language-css, language-shell… under Advanced → Additional CSS classes), a Copy button and syntax colours that stay readable in both schemes and every style variation.
  • Two schemes: Graphite (dark) and Paper (light), switched by the visitor or their system, plus style variations: Paper, Amber CRT, Nightshade and Solar, each with its own second scheme.
  • Templates: blog home, single post, short note (TIL), page, wide page, landing page, archive, search, series, author and 404.
  • About 30 patterns: a terminal intro, the latest post as release notes, "currently writing" series, topics bento, stats, a grep-style search hero, changelog and TIL lists, tutorial modules, contact and errata forms, galleries, a video with chapters, sponsorship and hire-me panels, a /uses table, a stack ticker, FAQ, reader notes, footers and full pages.
  • Forms (contact, newsletter, errata) that store messages under Messages and email them; galleries with masonry, carousel and a lightbox; videos that load only after a click; subtle motion that respects reduced-motion settings.
  • Series, subtitles, takeaways (TL;DR), related posts, author profiles and filters from the Symelo blog foundation, shared with the other Symelo blog themes so your content survives a switch.

Questions

How do I colour the code in a Code block?

Monoline doesn't load a highlighter. Select text inside a Code block and use the toolbar: Bold for keywords, Italic for comments, Keyboard input for function names and numbers, and Highlight with a palette color for strings or anything else. The colors come from the palette, so they follow the light and dark schemes and the style variations. Add a class like language-php to show the language in the header bar, or pick the Terminal or Plain block style.

Where do form messages go? How do I change the recipient?

Every submission is stored under Messages in the dashboard and emailed to the site's admin address. Change the recipient under Messages → Settings, or per form in the form block's settings (Email to).

How do I make a post a short note (TIL)?

Put it in a category called TIL and choose the "Short note (TIL)" template in the post's settings. The TIL index pattern lists that category.

How does the series navigation work?

Add posts to a series (the Series box in the post editor) and give them a part number if needed. Each part shows the series as a module list: the parts before the current one are ticked, the current one is marked, and the next part is one click away.

Can visitors switch between dark and light?

Yes, with the button in the header; the choice is remembered. Without a choice the site follows the visitor's system setting.

Does the theme load anything from other sites?

No. Fonts and images are bundled. YouTube and Vimeo players load only after a visitor clicks play.

Do I need Secure Custom Fields?

No, but with the free Secure Custom Fields plugin you get comfortable fields for subtitles, TL;DR points, series covers, related posts and author profiles. The theme offers to install it.

All versions

  1. 1.0.0WordPress 7.0+ · PHP 7.4+ZIP · 2.1 MB
    • First release.

    SHA-256 d5d20bb7ede3077899abdc0cedf8524e588f53a46d2e0b858e9d0dc14e5a4d1b

Credits

Monoline WordPress Theme, (C) 2026 Symelo LTD. Monoline is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

  • IBM Plex Sans, (C) 2017 IBM Corp., SIL Open Font License 1.1, https://github.com/IBM/plex (files from Fontsource; license in assets/fonts/ibm-plex-sans/OFL.txt)
  • JetBrains Mono, (C) 2020 The JetBrains Mono Project Authors, SIL Open Font License 1.1, https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono (files from Fontsource; license in assets/fonts/jetbrains-mono/OFL.txt)
  • Images in assets/images: Symelo placeholder library (https://symelo.com/tools/placeholder-images), (C) 2026 Symelo LTD, distributed with the theme under the GPLv2 or later: technology-2 (server-aisle.webp), technology-4 (robot-arm.webp), technology-7 (camera-lens.webp), workspace-1 (oak-desk.webp).
  • Images in inc/foundation/demo/images: Symelo placeholder library (https://symelo.com/tools/placeholder-images), (C) 2026 Symelo LTD, distributed with the theme under the GPLv2 or later: food-2, food-5, food-11, travel-1, travel-5, travel-9, workspace-11, interiors-2, nature-4.
  • Sample video in the "Video with chapters" pattern: Tears of Steel, (CC) Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0, https://mango.blender.org (embedded from YouTube after a click, not bundled).
  • Symelo Theme Kit and the Symelo blog foundation (inc/kit, inc/foundation), (C) 2026 Symelo LTD, GPLv2 or later.

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