# Topline: free WordPress theme URL: https://symelo.com/tools/wordpress-themes/topline Free WordPress theme. A fast, color-coded block theme for digital newsrooms: section colors, a breaking ticker, live blogs that update by themselves, reviews with score rings, opinion and video stories. A fast, color-coded block theme for digital newsrooms: section colors, a breaking ticker, live blogs that update by themselves, reviews with score rings, opinion and video stories. - Price: free (GPLv2 or later) - Category: Magazine - Version 1.0.0, 2026-10-22. WordPress 7.0+, PHP 7.4+. GNU General Public License v2 or later. - Style variations: Cobalt, Newsprint, Night desk, Volt - Fonts: Schibsted Grotesk, Source Serif 4, System mono - Works with: [Secure Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/plugins/secure-custom-fields/), a free plugin by WordPress.org, optional ## Description Topline is built for the way people read news on a screen: a crisp grotesk for headlines and the interface, a calm serif for the reading, and a color for every section. Each story card carries a "topline" in its section's color, the kicker repeats it, and the section pages wear it in their headers. A red signal accent marks what's breaking and what's live. A frosted header stays in reach while readers scroll, and a dark edition is one click away. #### Made for newsrooms * **Section colors.** Give every category a color (and an image) and Topline uses it across cards, kickers, section headings and section pages. * **Breaking and live.** Flag a story as breaking for the ticker band; run live coverage with timestamped entries, key events and a pinned summary. New entries appear for readers without reloading ("Show 3 new updates"), and the story is marked up as a LiveBlogPosting for search engines. * **Reviews.** Score out of 10 or 5, criteria bars, pros and cons, a verdict, an "Editor's choice" badge and score rings on the cards, with Review structured data. * **Story formats.** Standard, feature (a full-height cover), video (the video first), gallery (a full-width carousel) and opinion (the writer leads), each with its own template. * **Bylines that fit a newsroom**: several writers, roles, datelines, reading time, "Updated" times, an author box and author pages with photos, beats and social links. * **Trust**: key points, sources, corrections, image credits, a link to your editorial standards and honestly labelled partner content. * **Filters**: readers narrow any archive or search by section, format, period and score and sort by newest, trending, most discussed or rating. #### Built in * **Patterns**: 48, including 7 heroes (today's topline, lead story over its picture, live coverage now, background video, statement with the newest headlines, morning briefing on glass, search and sections), story sections (grid, one big two small, ruled list, two sections side by side, most discussed, opinion wall, top rated reviews), video spotlight, grid and video with text, galleries (masonry and carousel with a lightbox), photo essay opener, forms (send us a tip, contact the newsroom, newsletter), membership pitch, the masthead, numbers, reader questions, our promises, partner logos, footers and full pages (About, Contact, Videos, Gallery, Landing). * **Templates** for the home page (front page built from story sections, or the blog home), single stories in every format, sections, tags, authors, search and 404, plus Landing page, Wide page and Front page (no title). * **Style variations**: Default (white and signal red), Night desk (dark first), Cobalt, Newsprint (warm paper with serif headlines) and Volt, each with its own light and dark palette. * **Forms, galleries with a lightbox, featured video, gentle motion, reading progress and share buttons**, light and dark schemes. No page builder. ## Frequently Asked Questions #### Do I need a plugin? Live updates, review scores, section colors, sponsors and author profiles are entered with the free Secure Custom Fields plugin; Topline offers to install it with one click. Without it every page still displays, but the extra fields can't be edited. #### How do I run a live blog? Open the story, set "Live coverage" to Live in the story's details and add entries (time, title, text, key event). Readers on the page see new entries without reloading. Set it to Ended when coverage is over. #### How do I give a section its color? Posts → Categories → edit the category and choose its color (and an optional image). Cards, kickers and the section page use it. #### Where do messages from the forms go? Every message (tips, contact, newsletter) is saved under Messages in the dashboard and emailed to the site's admin email address. Change the recipient under Messages → Settings or in the form block's settings. #### How do I get the demo newsroom? Appearance → Import demo imports "Coastal newsroom": six sections, fourteen stories (live, breaking, reviews, opinion, video, gallery, sponsored), the Home, Reviews, About, Standards and Contact pages and a menu. You can remove it again from the same screen. #### How does dark mode work? The moon/sun button in the header switches between the light and the dark edition and remembers the choice on that device; until then it follows the device setting. The Night desk style variation is dark for everyone. #### Can I turn off the animations? Visitors who ask their device for reduced motion get a calm site automatically (the ticker and the background video stop). To remove an animation from a block, open the block's Motion panel in the editor. ## Downloads - [Topline 1.0.0](https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/1.0.0/topline-1.0.0.zip) (2026-10-22, 2.7 MB, SHA-256 7fb54afc08dd064195830d66c1cfa9597cd6611e45839ec03480b052b10c53b5) ## Screenshots - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/shots/home-c479b461a3.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/shots/category-name-business-835848d9d2.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/shots/category-name-climate-c48848f117.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/shots/category-name-world-a6ae0054b4.webp - https://symelo.com/wordpress-themes/topline/shots/admin-fields-e193d3db29.webp - [All WordPress themes](https://symelo.com/tools/wordpress-themes) ## Related pages - [All tools](https://symelo.com/tools) - [Agent documentation](https://symelo.com/llms.txt)