Title: Under the hood of Twenty Sixteen
Author: Tammie Lister
Published: October 23, 2015
Last modified: October 26, 2015

---

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/) [Tammie Lister](https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/)
6:14 pm _on_ October 23, 2015     
Tags: [4.4 ( 46 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/4-4/),
[dev-notes ( 647 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes/)   

# Under the hood of Twenty Sixteen

Twenty Sixteen is the new default theme for WordPress 4.4. This year the process
has been done differently, with an exciting exploration of how default themes are
created. The theme has been developed on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers
online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and 
modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories
require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’
where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed
before being merged by the repository owner. [https://github.com/](https://github.com/)
and you can follow along [here](https://github.com/WordPress/twentysixteen). The
theme has also been synced every night with the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community
site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you 
can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the
central location for community conversations and organization. [https://wordpress.org/](https://wordpress.org/)
theme repository. This has meant more people have been able to use them theme earlier
than previous default themes.

As [Beta 1 is now out](https://wordpress.org/news/2015/10/wordpress-4-4-beta-1/),
it’s a great time to explore a little more about what Twenty Sixteen contains and
how the contributions have shaped this default theme so far.

### Features of Twenty Sixteen

This theme is designed to be a fresh take on the traditional blogging format. It
includes:

 * Multiple menu positions and a social menu.
 * Optional sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready 
   area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the
   main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal
   rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the
   theme..
 * Custom color options and beautiful default color schemes.
 * Harmonious fluid grid using mobile-first approach.
 * Custom background and headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first
   thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top
   of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a
   visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may
   also look different on different screen sizes..
 * Overflow displaying large images.
 * Ability to add intro to post using custom excerptExcerpt An excerpt is the description
   of the blog post or page that will by default show on the blog archive page, 
   in search results (SERPs), and on social media. With an SEO plugin, the excerpt
   may also be in that plugin’s metabox..

### Contributions to Twenty Sixteen

During development, there have been some amazing contributions along the way. These
include:

 * Lots of accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y)
   refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people
   with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access”(
   i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s 
   assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.
   org/wiki/Accessibility) improvements. The Accessibility team have done amazing
   work reviewing and ensuring Twenty Sixteen is better than any other default theme
   for accessibility.
 * Improved js handling and tidying in files. Thanks to contributions, the theme
   js and that of other default themes has been reviewed and optimised.
 * Numerous design enhancements including sub menus.
 * Travis testing integrated with the repo.
 * Device and browser testing. Everyone really helped put this theme through it’s
   paces.
 * The addition of singular.php.
 * Responsive image support (on the way).
 * Prefixing cleaning up to focus on browsers using.
 * Sanitisation and escaping.
 * Adding of coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The
   Core Development Team builds WordPress. comments navigation.
 * Hyphenated post titles for better language support.
 * Numerous bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements,
   code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature
   freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the 
   previous version) being the highest priority. fixes, code tidying and countless
   tiny improvements.

A big thank you to [everyone](https://github.com/WordPress/twentysixteen/blob/master/CONTRIBUTORS.md)
that has helped make Twenty Sixteen the theme it is. It’s been incredible to see
everyone so engaged and active over on GitHub.

With Twenty Sixteen on GitHub, if you have a bug you’d like to report you can do
so using GitHub [right here](https://github.com/WordPress/twentysixteen/issues).

[#4-4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/4-4/), [#dev-notes](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes/)

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 1.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/66adc8675139306ae2a9e459d672a8184ce2385ec1b143896979de12dae393d3?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 2.   [wpboys](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpboys/)  8:26 pm _on_ October 24, 2015
 3.  The menu should have been implemented without using jQuery..
 4.   * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/60c1948accd86d7ca3f6dcc5b0de7bb649ad26ad8d8c3095e2c479bcbe3ac249?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [karpstrucking](https://profiles.wordpress.org/karpstrucking/)  4:47 pm _on_
        November 11, 2015
      * You can submit an issue and/or pull request on GithubGitHub GitHub is a website
        that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared,
        copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host,
        private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept
        of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can
        be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. [https://github.com/](https://github.com/):
        [https://github.com/WordPress/twentysixteen/issues/new](https://github.com/WordPress/twentysixteen/issues/new)
 5.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8b322bf21779bc684c6b2a4db6cc8446c5318d56d415cab1e7ca7ab9e1891c0d?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 6.   [greatdanemaniac](https://profiles.wordpress.org/greatdanemaniac/)  10:31 am 
     _on_ November 5, 2015
 7.  How do are you supposed to get rid of the optional sidebarSidebar A sidebar in
     WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display
     information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical
     column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content
     area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.? I’d really like to know…
 8.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3f82be9411b724f281f39c84eb6f08e0e21adc4ea10e35b6a1495d39b68a9a1c?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 9.   [kimharding](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kimharding/)  2:29 pm _on_ December
     9, 2015
 10. Just being able to hide the “optional sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is
     referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information
     that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on 
     the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer,
     header, or any where in the theme.” on some pages would suit me, it would make
     the theme more user friendly.
 11.  * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/2a15e2c997c34c8bc38526930f1d2e0f1b257afbe3bb5ce49b1056913a1369e5?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [andynick](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andynick/)  3:01 pm _on_ January
        24, 2016
      * If you don’t want the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to 
        a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is
        not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side.
        It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header,
        or any where in the theme., remove all objects from it and it won’t appear.

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