Quillwork
A full-site-editing WordPress theme for writers, editors, and personal brands who care about how type looks on the page.
Quillwork is part of the This Is My URL free theme line, built on the Colophon core.
What it is
A literary, editorial theme. The design choices are deliberate:
- Cormorant Garamond for display headlines with italic accents — a typeface built for long-form reading
- Newsreader for the body column — comfortable at 400 words or 4,000
- Deep teal and warm ochre on a cream ground — calm, not stark
- Numbered service cards, gentle float accents, a portfolio layout that gets out of the way of the work
- Reduced-motion respected throughout; the animations that exist are subtle and defeatable
All three font families are self-hosted OFL files — no Google Fonts request, no third-party connection on page load.
Who it's for
- Writers, editors, and journalists who want a site that looks like they take publishing seriously
- Designers and illustrators who need portfolio presentation without building a custom theme
- Consultants and independent practitioners who want authority without corporate stiffness
If you need a newspaper front page or a financial data layout, Masthead and Margin are the other themes in the line.
Requirements
- WordPress 7.0 or later
- PHP 8.1 or later
- No plugins required
Install
Option A — from the WordPress.org directory (recommended):
- WordPress admin → Appearance → Themes → Add New
- Search for Quillwork
- Install and activate
Or install directly: wordpress.org/themes/quillwork
Option B — from a release ZIP:
- Download the latest ZIP from Releases
- WordPress admin → Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme
- Upload the ZIP, activate
Option C — clone (development):
cd wp-content/themes/
git clone https://github.com/thisismyurl/quillwork quillwork
Then activate via Appearance → Themes. Note: cloning main gives you the development branch, which may be ahead of or behind the current WordPress.org release.
What you get
- Accessibility-minded — skip link, visible focus rings, reduced-motion support
- Light on the front end — no render-blocking scripts, self-hosted fonts, no third-party connections
- Zero front-end JavaScript — none
- Full RTL support via CSS logical properties
- Full-site editor ready — edit headers, footers, and templates without touching code
- Block patterns for common layout needs — editorial grid, portfolio row, service cards
Free, forever — no upsell
GPL-2.0. No pro version, no premium tier, no "email us for support." Build what you need.
The theme line
- Colophon — the shared core and developer CLI
- Quillwork — this theme
- Masthead — broadsheet newspaper layout
- Margin — financial trade-publication layout
All themes are listed at thisismyurl.com/themes.
Maintenance status
Active.
Support and donations
I build this free theme line because the open web works better when good tools are free. The themes are free to use, with no tracking, no ads, and no upsell.
If one of them saves you time, here are the genuine ways to help:
- Sponsor the work. GitHub Sponsors is the simplest way, and the Sponsor button at the top of this repo lists it alongside Bitcoin, Dogecoin, PayPal, and Interac e-transfer. Any amount helps, and none of it is expected.
- Contribute code or ideas. A pull request or a bug report on the Issues tab is worth as much as a donation.
- Share it. A note on WordPress.org, GitHub, or LinkedIn helps other people find work that might save them the same afternoon.
Report issues and questions
- Found a bug or want a feature? Open an issue on the Issues tab.
- Have a question? Start a thread on the Discussions tab.
About This Is My URL
This theme is built and maintained by This Is My URL, the WordPress development and technical SEO practice of Christopher Ross. I help teams build WordPress sites that stay secure, fast, and maintainable, and I build a small, free theme line for people who want a real accessibility and performance floor without starting from scratch.
My background
- On the web since 1996, and in WordPress since 2007
- WordPress.org plugin developer with 19 plugins published since 2009
- Technical SEO practitioner focused on performance, security, and search visibility
- Lead instructor and curriculum architect at the M.L. Campbell Training Center, the Sherwin-Williams® international training facility for its industrial wood division
Ways to connect
License
GNU General Public License v2.0 or later — see LICENSE.
This project follows the 10 Core Pillars. Support quality work here.
