Clean Copy Free WordPress Theme

Lately, a lot of people have asked me where they can get a blog theme like mine, or where did I get mine made. (In fact, it’s practically a daily occurrence.)

Unfortunately, I designed this theme myself — using Kubrick’s base theme, I created the graphic header using Adobe PhotoShop, and tweaked the stylesheet file for the fonts and colors to match it.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Armand Morin, for whom I wrote the copy for the Big Seminar, suggested sponsoring a free WordPress Theme.

So I decided to hire Cory Miller, a talented theme designer whom I highly recommend, to design a similar-looking theme. And, he did it. Introducing…

Clean Copy WordPress Theme

Clean Copy is a simple, two-column, crisp, blue and white theme designed for blog content with the professional in mind, and the sharp simplicity based on Michel Fortin’s Copywriting Tips blog.

If you want to see it in the WordPress Theme Gallery, click here.

Here’s a screenshot of the theme:

Key features of this theme:

Two column theme, left sidebar;
Medium blue and white colors;
Five randomized header graphics;
WordPress 2.x Widget ready;
Crisp layout with good white space.

You can download it here. Or you can view a demo.

If you know a bit about graphic design, changing the header graphic to something more custom is easy as 1-2-3. You just design it (860 x 200 pixels) and replace it with the ones in the theme’s image folder.

This is also the theme’s support-related post. Please report all theme-related problems, bugs, or issues here or by submitting a support ticket.

Update! I’ve just released a right-sidebar and dual-sidebar versions of this theme. Click here to view or download.

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, consultant, and CEO of The Success Doctor, Inc. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

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About this post Posted by Michel Fortin on April 11th, 2007. Filed in Events, Launches, News, Resources. Tagged as blog, blue, Copywriting, cory miller, crisp, demo, design, download, free, Marketing, michel fortin, professional, theme, white, white space, widget, wordpress. Follow responses through the RSS feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

51 Replies to “Clean Copy Free WordPress Theme”

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From Weblog Tools Collection » Blog Archive » WordPress Theme Releases for 04/13

[...] Clean Copy is a simple, two-column, crisp, blue and white theme designed for blog content with the professional in mind, and the sharp simplicity. (Contains Sponsored Links) [...]

Source Website | April 13th, 2007
From Temas para WordPress para el 13 de abril - Carrero Bitácora de los Hermanos Carrero, David Carrero Fernández-Baillo y Jaime Carrero Fernández-Baillo.

[...] Clean Copy es un sencillo tema patrocinado con 2 columnas, en varios colores (azul y blanco) y desarrollado para sitios profesionales y sencillos. (Contiene enlaces patrocinados) [...]

Source Website | April 13th, 2007
From WordPress Themes » Download Links for Themes

[...] Clean Copy [...]

Source Website | April 15th, 2007
From New Theme Viewer: 38 WordPress Themes I Like | I’d Rather Be Writing

[...] Clean Copy [...]

Source Website | April 15th, 2007
From Cory Miller | Free WordPress Themes | Custom WordPress Themes

[...] Clean Copy - a simple, two-column, crisp, blue and white theme designed for blog content, inspired by Copywriter’s Michel Fortin’s website. [...]

Source Website | April 16th, 2007
From Making money online blog — eProfitNews.org/blog » Blog Archive » Free WordPress business theme: Clean copy

[...] http://www.michelfortin.com/clean-copy-free-wordpress-theme/ Related Posts: [...]

Source Website | April 16th, 2007
From WeblogToolsCollection Español » Blog Archive » Temas de WordPress publicados 13/4

[...] Clean Copy es un tema simple a 2 columnas, fresco, de colores azul y blanco diseñado para contenido con el profesional en la mente y una aguda simplicidad. (Contiene Enlaces Patrocinados) [...]

Source Website | April 18th, 2007
From New Blog Design And Plug-Ins | Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean

[...] new theme comes from Michel Fortin’s Clean Copy template…with some modifications of course (the sidebar has been moved to the right so the main [...]

Source Website | May 2nd, 2007
From Clean Copy Right And Full WordPress Themes » Copywriting Blog By Copywriter Michel Fortin

[...] month, I released a free WordPress theme that mimics my blog design, Clean Copy. It has a left sidebar and the same font and color scheme as my [...]

Source Website | June 4th, 2007

Comments

From David Wilkinson

Nice going Michel! I’m sure this will be a big hit! I for one love your blog’s design and this looks brilliant. Keep it up!

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Kelly Robbins

I also like the look of your blog. Did you customize the look of your blog for fun or was there a reason behind it?
Kelly Robbins

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Gavin Allinson

Thanks Michel,

I am going to get it installed on a number of my wordpress blogs ASAP

Gavin Allinson
http://www.outsourcesuccess.com

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From JP Maroney

Beautiful Michel!

Thanks for sharing… now I can legally rip you off.

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Fabian Tan

I love this theme! Thanks Michel!

I’m building a few Wordpress blogs at the moment so this is a nice addition.

Fabian
http://www.MurderYourJob.com

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Ann

Thanks a million. Why the switch from right navigation (good) to left navigation? I will attempt to adjust.

I wish the Clean Copy template had a right sidebar. You were the one who pointed out that having a right sidebar allows the blogmaster to put high value content in the HOT zone for eye scanning. Ever since you pointed that out, I’ve been consciously choosing and building more right navigation blogs and sites.

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

You certainly can. You simply change it in the CSS file, where the sidebar float right rather than left. But, to be candid, I’m planning on release variants of this theme as time goes on, including right, double, and no sidebars.

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From Siriol Jameson

The blog looks great, Michel!

It is neat looking and has a lot of white space which makes it inviting.

Great job.

Regards,
Siriol Jameson

Author's Website | April 11th, 2007
From KidBlogger

Nice theme michael! I love the simplicity of the design. And oh! that’s a great header!

Author's Website | April 12th, 2007
From Thomas Schamedatus

Very nice template. Have installed it but the headers don’t change randomly.
And it looks like there is no randomizer function (
#header {
background: #2397E9 url(images/header.jpg) top center no-repeat;
padding: 25px 35px 75px 35px;
text-align: left;
})

Any ideas?

Author's Website | April 12th, 2007
From Peter

Please stop using that ugly WP 0.1 legacy : the big empty space next to each picture embedded in a post.
If you were to find this in a newspaper or magazine, you’d consider it a severe lay-out error.
The CSS float and clear properties have been around for a while now and are easily incorporated in any theme’s stylesheet.

Author's Website | April 13th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Thomas:

I’ll look into it with the designer, Cory. For now, you can choose any of those headers or replace it with one of your own.

Author's Website | April 13th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Peter:

You’re absolutely right, Peter. In fact, I talked about this in my blog post on using the align properties in the default CSS file:

michelfortin.com/maximize-exposure-with-these-tips-and-plugi…

Author's Website | April 13th, 2007
From billg

Hi MIchel, nice work. I’m adapting it at DistantTarget.com.

I’ve added a few things to the CSS to deal with a few annoying IE issues:

I’ve added “display:inline” to the CSS for the floated “Content” and “Sidebar” to prevent old IE’s from doubling the margin, which pushes the content column down. I’ve also added the Box Model Hack on those element’s widths for the same old IE’s. Sometimes IE will add unecessary width to italics, so a “overflow-x:hidden” added to the blockquote attributes deals with that.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Bill:

Great points! Could you post the code? You can use the code tags if possible. I’d love to use it, too… or I can simple copy from your stylesheet…

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007

From billg

No problem.

This is the code for the Box Model Hack:


#content { 
  background: #ffffff;
  margin-top: 20px;
  margin-bottom: 20px;
  margin-left: 0px;
  margin-right: 20px;
  float: right; 
  position:relative;
   display: inline;
  padding: 0px 25px 15px 0px;
  width: 525px;
  voice-family: ""}"";
  voice-family:inherit;
  width: 500px; 
  }

#sidebar { 
  color: #000000;
  float: left; 
  position:relative;
  display:inline;
  margin: 20px 20px 20px 20px;
  padding: 20px 30px 20px 30px;
  text-align: left;
  border: 1px solid #cccccc;
  width: 262px;
  voice-family: ""}"";
  voice-family:inherit;
  width:200px;
  }

explanation He suggests a different, arguably more efficient, version, of the hack than I’ve used, but it works the same way.

You can see the “display:inline” in there, too.

Here’s what my “blockquote” looks like:


blockquote{
  margin: 0px 0px 0px 25px;
  padding: 0px 25px 0px 10px;
  font-style: italic;
  color: #666666;
  border-left: 1px solid #cccccc;
  overflow-x:hidden;
  }

I can’t tell the difference, but you never know.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007

From billg

Hmm..looks like the top of that middle paragraph was chopped off. It’s a link to an explanation of the Box Model Hack and why it’s needed: Roger Johansson on the Box Model

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From billg

Oh, I forgot:

You can get the “Content” div to appear first in the generated HTML by doing this edit on the templates:

Move these lines:
```

```
from the top of each file to the bottom, immediately before the code that includes the footer. Like so:
```


<!--incm��VFRf��FW"���РР
```
Moving the sidebar to the right should still be a matter of adjusting the float attributes and tweaking the margins.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From billg

Rats. Sorry about that. I wrapped the lines in code tags and they still disappeared.

Anyway, there’s only one line beneath the “include sidebar” lines, and that’s the line that needs to be moved.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Billg:

They show up for me. I’m using both FF 2.02 and IE 7.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From billg

Odd. I’m on a Mac with Safari and FF 2.0.0.3 and they’re gone.

Author's Website | April 14th, 2007
From Jason

Regarding the new theme - why would you make the sidebar on the left when for SEO reasons you suggested 3 reasons to place the sidebar on the right!

michelfortin.com/maximize-exposure-with-these-tips-and-plugi…

And very clearly that is what you are doing here. Presumably users can modify the theme to do that but not all of them will.

Author's Website | April 16th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Jason:

As I said in my earlier comments, I plan on releasing variants. This is to test the waters, to see how much interest there is. And apparently, there is. So keep an eye out for the next theme…

For now, and nevertheless, I paid Cory, the designer, to create this theme quickly and he can certainly be commissioned to make any changes, if urgent.

Author's Website | April 16th, 2007
From Jason

Thanks for that clarification. BTW that related post on SEO was brilliant and very useful.

Author's Website | April 16th, 2007
From Justin

I have note been able to get it to work. Keep having problems - http://69.5.66.166/

It just doesn’t want to post in the write place.

If anyone knows where I can get a good WP theme with all the necessary plugins I would be greatly appreciative.

Author's Website | April 17th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Justin:

The theme seems to work fine. If you’re having problems, please be specific. “Doesn’t want to post in the right place” isn’t specific enough.

Author's Website | April 17th, 2007
From Justin

Hi Michel

My apologies. It appears that with IE6 when I write a post it is not appearing on the page until below the search section of the left nav.

It looks like the left column and right column are not dynamically sizing which is causing the post to appear below the left nav.

I have left a ticket with your helpdesk so I apologise for commenting in the wrong area.

Thanks
Justin

Author's Website | April 17th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@Justin:

No problem, Justin! Your comment was perfectly acceptable here… I just wanted to be clear on what the problem was. (And thank you so much for your feedback.)

Cory, the designer, knows about your situation. He might provide some insight.

Author's Website | April 17th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

@All:

To make the header graphic randomize, you need the randomize plugin:

http://andersdrengen.dk/projects/randomize/

Author's Website | April 18th, 2007
From Joanna Katzen

Haven’t read all the comments yet, but if you’re still going to release variants, how about a landing page? I’m not a code maven and would so love to have a landing page that includes info about the site, maybe linked teasers for the three most recent posts and, of course the left sidebar which I LOVE!!! There are so many good templates with the right sidebar, but this is the best one I’ve seen yet with the longed-for left sidebar.

It would also be really great to have a template that sets itself up to have the actual blog appear at a different URL (i.e., landing page at http://www.urhere and blog at http://www.urhere/blog).

Looking forward,

Joanna

Author's Website | April 21st, 2007
From Nicholas

Hi Michel,

I am a newbie in wordpress and i would like to consult you. Here are my questions:

1. I got your theme. I changed the sidebar to float right instead of left (original from Cory Miller). But then the alignment gone. Can u guide me there. Check it at http://www.nicholasyeap.com

2. I am looking to edit the about me page (Sidebar - where i can put my pic) but i just could not find the right place to do my editing. Pls help.

3. How do i put in the Name & Email Column (at right sidebar)so that i can build a simple list from there? I notice that it is easy to do it with blogger but not wordpress.

Been frustrated with the above few questions. I understand that my questions are too simple for you. Just hope you will still willing to help me.Appreciated it alot.

Sincerely,
Nicholas

Author's Website | May 14th, 2007
From Michel Fortin

1. We are going to be releasing a right-sidebar theme soon. For now, look at how some people have done it:

http://www.terrydean.org/

(Check out his css file.)

2. I don’t know what you mean. Do you mean editing pictures?

3. I think you mean an email list. You can get one with FeedBlitz.com and place the form in your sidebar.

Author's Website | May 14th, 2007
From Maria Marsala, Business Strategist

Very professional looking template. I can’t believe that an hour ago my blog looked so plain

I”m having a problem with one line of code

“>/images/rss.png” alt=”Feed” border=”0″ />

My tidy validator says something I don’t fully understand (I can hand code though and fix any problems with it

It says escaping malformed URI referance

and then

escaping malformed URI referance

Can you LMK if what it says matters?

Author's Website | May 21st, 2007
From Maria Marsala, Business Strategist

make that reference

the line of code didn’t take right on the blog. I’ll add some dots to it so your web master can see it.

“>/images/rss.png” alt=”Feed” border=”0″ />

Author's Website | May 21st, 2007
From Michel Fortin

Everyone,

Just to let you know I’ve released a right-sidebar and dual-sidebar (three-column) versions of this theme.

michelfortin.com/clean-copy-right-and-full-wordpress-themes/

Author's Website | June 4th, 2007
From Maria Marsala, Business Strategist

This is the most professional, cleanest and nicest looking blog template I’ve ever seen (and am using). My designer will create a new photo for mine, based on my logo, etc., but other than that, it’s been great.

I am wondering one thing though. You see how your comment area opens a box for us to use? How’d you do that? Mine has always made folks click on a comments link that opens a box.

Again, thanks so much for the template.

Author's Website | June 4th, 2007
From EngineerTiat

Hi Michael

Cool. Thanks for the templates.

Warm regards
Tiat
P.S: What is Abundance Law? http://www.AbundanceLaw.com

Author's Website | June 5th, 2007
From Crystal

Great theme! I’m the widget-ready version with right and left sidebars. It was working perfectly for me until I downloaded the Amazon.com marketplace widget. Then the section with all my posts, yes, the middle section, disappeared, leaving me with a big blank space. Any suggestions for me? I tried reinstalling the theme with no luck. Thanks.

Author's Website | June 16th, 2007
From Best Way to Lose Weight

I’ve been searching for a theme that met the needs for my next website! This is perfect! Thank you so much

Author's Website | March 12th, 2008
From brazilman

Thanks for the template michael. I found it interesting that your opt in is not using a gift formula like most other marketers. I guess you’re getting a good email sign up ratio?

Author's Website | March 26th, 2008
From Michel Fortin

Brazilman, of course I do. It’s unannounced (on this blog). I used to mention it in the past, but I prefer to remain disarming and to the point.

But to give you an idea, it’s the same as here:

http://www.successdoctor.com/free/

Author's Website | March 27th, 2008
From Ross

The demo seems not integrated the theme. Anyway, thanks!

Author's Website | April 2nd, 2008

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