Frameworks are used by designers and WordPress developers as a foundation for other themes. They are usually used as a parent theme for other designs however sometimes they are simply modified by users to suit their needs. In this post we list 10 the most popular WordPress theme frameworks.

Reverie

Reverie Framework is an extremely versatile HTML5 WordPress framework based on ZURB’s Foundation, a powerful tool for building prototypes on any kind of devices. Reverie follows HTML5 Boilerplate standard and is hNews microformat ready. It is optimized for Search Engine while at the same time improve readability.

presswork

The PressWork Toolbox lets you style any theme in a live preview environment without any code, drag & drop to set your layout in seconds, add Google fonts, and much more.

rootstheme

Roots is a WordPress starter theme based on HTML5 Boilerplate & Bootstrap from Twitter.

wonderflux

Wonderflux is a professional, free WordPress theme framework. It allows you to rapidly develop highly sophisticated, custom WordPress themes with just a handful of files using the principle of a Child theme.

whiteboardframework

Whiteboard framework for WordPress was developed to speed up the development of WordPress themes. Whiteboard does so by eliminating the time spent on code common to all WordPress themes and includes non-intrusive code that improves the overall WordPress theme in many ways – including SEO, speed, usability, mobile support, and multi-lingual support.

Underscores

Underscores (or merely _s as it is also known) is a theme made by Automattic, the company behind WordPress itself. It’s not intended to be a parent theme with which to base any number of child themes on. Instead, the whole point is to hack the code of underscore around to do your exact bidding.

Bones

Built around the HTML5 Boilerplate, Bones is a rock solid foundation to start any WordPress project. Keep what you need, remove what you don’t. It’s totally up to you.

gantry

Gantry is a comprehensive set of building blocks to enable the rapid development and realization of a design into a flexible and powerful web platform theme.

Thematic

Thematic is a free, open-source, highly extensible, search-engine optimized WordPress Theme Framework featuring 13 widget-ready areas, grid-based layout samples, styling for popular plugins, and a whole community behind it. It’s perfect for beginner bloggers and WordPress development professionals.

Hybrid Core

Hybrid Core is a WordPress theme development framework for creating solid parent themes. It allows theme developers to forget about all the complex functionality and dive straight into coding their theme’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.