A clean, retro-tech inspired classic WordPress theme for commander1024.de. It uses standard PHP templates rather than Full Site Editing templates, while providing a modern Gutenberg authoring experience through theme.json and matching editor styles.

The theme is intended for a traditional personal blog with articles, static pages, category/tag archives, search, comments, and media-rich technical content.

Scope

This theme provides the presentation layer for WordPress. It does not bundle content, plugins, analytics, SEO tooling, caching, contact forms, or e-commerce functionality.

It is designed to work with WordPress’s normal post/page workflow and with the block editor. The PHP template hierarchy remains conventional and easy to maintain:

index.php — posts index
single.php — individual posts
page.php — static pages
archive.php — category, tag, date, and author archives
search.php — search results
404.php — custom error page
front-page.php — configurable video hero and front-page content

Features

Site experience

Responsive classic theme with a clean retro-computing visual language
Sticky header that hides while scrolling down and returns while scrolling up
Multi-level primary navigation:
- first-level dropdowns open below their parent
- nested dropdowns open beside their parent
- menu hierarchy remains expanded and touch-friendly on small screens
Expanding search panel with automatic input focus
Three-state color-mode control:
- Automatic — follows the visitor’s system preference
- Light
- Dark
Color-mode preference stored in the visitor’s browser
WordPress admin-bar offset for logged-in visitors
Custom 404 page

Content and taxonomy

Wide article identity area for post/page titles, metadata, categories, tags, featured images, archive headings, pagination, and post navigation
Readable, narrower measure for article body text
Category/tag chips and archive support
Responsive images, galleries, captions, embeds, and code blocks
Threaded comments with avatars, readable metadata, and non-numbered reply hierarchy
Previous/next post navigation with directional markers

W3 Total Cache no-JavaScript image compatibility

W3 Total Cache’s optional Lazy Load feature replaces every image src with an SVG placeholder and relies on JavaScript to restore the real source. This prevents image delivery for visitors with JavaScript disabled.

The theme uses W3 Total Cache’s public w3tc_lazyload_can_process filter to disable only that JavaScript-only output mutation. W3 Total Cache’s page cache, browser cache, minification, CDN, and other features remain unaffected. WordPress/browser-native loading="lazy" behavior can still be used because it retains a real image src and does not require JavaScript.

Front page

Configure the hero from Appearance → Customize → Home page video hero:

Select a video from the WordPress Media Library
Set a custom overlay heading
Set optional overlay copy
The site subtitle is shown as the hero eyebrow

Gutenberg support

theme.json defines the theme’s editor design system while the site remains a classic PHP theme:

Commander1024 color palette, gradients, and duotone preset
Local font-family choices
Font-size and spacing scales
Content width: 760px
Wide width: 1180px
Wide and full block alignments
Buttons, tables, quotes, pullquotes, covers, galleries, Media & Text, Group, and Columns styling
Matching block-editor canvas styles in editor-style.css

Code blocks

Core Code blocks and the optional Syntax Highlighting Code Block plugin are supported.

Berkeley Mono is used for code
Syntax-highlighted blocks use Monokai Light in site light mode
Syntax-highlighted blocks use conventional Monokai Dark in site dark/automatic-dark mode

The syntax-highlighting plugin is not bundled with this theme and must be installed separately if desired.

Fonts and licensing

All font files are self-hosted in fonts/ and are used by both the frontend and block editor. Monospace stacks prefer Berkeley Mono and fall back to Source Code Pro before the browser’s generic monospace face.

Font	Usage	Files	License / redistribution status
Alpha Lyrae	Site headings, display titles, retro stylistic sets	`AlphaLyrae-Medium.woff2`	Free for commercial use under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
Crimson Pro	Body copy	`crimson-pro-latin-wght-normal.woff2`, `crimson-pro-latin-wght-italic.woff2`	SIL Open Font License 1.1.
Berkeley Mono	Preferred code, metadata, navigation, and UI face	`BerkeleyMono-.woff`, `BerkeleyMono-.woff2`	Privately licensed by the site owner. It is not an open-source font and must not be redistributed or reused outside the applicable licence.
Source Code Pro	Automatic fallback for Berkeley Mono in code, metadata, navigation, and UI	`SourceCodePro-Regular.woff2`, `SourceCodePro-Bold.woff2`, `SourceCodePro-Italic.woff2`, `SourceCodePro-BoldItalic.woff2`	Downloaded from the public Google Fonts distribution; SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Alpha Lyrae OpenType features

The supplied Alpha Lyrae font includes stylistic sets ss01 through ss05 and ligature support. The theme uses Alpha Lyrae as its heading face; individual features can be selected with CSS, for example:

.retro-heading {
  font-family: "Alpha Lyrae", sans-serif;
  font-feature-settings: "ss01" 1, "liga" 1;
}

Use one stylistic set at a time. See the CSS around .hero-title for a live theme example.

Installation

Place this directory in wp-content/themes/.
In WordPress administration, activate Commander1024 2026 under Appearance → Themes.
Configure the custom logo under Appearance → Customize → Site Identity.
Assign the Primary and Footer menus under Appearance → Menus.
Add widgets to Appearance → Widgets → Footer column 1–3. When at least one column contains a widget, the responsive three-column area is displayed above the footer sitewide.
Optionally configure the front-page video hero in the Customizer.
Review block-editor palette, typography, spacing, and alignment controls when authoring content.

Development notes

style.css contains frontend styles and the WordPress theme header.
editor-style.css styles the classic editor and block-editor canvas.
assets/js/theme.js contains the color-mode, scroll-header, search-panel, and mobile-navigation interactions.
functions.php registers theme supports, menus, editor assets, Customizer controls, and custom comment rendering.
theme.json is the source of truth for Gutenberg tokens and editor controls.

Licence

The theme code is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0; see LICENSE. This applies to the PHP, CSS, JavaScript, JSON, and documentation created for the theme. Font assets remain subject to their separate licences listed above and are not relicensed by the GPLv3 theme-code licence.

Validation

The repository’s editor diagnostics are used for static validation. Visual testing should be performed on the local/staging WordPress environment, including both color modes, responsive navigation, nested menus, Gutenberg wide/full blocks, code blocks, and threaded comments.

README.md Unescape Escape

Commander1024 2026