One of the best things about WordCamp Utah was the opportunity to launch Carrington - a new theme; but more importantly, a new theme framework for WordPress.
I wasn’t exaggerating (that much) when I characterized Carrington as the best thing since the wheel and sliced bread. I really feel like this has the potential to be the largest contribution I’ve made to the WordPress community. I’m very excited about it.
Enough self-congratulation - on to the good stuff.
What is Carrington?
Carrington is an attempt to better abstract WordPress theme organization, and simplify commonly needed theme functionality.
At the moment, Carrington is basically three things - in this order:
- A developer friendly theme and conventions-based templating system.
- A set of best practices for theme organization.
- An elegant, semantically rich WordPress theme for end-users with advanced features (like SEO-friendly AJAX loading of comments and archives and drop down navigation menus).
How Do I Get It?
Carrington is released under the GPL, just like WordPress. You can download it from the WordPress theme directory. You can also purchase Carrington from the Crowd Favorite store. This isn’t required, as we also make it available for free; but Carrington is definitely a 
premium 
theme and has real value. The more people purchase it, the more we can dedicate resources to improving it and building new Carrington themes.
Download Carrington Blog version 1.1
Carrington Blog is our first theme released on the Carrington framework.
Changes in Version 1.1
- There is now a setting to allow you to set how many posts should appear on the archives pages (seperately from the home page).
- Added parent-{page-slug}.php support to enable custom content display for sub-pages.
- Support cat-{slug}.php, etc. template support throughout all top level directories (header, footer, sidebar, etc.).
- Some IDs were converted to CLASSes to remove in-page ID conflicts (due to AJAX loading of templates).
- Firefox 2 compatibility for drop-down menus.
- Improved ShareThis compatibility with AJAX archives loading.
- Additional classes for misc. support.
Why Did We Build It?
At Crowd Favorite we build a lot of “WordPress as a CMS” powered web sites. WordPress makes a great, easily customizable, CMS back-end; and Carrington is the perfect compliment for it on the front-end.
We wanted to simplify how we built these highly customized sites. We wanted to make them easier and faster to build, and simpler to maintain. Carrington is our solution.
Framework = Convention Over Code
The main win from a framework is the move to convention over code. Instead of writing a bunch of code to accomplish something, using the supported naming conventions and the framework takes care of the heavy lifting for you.
By standardizing file naming conventions and template hierarchy (while retaining compatibility with WordPress theme standards), and including functionality to act on these standards, Carrington makes it dead simple to implement commonly requested theme features. These include a custom design/format for:
- posts in the “Tech News” category
- posts by a Joe Smith
- posts by contributing authors
- comments by the post author
- comments by registered users
- search results
- custom footer/header/sidebar for page X or category Y
- etc.
Carrington allows you to stop cluttering your templates with conditional logic and just build your templates. The framework will take care of the logic for you.
The Details
The WordPress engine prepares data for a page and hands it off to the theme and it’s the theme’s job to make that look right to the end user. Carrington takes that data, and makes a bunch of intelligent decisions about how the page should be displayed.
The override system looks at the page to display, and the available templates, and goes through a series of checks to see which templates to use at each level. Don’t worry; you aren’t stuck with the evaluation order we chose. The order in which the fallbacks are processed (and the final decisions on templates) can be overridden by plugins using actions and filters - using the standard WordPress system. This means that if you want your author role template to be more important than your category template (or vice versa), it’s a simple matter of a couple line plugin (and can even be placed in Carrington’s plugins/ directory for easy distribution with the file). Of course, we are happy to provide development services to help build these plugins or customizations.
The core of the Carrington engine is in the function.php and functions/ directory. That’s where the magic happens. The rest of the theme is organized into template files in different directories. There are a lot more directories here than you normally see in a WP theme because Carrington abstracts the theme elements to their atomic pieces. This enables you to have a template that displays a post, comment1, etc.
These atomic templates enable the AJAX loading features you see in Carrington. People have long asked me to release the AJAX loading features you see on this site, but I couldn’t really do it (until now) because it required this kind of theme abstraction and most themes don’t support it.
Every directory in Carrington has a pretty thorough README file (you can also access this documentation online). These files explain how the templates in the given directory are used, and what named templates are supported for this directory. These took a while to write, and could probably use some more detail (I’m not a tech writer), but they are a very good start and have been part of Carrington since 1.0.
Online Resources
This is still a little bit in-flux, but we’ve got the following set up so far:
Carrington’s Future
Expect to see some new themes from us based on the Carrington framework in the future - we’ve just scratched the surface of what Carrington can do here. We’re excited to be bringing new Carrington-based themes to the community; and we’re equally excited to see what the community builds with Carrington.
- Similar to the new comment template in WP 2.7. [back]
Popularity: 16% [?]
Alice adds this Comment:
Hey Alex
A great theme, iv just checked it out on wp-themes.com and the comments dont seem to load up properly, maybe its wp-themes.com acting up. carringtontheme.com seem to be working fine tho.
I cant wait for developers to start adding the ajax comment loading, its a really nice feature!
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
josue salazar adds this Comment:
This is very exciting. Thank you.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Chris adds this Comment:
Great work Alex. I saw the initial tip on Ma.tt and downloaded immediately. I hope this is a successful project.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Brian Dusablon adds this Comment:
Awesome, been waiting for this. Can’t wait to get it up and tested.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Mark Mathson adds this Comment:
Congratulations again Alex and the Crowd Favorite team. Marvelous contribution to the WordPress community.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
WordPress主题 - Carrington | 小墨|博客 adds this Pingback:
[…] 今天要介绍的这个主题 - Carrington，非常强悍，它不仅仅是一个主题，更是提供一个框架，有别于但兼容官方主题。 全新设计的主题结构能够让主题使用者更方便地自定义。个人感觉是相当有潜力的主题框架，更多功能请查看：Introducing Carrington 下载地址 | Live Demo预览 | 文档 | 购买该主题 PS：该主题遵循GPL，是免费主题，当然if you wish，可以购买支持下作者 Tags：WP|主题 […]
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Garritt Hampton adds this Comment:
Wow, nice theme. I am really impressed with the enthusiasm of the Wordpress development community. I use wordpress for all of my sites, and currently have 3 installations running on my web host. It is the excellent themes and plugins that make it so powerful, and I am excited to see the care that is taken to continue improving the usability and scope of wordpress. I look forward to playing with Carrington and seeing where it takes me in my own development. Thanks for the hard work.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
marshalsandler.com » Introducing Carrington | alexking.org adds this Pingback:
[…] Introducing Carrington | alexking.org. Written by marshal in: Uncategorized | […]
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Free WordPress Theme: Carrington | display:inline adds this Pingback:
[…] King baru saja merilis Carrington — apa yang dia sebut dengan tidak hanya sekedar sebuah theme tapi juga theme framework. […]
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Thought Stream: Nitin Badjatia’s Weblog - links for 2008-10-23 adds this Pingback:
[…] Introducing Carrington | alexking.org This is why I love wordpress… (tags: wordpress carrington alexking) […]
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 am
Josh Neumann adds this Comment:
Excellent theme, thanks for posting.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Bruce adds this Comment:
Looking at the code, looks like a very powerful framework. Looks like more of front-end for developers than an out-of-the-box for more simple website owners like me … true, or is it also intended for those like me who are not so astute in coding?
If I wanted to turn it into a two-column theme, with about a 540px content area, would that require a good bit of CSS manipulation or code manipulation?
Good luck with it. Your designs are always clean and very friendly to the eye.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Matthew adds this Comment:
I have to say, this theme is simply excellent. I’ve been contemplating paying $70 for a theme from Woo Themes for my site, and I may still end up doing it… but I won’t need to for a long time with Carrington in place.
Simply an excellent theme. Thank you for all you do for the WordPress community, Alex!
October 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Pardon our Progress - SilverPen Publishing adds this Pingback:
[…] I saw a news item on my WP dashboard announcing a new theme by Alex King. I’m a big fan of Alex’s work, and decided to give the theme a try. As you […]
October 24th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Bruce adds this Comment:
Am trying it out on a test site and noticed that, when comments are turned off, the “comments off” text appears right next to (crowded up against) the date of the post, and slightly (a couple of pixels) offset horizontally. Would have reported in forums but I do not have forum access.
The more I look at the theme, though, the better I like it. Very nicely done.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Isaiah adds this Comment:
Thank you firstly for this great theme and secondly for making it available free-of-charge! I’ve implemented the theme on my blog and have received favorable comments on it.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:16 am
EcletticaMente: Indagine sull’usabilità del Sito | ECLETTICAmente adds this Pingback:
[…] però ad un redesign (per il quale già stavo valutando alcune novità in termini di temi, come Carrington, un tema molto innovativo nella struttura tecnica, oltre che piacevole da un punto di vista […]
October 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Weekly Links #24 | GrantPalin.com adds this Pingback:
[…] Introducing Carrington Alex King unveils a new theme framework for WordPress. […]
October 26th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
WordPress themes for developers | geek ramblings adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington […]
October 29th, 2008 at 4:01 am
GoScript adds this Comment:
After seeing the theme breaks when clicking on comments on front page decided to download it and give it a test on a sample blog.
It seems it has something to do with wp-themes as it’s showing just fine on my blog.
October 29th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Yes, the demo site WP hosts doesn’t seem to work right. you can see it working at http://carringtontheme.com
October 29th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Themes para desarrolladores | aNieto2K adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington, Dougal cree que es la nueva generación de themes para Wordpress y nos es de extrañar ya que nos permite tener un theme realmente ordenado gracias a un sistema de directorios completamente nuevo en el mundo Wordpress y una estructura de código limpia y abstracta que nos permite definir las más extravagantes combinaciones. […]
October 29th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Themes de Wordpress para desarrolladores web adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington, Es theme realmente ordenado gracias a un sistema de directorios completamente nuevo en el mundo Wordpress. Archivado en Diseño Web, Miniblog Deja aquí tu comentario ↓ Etiquetas css, Diseño Web, html, php, themes, wordpress e m w y g t d s ← artículo anterior […]
October 29th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
几款 WordPress 主题框架推荐 | 上善若水 adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington […]
October 30th, 2008 at 7:32 am
redivide adds this Comment:
The theme looks good Alex, and surely i’m interested where you guys are going to take this theme in the future.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Homemade Yummy Pie! | Free Blogs adds this Pingback:
[…] Alex King Releases Carrington […]
November 1st, 2008 at 12:47 am
Carrington Theme - Traduzione in Italiano | ECLETTICAmente adds this Pingback:
[…] qualche giorno sto sperimentando, sul mio sistema, il tema “Carrington” sviluppato da Alex King e Crowd Favorite. Si tratta di un tema molto innovativo, non tanto dal punto di vista grafico, […]
November 1st, 2008 at 11:11 am
sirjoe il "Traduzione in italiano di Carrington" adds this Pingback:
[…] qualche giorno sto sperimentando (non ancora in produzione) il tema “Carrington” sviluppato da Alex King e Crowd Favorite. Si tratta di un tema molto innovativo, non tanto dal punto di vista grafico, […]
November 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
几款 WordPress 主题框架推荐 | 1983ex adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington […]
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Recent Links: October 26 to November 02 » Alex Jones adds this Pingback:
[…] Introducing Carrington Carrington is an attempt to better abstract WordPress theme organization, and simplify commonly needed theme functionality. […]
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 am
Johnsons.D adds this Comment:
Brilliant theme, actually would be prefect for my blog. thanks for it mate.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Myron Tay adds this Comment:
This I dare say is the perfect 3 column theme. Thank you.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Tekné » Blog Archive » Carrington Theme - Traduzione in Italiano adds this Pingback:
[…] qualche giorno sto sperimentando, sul mio sistema, il tema “Carrington” sviluppato da Alex King e Crowd Favorite. Si tratta di un tema molto innovativo, non tanto dal punto di vista grafico, […]
November 4th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Tekné » Blog Archive » EcletticaMente: Indagine sull’usabilità del Sito adds this Pingback:
[…] però ad un redesign (per il quale già stavo valutando alcune novità in termini di temi, come Carrington, un tema molto innovativo nella struttura tecnica, oltre che piacevole da un punto di vista […]
November 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
最近気になっているWordPressの話題 « Blog Archive « Waviaei adds this Pingback:
[…] PrimePressやThematicもおもしろそうですが、個人的に注目してるのはCarringtonです。CarringtonはTwitterやPopular系のプラグインで有名なAlex King氏が働いているウェブデザイン会社がWordPressをCMSとして利用する案件を多くされているそうで、その課程で生まれてきたテーマのようです。（注：うろ覚えです。確認しようとKing氏のブログにアクセスしましたが、現在ダウンしているようです。）いろいろと高機能なテーマなのですが、なんと言っても最大の特徴は、テンプレートファイルのさらなる細分化です。WordPressでは、テンプレートヒエラルキーや条件タグを使って、たとえば、ホームではテンプレートAを使用、カテゴリYではテンプレートYを使用、などの指定ができます。Carringtonではそこをさらに突っ込んで、たとえばWPループ別のテンプレートファイルが使用できたり、特定のカテゴリ＋投稿者別にテンプレート指定、なんかができます。そこらへんの処理がfunction.phpの機能を利用して、独自のテンプレートタグ実装されています。つまり、フレームワーク化されているのです。 […]
November 10th, 2008 at 9:12 am
dominolas » Blog Archive » Wordpress themes adds this Pingback:
[…] Carrington, Dougal cree que es la nueva generación de themes para Wordpress y nos es de extrañar ya que nos permite tener un theme realmente ordenado gracias a un sistema de directorios completamente nuevo en el mundo Wordpress y una estructura de código limpia y abstracta que nos permite definir las más extravagantes combinaciones. […]
November 11th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Keral Patel adds this Comment:
Can we take carrington and customize other things on top of it? Would it be okay if someone changes some parts and colors etc and uses it on his or her blog?
Thanks.
November 28th, 2008 at 2:06 am
SupportTech adds this Comment:
Great theme but it looks like it does not work with Disqus commenting system.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:43 pm