WordPress.com announced recently that a new theme is available for WordPress.com blogs. It’s called the Monochrome theme and knew right away I was going to give it a try. You can watch the YouTube video Change Your WordPress.com Theme – Ms. Ileane Speaks Episode #013 as I make the transition from Ocean Mist theme to Monochrome Theme.
The monochrome theme is also available for self-hosted WordPress users.
Let me know what you think of the new blog theme. The comments section is on the left.
UPDATE: I’m no longer using the Monochrome Theme on this blog. However, I’m using the theme on The Podcast Blog if you would like to take a look. I’m currently experimenting with different themes here, trying to find the “sweet spot” for Ms. Ileane Speaks.
ms. ileane speaks 
I like this cool theme… its clean and elegant! 😀
Hi Techhamlet, thank you.
hi ileane!
I found an immediate advantage of this theme that your content comes directly into focus. This is good for a rich content blog like yours. It appears that this theme supports lots of features as well. But don’t you think this made all other parts of the blog under shaddow? I feel if you lose the color of life with this theme? Choice is yours.
Hi, thank you for visiting. I think I can brighten things up by using colorful images and widgets. I will need to keep it in mind. Nice of you to mention my content.
It’s a good looking theme, I just think it’s a little bet darker than it has to be! the gray color of text on the sidebars has to be white! this is what I think ME. Ileane!
Hesham,
You are the second person that mentioned the dark color. The good thing about themes is how easy they are to change. Thanks for your feedback and for your visit.
I just want the best for you Ms. Ileane, you know that you are so important for us! I even wish you move to your self hosted blog soon but not abandon this blog because you will need it in future as part of your blogging history!
Thanks for your support and good wishes!
WOW! I like this a lot! I just kept looking at the bottom where I would normally find a comment form and there it was off to the side. I could get used to that though. Colors really stand out on this monochromatic theme, I could make a serious MAN BLOG out of this theme!
Consider this Tweeted!
Thank you. I think I’ll update the post to tell folks to look left for comments.
Thanks. This is a very nice theme.
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I saw this theme while I was theme-shopping! It caught my eye and I really like it! wasn’t quite what I needed, but boy is it a good looking, clean and easy to navigate theme!!
Lookin’ good here, Ms. Ileane!
Hey Erica, thank you for saying that.
Lookin’ good, Ms. Ileane. The comments on the left threw me off a bit, but your directions helped. Unfortunately, unless you include directions with every post, the odd position is likely to cut down on comments. Otherwise, it’s a nice, clean, simple look. I like it!
Thanks Holly. I think I will include the “comments on the left” line in every post, as long as this theme is around.
Nice theme. It keeps your blog compact and tidy.
Thanks John.
Like the look. I am an earth-tone type anyhow, and I really like this color combo. Pretty snazzy.
Thanks Jimi.
Congrats on your new theme, looks elegant and very nice one
Hi Tinh, Thanks for the feedback.
I like the new theme Ms. Ileane.
The dark sidebars makes your content stand-out, exactly what you want as a content publisher. 🙂
Best wishes,
Kelly-Anne
Hi Kelly-Anne, how nice of you to stop by. Thanks for the feedback.
I love what you have done here with your new theme Ileane 🙂
It’s looking really good!
Brian
Hi Brian. Thanks for your feedback and support!
Like others mentioned, by having such dark sidebars your eye is drawn immediately to the center content right away. I think the text in the sidebars should be a little lighter as they are a little hard to read against the dark background.
Hi Justin,
Thanks for the feedback. I’m not sure I can lighten the sidebars, but I’ll look into it. I think they are too dark also.
Nice of you to visit.
Are you able to edit the layout’s CSS?
Nile, I don’t know CSS so I’m not able to do that. My previous theme had similar dimensions so I had no problems with images. You bring up a good point, this is really something that bloggers need to keep in mind. Maybe one day I’ll learn CSS. Thanks!
The monochrome theme is fine, but a bit restrictive. Recently tried it out at the FanHistory wiki blog and found I that I would have to go through older entries to resize any larger images.
However, it is a very clean theme. I do like it….hence why I tried it out at least. 🙂
To be honest, I am not a fan of the darker look. I liked to light blue earthy look your blog had before. Please don’t be mad at me. 🙂
Of course not. I appreciate your feedback. Thank you.
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Its quite a sleek andsexy theme. I will have to try it out.
Awesome theme!
Looks great, thanks for sharing.
I keep telling myself someday I will get to making my own nice theme for my blog, but until then modifications are enough. 🙂
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You could try the Digg 3-column. It looks like it might suit your blog.
I recently moved from Vigilance to Motion, and I am quite satisfied with the change 🙂
Nish, I haven’t tried that one yet. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
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