Godman.

Neuronym Theme

Neuronym is a free WordPress block theme that features white type on a dark colored canvas. Default color is Slate. Also Teal, Emerald, Amber, Pink, Violet, Blue, and Navy presets. Each individual page background color can be easily changed. No light mode, no toggle. If you need a light theme, this isn’t it.

I built Neuronym for sites that want a bold and elegant look out of the box: studios, photographers, writers, shops. Full-site editing, patterns, and a settings page for the things the editor hides.

Get it from WordPress.org once it’s listed. The instructions are below.

Getting Started

Activate the theme. That’s it. The default look is white text on a slate background with a sticky header, search icon, and inline navigation. Everything else is optional.

[Screenshot: default homepage]

Colors and Backgrounds

Changing the Background Color Site wide

Two ways to change the whole site. Appearance → Editor → Styles → Browse Styles swaps the palette in one click: Default, Teal, Emerald, Amber, Pink, Violet, Blue, Navy. Default is Slate. Or pick a color in Appearance → Editor → Styles → Colors → Background. That one follows everything: the page, the sticky header, menus, and the bottom fade. The Styles panel on a single page is the same control. It still changes the site, not that page.

[Screenshot: Browse styles panel with all palettes visible]

Changing the Background Color of Individual Pages

One page only: open the page, Sidebar → Page Background Color. Leave it blank to keep the site default.

Hover Colors

In Appearance → Editor → Styles → Colors → Edit palette, there are two hover colors next to each other:

  • Button Hover: controls the CTA button and search icon. Default is a semi-transparent white so it adapts to any background. Set it to green, red, gold, or anything you like. However, if you change page background colors, make sure it works with all pages.
  • Link Hover: controls navigation links, site title, post titles, and headings. Default is white (same as the rest color), so nothing changes visually unless you pick a different color. On desktop, links still get the underline sweep even if this color stays white. Overlay menu taps on a phone or iPad underline in one shot.

The checkerboard pattern in the color picker means the color has transparency. If you want a solid color instead, just pick one from the picker.

[Screenshot: Colors panel showing Button Hover swatch]

Resetting Colors

There are two places to work with colors. Browse styles swaps the entire palette in one click. Colors lets you tweak individual elements (text, background, links, buttons) or edit specific palette slots without switching the whole palette.

In the Colors panel, each element has its own Reset button if you changed it and want to undo. To go back to Slate after trying other variations, use Browse styles and pick Default. Blue is still there if you want it.

Typography

Font Presets

Go to Appearance → Neuronym Settings → Typography. There are five font presets:

  • System: the default. Uses your visitors’ built-in system fonts. Fastest option, no font files to load.
  • Mono – Martian Mono: monospace everything. Good for a tech or developer look.
  • Geometric – Rubik: clean, rounded sans-serif. Friendly and modern.
  • Editorial – Inter + Source Serif 4: sans-serif body text with serif headings. Magazine feel.
  • Editorial Mod – Inter + Fraunces: Inter body with Fraunces headings. Modernist editorial look.

You can also adjust the base font size (14-22px). Everything scales from that number.

Links and Hover Behavior

Neuronym has three types of hover behavior:

  • Text links (navigation, site title, post titles, headings): an underline sweeps in from left to right on hover. No color change. That’s desktop. On a phone or iPad, overlay menu links underline in one shot. Reduced-motion turns the sweep off.
  • CTA button and search icon: shift to the Button Hover color (see above).
  • Body content links (links inside paragraphs): always underlined, quieter at rest (about 40%), full white on hover. That is the accessibility requirement so links are visible without hovering. Nav, titles, and headings keep the sweep.

[Screenshot: nav with sweep underline visible on hover]

Header and Navigation

Configure these in Appearance → Neuronym Settings → Header.

Until you build one, the header lists every page on the site – that’s WordPress’s fallback for an empty menu, not a bug. Create your navigation in Appearance -> Editor -> Navigation.

Navigation Style

  • Inline on desktop, hamburger on mobile: the default. Full nav menu on wide screens, hamburger button on phones.
  • Hamburger menu always: hamburger button at every screen size. Good if you have a lot of menu items.

Site Logo

Upload one in Design → Identity → Site Logo. Default is logo and site title together. Want the logo alone? Appearance → Neuronym Settings → Header: Hide the site title when a logo is set.

Site Tagline

The tagline in Settings → General is for the browser tab; to show it on the site, add a Site Tagline block on a page, not in the header. Neuronym’s header is logo, site title, and navigation.

On a phone, a logo plus the full title plus the icons do not fit. The title leaves that row so the words stay whole. Wider screens still show both, even with hamburger-always on.

Mobile Menu

On mobile, the menu slides down from the top with rounded corners and a shadow. The page content dims behind it. When you close the menu, the dimming snaps off instantly (no slow fade-out). If you tap a link, you’re navigating away anyway.

[Screenshot: mobile menu open with dimmed background]

Search

The header search icon opens a full-screen field. On a phone, tap once to open it, tap the field to type. That extra tap is on purpose: focusing the field on open would pop the keyboard and shove the close button around.

Header Background

By default the header matches the page background color. You can set a custom background in settings. Leave it blank for the page color, or use something like rgba(0,0,0,0.2) to slightly darken it.

Call to Action Button

Set the CTA text and URL in Header settings. If you leave the text blank, no button appears. The button sits in the header next to the navigation.

Blog and Archives

Archive Layout

In Appearance → Neuronym Settings → Blog, choose how your blog listing pages look:

  • List: posts stacked vertically with a thumbnail on the left and text wrapping around it. Default.
  • Grid: posts in a responsive grid of cards. Good for visual content.
  • Masonry: Pinterest-style columns where images keep their natural aspect ratios. Best for galleries and mixed-height content.

[Screenshot: each layout option]

Post Meta Toggles

Show or hide individual elements on your blog posts and archives:

  • Featured images on archives
  • Excerpts on archives
  • Category
  • Date
  • Reading time (single posts only)
  • Author name
  • Author box (single posts only)

On a post, the date and reading time sit under the title. Categories and tags sit under the writing. If the author box is on, the name under the title stays off so it is not said twice. Reading time follows the date. If the date is off, it stays under the title.

Galleries and Images

Neuronym does not crop featured images or blog thumbs. However, WordPress does crop images in every new gallery block by default. Turn this off in the block settings to keep aspect ratios intact. With this off, Neuronym switches to a masonry layout automatically.

Gallery Settings

  • Thumbnail Captions: show captions under gallery thumbnails on the page.
  • Lightbox Captions: show captions inside the full-screen lightbox when someone clicks an image.
  • Lightbox Background: dark is the default. Check this for a light overlay with dark arrows, close, and captions.

[Screenshot: gallery with masonry layout]

Patterns

Open the block inserter, select Patterns. Two Neuronym tabs: Neuronym for sections you drop onto a page, Neuronym Pages for full-page layouts.

Neuronym Pages

These are whole pages. Use them with the Page No Title template (Template → Change template → Page No Title). Leave the default page template and you’ll get the page title twice.

  • About: manifesto, values, team placeholders.
  • Business Homepage: hero, features, work, CTA.
  • Case Study, Narrative: long-form case study with hero, brief, approach, result.
  • Coming Soon: centered heading, message, social links.
  • CV / Bio: two-column bio with portrait slot and social links.
  • Digital Product Landing Page: hero, features, CTA.
  • Event Landing Page: cover hero, date, venue, registration.
  • Portfolio, 1/3 + 2/3: title and copy left, image or gallery right.
  • Portfolio, 1/4 + 3/4: same idea, wider image column.
  • Shop: store landing with category and product slots.

Neuronym

Sections. Drop these onto any page.

  • Call to Action Banner: one-line headline and button.
  • Contact, Details: studio, social, representation.
  • Feature Columns: three compact columns of heading and copy.
  • Heading and Six Text Sections: a section heading, then six small heading-and-copy pairs.
  • Headings Left, Content Right: heading stack on the left, copy on the right.
  • Hero Intro: heading, supporting copy, two buttons.
  • Portfolio Case Study: client, role, year, and copy beside a large image. Stack for more than one.
  • Portfolio Case Study, Image Left: the same, image on the left.
  • Pricing, 2 Columns: two plan cards.
  • Pricing, 3 Columns: three plan cards.
  • Services, 3 Columns: three columns with image slots and text.
  • Social Links: heading and an icon row.
  • Split Intro: oversized heading left, meta and actions right.
  • Statement Intro: one oversized statement, no buttons.

[Screenshot: inserter showing Neuronym and Neuronym Pages]

Not in the inserter

Blog Home: List, Blog Home: Featured, and Blog Home: Masonry are the three blog layouts. On the Blog Home template, open the right sidebar, Template → Design (collapsed). Header and footer are template parts: Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template Parts. Those titles are Site Header, Footer with Menu, and Footer with Social.

Footer

The footer is a template part. Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template Parts → Footer. That is the one every page uses. It has a pages menu and a Neuronym theme line. Delete either if you do not want them.

Open it and the right sidebar Design lists Footer with Menu and Footer with Social. If WooCommerce is on, three WooCommerce footers show up there too. Those stay. A separate Neuronym footer would still list them. Pick one of ours.

Copyright and the top border still live in Appearance → Neuronym Settings → Footer. Basic HTML is allowed in the copyright text (links, bold, italic).

Bottom Gradient

Fades the page background color over the bottom of the page so content ends softly. Toggle it on and set the height in Appearance → Neuronym Settings. Does not show on phones. You can hide it on WooCommerce pages so it stays off add-to-cart and checkout.

Tips

  • Use List View. The block editor has a List View button (three horizontal lines icon, top toolbar). It shows every block in a tree. The only reliable way to select a specific block inside a pattern or group.
  • Block spacing looking like zero is not zero. A slider all the way left with no number is unset. Neuronym still puts 1.5rem between blocks. Heading margin at 0 does not cancel that. Group the headings, select the Group, and click Block spacing. That writes a real value.
  • Alignment icons disappear inside Groups. If you insert a pattern and can’t find the alignment toolbar, you’re probably selecting a block inside a Group. Click the Group itself (use List View) to get the alignment options back.
  • Hard refresh after style changes. If the Styles editor looks wrong after you change something, press Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows). WordPress caches aggressively.
  • Page Without Title pages can have a title in the admin. If a page uses the Page Without Title template, its title is hidden on the front-end but still shows in the page list. Give it a real title so you can find it in the admin – it just won’t display on the page.
  • Pattern sections can be made full-width in one click. Select a section group or columns block, open the sidebar Layout panel, and uncheck “Inner blocks use content width.” The content fills the background. Do this for each section you want to open up.
  • Section Overlay color in the palette. The business page pattern (and Connect section) use a Section Overlay swatch (10th color, labeled “Section Overlay”) for their background. It’s a 15% dark overlay — it darkens whatever page color is underneath. If you change a section’s background and want to reset it, find “Section Overlay” in the color palette and click it. This makes sections like Select Work and Connect adapt to custom page backgrounds automatically.

That’s the Neuronym WordPress block theme. If something isn’t working the way you’d expect, it may be a WordPress thing. The block editor is powerful but not always intuitive. When in doubt, use List View and hard refresh. If you need help with WordPress, contact me. Good luck!