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f8 lite is a free theme for WordPress that can transform your Web site or blog into a fully functioning photography or multimedia portfolio Web site. SEO optimized, iPhone compatible, grid-based css, built-in Galleria support, slideshow-enabled, built-in multimedia support, auto or manual thumbnail control, Gravatars, plus much, much more. The credit link is required to stay in tact.

f8, which is a technical term referring the lens aperture setting on a camera, is theme long in the making. A little over five years ago, I began the arduous task of trying to find a way to present my photos to the world online. I primarily wanted two things: A portfolio section and a blog section built into one CMS. What I didn’t know at the time, is that it would take me five years to figure out. After researching literally hundreds of options including Flash powered portfolios (a big no-no in today’s mobile world), to countless bulky CMS’s that just didn’t cut it, I decided on using WordPress. It was well worth the wait.

check out f8 theme for wordpress

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Posted by , at Graph Paper Press

Thad is the founder of Graph Paper Press. Previously, he produced online multimedia and documentary projects for USA Today including the inauguration of President Barack Obama and many others. He lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Abby.

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160 thoughts on “f8 lite”

  1. Thank you very much for making available this theme. You made a girl happy. I build my girl-friend’s photo blog right now. I hope it is intuitive enough for her to update regularly. Thank you!

  2. Thank you very much for making available this theme. You made a girl happy. I build my girl-friend’s photo blog right now. I hope it is intuitive enough for her to update regularly. Thank you!

    1. I discovered it by reading the code. You must create posts with 2 custom field variables:

      1. “image” and the set the value of this to the fully qualified path for the gallery image.
      2. “thumbnail” – and set the value to the fully qualified path for the thumbnail image that will appear on the home page under the posts.

      Good luck.

      Marek

    1. I discovered it by reading the code. You must create posts with 2 custom field variables:

      1. “image” and the set the value of this to the fully qualified path for the gallery image.
      2. “thumbnail” – and set the value to the fully qualified path for the thumbnail image that will appear on the home page under the posts.

      Good luck.

      Marek

  3. Can you provide your goods and services into the educational sector in your area. if you can and you are willing to offer the schools a discount, you could find your business in front of all the educational establishments in the uk. you also get direct communication with headteachers to update them with your special offers etc

  4. Can you provide your goods and services into the educational sector in your area. if you can and you are willing to offer the schools a discount, you could find your business in front of all the educational establishments in the uk. you also get direct communication with headteachers to update them with your special offers etc

  5. This theme looks great! Do you have to register to download it? Currently when I try I get taken to the registration page

  6. This theme looks great! Do you have to register to download it? Currently when I try I get taken to the registration page

  7. This is totally weird. I have been trying to get either F8 or Monochrome to work on my wife’s blog and no matter what I do there is just no options tab. I cannot do anything. The theme loads but then there are no thumbnails and no pictures in the rotating javascript player. Help

  8. This is totally weird. I have been trying to get either F8 or Monochrome to work on my wife’s blog and no matter what I do there is just no options tab. I cannot do anything. The theme loads but then there are no thumbnails and no pictures in the rotating javascript player. Help

  9. I REALLY love this theme. everything has worked great from the get go. Great finish!

    I was trying to do something with it and maybe you could make it easier. I was trying to display only 3 archived posts under the slideshow. Is there an easy way to change that? Thanks.

  10. I REALLY love this theme. everything has worked great from the get go. Great finish!

    I was trying to do something with it and maybe you could make it easier. I was trying to display only 3 archived posts under the slideshow. Is there an easy way to change that? Thanks.

  11. iยดd like to try it out but it does not show up in my 2.7 installation – anybody who can help me get things donoe ?
    thanks !
    carsten

  12. Wanted to verify – Is there no ‘options’ panel in the F8 Lite? I have looked in all the menus and can’t find it. I am thinking the ‘Lite’ version is ‘as-is’ (or modified w/ your knowledge of CSS), and the options panel comes with the full F8 version? Would love to know for sure. Thanks!

  13. Wanted to verify – Is there no ‘options’ panel in the F8 Lite? I have looked in all the menus and can’t find it. I am thinking the ‘Lite’ version is ‘as-is’ (or modified w/ your knowledge of CSS), and the options panel comes with the full F8 version? Would love to know for sure. Thanks!

  14. Dear Thad,
    I’m sorry for this question, but I’m new in using wordpress themes and the panel.
    I’ve just downloaded the F8 lite teme and uploaded into my wp content folder on siteground.
    I’m now actually trying to understand how to manage the contents (pics, texts, link) in order to obtain the same presentation of the Demo!
    Do I have to pay to have a control panel or I can use the wp panel?

    thanks

    germana

  15. Dear Thad,
    I’m sorry for this question, but I’m new in using wordpress themes and the panel.
    I’ve just downloaded the F8 lite teme and uploaded into my wp content folder on siteground.
    I’m now actually trying to understand how to manage the contents (pics, texts, link) in order to obtain the same presentation of the Demo!
    Do I have to pay to have a control panel or I can use the wp panel?

    thanks

    germana

  16. I’m a newbie at this but since I first installed and customized F8-lite two weeks ago there has been a theme upgrade. If I upgrade now will I lose all my customizations?

  17. I’m a newbie at this but since I first installed and customized F8-lite two weeks ago there has been a theme upgrade. If I upgrade now will I lose all my customizations?

  18. I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section. I’ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links don’t show up after a couple of weeks — I won’t go back to that blog again. Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed. Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!

  19. I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section. I’ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links don’t show up after a couple of weeks — I won’t go back to that blog again. Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed. Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!

  20. What exactly are the differences between the f8 theme and the f8 lite theme?
    I guess there are differences in customizability. But what _exactly_ are these differences? It’s impossible to decide for a theme if you don’t clearly state the differences between them for a user.

  21. What exactly are the differences between the f8 theme and the f8 lite theme?
    I guess there are differences in customizability. But what _exactly_ are these differences? It’s impossible to decide for a theme if you don’t clearly state the differences between them for a user.

  22. I’ve tried

    http://graphpaperpress.com/2008/05/31/photo-galleria-plugin-for-wordpress/

    with f8 lite and wordpress 2.7.1. It doesn’t work. I can’t see no widget to add the gallery to the front page such as displayed on your page. And it’s not integrated with wordpress at all. Further, something seem to break wordpress’s media flash uploader, either due to f8 lite, your galleria plugin or the google-ajax-libraries plugin.

    Is f8 any better? Does it work correctly with wordpress 2.7.1 (and 2.8)? I’m really not into beta software, I want something that works nicely and as advertised out of the box.

  23. I’ve tried

    http://graphpaperpress.com/2008/05/31/photo-galleria-plugin-for-wordpress/

    with f8 lite and wordpress 2.7.1. It doesn’t work. I can’t see no widget to add the gallery to the front page such as displayed on your page. And it’s not integrated with wordpress at all. Further, something seem to break wordpress’s media flash uploader, either due to f8 lite, your galleria plugin or the google-ajax-libraries plugin.

    Is f8 any better? Does it work correctly with wordpress 2.7.1 (and 2.8)? I’m really not into beta software, I want something that works nicely and as advertised out of the box.

  24. I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section. Iโ€™ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links donโ€™t show up after a couple of weeks โ€” I wonโ€™t go back to that blog again. Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed. Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!

  25. I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section. Iโ€™ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links donโ€™t show up after a couple of weeks โ€” I wonโ€™t go back to that blog again. Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed. Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!

  26. Thanks for the heads up..

    I am looking for similar options…but I am worried that it might be slow..

    I will be spending some time to look into the demo and features.. ๐Ÿ™‚

  27. Thanks for the heads up..

    I am looking for similar options…but I am worried that it might be slow..

    I will be spending some time to look into the demo and features.. ๐Ÿ™‚

  28. thanks for the lite theme and waiting for the new ones.
    by the way its can be changed from fixed to fluid which makes it awesome either way.
    thanks

  29. thanks for the lite theme and waiting for the new ones.
    by the way its can be changed from fixed to fluid which makes it awesome either way.
    thanks

  30. How do I get the photos to appear in the post on the home/post page? I can get them into post but they don’t show on the above pages.

  31. How do I get the photos to appear in the post on the home/post page? I can get them into post but they don’t show on the above pages.

  32. WordPress and f8 theme is a nice start for portfolio site for sure. I can’t find beter script with alls eo features wordpress provide and this theme just make it easy to showcase portfolios. thnx ๐Ÿ˜‰

  33. WordPress and f8 theme is a nice start for portfolio site for sure. I can’t find beter script with alls eo features wordpress provide and this theme just make it easy to showcase portfolios. thnx ๐Ÿ˜‰

  34. Themes, die man sich herunterladen kann, wenn man kostenlos dem Club beitritt. Ich habe mir f8 lite heruntergeladen und auch auf dem neuen Blog im Einsatz. Zwar sind fast alle Features wieder

  35. Themes, die man sich herunterladen kann, wenn man kostenlos dem Club beitritt. Ich habe mir f8 lite heruntergeladen und auch auf dem neuen Blog im Einsatz. Zwar sind fast alle Features wieder

  36. I am very disappointed. I love this theme and I’m very excited to use it but there is literally no support. I signed up for this website but did not want to pay, but it seems that unless you pay you can’t receive support? I have read people saying that the new version with the new version of wordpress doesn’t allow for customizing so you need to use css. Every other theme I have tried includes pages and pages of support for free, can you please contact me with some information on receiving support for simple things such as how to get my pictures to appear.

    1. Please read the instructions.html file contained in the download. Support takes time. Time is money. If you need our support, we have to charge for it. The alternative is totally unsustainable as we have tens of thousands of free subscribers and only three of us.

  37. I am very disappointed. I love this theme and I’m very excited to use it but there is literally no support. I signed up for this website but did not want to pay, but it seems that unless you pay you can’t receive support? I have read people saying that the new version with the new version of wordpress doesn’t allow for customizing so you need to use css. Every other theme I have tried includes pages and pages of support for free, can you please contact me with some information on receiving support for simple things such as how to get my pictures to appear.

    1. Please read the instructions.html file contained in the download. Support takes time. Time is money. If you need our support, we have to charge for it. The alternative is totally unsustainable as we have tens of thousands of free subscribers and only three of us.

  38. ho installato il tema f8 lite di worpress
    ora come faccio a far vedere le foto che si alternano
    ho messo un immagine nell’particolo la voglio anche in cima

    Grazie

  39. ho installato il tema f8 lite di worpress
    ora come faccio a far vedere le foto che si alternano
    ho messo un immagine nell’particolo la voglio anche in cima

    Grazie

  40. I installed the f8 lite theme of worpress
    now how do I get to see the photos that alternate
    I put a picture on top, I want nell’particolo

    Thanks

    1. Hi,

      I seem no reply from the Author. I just tried this theme it look great but face same don’t how to configure it. Well while play around with it, I managed alternate my images.
      Go to your post > Custom Fields (Name: image, Value: link to your image). Hope this help.

      I wonder how to create the thumbnail and change the link under the main image.

      1. I have the same problems as you and the author can develop a simple and easy to use daemon. CSS changes so that people will not be easy to use.

      2. I tried the custom field fix for the failing slideshow (WP9, F8-lite). Did not make a difference.

        It’s hard to believe that someone at GPP doesn’t read all of the comments here about this and mention something.

  41. I installed the f8 lite theme of worpress
    now how do I get to see the photos that alternate
    I put a picture on top, I want nell’particolo

    Thanks

    1. Hi,

      I seem no reply from the Author. I just tried this theme it look great but face same don’t how to configure it. Well while play around with it, I managed alternate my images.
      Go to your post > Custom Fields (Name: image, Value: link to your image). Hope this help.

      I wonder how to create the thumbnail and change the link under the main image.

      1. I have the same problems as you and the author can develop a simple and easy to use daemon. CSS changes so that people will not be easy to use.

      2. I tried the custom field fix for the failing slideshow (WP9, F8-lite). Did not make a difference.

        It’s hard to believe that someone at GPP doesn’t read all of the comments here about this and mention something.

  42. @Everyone – For instructions on configuring this theme, please read the instructions.html file included in the download.

  43. @Everyone – For instructions on configuring this theme, please read the instructions.html file included in the download.

  44. I managed to figure out how to get the theme to work, but does look as the instructions may be out of date.

    1. The media setting are now in setting > media
    2. Forget the slideshow folder part as it is not required to get it to work.
    3. To get the slideshow to work you need to follow the instructions, the important part is the tag “image” and use the medium picture as the url
    4. There is a bug the code php which stop you clicking on the image to enlarge the picture, it looks as it is using a function that may no longer be available, I am using WordPress 2.9.1. I edited the image.php file and remove lines 6 and 8 to allow the image to be displayed.
    5. Also you have to upload the images to ensure that you get the images the correct size.

    Apart for that it works well.

  45. I managed to figure out how to get the theme to work, but does look as the instructions may be out of date.

    1. The media setting are now in setting > media
    2. Forget the slideshow folder part as it is not required to get it to work.
    3. To get the slideshow to work you need to follow the instructions, the important part is the tag “image” and use the medium picture as the url
    4. There is a bug the code php which stop you clicking on the image to enlarge the picture, it looks as it is using a function that may no longer be available, I am using WordPress 2.9.1. I edited the image.php file and remove lines 6 and 8 to allow the image to be displayed.
    5. Also you have to upload the images to ensure that you get the images the correct size.

    Apart for that it works well.

  46. The instructions.html doesn’t work for my blog. I can get the thumbnails to appear with each post but the slideshow will not work. This is the problem that a lot of people are having. I have included the “image” custom field but no gallery. I’ve linked that to the medium image and I’ve even tried it with the full sized image but with no luck. I read that the slideshow only works with the #1 category. Maybe I’ve deleted the #1 category and now I have other categories that the slideshow won’t pick up? No matter what I do it only displays the blog name, the phone number, and the email.

    I am a web designer with a lot of experience with wordpress. I am using this blog theme for my personal portfolio, but I can’t get it to work. Does anybody know why? It seems like tons of people are having trouble and the only support help says “look at the instructions”… I have and it doesn’t work! Category issue maybe? Can I change that in the code if that is what’s wrong?

  47. The instructions.html doesn’t work for my blog. I can get the thumbnails to appear with each post but the slideshow will not work. This is the problem that a lot of people are having. I have included the “image” custom field but no gallery. I’ve linked that to the medium image and I’ve even tried it with the full sized image but with no luck. I read that the slideshow only works with the #1 category. Maybe I’ve deleted the #1 category and now I have other categories that the slideshow won’t pick up? No matter what I do it only displays the blog name, the phone number, and the email.

    I am a web designer with a lot of experience with wordpress. I am using this blog theme for my personal portfolio, but I can’t get it to work. Does anybody know why? It seems like tons of people are having trouble and the only support help says “look at the instructions”… I have and it doesn’t work! Category issue maybe? Can I change that in the code if that is what’s wrong?

  48. Hey,

    can anyone say me where i can download the old version (F8 Lite 1.2.1) ?

    I need this Version because i use wordpress 2.7. And the new version have a bug with 2.7.

    THANKS a lot.

  49. Hey,

    can anyone say me where i can download the old version (F8 Lite 1.2.1) ?

    I need this Version because i use wordpress 2.7. And the new version have a bug with 2.7.

    THANKS a lot.

    1. I don’t think it is compatible to to 2.9.1.

      I have been trying to get the slideshow, in F8 light, to work for the 5th time. I am ready to find a whole different WP template.

      1. go to your posts, click edit, look at the bottom right of the edit page- this is where you must select a thumbnail image for each post. click select thumbnail, it will navigate you to the image editing page. where you must find the button and click to select it as thumbnail

        1. I’d really like to use F8 but I still can’t figure out how to get the slideshow to work and the posts to show the thumbnails on the front page of the site. There is no slideshow folder to add images to. Under the “upload/insert” button on the post editing page, I’ve selected an image to be a thumbnail and inserted it into the post, and still it doesn’t appear on the slideshow or in the post summary on the front page.

    1. I don’t think it is compatible to to 2.9.1.

      I have been trying to get the slideshow, in F8 light, to work for the 5th time. I am ready to find a whole different WP template.

      1. go to your posts, click edit, look at the bottom right of the edit page- this is where you must select a thumbnail image for each post. click select thumbnail, it will navigate you to the image editing page. where you must find the button and click to select it as thumbnail

        1. I’d really like to use F8 but I still can’t figure out how to get the slideshow to work and the posts to show the thumbnails on the front page of the site. There is no slideshow folder to add images to. Under the “upload/insert” button on the post editing page, I’ve selected an image to be a thumbnail and inserted it into the post, and still it doesn’t appear on the slideshow or in the post summary on the front page.

  50. I’m trying to use the F8 Lite template but the slideshow is not working. I’ve already added photos into the Slideshow folder. It only shows the one titled image1.jpg.

    Please assist.

    1. Ok i worked out 1 thing. I have to have multiple posts in order for it to work. Initially i only had one post.

      Now when i added a second post the slideshow is working between image1 and image2 in the slideshow folder.

      Can i keep the slideshow running all the time?

  51. I’m trying to use the F8 Lite template but the slideshow is not working. I’ve already added photos into the Slideshow folder. It only shows the one titled image1.jpg.

    Please assist.

    1. Ok i worked out 1 thing. I have to have multiple posts in order for it to work. Initially i only had one post.

      Now when i added a second post the slideshow is working between image1 and image2 in the slideshow folder.

      Can i keep the slideshow running all the time?

  52. Hey guys, just wondering if this version also supports video?. Most of my portfolio is video content and I’d like to use one of your templates. Cheers-.

  53. Hey guys, just wondering if this version also supports video?. Most of my portfolio is video content and I’d like to use one of your templates. Cheers-.

  54. How do I change the page links to actual pages. Next to the home link tab I have three page tabs that say “link” how do I make them say what I want?

  55. How do I change the page links to actual pages. Next to the home link tab I have three page tabs that say “link” how do I make them say what I want?

  56. hi!
    many thanx for F8-Lite… great theme!

    just a question to the HEADER:
    can I upload an image (950px wide) to go over the black line at the top?

    Iยดm just starting with wordpress, so please keep it simple ๐Ÿ™‚
    any advice?

    d.

  57. hi!
    many thanx for F8-Lite… great theme!

    just a question to the HEADER:
    can I upload an image (950px wide) to go over the black line at the top?

    Iยดm just starting with wordpress, so please keep it simple ๐Ÿ™‚
    any advice?

    d.

  58. Hi! The slideshow for my f8 site is not “in motion”…. it only shows the last image from the last post. I am pretty sure it’s supposed to go through all of them but I’m not sure how to conrol that. Anybody know what might be going on? Thank you!

  59. Hi! The slideshow for my f8 site is not “in motion”…. it only shows the last image from the last post. I am pretty sure it’s supposed to go through all of them but I’m not sure how to conrol that. Anybody know what might be going on? Thank you!

  60. Hi! The slideshow for my f8 site is not “in motion”…. it only shows the image from the most recent post. I am pretty sure it’s supposed to go through all of them but I’m not sure how to control that. Anybody know what might be going on? Thank you!

  61. Hi! The slideshow for my f8 site is not “in motion”…. it only shows the image from the most recent post. I am pretty sure it’s supposed to go through all of them but I’m not sure how to control that. Anybody know what might be going on? Thank you!

  62. Hi, I’m using F8 Lite for a client and want to change a few things around. I’ve been looking through the php and can’t seem to find where to change the color of the Navigation boxes (from black to white) and the text (white to black). Any help would be great. Also I want to change the text color of the blog title from red to black. Is this all done in stylesheets.php? I’m pretty inexperienced with all this but know a few things.

    Thanks,

    Joe

  63. Hi, I’m using F8 Lite for a client and want to change a few things around. I’ve been looking through the php and can’t seem to find where to change the color of the Navigation boxes (from black to white) and the text (white to black). Any help would be great. Also I want to change the text color of the blog title from red to black. Is this all done in stylesheets.php? I’m pretty inexperienced with all this but know a few things.

    Thanks,

    Joe

  64. F8 Lite it’s a very nice theme, but we need an update to use it with the last version of WP.

    Please, when you will update it? Thanx

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