A theme is one chapter in the life of a website. A publication can outlive its first layout, its first hosting arrangement, and the assumptions it began with. Its posts should still make sense after those choices change.

Keep the archive in WordPress

3classic displays posts, pages, categories, tags, menus, comments and widgets through WordPress. Its presentation is distinctive, but the archive does not require a proprietary post type or a page builder to exist.

That gives a small site room to develop. You can write a long essay today, publish a short note tomorrow, and add a guide when the questions start to repeat. The theme supplies a frame; it does not prescribe a business model.

Open source, with a clear starting point

The source is available from wp-im/3classic on GitHub under GPL v2 or later. The project derives from the Tatami design by Elmastudio and is published independently by wordpress.im. The license and provenance are included with the theme.

Start with the current release. Make a backup before updating an existing site, and try changes in a staging environment when practical. A release ZIP is the installable theme; the demonstration articles and artwork are site content.