Halva - Minimal Theme for WordPress Blog

– Halva is a classic WordPress theme for a personal blog with a minimalistic design; – Compatible with WordPress 7.1.x; – Compatible with Block editor (Gutenberg; The default editor in WordPress since WordPress 5.0); – Compatible with Classic editor (The previous default editor in WordPress, now available as a plugin: WordPress Plugins > Classic Editor); – Dynamic (instant) switching between: Dark/Light modes, Serif and Sans-serif fonts, Layouts with One and Three columns; – and more… (The list of features is available below). Latest version 1.2.4 – 16 September 2026 – Click here to view the changes.

Halva WordPress Theme

Halva is an easy-to-use and lightweight classic theme for a personal WordPress blog with a minimalistic design. This theme has the ability to display a carousel with your featured posts on the home page, and also supports the functionality of live switching between font types (serif fonts or sans-serif fonts) and color modes (light mode or dark mode). For the convenience of visitors, the Halva theme has the ability to quickly switch between two types of blog layout: one column or three columns. There is support for both the classic editor and the block editor, so you can use the editor you prefer to create your posts. The Halva theme also has a number of other features: built-in support for lightboxes for images and galleries, support for contact forms (Contact Form 7), 4 widget areas, support for classic widgets, support for block editor widgets, 5 additional widgets, support for all post formats, views counter for posts and pages, responsive layout, and much more. If you love minimalism and simplicity, then the Halva theme is what you need for your blog.

Feature List

• Compatible with WordPress 7.1.x
• The theme is optimized for two editors: Block editor and Classic editor. You can use the one you like best.
• Minimal and easy to use theme.
• The theme has a responsive design and looks good on mobile devices.
• Includes a set of Font Awesome icons (Version 7+).
• Compatible with all modern browsers: Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Edge.
• Theme settings powered by WordPress Customizer (You can see all available settings in the online documentation).
• Live switching between blog layouts: One column or Three columns.
• Two color modes: Light mode and Dark mode.
• Switch between two font types in real time: Serif and Sans-serif fonts.
• Two positions for menus: Header and Footer.
• Hidden sticky navigation is available when scrolling pages.
• Dropdown menu support (only menu in the header).
• Dropdown form with site search.
• Link to your “Subscribe” form in the main navigation.
• Social links in the main navigation.
• Supports two types of logos: Text logo and Image.
• There is a functionality for changing the logo image when switching between color modes (Light/Dark modes).
• A carousel with posts is available on the home page. The carousel can display posts by category (all categories or one selected category) or your featured posts. Featured posts for the carousel are selected manually.
• Cascading grid layout for blog posts (Masonry; Three columns).
• The following counters are available for posts and pages: “Number of views” and “Number of comments”.
• Compatible with Contact Form 7.
• “Back to top” button.
• The theme supports 10 post formats:
  • Standard format.
  • Image format. This is a format for displaying posts with your featured images.
  • Gallery format. This format supports displaying a slider with your images.
  • Video format. This is a format for displaying videos from popular video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).
  • Audio format. This is a format for displaying your audio tracks from SoundCloud.
  • Aside format. This format is suitable for brief snippets of text that aren’t quite whole blog posts, such as quick thoughts and anecdotes.
  • Link format. This is a post with a link to another site.
  • Quote format. This is a format for displaying posts with a quote.
  • Status format. Status format is suitable for a quick update about what you are doing right now. You can also use this format to highlight important short texts.
  • Chat format. The “Chat” post format highlights each conversation line. This format is intended exclusively for posts with correspondence.
• There is functionality for lightboxes (Popup images and image galleries).
• Section with information about the author of each post.
• Support for displaying related posts by tags.
• Hidden sidebar with smooth animation.
• Three additional areas for widgets in the footer:
  • Footer: Left Column.
  • Footer: Center Column.
  • Footer: Right Column.
• Five additional widgets:
  • Halva: List Of Posts – Displays a list of posts with a background image (featured image).
  • Halva: Popular Posts – Displays a list of popular posts.
  • Halva: Random Posts – Displays a list of random posts.
  • Halva: Recent Posts – Displays a list of recent posts.
  • Halva: Social Links – Displays links to social profiles.
• Support for all widget blocks and all classic widgets.
• Notice with information about cookies.
• Translation ready (Every word and phrase that is used in this theme can be translated into your language).
• Includes XML file with demo data.
• Step by step documentation. Offline documentation is also included.

Please Note:

Halva will only work with WordPress.ORG software.

Changelog

Version 1.2.4 (16 September 2026)

Updated:
- Font Awesome Icons (v7.3.0 -> v7.3.1)

Fixes and Improvements:
- Added CSS style fixes for blocks (WordPress Block Editor; These are fixes for compatibility with WordPress 7.1.x)

Thank you very much for using this theme!

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Full changelog.txt: https://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: https://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.2.3 (28 June 2026)

Updated:
- Font Awesome Icons (v7.1.0 -> v7.3.0)

Fixes and Improvements:
- Added CSS style fixes for blocks (WordPress Block Editor)
- Added minor improvements to the theme CSS styles

Thank you very much for using this theme!

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Full changelog.txt: https://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: https://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.2.2 (19 February 2026)

The license for the theme has been changed from a split license to 100% GPL.
License information: GNU General Public License v2 or later; https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Version 1.2.2 (11 December 2025)

Updated:
- Documentation
- Tiny Slider (v2.9.3 -> v2.9.4)
- Font Awesome Icons (v6.7.2 -> v7.1.0)

Fixes and Improvements:
- Added support for new blocks in the block editor (WordPress v6.9):
    - Accordion
    - Math
    - Stretchy Heading
    - Stretchy Paragraph
    - Several new blocks from the Theme section
- Added minor improvements to the theme CSS styles
- Fixed an issue with displaying the post update date on single pages

Other Changes:
- The minimum required WordPress version for the theme has been raised to WordPress 6.7.x

Important note: Please clear your browser cache for your site as all icons have been changed in this update (All fonts in the Font Awesome library have been updated).

Thank you very much for using this theme!

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Full changelog.txt: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.2.1 (17 July 2025)

Updated:
- Documentation:
    - Updated screenshot with settings
    - Added information about the animated mouse cursor
    - Fixed link to my Bluesky profile
- Translation file (/halva/languages/halva.pot):
    - Added one new phrase for translation: "Enable animated mouse cursor" 

Fixes and Improvements:
- Fixed some minor CSS issues

Added:
- New feature: Animated mouse cursor. By default, this feature is disabled in the theme settings. To enable it, go to the theme settings and check the box: "WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Customize > Colors And Styles > Styles > Enable animated mouse cursor". Note: Animated cursor is not available for mobile devices (When the viewport is less than 992 pixels)

Thank you so much for using this theme!

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Full changelog.txt: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.2 (9 July 2025)

Updated:
- Documentation:
    - Some screenshots have been updated
    - Added information about new settings
- The "Halva Additional Features" plugin has been updated to version 1.2:
    - Post views counter: Added the ability to display unformatted number of views (Many thanks to bodobe for the idea)
    - Added new social button to social links widget: Bluesky (Widgets > Halva: Social Links > Bluesky URL)
    - Updated translation file (/halva-additional-features/languages/halva-additional-features.pot)
- Font Awesome Icons (Version 6.7.2)
- Magnific Popup (Version 1.2.0)
- Translation file (/halva/languages/halva.pot):
    - Added new phrases available for translation

Fixes and Improvements:
- Fixed minor issues with basic block editor styles
- Some other minor improvements:
    - HTML5 markup has been enabled for styles and scripts
    - Fixed minor CSS issues
    - The main JavaScript file of the theme (/halva/assets/js/halva-theme.js): The deprecated jQuery .focus() method has been replaced with .trigger( 'focus' )

Added:
- New setting for post views counter:
    - "WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Customize > Post Views Counter > Number Of Views: Counter Type". Setting description: Select the type of post views counter between two options: Full (total number of views) and Short (numbers greater than a thousand are rounded off and the ending K is added to these numbers)
- New social link: Bluesky ("WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Customize > Site Navigation > Social Links > Bluesky URL")

Many thanks to everyone who helped with this update and also suggested interesting ideas for this update!

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Full changelog.txt: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.1.1 (12 December 2024)

Updated:
- Documentation:
    - Fixed several broken links
    - Added information about creating a copy of the demo site ( https://demo.birdwp.com/halva/ )
    - All images used in the demo site are now available in a collection on Unsplash.com at the following link: https://unsplash.com/collections/1812253
- Font Awesome Icons (Version 6.7.1)

Fixes and Improvements:
- Fixed some minor CSS issues
- Added minor changes to the main carousel on the home page
- Single post page: Navigation elements between next and previous posts no longer appear if the blog has only one post
- Fixed minor issues with block editor styles. These fixes affected the following blocks:
    - Post title
    - Block: Verse
    - Block: Image
    - Block: Gallery
    - Block: Categories
    - Block: Custom HTML
    - Block: Latest Posts

Thanks to everyone who helped with this update!

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Full changelog.txt: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.1 (3 July 2024)

Fixes and Improvements:
- Fixed minor issues with block editor styles
- Fixed minor CSS issues
- Replaced icon: Twitter -> X

Added:
- New layout option: Horizontal order for blog posts
    - "WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Customize > Blog Posts > Enable horizontal (left-to-right) order for blog posts (Layout: Three columns)". More details about this option: https://masonry.desandro.com/options#horizontalorder

Updated:
- Documentation
- Screenshot (/halva/screenshot.png)
- .POT translation file (/halva/languages/halva.pot)
- Live preview demonstration (https://demo.birdwp.com/halva/)
    - Added new demo data file (Halva Theme with Documentation > Demo Content > halva-demo-data.xml)
- The "Halva Additional Features" plugin has been updated to version 1.1:
    - Added the X icon instead of the Twitter icon
    - Updated translation file (/halva-additional-features/languages/halva-additional-features.pot)

Important Note: Please update your Twitter (X) profile URL after updating this WordPress theme.

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Full changelog.txt: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/changelog.txt
How to update: http://documentation.birdwp.com/wp-halva/#update-section (Documentation > How to Update)

Version 1.0 (27 January 2024)

- Release

All images in the demo are from Unsplash ( unsplash.com ). Video: “Dartmoor Timelapse Trailer” by Dartmoor Timelapse (Vimeo). Audio: “Song of storms piano again” by lilypichu (SoundCloud).

Thank you very much for your interest in this WordPress theme