If you’re running a content-heavy WordPress website, whether that be a blog, personal portfolio, or entertainment site, one of your main design concerns should be how to display your posts to visitors in an easily digestible way.
This is easier said than done — since you’re familiar with everything your site has to offer, you may see no problem filling your homepage with recommended posts, content offers, and CTAs. However, for the indoctrinated, this can be more overwhelming than inviting.
To avoid this, one go-to solution many designers take is mimicking other websites. Facebook is one popular reference, namely its timeline feature. Facebook timelines list all of a user’s activity in reverse chronological order, including their posts, tags, and other interactions. Those viewing a profile can easily see when events happened in relation to each other, making for an intuitive navigation experience.
Similarly, if you choose a WordPress theme with a timeline option, your content layout will ring familiar to visitors who are familiar with this newest-to-oldest style presentation (that’s almost three billion). Timelines are also great for mobile users, since content is laid out in a linear, scrollable fashion. Ultimately, this engages readers, builds your audience, and grows conversions.
Sound like a good deal? Let’s review 10 of your best options for a WordPress Facebook theme.
Best Facebook Timeline Style WordPress Themes
- Divi
- Avada
- Postline
- AWSM
- Monstroid
- Wedding
- Chronology
- Twisted
- Hello Elementor
- Tieme
1. Divi
Divi is a powerful WordPress theme and page builder, and one of the most popular options for beginners and experienced admins alike. It replaces the default WordPress post editor with an entirely new interface with integrated drag-and-drop functionality, an impressive library of responsive page elements, and real-time previews of the changes you make. There are also over 800 page layouts and over 100 full website packs so you won’t have to start from scratch.
To incorporate a timeline on your Divi website, you can install the Divi Timeline Layouts Pack. This add-on gives you 40 templates for timelines styled with CSS, no external JavaScript required. There are enough options that you’re sure to find a timeline that fits with the surrounding content.
Alternatively, there’s an option to build a scrolling timeline in Divi with other modules — see this tutorial to learn how to build a timeline from scratch.
Divi is available with an Elegant Themes membership. For access, you can either pay $89 per year, or a one-time fee of $249 for lifetime access. An Elegant Themes membership also gets you access to the Extra new theme, and Elegant Themes’s plugins, Monarch and Bloom.
2. Avada
Avada is another leader in the premium WordPress space. Sporting hundreds of thousands of downloads to date, this multipurpose theme and website builder has a drag-and-drop page customizer to customize your pages exactly as you want them. To get started fast, install one of dozens of demos with Avada’s one-click importer. Then, add your timeline.
To place a timeline, make use of Avada’s content box element, a way to structure sections of your web pages. There are two timeline layout options for these content boxes, a vertical timeline and a horizontal timeline. You can view a demo of a full-width timeline on Avada’s website.
You can purchase Avada from the theme and builder from the ThemeForest marketplace for $60. This gets you six months of support as well — you can extend support to a full year for an extra $18.
3. Postline
The Postline theme from Themify adopts a timeline layout for presenting your content. The theme sorts your posts by publishing date in a vertical timeline, for which you can adjust design details like colors and fonts. Each entry in the timeline can include a thumbnail and a brief description to capture interest — this works well for visual content creators, including videographers and photographers.
The timeline is mobile-friendly and will work across modern devices. As an added bonus, your timeline incorporates infinite scrolling, which is great for visitors who just want to explore your content without a clear post or goal in mind, and mimics the behavior of a Facebook timeline as well.
Postline can be purchased for $59. You may also consider joining the Themify Master Club for $89 per year or a one-time payment of $249. A membership lets you use all Themify themes, plugins, and add-ons.
4. AWSM
AWSM is a one-page WordPress theme from well-known developer Meks, designed for online portfolios. This option is excellent for any creative, as its prominent timeline features lets you showcase your best work from your start to present day. The timeline itself is minimal but intuitive, and each blurb can contain a text description and either an image thumbnail or an embedded video.
The AWSM theme also has plenty of other helpful features to fuel your professional creative career, including gallery displays for visual art, profile and resume sections, shortcodes for skills and a contact form, and a fleshed-out blog section to help you gain authority in your area of expertise. You can purchase AWSM for $59 from ThemeForest.
5. Monstroid
Of all the WordPress themes offered by Template Monster, Monstroid might just be the best one. Its built-in drag-and-drop builder is one of the most acclaimed of its kind, and the theme’s aesthetics are clean and modern for any business website, blog, organizational site, or portfolio.
Monstroid is built to be lightweight and high-performing, and you can also build a timeline to chronicle your posts. The theme is also compatible with popular plugins, so you can install a timeline with a plugin if you’d prefer that route instead.
Now on its second major version, Monstroid is available for $95. This allows for use on one website and six months of support. Extend your support to one year for an additional $29.
6. Wedding
Wedding is a powerful and customizable Facebook single-page timeline-style WordPress theme. With this fully responsive theme, you can easily create a wedding-related website, but you can also use it for other purposes, too. The flagship feature of the theme is the timeline, letting you present the story of your relationship complete with photos and text excerpts.
Beyond the timeline, Wedding theme offers unlimited color schemes, over 20 shortcodes, 250+ icons, and templates for a gallery, an images slideshow, and a theme options panel for quick styling changes, all for just $39.
7. Chronology
Chronology is a blogging theme that adopts a timeline-style display for displaying posts. Blog posts can be added to the timeline on your homepage and displayed with a thumbnail, title, description, and other meta-information.
Everything else about this theme is pretty standard of a WordPress blog theme, nothing particularly fancy beyond supporting WooCommerce integration and offering personalized support. However, for a straightforward way to make your blog homepage look Facebook-esque, it’s worth a try. The theme usually sells for $77, but is currently available for free at the time of this article’s publication.
8. Twisted
Twisted is another timeline-based theme with a similar masonry approach as other options on our list. The theme emphasizes prominent images and clean lines that make your site feel tidy but bold.
Twisted is well-suited for businesses and bloggers, as well as creative freelancers and agencies – there are two custom post types, one for portfolio items and one for slides to display your work. In addition to these, you have templates for portfolio grid and tile pages, as well as a contact page for prospective clients to get in touch.
Twisted is also one of the relatively cheaper options here, selling for $49.
9. Hello Elementor
Hello Elementor is a free, basic WordPress theme designed to work in conjunction with the Elementor page builder plugin. The theme itself is simple, lightweight, and perfect for WordPress users getting their start who would prefer to use an external page builder, rather than rely on the WordPress block editor.
After syncing the Hello Elementor theme and Elementor plugin, you can leverage Elementor’s element library and Elementor extension plugins to create a timeline on your homepage. Plus, you’ll get seamless compatibility with leading plugins like Yoast, WooCommerce, and the HubSpot WordPress plugin, which connects your timeline site to our Free CRM.
10. Tieme
Wrapping up our list is Tieme, a simple, free, clean, and fully responsive blogging WordPress theme with timeline inspiration. This theme offers unlimited color options, Google Fonts and is created with HTML5 and CSS3 best coding practices in mind.
Out of the box, Tieme is stripped-back compared to other options we’ve listed, and will probably require some CSS know-how to customize exactly to your liking. Still, the theme is free, includes a basic timeline you can incorporate, and you always have the option to switch to a premium alternative if it doesn’t work for you.
WordPress Facebook Themes for Your Website
The timeline is a common and intuitive method to share your content with your audience. New viewers can see your latest work (without becoming overwhelmed), while your established audience can check in on your latest output with minimal scrolling required. Best of all, this format is easy to implement on your end, especially if you have the right theme to help you.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
