Dirtbag is a deliberately plain WordPress block theme for simple writing and readable defaults. Its default, brutalist style was originally built with nothing more than HTML, road grit, and plain old indieweb tech. It’s a pickup truck you can rely on, tinker with under the hood if you want, and learn how to build up from (or within) the fundamentals and their liberating limitations.
Start with the document. Let the browser do the work. Then use what comes with WordPress.
You don’t need to bring your own CSS when the theme.json fridge is fully stocked. In a pinch, you can always pull out your gorilla tape and inline it.
We left the JS frameworks and heavy dependencies in the glove box too, because Preact comes with WordPress and its Interactivity API. If we do anything else with JS that’s not native to WP, it will probably involve other <10 kB libraries.
Dirtbag Values
Dirtbag does not pack extra tools for a trip around the block.
- Valid (WHATWG Living Standard) HTML first.
- “Web-safe” fonts and colours.
- Native browser behaviour where possible.
- No theme-added JavaScript dependencies.
Dirtbag does not add its own frontend CSS or JavaScript, but it’s not opposed to dropping them inline when it helps.
WordPress core CSS and JavaScript are allowed when core blocks need them to render, line up, open, close, or stay accessible and friendly on mobile devices, including flip phones.
That means Row, Group, Navigation, Gallery, Media & Text, Search, and other core blocks can use the tools WordPress already ships.
Your h-card
One of the original microformats.
An h-card is a little strip of plain HTML classes that quietly tags your name, photo, and home link as “this is who runs this rig” — and it rides in Dirtbag’s header on every page so any machine (or person) coasting by can read whatever bumper stickers you decide to slap on.
Unlike JSON-LD, which is hidden behind the scenes strictly for bots, h-cards are applied directly to the text humans already read. This provides visual contact details to the user while also structuring them for search engines in an open format. It’s good for local SEO, too.