Bear Blog library

Over the years I've built quite a few things for my favorite blogging platform, Bear Blog. This is where I've collected it all, and keep growing it.

The library features themes, palettes, and style options for Bear Blog, along with add-ons, dashboard plugins, and a few extras that extend your blog. New things show up regularly because I genuinely enjoy tinkering and refining.

Last updated 4 days, 8 hours ago.

Styles

Small CSS tweaks and variations for individual parts of the default Bear theme, like the header, title, or blog list. Mix and match, or use them to learn more about theme styling.

Layout and structure

• Header
• Title
• Blog list
• Posts
• Footer

Typography and text

• Headings
• Body text
• Links
• Text shorthands

Content elements

• Images
• Quotes
• Tables
• Forms

Odds and ends

• Bear Hug – foundation styles for better spacing and rhythm.
• Tags
• Upvote buttons
• Print styles

Add-ons

Small pieces of CSS and markup that work with Bear's default theme, no custom theme required. Drop one in and style your existing setup a little further.

Navigation

• Active nav link – highlights the current page.
• Blog post navigation – styles for Bear's previous / next post feature.
• Blog pagination – official blog pagination plugin styles.
• Breadcrumb trail – showing readers where they are.
• List navigation – turn a list of links into grid, tree, or inline menus.
• Webring buttons – styles for Bear's random link and blog feature.

Photos and galleries

• Photo gallery (lightbox) – captions, keyboard navigation, and swiping.
• Photo gallery (lightweight) – a simple photo grid for any Bear blog.
• Photo gallery (tagged) – lightbox that builds itself from tagged posts.
• Photo calendar – your photos by date in a monthly calendar view.
• Latest photo – your latest photo from any RSS, Atom, or JSON feed.

Content and widgets

• Age widget – showing how long you've been blogging.
• Blog archive – groups posts by month, with year filters, search, and pagination.
• Blog search filter – official search filter box plugin styles.
• CalenBear – browse your posts by date in a monthly calendar view.
• Crucial Tracks – shows your latest song from Crucial Tracks.
• Currently reading – simple HTML and CSS currently reading widget.
• Guestbooks – style the Guestbooks widget to match your theme.
• Letterboxd – widget that shows your latest 5 diary entries.
• Now log – a widget showing what you're currently into.
• Post reading time – same line as the date, separated by a small dot.
• Status widget – show a current status message with an emoji.
• Status.lol – shows your latest status.lol update.
• Testimonials – a simple CSS testimonials card grid.
• Timeline – a thin line with soft markers for pages or posts.
• Writing stats – showing total words, average length, and more.

Interaction

• Announcement bar – a simple way to highlight something.
• Copy code button – a small copy button on every code block.
• External link marker – adds an arrow next to external links.
• Light / Dark mode toggle – lets visitors override their system settings.
• Reply via email – simple button with prefilled email subject line.

Themes

A collection of standalone Bear themes, from playful seasonal looks to focused everyday designs. Each one is a complete theme you can drop into your blog.

Everyday

• Kodiak – a calm, spacious take on Bear's default theme.
• Robeart – my take on Bear's default theme.
• Bearming – my former theme system, no longer updated.
• Bearful – a careful theme.
• Bearly – a lovely theme.
• BearMin – a lean theme focused on simplicity and readability.
• BearBone – a very tiny theme.
• Grizzly – a pawsome theme with bear vibes.
• Pixel Bear – a pixelated, retro-inspired theme.

Seasonal

• Bear Halloween – glowing details, playful effects, and seasonal touches.
• Bearry Christmas – snowfall, sparkle, and other lovely details.
• Pink Friday – a theme for dodging the mania.
• Pride – a colorful and lovely rainbow theme.
• ValenTheme – a Valentine-inspired theme.

Guides

• Theme building guide – how a Bear theme gets built, one change at a time.

Palettes

A steadily growing library of ready-to-paste palettes for the default Bear theme. Swap out your :root styles and the whole look changes.

Amber · Antique · Bloom · Contrast · Dusk · Fika · Forest · Lavender · Matrix · Modern · Playful · Polarnatt · Robeart · Studio · Sverige · Terminal · Twilight · Woods

Plugins

Small tools that extend the Bear dashboard itself. Adding features to where you write, not to your theme.

• Dashboard notes – a small notepad that lives in your dashboard.
• Gallery upload – build and insert photo galleries while drafting.
• Markdown shortcuts – keyboard shortcuts for bold, italic, code, and strikethrough.
• Markdown toolbar – a simple formatting toolbar for the editor.
• Media markdown button – copy any image in your media library as ready-to-paste Markdown.
• Media tools – tag several files at once, and copy images as a gallery.
• Meta image generator – make a meta image for your post in one click.
• Proofreader – adds a local grammar and spell checker to the editor.

Extras

Things for Bear bloggers that live outside your blog.

• BlogBuddy – an Apple Shortcut with prompts, topics, and nudges for when writing feels stuck.
• Breader – an Apple Shortcut with ten Bear Blog features in one menu.

Looking for more? My blogging links collect tips, tools, and inspiration from all over the web, and the projects page has everything else I make and tinker with.