One of last year’s web design highlights wowed everyone in the web and design community. Add some flavor to infinite scrolling and you’ll come up with parallax scrolling. By creating multiple layers with images moving at different speeds (usually the foreground images move faster than the background images), the illusion of depth is created on an otherwise 2D platform.
This technique is actually an old invention that was popularized in the late 1900’s after it was applied to arcade games. But recently, web designers, with the help of HTML 5 and CSS3 animations, have enhanced the scrolling experience with this ultra cool animation effect.
So, who’s ready for some free parallax scrolling WordPress themes of 2015? Let’s scroll down to the list!
Zerif Lite
This is supposed to be currently one of the 10 top most popular themes of WordPress. Zerif Lite places a header right at the top with the parallax effect. The content slider is lightweight and offers smooth animation. Apart from that, Zerif Lite is Woo Commerce compatible and has great custom content blocks to showcase your info, team, posts, clients, etc. The best part, it’s totally free!
Alizee
Offered by Athemes, Alizee is a fully responsive grid-based theme you won’t believe is for free! The page begins with a parallax header and adds more fun to the page with toggable menus (social and sidebars), custom widgets, various layouts, and some more Pinterest inspired cool stuff. This is a fully responsive theme that will fit and adjust onto any device no matter what size it is. There are several color options to choose from, and if you want to add more zing to the theme, you can also go pro. Nonetheless, the free stuff is pretty cool too!
Moesia
Another one by Athemes, Moesia is full of retina-ready parallax backgrounds, front page blocks, custom headers, animated text, buttons, and so much more. Moesia is also 100% responsive with customizable theme and layout options. The theme is also a 100% translation ready for your users abroad or anywhere in the world! You won’t get bored of scrolling down this page and let’s hope your customers think so too!
Pilot Fish
If you’re searching for simple, minimalistic portfolio design, have a look at pilot fish, the elegant portfolio plus parallax scrolling WordPress theme. Pilot fish will let you make any changes to the theme from the editing panel. This is perfect for individual bloggers with a portfolio of work to show off. This is another mobile-adaptive, responsive layout that is available in various languages including Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Russian, and German.
Inkzine
Inkzine is “the ultimate magazine theme”. The theme comes with a parallax header, custom widget, various theme options, full width pages, and so much more. This was built on Twitter Bootstrap 3.0 so it’s highly reliable and efficient. If the designer takes full advantage of the customization options, no two websites (of the same theme) should look the same. The theme also supports all kinds of translations since .pot files are readily available.
Sixteen
This retina-ready theme is perfect for artists. This highly creative theme not only utilizes the parallax effect in the header, but also uses various animation effects such as the zoom in, zooms out, and checkered sliding on the images. Additionally, it supports woo commerce plug-in, making your website 100% ready for buying, selling, and other commercial transactions. Currently it can be translated to Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese languages with more to come.
SKT Parallax Me
SKT Parallax Me is a fabulous WordPress theme embed with a cool parallax slider, menus, photo gallery, client info, contact page, and so much more. You can add up to 10 sections on the page if you need to display more information. This means that your customers won’t have worry about opening up a new page every time they need more information. The one-page theme is effective for corporate websites, photo bloggers, freelancers, or anyone for that matter. You add custom menus for navigation or drop down menus if you wish.
Oblique
Oblique is a one of kind theme that combines both simplicity and style—a rare combination. Oblique, much like its name, has angled shapes and designs covering the page along with animated content blocks. A full-sized header covers the top with an added parallax effect to make it even more unique. This is a great theme for fashion blogs, but can be used by any blogger looking for some style and simplicity. There are multiple color options, as well as easy access to Google fonts, a sidebar menu, and more.
Parallax One
This is another free WP theme that has a stunning and responsive display. You can customize the theme by adding logos, social buttons or adjusting colors and layers from the Theme Options Panel.
Foodeez Lite
This is a delicious design by sketch themes and one that is fully responsive. The theme has a parallax section that makes it even more captivating for food fanatics or users of the website. Perfect for food blogs, restaurants, cooks, chefs, and bars, Foodeez is all about displaying your recipes and culinary skills. The theme also includes a reservation form, allowing your customers to book reservations.