If you’re a designer, photographer, artist, or any other creative professional, you’ll have realized the importance of having a beautiful portfolio site. When you display your projects in an organized and attractive way, you are more likely to appeal to clients or get a job at the company of your dreams.
Anyone who visits your site can see the full range of your creative skills as well as your artistic ability. Because of this, your website needs to have a strong focus on your work.
Thankfully, WordPress doesn’t fall short when it comes to portfolio themes. However, sometimes traditional website portfolio designs aren’t enough. In such cases, opting for a full-screen theme is the best choice.
Full-screen themes feature large images that take up the whole width of the screen or galleries that span from edge to edge of a browser window. Often, they make use of different effects such as zoom on hover or Ken-Burns to make your works even more attractive. They also support content from external sources like YouTube and Vimeo so you can even use videos to showcase your creative talents.
Best Full-Screen WordPress Themes (2019)
In today’s post, we’re featuring the best full-screen WordPress themes available on the ThemeForest market. Browse through these trending 2019 designs to take advantage of full-page image and video websites to make your portfolio site more remarkable.
1. TwoFold – Fullscreen Photography WordPress Theme
TwoFold is a brilliant full-screen WordPress theme, perfect for photography of all kinds. Its various full-screen homepages offer sliders, thumbnails, split columns, parallax, galleries, video, and more. The galleries and collections come with a filter for visitors to easily find what they’re looking for, and TwoFold also offers them interesting hover effects, the ability to like/approve photos, and a choice of light and dark lightboxes.
2. Tides – Fullscreen Video One-Page WordPress Theme
Tides has been around a long time–years, in fact–and it’s regularly updated to include the features its buyers ask for, and to stay up to date with the latest WordPress release. Striking and simple, you’ll love the full-screen video available on one of the three homepage variants.
3. Darkroom – Full-Screen Studio WordPress Theme
The first full-page theme design on our list is Darkroom. It’s a great choice for photographers as it has a full-screen homepage with a beautiful slideshow, perfect for showcasing your photos.
This theme can also be set to display videos and it’s WooCommerce-ready—meaning you can even set up a shop to sell your prints. It’s fully responsive, SEO-optimized and includes the ability to password protect your portfolio pages.
4. Photoreactive – Full-Page WordPress Portfolio Template
The Photoreactive full-page WP theme comes with some powerful features designed to make your portfolio stand out. You can make use of different types of galleries, Ken Burns effects, integrate slideshows, and much more.
On top of being compatible with WooCommerce, the theme includes a shortcode generator allowing you to quickly add tabs, checklists, contact forms, accordions, and much more. You can also customize every aspect of your website design through the theme options panel.
5. ePix – Photography Full-Screen WordPress Theme
The ePix theme is another great choice for photographers but can be tailored to work for graphic designers, web designers, illustrators, and other creative types. It offers several homepage layouts, one of which is a stunning full-screen slideshow.
You can also create a login page for your clients, edit the theme’s skin, and easily create custom layouts thanks to Visual Composer integration. On top of that, it comes with the ability to set lazy load your images, meaning they will only appear once a user scrolls to the photo itself.
6. Konzept – Grid-Based Full-Screen Theme for WordPress
Consider the Konzept theme if you’d like a grid-based layout. The homepage presents your past projects in an organized fashion and is a great choice for web or graphic designers who need a modern twist on their portfolio presentations. The theme has also been optimized for SEO, looks great on any screen size, and has been completely updated for 2019.
7. SmartScreen – Fullscreen Responsive Dark WP Theme
If you’re looking for a full-page WordPress theme with a dark background, look no further than SmartScreen. Thanks to the dark color scheme, your photos stand out even more and the theme looks great on any device.
Of course, if you’re not a fan of the dark background, you can easily change it through the theme options panel. Some of the main features include:
- Full-screen video background
- Highly customizable
- Unique full-screen slideshow for each post/page or portfolio items
- Filterable and paged portfolio layout
- Video background support
- Custom sidebar for each page or post
- Link, Audio, Video, and Quote post format types
- Custom widgets
- Google Maps widget
Get your fullscreen portfolio site launched quickly in 2019 with a feature-rich, premium WordPress theme, like SmartScreen.
8. BigFormat – WP Theme With Full-Screen Slideshows
BigFormat is a fullscreen and responsive WordPress portfolio template perfect for freelancers, web designers, photographers, and videographers alike.
Aside from creating stunning slideshows, you can easily incorporate video backgrounds with the ability to embed the videos from YouTube and Vimeo.
The customers who bought this theme praise the ease of use and customization options:
Hugely impressed with this theme. Beautiful out of the box, and seems easy to mod, not to mention the very thorough help via the forum. Well built, clearly thought out, a pleasure to work with and functions well across devices. One of the best I’ve worked with.
9. SOHO – Photo and Video Theme For WordPress
The SOHO theme for full-page WordPress website designs is a great choice for anyone who wants to present their work with both photos and videos. The theme supports full-screen slideshows as well as video backgrounds.
It includes an advanced version of the built-in GT3 page builder so you can easily customize the layout or create your own from scratch. Several gallery layouts are also available including a masonry portfolio, grid gallery, ribbon gallery, and more.
10. Shoot – 2019 Minimalist Full-Screen WordPress Theme
The Shoot theme for making modern, full-screen websites offers a number of different homepage layouts in both light and dark version as well as a few additional pre-made page templates. Your works will stand out from the competition thanks to beautiful animations.
You can create endless possibilities by changing navigation styles, backgrounds for each section with colors, images or patterns. On top of that, the theme comes with a sticky menu, meaning your visitors won’t have to scroll all the way to go to another page on your site.
11. Kose – Customizable Full-Screen Theme for WordPress
Consider the Kose theme if you’d like complete control over the layout of your pages. Thanks to the integration with Visual Composer and a variety of page elements, you can easily insert tabs, accordions, toggles, and more. Additionally, this full-page website template includes several pre-made page templates so you can showcase your services, team members, contact page, and more.
12. Photon – Creative Full-Screen WordPress Theme (2019)
The Photon WordPress theme is updated in 2019. It offers a beautiful design, plenty of customization options, and top-notch support from theme authors.
You can choose from three different homepage layouts and even sell photos on your site thanks to the WooCommerce integration. Customers rave about the theme design and features:
Good design, flexibility but may be most important thing is that Apollo 13 provides a really appreciate customer support in case of problem… I recommend.
13. Showcase – WordPress Multipurpose Full-Screen Theme
The Showcase theme can be used not only for full-screen photography or portfolio websites but also for business websites that want to stand out from the competition.
Thanks to its unique scrolling effect, your visitors are sure to be impressed when they land on your site. Several demos are included as well as unique 3D animations, split screen slider layout, and unlimited layouts based on grid pattern.
14. JohnBlack – Full-Screen Photography Theme for WordPress
JohnBlack is a premium WP theme built with photographers in mind. It comes with a number of different homepage layouts, which include a full-screen slideshow, striped homepage, split slider, and many more.
The theme design has been optimized to load fast and rank better in search engines, on top of being highly customizable. It also supports keyboard navigation and comes with a drag-and-drop page builder which makes it easy to customize any of the pre-made layouts.
15. Epoch – Modern Agency Full-Page WordPress Theme
The Epoch theme is a full-screen theme built for agencies and businesses who love a trendy design. Some of the main features include:
- Design Driven Color System
- Revolution Slider
- Visual Composer
- Custom logo option for each slide
- Custom portfolio menu background
- Several full page layouts
- Custom logo effect
- Image animation effect
16. MAC – Beautiful, Full-Screen 2019 WordPress Theme
The MAC theme features a grid-based homepage where each of the thumbnails leads to a striking full-screen individual photo.
This pro WP theme is perfect for photographers and coded with the best SEO optimization practices in mind for 2019. You can use custom shortcodes and drag-and-drop modules to control the layout of your pages.
Customers appreciate the ease of use and the simple beauty of the theme design:
What a fantastic photography theme. Simple and easy to use and looks spectacular. An amazing work of art that highlights photos perfectly.
17. Moriarty – Intuitive Full-Screen Theme for WordPress
Moriarty is a responsive photography WordPress theme with a stunning full-screen slider on the homepage to feature your latest or most popular photography works. You can also choose either Ribbon or Ken Burns slider to represent your photos. The theme features an eye-catching typography, pre-made layouts, and tons of customization options along with intuitive navigation and long scrolling form.
18. SceneOne – Bright Full-Screen 2019 WordPress Theme
The last theme on our list, SceneOne, is packed with features. This full-screen WordPress theme comes with 12 pre-made demos, 8 menu variations, multiple grid styles for your portfolio, and the ability to encourage your visitors to like your work.
You can create proof galleries and password protect them for client use as well as sync your Lightroom library with your website. On top of that, the theme is optimized for SEO in 2019 and integrates with some of the most popular plugins such as WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, and others.
5 Design Tips for Better Full-Screen Websites
Full-screen WordPress themes and websites are one of the best ways to present your portfolio, whether you’re showcasing full-page photography, video, or your design projects. However, with a little creativity, they can also be used for business websites. Here are a few important design tips to keep in mind when it comes to making full-screen websites:
1. Use High-Quality Images
Images will be the center point of your full-page website. Because of this, it’s important to use high-quality images scaled to the size that your WP theme specifies. But, do take care to optimize the images for the web and save them in appropriate format to avoid slowing down your site. You can also use the lazy load effect found in ePix to make your site load quicker.
2. Make Use of Hover Effects
When done right, hover effects can make your images stand out even more. Using the Ken Burns effect is especially popular with photography sites, however, you can also use an effect that zooms the image in on hover or a creative transition between two slides. WordPress Themes like Moriarty or PhotoReactive are a prime example of creative hover effects in use.
3. Keep Your Menu Simple
Keeping the menu simple is extremely important in full-screen websites. It allows visitors to focus on your work without seeing dozens of pages and feeling overwhelmed. Almost all of the themes on our list use a simple and hidden menu that appears only when a user hovers over the menu icon.
4. Consider Using a Sticky Menu
Another way to keep the focus on your images is to use a sticky menu. If you create a long-scrolling page, having a sticky menu is an unobtrusive way to keep the navigation always accessible and allows visitors to go to another page quickly. A theme like Shoot does an excellent job of integration a subtle sticky menu.
5. Experiment With Layouts
Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment with different grid layouts to get the most out of your theme. With all the possibilities, you can decide how many photos or portfolio pieces you want to show in a unique way, while still keeping your site organized and visually appealing.
Create a Full-Screen Portfolio With WordPress
Full-screen WordPress themes are a wonderful way to showcase your portfolio in a large-format, full-page style. If you want your website to stand out from the rest of the competition, browse through our collection of full-screen WP themes and get started building your portfolio that’s sure to impress your visitors.