Borderland

The passepartout border is the design decision, not a decoration

Elated's feature list puts "Passepartout border with multiple layout options" near the top, before the sliders and shortcodes. A passepartout is the card mount inside a picture frame, and the name tells you what the theme does: it holds the page inside a visible border rather than letting content run to the screen edge. Because the border belongs to the layout system rather than to one section, every page inherits a margin and a boundary.

That constrains composition in ways worth thinking about before you build. Full-bleed images and video backgrounds still sit inside a frame, so visual weight shifts toward the centre of the viewport. Navigation and widgets you might otherwise push to the very edge end up in the border zone instead. If edge-to-edge photography is the primary impression your brand relies on, the mount is in the way; if you want a printed, gallery-like feel, it is the reason to choose this theme over a plainer multipurpose one.

The vendor says the border ships with multiple layout options but does not enumerate them, so treat the variations as something to inspect in the demo and the theme options rather than as a documented list.

Motion runs through pages, titles and slider layers

Three separate entries describe animation: Ajax page transition animations, custom scrolling animations on Title Area content, and custom scrolling animations on Elated Slider content. Read as a group, the intent is a site that stages arrival — moving between pages, revealing a heading as you scroll, and animating slider layers rather than simply advancing slides. Smooth scroll and full-screen sections are listed alongside them, which reinforces a scrolling, cinematic reading model.

This is the part of Borderland most likely to divide opinion, and the description does not say whether any of it can be switched off or tuned per page. For a portfolio or agency site where the first ten seconds are a presentation, sequenced motion supports the work. For a news archive or anything read in a hurry, the same effects put delay between a click and the content someone came for. Check the admin settings before committing a content-heavy site to it.

Four ways to lead a page: fullscreen slider, split screen, SVG layers, full-screen sections

The slider family is more varied than the usual single hero. A fullscreen Elated Slider supports images and video with a parallax effect, and the vendor separately lists SVG graphics inside that slider, so vector artwork can be animated as part of a slide rather than pasted in as a flat image. A Vertical Split Screen Slider divides the screen instead of filling it, which suits pairing a tall image or looping video with a column of text.

A Full Screen Sections page template is the other route: successive sections that each occupy the viewport, navigated by scrolling. That is closer to a one-page presentation than a conventional long page, and it pairs with the one-page anchor functionality also on the feature list.

Choosing between them is a decision about how many messages you have. A fullscreen slider carries one proposition at a time; split screen keeps a subject and its description visible together; full-screen sections work when the story is a sequence of distinct panels. All three depend on your own imagery, since the vendor states the demo pictures are presentational only.

Where the frame puts navigation: top or side header, side area, uncovering footer

Borderland lets you choose between top and side positions for the header. A side header is the natural partner to a framed layout: it turns one edge of the mount into a navigation column, which is why the theme also offers an optional side area — a panel for extra content that opens beside the page instead of above it. Widget areas in the header top and header bottom give you places for small items such as contact details or a language switcher.

The footer has its own behaviour. It can be set to one to four columns, and the vendor lists an "uncovering footer effect" — a reveal where the footer appears from beneath the content as you reach the end of the page. Together with the border and the scroll animations, that is three mechanisms doing a similar job: making the site feel assembled rather than dropped into a browser window.

Multiple logo versions are listed for the mobile header, sticky header, and light and dark header types. That detail matters more than it sounds. If you pick a side header with a dark treatment, you need artwork that still reads on the alternate background rather than a single logo stretched across every context.

Portfolio and blog templates are the slots the frame holds

The vendor lists various portfolio list layouts and various portfolio single templates, plus a collection of hover animation effects to use with them. A portfolio list is where the frame's restraint pays off — a grid of project thumbnails inside a mount reads like a contact sheet — and the hover effects are what signal that a thumbnail is clickable when the button styling is otherwise quiet.

On the blog side the list is longer: multiple blog list and single layouts, a blog masonry list, a blog post slider, and a blog vertical loop. Custom post formats cover Audio, Video, Standard, Gallery, Link and Quote, so a video entry or a quote can render in its own treatment instead of being forced into a standard article. For a studio that publishes occasional writing between projects, that range covers the usual editorial shapes.

One practical note: the description says these templates exist, not that editing one changes every page that uses it. Treat them as alternative layouts you choose per list or per item.

The tools underneath, and what they cost you to maintain

Pages are built with WPBakery Page Builder, which the vendor describes as included, and dynamic sliders use LayerSlider, also described as included. A child theme ships with the theme, which is the right place for template-level changes so they survive updates. The rest of the list is broad: 40+ custom shortcodes, multiple icon font packs, 600+ Google Fonts, a clients carousel, a testimonials shortcode, a customisable mega menu, maintenance mode, retina-ready assets and custom widget areas.

The changelog is where this theme separates itself from older Elated releases. Version 2.6, dated March 2026, records PHP 8.3 compatibility improvements and an added WPML config file. Version 2.7, dated 3 August 2026, records an update to WPBakery 9.0 and LayerSlider 8.4.0 along with improved WooCommerce 10.x compatibility. Those entries suggest active maintenance rather than a theme left on an old builder, though changelog notes describe what the author changed, not what a particular install will do.

Attributes observed on the marketplace listing on 3 November 2026 declare support for WordPress 6.3.x through 7.0.x, WooCommerce 9.x and 10.x, WPML and WPBakery, with PHP, CSS and JavaScript files included. These are listing declarations rather than the result of running the theme here, so verify the exact combination you plan to deploy. The vendor is also explicit that the images in the demos are not licensed for use on your site; a demo import gives you structure, and your own photography supplies the rest.

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