Most templates are sold on a screenshot. The trouble is that a screenshot can't show you how a theme behaves at 2 a.m. on a phone with one bar of signal — which is exactly when half your readers arrive. Read Rich Free exists so you don't have to guess. It is the same template as the paid edition — same reading-first design, same speed, same bilingual engine — with some features removed and no updates. Install it, write a few posts, and let your own blog tell you whether the missing pieces are ones you actually need.
What Read Rich is built around
The name is the brief: a template where the article is the star and everything else gets out of its way. Before the free-versus-full table, here is the foundation — and all of it is in the free edition too.
Speed you can measure
No external libraries: no jQuery, no icon font pulled from a CDN, no mandatory web font. Icons live in one in-file set and the type falls back to system fonts, which strips dozens of requests off every page. The first, biggest image on a post loads with priority; everything below it waits until the reader scrolls near it.
A layout that doesn't jump
Every image, ad and block reserves its space before it appears, so the page doesn't lurch while you read — the single biggest win for Cumulative Layout Shift and for not tapping the wrong link.
Bilingual, both directions
Right-to-left is applied to every component — header, cards, sidebar, comments, footer — not patched on afterwards. The interface follows your blog's language automatically between English and Arabic.
A real dark mode
Every surface and text colour has its own dark value, not a filter laid over the light theme, and the reader's choice is remembered in their browser.
Post blocks that fill themselves
Drop a block anywhere and it pulls in posts on its own: latest, a specific category, or random — in several layouts (grid, overlay, trio, timeline and more). Great for "you may also like" rows without touching code.
Category cards & display switcher
A colourful category-cards block for the home page, and a set of view icons that let readers flip the latest-posts feed between grid, list and compact — their choice is remembered.
Technical SEO already wired in
Structured data for the article, the site and the breadcrumb trail, Open Graph and Twitter tags, correct language and direction signals, and clean canonical URLs with no m=1 duplicates.
Ads that don't break the page
AdSense and your own custom ad code, in reserved slots on the home page, in the sidebar and inside articles — each with its height held in advance so the text never shifts when an ad loads.
Who this template is for
- Writers & bloggersLong-form posts that deserve a clean reading page
- News & magazine sitesCategory blocks and a latest-posts feed with view options
- Niche & tech blogsGuides, reviews and how-tos with related posts
- AdSense publishersReserved ad slots that protect Core Web Vitals
- Bilingual publishersEnglish and Arabic without extra plugins
- New Blogger usersA professional, fast start with nothing to pay
When would I point you elsewhere? If you are building a shop with a cart and checkout, Blogger is the wrong platform, not just the template. And if your site is a company brochure first and a blog second — services, team, pricing, a map — then a business layout fits you better than a reading-first one.
What you actually get in the free edition
No vague promises — here is what appears the moment the file is uploaded:
- A two-row header: a pages bar with your social icons shown directly, a categories menu with dropdowns, plus dark mode, follow and text-search buttons.
- A breaking-style ticker that scrolls your latest post titles across the top of the home page.
- A latest-posts feed with a view switcher (grid, list, compact) that each reader controls.
- Self-filling post blocks — latest, by category, or random — in multiple layouts, placed from Layout.
- A colourful category-cards block for the home page.
- A sidebar that restyles Blogger's own widgets: popular posts, labels, an ad box, social links.
- The article page with breadcrumb, title, author, date, categories and threaded comments.
- AdSense and custom-ad slots: on the home page, in the sidebar and inside articles.
- A four-column footer and a single-line copyright row.
Free vs full: the comparison table
| Feature | Free | Full |
|---|---|---|
| Design, speed and the image engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| RTL support and dark mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| Text search with thumbnails | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-filling post blocks (latest / category / random) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Category cards & latest-posts view switcher | ✓ | ✓ |
| AdSense & custom ads, with reserved slots | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full structured data for SEO | ✓ | ✓ |
| Breadcrumb, author, date and threaded comments | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mega menu panels (articles & most-read) | — | ✓ |
| Hero search band & welcome strip | — | ✓ |
| Member sign-in and protected downloads | — | ✓ |
| Newsletter subscription & announcement bell | — | ✓ |
| Favourites (save for later) | — | ✓ |
| Voice search | — | ✓ |
| Star ratings on articles | — | ✓ |
| Article tools: reading mode, text size, word count, reading time | — | ✓ |
| Automatic table of contents | — | ✓ |
| Related posts, author box, previous / next | — | ✓ |
| Sharing bar & Google preferred-source follow | — | ✓ |
| Random-article popup & reading progress bar | — | ✓ |
| Content copy protection & link frames | — | ✓ |
| External link redirect page | — | ✓ |
| Reading font picker for visitors | — | ✓ |
| Post layouts | Card feed + view switcher | Full set of layouts |
| Interface languages | Two, automatic | Six, plus switcher & Google Translate |
| Theme Designer (colours, fonts, options) | Values fixed in the code | Full options panel |
| Layout widget slots | One per section (sidebar unlimited) | Multiple per section |
| Updates and support | None | Ongoing updates and support |
| Usage | One blog, no resale | Per licence terms |
The limits, stated plainly
Better to read this now than to discover it an hour into setup:
1. No updates. What you download today is what you keep. Every improvement from here goes into the full edition only.
2. No Theme Designer. Colours and fonts are written into the file, so changing them means editing the code. Don't open Customise expecting the options — they were removed on purpose, and the theme is stable with its values fixed.
3. The footer credit stays. The copyright row and the Tooliqo logo beside it are part of the template and cannot be removed or hidden. That is the trade for a free licence.
4. Removed features are gone, not hidden. They are stripped out of the file, so you will not find them in Layout and you cannot switch them back on.
Installing it, step by step
- Download the file, unzip it if needed, and keep the
.xmlsomewhere handy. - Sign in to Blogger and pick the blog you want to change.
- Open Theme, click the arrow next to Customise, choose Backup and save your current theme first.
- Recommended: install the Tooliqo Cleaning Template first, so widgets and leftovers from the old theme don't collide with the new one.
- Theme → arrow next to Customise → Restore, upload the
.xml, and accept when Blogger asks to remove widgets the new theme doesn't use. - Open Layout and fill the widgets: menus, social links (paste the URLs — the template turns each into the right icon), post blocks, category cards, AdSense publisher ID and footer columns.
- In Settings → Posts, set the number of posts on the main page, and set the blog language so the interface follows it between English and Arabic.
- Replace the demo content with your own, open the site on a phone, and run a PageSpeed test so you know your starting point.
Post-install tips that actually move the needle
Images first, always
On almost every Blogger site the post images are the slowest thing on the page. Upload covers at around 1280×720 in WebP, and don't drop a 3000-pixel photo in and shrink it with CSS. The template requests the size the screen needs and reserves the space before the file lands — but it can't un-bloat a file you uploaded too large.
Let the first image be the lead
Because the first image in a post loads with priority, make it a clear, relevant cover. That one choice shapes your Largest Contentful Paint and gives the reader an anchor before the first sentence.
Use the post blocks instead of pasting lists
Rather than hand-building "related" or "more from this category" rows, drop in a post block set to a category or to random. It fills itself from your blog and restyles automatically — one line, no maintenance.
Be sparing with ads
The reserved slot heights stop the layout from jumping, but no template can save the interaction time of a page stuffed with ads. Two in-article slots usually earn more than three — one after the opening, one before the comments.
The technical SEO is done; the writing is yours
The template sends Google the article, site and breadcrumb data plus the sharing tags. What's left to you: a custom description per post, a clean H2/H3 outline, alt text on every image, and internal links between related posts.
Preview the site on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Performance: numbers instead of adjectives
The free file loads no external library — no jQuery, no CDN icon font, no mandatory web font — so it avoids dozens of requests on every visit before you've added a thing. Layout shift measures close to zero because every image, ad and section reserves its space in advance. Your final score still depends on your own images, your ad count and how many widgets you add, which is exactly why the tips above matter.
Frequently asked questions
Does the free edition expire?
No. It doesn't stop working and has no time limit. The only differences are that it receives no updates and that some features are removed.
Will it work with my existing posts and images?
Yes. It changes how your blog is presented, not your content. Your posts, images, pages and comments stay exactly as they are and simply appear inside the new design.
Can I resell it or host the file for download on my own site?
No. Reselling, redistributing and re-publishing the file are not allowed, and neither is removing or hiding the footer credit line.
Does it support AdSense and my own ad code?
Yes. There are reserved slots on the home page, in the sidebar and inside articles, and each slot accepts either AdSense or your own custom ad HTML.
Does it support Arabic and right-to-left layouts?
Yes, fully, in every component. The interface follows your blog language automatically between English and Arabic, and the page direction follows with it.
How do I change the colours in the free edition?
By editing the colour values near the top of the theme code, because the Theme Designer is removed from this edition. In the full edition you change them from the Customise panel without touching code.
The home page shows fewer posts than I set — why?
Blogger controls the home-page count from Settings → Posts, and it can send fewer posts per page when articles are long or media-heavy. The template reads your chosen number and tops the grid up to it automatically, so set the count in Settings and it follows.
If I upgrade later, do I lose my content?
No. You upload the full edition over the same blog; posts, pages and comments are untouched. You'll only re-arrange a few widgets, because the full edition has more slots.
Does it work on WordPress or classic Blogger themes?
No. It is built for Blogger's modern XML format only.
Try it now
Download the free edition. If you find yourself wanting the table of contents, member sign-in, the extra layouts or the Theme Designer, upgrading is a single upload.
If you install it and hit a snag, or you think a feature deserves to be in the free edition, tell me in the comments. I read every one — a good part of this template started as a reader's note.