Category: WordPress Themes

In a previous post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to web site owners, then go here to read the article: About WordPress Themes – A Non-Technical User’s Guide

In this article, you will learn where you can look for free and paid themes for your WordPress website or blog. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of product support and poor coding.

As we’ve explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many talented web designers and website development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of high quality WordPress themes designed to cover many purposes.

Finding Great Themes For WordPress: Let’s Keep Things Simple!

Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and search for the following:

• best premium themes for WordPress
• best free WordPress themes
• best free WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in your search listings.

So, to help you save time and make your life easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later article. To keep things simple, please note that we will only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your website.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free WordPress themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WordPress Theme Directories & Theme Stores

There are two different types of places where WP themes can be found. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme developers.

Theme marketplaces and theme directories are large theme aggregators. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

Some of the larger marketplaces don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WordPress theme design houses typically will develop both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme design companies.

Many commercial or independent theme shops sell their themes exclusively on their own web sites, but some will also list their themes in marketplaces and directories, or even create a free or “lite” version of their themes for free directories .

Let’s now show you where to find great themes for your website.

Where To Find A Great Theme For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free WordPress Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and hard working volunteers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory complies with their standards of quality and security.

To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:

http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

Find Themes Inside Your Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WP admin panel with a couple of mouse clicks.

Use WP Theme Filters

WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

This makes it easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a blue color design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the post mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse your site information) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you do just that …

… and bring back only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The ”cons” of using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than 1 year since any change was made, then it’s best to think twice about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still quite new, it’s a good idea to start with a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending any money on premium themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for you and for converting your site visitors into customers.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to premium WordPress themes.

Premium WP Themes

If you are looking for themes with stunning web design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Theme Marketplaces

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known WordPress theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

(click on the above images to browse all ThemeForest themes)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in various categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and activism blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for photography, writers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, buy & sell, social directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, cafes, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shops, trades or professionals (plumbers, legal practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to software, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental issues, parenting sites or blogs … even themes you can use if your site is still under-construction!

When you purchase WordPress themes from ThemeForest, you will receive email notifications when a new update is available for your theme …

(ThemeForest emails you theme update notifications)

Go here to find quality premium themes in the ThemeForest theme website:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the above images to view more Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse thousands of quality premium themes from independent theme creators.

As stated on their website …

“Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.”

Creative Market doesn’t just sell WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the above images to view all themes at Mojo.com)

Mojo is a directory for premium-quality WordPress themes where theme vendors are strongly encouraged to provide customers with lifetime support and upgrades.

According to their website …

“Mojo is a marketplace where anyone can find, rate and buy quality themes & templates in one trusted place.”

Like Envato and Creative Market, Mojo doesn’t focus exclusively on WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo themes directory here:

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial theme shops.

Commercial And Independent WP Theme Design Companies

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality premium WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.

(click on images above to see all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs stunning themes and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme collection.

(click on the above images to see all WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes specializes in e-commerce themes for WordPress. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

(click on the images above to see all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many web developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework frequently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it always remains compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.

This is because StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this sounds way too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing StudioPress themes is that one low price allows you to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.

For more details, click here: StudioPress.

(click on the images above to view more themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WP theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a site uses.

This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme the site uses.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website uses WordPress: How Can I Tell If A Website Was Built Using WordPress?

Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site’s domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit “Enter.” The tool will then not only confirm if the site has been built on the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any WordPress plugins it detects.

• To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn more about this tool go here: Was My Website Built Using WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WP-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A method that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on search engine results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org theme directory, or use well-known and reputable theme vendors.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could contain malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WordPress theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and outputs a report …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin, WordPress.org)

We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and commercial responsive themes for WordPress useful.

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