Tag: Free Themes

In a separate article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WordPress themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out the post here: A Non-Technical User’s Guide To WordPress Themes

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

As we’ve explained in another post, a theme is a unique type of web template that is used on WordPress-driven websites and designed to work specifically for the WordPress platform.

Many talented website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of professional WP themes covering a wide-range of uses.

Finding Great Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide

Let’s say you were to open up Google and search for the following:

• best premium WordPress themes
• best premium WordPress themes
• best responsive WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)

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

So, to help you save time and make things easier, we’ll 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 should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a separate post. For now, please note that we will only cover the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your site’s web design.

Free vs Paid Themes

Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories Commercial And Independent WP Theme Vendors

There are mostly 2 kinds of places where WP themes can be found. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme development firms.

WP 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 customers search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the bigger theme stores 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 theme design houses can also design both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of designer, to large theme design and development companies.

Many commercial or independent theme stores 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 or blog.

Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download 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 discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and place your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WordPress site, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.

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

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

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard

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

Use WordPress Theme Feature Filters

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

This makes it easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly orange colour design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in an earlier post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, smartphones and tablets) …

You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

… and find only WordPress themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes

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

The ”cons” to using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask for donations to help cover support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over 1 year since any change was made, then think twice about downloading it, as the WordPress software is frequently updated and this can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still relatively new, there is nothing wrong with using a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending money on a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for you and your business.

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 finding premium WP themes.

Paid 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, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Theme Marketplaces

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular WordPress theme directories online.

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

(click on the above images to see more themes on ThemeForest)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in a range of categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and green living blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for video galleries, galleries, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, holiday rentals, community resources, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, nightlife, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shopping, trades or professionals (repairers, chiropractors, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, green living 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Go here to browse many quality premium themes in the ThemeForest site:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through many 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 WP themes in its marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their WP themes and search through their theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace for premium-quality WP 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great themes in the Mojo directory here:

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent theme shops.

Commercial And Independent WP Theme Design Houses

SoloStream

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

(click on above images to browse more themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates stunning premium themes and offer a membership option that allows members to access all themes in their theme collection.

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

StoreFront

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

(click on the images above to view more StoreFront themes)

StudioPress

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

Many website developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework frequently updated 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 themes built with the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the framework and gives your site its unique design.

If this all sounds 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 themes from StudioPress is that you pay one low price to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.

For more details, click here: StudioPress.

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

Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WP Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website or blog uses (including parent and child WP themes).

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

Tip: If you don’t know if a site uses WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a site uses the WordPress CMS platform: The Easy Way To Tell If Your 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 not only confirm if a site is built using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins it detects.

• To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn how to use this tool go here: Is My Site WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

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

A commonly-used tactic employed by a number of hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up websites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme download sites.

If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your WordPress theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

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

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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