Tag: Free Themes

In an earlier post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out our article: An Overview of WP Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where to search 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 poorly-coded themes.

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

Many skilled web designers and web development firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community can access thousands of great themes designed for a wide range of website uses.

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

Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and search for something like this:

• best free WordPress themes
• best free WordPress themes
• best free WordPress themes for authors (enter whatever your business, area of interest or website 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, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another post. For now, please note that we will only be covering 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 areas of your blog.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

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

WP Theme Directories vs Commercial WordPress Theme Developers

There are mostly two types of places where you can find themes. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme development firms.

Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large theme aggregators. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors shop 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 WP plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WP theme design companies typically will create both free and paid WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme development companies.

Most commercial theme design houses sell 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 WP theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to find the best WordPress themes for your website or blog.

Choosing Responsive Themes For Your WordPress Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

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

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

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

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

Find WP Themes Inside Your Dashboard

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

Use The Theme Filtering

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

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

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

You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …

… and bring back only WP themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of 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 it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over 1 year since any changes were last made, then you should think twice about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and these changes can create conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website is still relatively 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 money on a theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.

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

Paid 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 ongoing support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

WP Theme Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known theme directories online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium WP themes listed (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 themes in various categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and e-magazines, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for medical sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for portfolios, kindle book authors, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about travel, buy & sell, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, dining out, 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 specialty stores, trades or professionals (repairers, dental 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 topics related to activism, 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Go here to find great themes in the ThemeForest themes site:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the images above to browse all Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can search through thousands of quality premium WordPress 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 marketplace, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market directory here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a directory 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 WP themes, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo

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

Commercial Theme Developers

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to see all SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates functional themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme collection.

(click on the above images to see more themes from WooThemes)

StoreFront

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

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

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your 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 this 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 a paint job that sits on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique design.

If this sounds too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned about it. StudioPress themes are 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 all themes from StudioPress)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this post with a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WordPress Theme Is That? – WordPress Theme And Plugin Search Tool

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

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

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a website was built using WordPress: Is It A WordPress Site?

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 is powered by WordPress, but it will also list the WordPress 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 It A WP Site?

Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A well-known strategy used by many hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org theme repository, or use established and trusted theme vendors.

If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme 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 WP theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and then presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)

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

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