Tag: WordPress Themes

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

If you would like to know more about the benefits of using themes and what makes WP themes so special, then go here to read our post: 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. 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 dealing with problems like lack of support and poor coding.

As explained in our previous post, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many skilled website designers and web design agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community can access thousands of quality themes designed to cover a wide range of purposes.

Finding WP Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide

If you were to fire up Google and type a key phrase like this:

• best WordPress themes
• WordPress themes free
• best paid WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in the search listings.

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 get started, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in another article. In this post, please note that we will only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your website.

Free vs Paid Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Directories vs Commercial WordPress Theme Vendors

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

Theme marketplaces and theme directories are large theme stores. WP 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 larger marketplaces 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 theme developers can also design both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme developer, to large theme design companies.

Most commercial or independent theme design firms 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 search for the best themes for your website.

Choosing The Best WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason for this, is because –as many free software users have discovered– 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 WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WP site, but it also uses a review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets certain 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 a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with only a few mouse clicks.

Use The 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 Colours, Layout and Features …

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

Note: in the article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work across all devices (e.g. PCs, tablets and smartphones) …

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

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

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. 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 downside 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 developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask users for donations to help cover their 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 a year since any changes were made, then think twice about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your site is still quite 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 paid themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid WP themes.

Paid Themes

If you are looking for themes with stunning 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 Marketplaces

ThemeForest

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

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

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and political blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes for visual galleries, writing professionals, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about travel, dining out & restaurants, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, nightlife, 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. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (electricians, chiropractors, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Browse lots of quality premium themes in the ThemeForest themes marketplace here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace 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 marketplace, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Commerce themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the images above to see more 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 browse hundreds of WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Magazine or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great premium 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 stores.

Commercial Theme Design Houses

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high 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 designs stunning premium themes and offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire WP theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in WP themes for e-commerce. 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 that lets users 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 your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many web developers prefer using the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework 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 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 you pay just 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 view all themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this post with some 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 WP theme and plugin-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a site uses.

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

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a site uses WordPress: How Can I Tell If My Site Was Built With 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 whether or not a site was built using the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any WP plugins it detects.

• To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn more about this tool go here: Does My Website Run On WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A well-known method used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites 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 search engine results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress.org repository, or use well-known and trusted theme vendors.

If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may contain malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your WordPress theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report with the results …

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

I hope that you have found this information useful.

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