Tag: WordPress Themes

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

If you would like to know more about WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out our post here: An Introduction to WordPress Themes

In this blog post, we will show you where to discover many wonderful free and paid themes for your WordPress website. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.

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

Many professional web designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of professional WP themes covering an extensive range of applications.

Finding Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!

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

• best themes for WordPress
• best responsive themes for WordPress
• best responsive WordPress themes for artists (type in 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 the search listings.

So, to help you save time and make things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes really simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later post. For now, please note that we will only be focusing on finding 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 your site’s web design.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

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

Theme Marketplaces & WordPress Theme Agencies

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

WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large aggregators of themes. WP theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers shop for 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 theme developers typically will design both free and paid WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

Many commercial 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 WP theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to search for great themes for your blog.

Where To Find The Best Responsive Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 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 or blog, but it also uses a review team to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets certain quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Directory, 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 directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WP admin panel with only a few mouse clicks.

Use The WordPress 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 dark color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the article mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, smartphones and tablets) …

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

… and display only themes that use “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable features, 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 you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask for donations 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 over a year since any changes were made, then we advise you to think carefully about using it, as WordPress changes quite often and new features can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your site 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 paid themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what 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 ways to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium WordPress themes.

Premium WordPress 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 great 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 largest and most popular theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium 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 themes in a range of categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and environmental blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for government sites and marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, writers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, classifieds, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands 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. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (repairers, dentists, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, landing pages, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage consellor 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 premium themes in the ThemeForest themes site:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress 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 directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace for premium 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 search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo Themes

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

Commercial WP Theme Stores

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a 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 eye-catching themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing WordPress theme collection.

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

StoreFront

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

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

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that allows users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for the 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 the framework consistently updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, 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 “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

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 one low price entitles 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 see more StudioPress themes)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:

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

What WordPress Theme Is That is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a site is using (including parent and child WordPress themes).

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

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a website is powered by WordPress: How Can I Tell If My Web 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 not only confirm whether or not a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any plugins it detects.

• To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
• To learn more about this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On WordPress

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin

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 approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A tactic that is commonly used by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress repository, or use well-known and reputable theme download sites.

If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report with the results …

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)

I hope that you have found this information useful.

***

***