Tag: WordPress Themes

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

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes unique, then make sure to check out our post: A Non-Technical User’s Guide To Understanding WP Themes

In this article, you will learn where to look for free and paid themes for your WP 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 experiencing problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.

As explained in another article, a theme is a special type of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with the WP platform in mind.

Many individual website designers and web design agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of uniquely-designed WordPress themes covering a wide-range of uses.

Finding Great WP Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?

If you were to browse over to Google and search for something like this:

• best free WordPress themes
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for business (enter whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search results.

So, to help you save time and make your life 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 need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a separate article. For now, we’ll only be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.

Free vs Paid Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Marketplaces vs Commercial Theme Stores

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

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

Commercial and independent theme development firms typically develop both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme development companies.

As you will see, many commercial theme design houses 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 find great WP themes for your website or blog.

Where To Find A Great Theme For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)

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

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

To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, 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 theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WP admin panel with a few mouse clicks.

Use WordPress Theme Filtering

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 easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a blue colour design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

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

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

… and bring up only themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than 1 year since any updates were last made, then think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software changes quite often and these changes can create conflicts and 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 money on paid themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site and your business.

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

Premium WP 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:

WordPress Theme Directories

ThemeForest

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

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium WP themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …

(click on the images above to view all 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 bloggers and blog magazines, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for creative work, ebook authors, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about travel, buy & sell, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, restaurants, 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 shops, trades or professionals (plumbers, chiropractors, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding 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 emails you theme update notifications)

Go here to discover great premium WP themes in the ThemeForest themes directory:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through many quality premium WP 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 (e.g. Magazine or Popular themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories using the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial theme developers.

Commercial And Independent Theme Design Companies

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to browse more SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates functional WordPress themes and offers a membership option that allows you access to their entire WP theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes creates gorgeous 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 browse all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets users 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 website developers like the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to ensure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you may 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 framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this sounds too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned 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 images above to view all StudioPress themes)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WP Theme Is That WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WP theme search tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a site uses (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 is being used on the website.

Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a site uses WordPress: Is My Blog 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 a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any plugins it detects.

• To use this online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn how to use this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known tactic 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 themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme directory, or use well-known and trusted sites.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may be infected with malware or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WordPress theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report with the results …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)

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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