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In this post you will find a bunch of Exceptionally Good Wordpress Themes and details on why they stand out from the rest.

Wordpress is a seriously popular blogging platform but with popularity comes endless options offered by the huge community. This is certainly a major advantage and it means you’re never alone with a problem. But there are literally tons of Free Themes and Plugins that you can combine in endless ways introducing a risk that looking around for the perfect setup removes focus from the main purpose…creating content for your blog readers.

Going for a Premium Theme may get you started much faster but what should you look for and is it possible to find Free alternative that provides the features normally only found in Premium Themes?

Introduction

There are several options you can choose from when you’re starting up a blog or just need a new design. Some people perfer to create a Theme from scatch themselves and spend hours designing and implementing. This is not bad at all if you have the time and know how to do it right. For most blogger this is really not the best option. Alternatively you can start looking for a Free Theme. There are thousands of Free Wordpress Themes but unfortunately only few of them are good making this approach a difficult and time consuming task for many. I believe most people new to blogging and Wordpress start this way and mainly look at images of how a Theme will look filled with content.In many cases you will experience that getting a Free Theme to look as it did on the image that made you download it may not be that simple even though it should be possible.

The concept of buying Premium Themes is getting more and more popular and actually the Theme used at tripwire magezine is based on a Premium Theme called Fresh News and is sold by WooThemes. So why does Premium WordPress Themes exist when there are thousands of Free alternatives? The answer is Look & Feel, support (good FAQ, Forum etc.), browser compatibility, quality, features and ease of use. Amongst the Free alternatives only few themes go beyond having some basic functionalities within a customized design and most are poorly documented and hard to customize and expand. In fact, designing a professional WordPress theme takes time and talent. If you’re willing to pay and don’t want to share your Theme with other potential buyers of a Premium Theme you could decide to go for the last option…hiring a Designer to create a unique Design and get it implemented as a Wordpress Theme. This is by far the most expensive options and the end result in engagements like that is quite hard to manage and predict. I would expect this option to be most relevant for large commercial projects.

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Index

• Must have features in Exceptionally Good Wordpress Themes
  • Support Wordpress Widgets
  • Theme Dedicated Control Panel
  • Style and color variations
  • Compatability, Maintenance and Testing
  • Easy to customize and change
• Examples: Premium Wordpress Themes
  
• Examples: Free Wordpress Themes (that really surface in the endless masses)

Must have features in Exceptionally Good Wordpress Themes

The must have features listed here is what you should expect to get when you step into the Premium Market. Some of the features can be found in Free  Themes but generally it is still not the case.

Support Wordpress Widgets

Wordpress Widget support is found in most Premium Themes today and even in most Free Themes created by skilled designers. Some Themes even add Widget plugins when installed making them much more a complete package. A good example of this is the Free Atahualpa Theme descibed later in this article.

WordPress Widgets are also known as “sidebar accessories” which are WordPress Plugins or add-ons to your WordPress blog sidebar. WordPress Widgets allow easy and code-less addition of design elements, gadgets, content, images, and more to your WordPress sidebar to personalize your blog without knowing HTML, PHP, or any code. Widgets can be arranged using drag and drop style as illustrated on image below. Many WordPress Plugins now come with a Widget version to allow easy addition to the sidebar. Themes must support Widgets in order for this functionality to work.

Theme Dedicated Control Panel

Wordpress support that Theme developers can create custom option pages for thier Themes making it simple for Theme users to change basic properties without any coding. More and more Premium Themes comes with their own Options page but the configuration elements supported differ significantly. Typical option pages may include changing/managing elements like Logo, Header, Footer, Adds, Traffic logger (ex. Google Analytics script), choosing stylesheets etc. The image below gives an example from the Theme Fresh News.

Style and color variations

Premium Themes typically comes with multiple color variations and these are normally configured using the Theme Options Page. Premium Themes should have several different style sheets that users can choose from. There are a few important points to point out  here:

1. Multiple Style variations ensure that popular Premium Themes purchased by many bloggers are not completely identical on all the blogs using them
2. The fact that there are Multiple Style variations available that all look good but different tells us that the Theme has been designed and build to support easy customization.
3. Multiple Style variations give users more options and starting points for customizing the Theme in the direction they prefer.

The image below gives an example of how easy users can change the layout and colors on the Theme Fresh News.

Compatability, Maintenance and Testing

The Theme should support most recent versions of Wordpress while also supporting most Browser platforms and their recent releases. Configuration management is key in any kind of sofware development. Themes for Wordpress is not different on this subject. Themes publisher should prove to have well implemented release management and configuration management and offer patches that on a regular basis solves commonly reported bugs and inform customers when new versions are released. A Theme in version 1.0 that is more than a few weeks or even months old could indicate weak or no release and configuration management being applied.

Good and best practice procedues for testing a Theme before it is releases is so important. The Theme itself could have critical errors that should be fixed before regular users run into strange problems. Also it makes sense if Theme pulishers openly provide information on compatibility testing with popular Wordpress Plugins ex. cache and SEO plugins: WP Super Cache, WP Cache 2, All-in-one-SEO and Headspace2.

Finally it is important to have some kind of assurance that the Theme you are choosing will be maintained and made available on future versions of Wordpress. If this is not the case you will possibly face difficulties upgrading at some point in the future. This service is what you normally get from Premuim Theme providers while subscribing to their Theme Clubs but typically can’t expect when using Free or even custom designed Themes.

Easy to customize and change

Most Wordpress users customize the Themes they choose beyond changing the logo and the colors. What is needed to make a Wordpress Theme easy to customize:

1. Use of Inline code documentation in both php and css files
2. Seperation of logic and presentation
3. Seperation of main page structure and element layout

How would you know? Free Themes can simply be downloaded and inpected but don’t expect Free Themes to be following these rules. Premium Themes are a bit more difficult as you can’t legally access all files with out putting some money on the table. You will on the other hand be able to get an idea of how well the Themes are structured and documented by looking at the Preview Theme Service most Theme vendors offer. I prefer to use the Firefox extension Firebug to inspect how a page is build. Also it is possible to load css files into a browser by taking the stylesheet url from the view source.

Separation of overall page structure and markup of page elements is really key when it comes to maintainability and ease of customization. If you ever tried to fx. change the width of a side bar on a poorly designed Theme you know what I’m talking about. It shouldn’t be hard at all but if you need to change width entries more than a few times and in locations all over the huge css file that comes with the Theme you have to suspicious.

Basically it all comes down to the question – is it a theme / a template or is it a “hard coded implementation of a specific design. If the Theme has been constructed in a way where page elements like fx. a search box is the “container” on the page defining it’s size and placement it can be quite hard to move the search box without everything falling apart. In my opinion the right approach is separate css for the page skeleton (overall structure, the containers) where content elements are organized – like content-pane, post-title, comment etc. from the markup of elements (fonts, colors, images etc.). A really powerful way to achieve this is using css-grid fremeworks like blueprint and 960. I have noticed that Woothemes use 960 in most of their Themes and they get really good feedback on this decision. A number of Premium themes are build using grid frameworks and the result is great. One example is the Theme Fresh News used on tripwire magazine. Net Tuts provided a intro and tutorial on how to use 960 here and on blueprint here.

Be aware the changing the internals of a Theme may give you headache if you want to upgrade it at a later point. My advice to this is to create a change log where you shortly describe the changes you make for your own reference. This will make it possible for you to reapply them again later.

Examples: Premium Wordpress Themes

When most of us are searching for a new Theme, the first impression is usually controlled by the overall look and feel of the Theme. There are many parameters one could investigate but generally we’re drawn to a theme first of all because we find it appealing. Premium Theme Designer knows this why they put great effort into creating designs that looks really good, usually have professional appearance and high quality graphics and layout.

One Theme

One Theme is a Wordpress Theme with multiple great looking designs available and I would say that it is actually more than just a Theme. The features available with this themes is really impressive! Here an example of how one of the Themes look to the Front-End users.

While the One Themes looks like other Themes on the Front-End you cant say the same about the Back-End. The interesting concept behind One Theme is the One Panel Wordpress plugin that is more than just a traditional Options page.  The developers of One Theme really put a significant effort into designing and implementing a unique cockpit solution. One Panel doesn’t introduce really new Blogging features but the way it is all brought together in one place and in one download is interesting! Here you see the One Panel main page:

The list of Features is to long to be included here. Visit the One Theme website to learn more. Here some Highlights:

Skins, with this module one panel takes customization to a new level. In one place users can choose color schemes and upload and change images for Logo, background, buttons, rss, and many more.

Thumbnail Generator, It is really popular to have images next to articles on the blog front page and on category lists. The right way to do this is using custom properties. The Thumbnail Generator is used to generate Thumbnails and attach them to articles. Cool feature really!

Localization Tool, Quickly and easily search for a language string in One Panel and change it. Convert any One Panel compatible theme to your native language, or change the default text to something that suites your site better.

Post Header and Footer module, This module makes it easy to change how posts are presented in both list and full length view. Fx. it is possible to decide if post details like author, date, gravatar will be shown above the post or if you want relates articles, social boomarks, rss link etc. shown below the posts.

Menu builder, This is module that eliminates work that normally requires some technical insight. Menu in Wordpress is very simple and can’t really be controlled from the Back-End. Usually one need to edit the code that generates the menus and add an exclude list. Not hard to do really but on the other hand this kind of “features” takes away focus from blogging. Menu Builder simply gives you a page where you can cofigure this.

You can do most of the configuration you need in the One Panel but what if you want more. The heavy “instrumentation” of the Theme making it easy to configure in One Panelmeans that you must be careful what you change and I would not recommend this unless you’re a skilled programmer. The Theme code looks clean and well structured though! One Theme and the One Panel concept is a new way of using Wordpress and it is going to be interesting follow it and see how it evolves. Learn more here.

Coldstone

Elegant Themes are well know for their design and for a reason I think. They currently provide 24 High Quality Themes and all of them have a several stylesheets that change their Look & Feel significantly. Elegant Themes only sell their Themes to members of their Club only and you could think that it’s a problem if you know you only need one Theme. I would say it is not a problem at all because the prize of a 1 year Club membership is much lower than the usual prize you can get a Premium Theme single usage License for. There are several Themes available on Elegant Themes that deserves to be included here but I decided to take a closer look at Coldstone.

Coldstone features an option page as expected where the most essential configurations can be set. From this page you can control the menus, if you want custom images next to posts, manage advertising, enable Features Posts, change Post Format etc. Most users will be happy with this for basic cutomization. Coldstone is not build using a Grid framework and may not be simple to change unless you have good HTML and CSS skills.

Visit Elegant Themes if you want to learn more about their Themes and their Club.

The Station

Woothemes is another major Premium Theme player with more than 30 High Quality Themes available for single License purchase and for Club members. The theme used on tripwire magazine is Fresh News from Woothemes. All the Themes are worth considering if you like their design but I have decided to take a closer look at The Station here as it is very clean opposed to some of the other Themes included in this post.

This theme is designed to have a Page-based homepage which enables you to control all of the content on the homepage and makes the potentiel usage of the Theme different from most Wordpress Themes that are designed to be “Blog only”. Here you see the Blog page.

Features worth taking a look at:

• Featured Tabber section on the homepage to emphasise your most important messages;
• 3 different widgetized sidebars;
• Integrated Breadcrumbs, PageNavi and loads of different navigation spaces & options with regards to those navigation sections;
• 3 Additional custom page templates (Archives, Sitemap & Full Width);
• 6 Custom Woo widgets (Flickr, Twitter, Search, Campaign Monitor, Feedburner and Recent Posts); and
• 7 great colour schemes to suit your site identity.
• Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme
• Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails for the blog posts on the home page;
• Threaded Comments for WP 2.7;
• Trendy drop-down menu’s for your main navigation; and
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Comments.

The theme is build using the 960 Grid framework and I personally like this alot as explained in the section Easy to customize and change.

The Integrated Theme Options provides access to configure the elements most users will need. Theme Stylesheet, Custom Logo, Google Analytics, Feedburner RSS URL, Twitter Username, Exclude pages from navigation menus, Sidebar Options and much more.

Visit Woothemes if you want to learn more about their Themes and their Club.

Examples: Free Wordpress Themes (that really surface in the endless masses)

It’s not only people willing to pay money for their Themes that get all the nice stuff. Looking around I have found that a few Free Themes are really worth investigating.I have developer background myself but I lake the comfort of a great Theme that lines up to be ready with a few mouse clicks. I’m sure that most blogger fell the same and I promise you that if you’re really short on money there is still hope!

Atahualpa WP Theme

This Theme is better than most Free Themes I have seen. The features included are simply impressive and I would seriously consider this Theme if you like the Look and Feel and basic strucure it provides. This Theme has most features that you would expect in a Premium Theme. NB! If you download this Theme make sure you locate the latest release and if you use it give the author some credit and donate…

There’s an active forum where you can get help if somthing is not going as intended – almost too good to be true for a completely Free Theme. How it looks strait out of the box:

A few highlights:

2 or 3 columns, FLUID width, widget ready, options page, rotating (or static) header image(s), custom logo icon (or none), related posts, popular posts, popular posts in current category, WP-Print, WP-Email, WP-Pagenavi, Subscribe to comments, Gravatars, Image captions, highlighted author comments, SEO features, source ordered, table-free, valid XHTML, GPL licensed.

Atahualpa should work with most plugins. It has plug & play support for these: Subscribe to Comments, Paged Comments, LMB Box Comment Quicktags, WP-PageNavi, WP-Email, WP-Print, WP-PostViews and Sociable. Tested with WP Super Cache, WP Cache 2 and WP-Syntax. Atahualpa automatically recognizes 12 popular SEO plugins (incl. All-in-one-SEO and Headspace2) and disables its own SEO features to avoid conflicts.

Lets take a look at the Atahualpa main options page found in the Apperance menu. As you can see the available elements available for in the top menu is amazing. The Startpage provides an introduction.

Clicking on one of the menu items takes you to easy to understand configuration pages. Here you see the Post/page Styling that includes 16 configuration areas. Some people would prefer to jump directly into the CSS but really it is a nice feature for most users.

miniBlog Theme

miniBlog is another Free Wordpress Theme with a lot of features.

• Wordpress 2.6, 2.7+ Ready
• Widget Ready
• Built for “Sticky Posts”
• Gravatar Ready
• IE 6 & 7 Compatible, Firefox Compatible, Safari Compatible, Opera Compatible, Netscape Compatible
• Custom Post Image-Thumbails
• Infinite Number of Color Schemes
• Detailed Theme Options Page
• ReadMe.txt for Help Installing the Theme
• Separate Comments and Trackbacks
• Easily Editable CSS – Fully Commented
• Web 2.0, Tableless Design
• Best of all, it’s all FREE
• View Theme Options Page HERE , Preview This Theme, Download This Theme Free

Rock Solid Theme

• Wordpress 2.6, 2.7+ Ready
• Widget Ready
• Gravatar Ready
• IE 6 & 7 Compatible, Firefox Compatible, Safari Compatible, Opera Compatible, Netscape Compatible
• Custom Post Image-Thumbails
• Four (4) Different Theme Color Styles Available
• Detailed Theme Options Page
• ReadMe.txt for Help Installing the Theme
• Fully-Layered .PSD of Each Header Color Variation + Font Used for Customization
• Separate Comments and Trackbacks
• Easily Editable CSS – Fully Commented
• Web 2.0, Tableless Design
• Best of all, it’s all FREE
• View Theme Options Page, Preview This Theme, Download This Theme Free

Stitches Theme

“Five color schemes, theme options, Twitter+Flickr.”

• Wordpress 2.6+ Ready
• Widget Ready
• Gravatar Ready
• IE 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari, Opera, Netscape Compatible
• Custom Post Image Thumbails
• Featured Posts
• Styled Optional Calendar Widget
• Five (5) Different Theme Color Styles Available
• Detailed Theme Options Page
• ReadMe.txt and FAQ.txt for Help Installing the Theme
• Seperate Comments and Trackbacks
• Elegant-Looking Sidebar Tabs
• FREE – Developer License (use the theme as many times as you want for your own use)
• Completely FREE
• Preview This Theme, Download This Theme

Support tripwire magazine if you buy a Premium Theme

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