Awesome and Quite Different WordPress Themes

OK I have to admit that I started tripwire magazine on the Joomla CMS platform. I did so because I had experience with Joomla and really found it to be an excellent and very flexible free tool for publishing content online. I did realize though at that time that WordPress simply had better themes for starting a magazine style blog. Also WordPress is much simpler and efficient for creating posts fast and have better support for tags and categories. So I decided to move from Joomla to WordPress quite early and I still think it was the right choice. Joomla should not be underestimated though and must be on the list of candidate tools if you plan to build a new website. One of the premium theme developers that I remember well from working with Joomla is RocketTheme. The quality of the Joomla themes created by RocketTheme is amazing and I just realized the same is true for their WordPress themes. This post gives an overview of RocketThemes latest development for WordPress.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). I recommend that you do your own independent research before purchasing any product or service. This article is not a guideline, a recommendation or endorsement of specific products.

What makes these WordPress themes interesting

RocketTheme originally comes from the non-blogging business and have created themes for business websites since 2005. I think this is one of the reasons why Their themes are different and seams to have an unique look and feel. As an example I want you to take a look at the menus that are far more flexible and advanced than in traditional themes for WordPress.

The design of the menu really goes into the detail and the menu are aware of what page you’re on and show it. This is great for usability.

The theme generally have very nice front page designs and allow you to customize a lot without coding. As you will see below the themes have been created with flexibility in mind. This representation of how site designers can add content to areas of a page is very common for Joomla but not for WordPress.

Lets take a closer look at the Themes

Nexus

Its primary focus is that of style control, allowing for quick, simple and wide reaching changes of the theme’s styling with a few template parameter toggles. The front page layout of Nexus is really awesome and takes WordPress to a new level.

• SEF Optimised Layout
• Custom Fonts
• New Theme Settings Page
• Fusion Menu
• RokTabs Widget
• RokStories Widget
• RokBox
• 10 Preset Styles – Light / Dark Variations
• Widget Hilites
• 26 Widget Positions
• Fully translatable
• Stylish, Professional Typography
• IE6 Warning Message
• FF3.5, Opera 10, Safari 4, IE6,7,8 Compatible
• W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS 3 Valid

Demo |Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

Affinity

The layout of the template has been constructed differently to the norm. A typical WordPress template, in regards to the mainbody source, will load the left column first, then the right column and finally the main column (where your main articles are loaded). Affinity takes a different approach and loads the main column code before the left and right columns. Therefore, this template loads in this order: Header, Menu, Showcase, Main Column, Left Column, Right Column, Bottom, Footer. This is perfect for SEO purposes as the search crawlers will find your main content before your subsidiary content in your side columns. This is a major step forward and will improve your search engine results for your pages.

• SEF Optimised Layout
• New Theme Settings Page
• RokTabs Widget
• RokStories Widget
• RokBox
• 6 Preset Styles – Light / Dark Variations
• Widget Variations
• 20 Widget Positions
• Fully translatable
• Stylish, Professional Typography
• IE6 Warning Message
• FF3.5, Opera 10, Safari 4, IE6,7,8 Compatible
• W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS 3 Valid

Demo |Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

Mixxmag

Mixxmag showcases the new RokFeature addon. RokFeature is a sophisticated content slider/rotator. Whether through automation, or manual input, you can scroll through the various articles, viewing both a large image and its accompanying text. Hidden panels allow you to showcase both lengthy text items as well as the large image to use your real estate for optimum impact.

• RokFeature
• RokBox
• 10 Stunning Preset Professional Styles
• Tableless Design
• 5 Unique Widget Variations
• 7 Widget Positions
• Widget Hilites
• Fully translatable
• Stylish, Professional Typography
• Source Adobe PNG Source Files Included
• FF3, Opera 9.6, Safari 3, IE6,7,8 Compatible
• W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS Valid

Demo |Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

Moxy

The theme balances both a simple and complex design, from the inclusion of stunning header styles, complimented by conservatively styled mainbody areas.

• SEF Optimised Layout
• Custom Fonts
• New Theme Settings Page
• Fusion Menu
• RokTabs Widget
• RokStories Widget
• RokBox
• 10 Preset Styles – Light / Dark Variations
• Widget Hilites
• 27 Widget Positions
• Fully translatable
• Stylish, Professional Typography
• IE6 Warning Message
• FF3.5, Opera 10, Safari 4, IE6,7,8 Compatible
• W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional. W3C CSS 3 Valid

Demo |Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

What is new on the Joomla Scene?

This is not really a post about Themes for Joomla but I though these 3 fresh themes from RocketTheme could be interesting to check out.

Dominion

Great looking site aimed at gaming sites and magazines. Loaded with features, styles and variations.

Demo |Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

Crystalline

The transparent nature of the template is what gives the Color Chooser its foundation, but the theme has many more features. The Color Chooser is, in effect, an interactive popup that allows you to edit the various style elements of Crystalline, such as background, text, link colour and overlay graphics, live.

Demo | Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link

Kinetic

Very clean and professional theme by Rocket Theme. The theme have various styles and is flexible to meet your design needs.

Demo | Support tripwire magazine: Affiliate link