What is the BEST or Your Favorite Wordpress Theme?

by sbones
40 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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What is hands down the best Wordpress Theme and why?

Overall functionality, monitization, design, ease of use, everything!
#favorite #theme #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author danemorgan
    Here lately I have to confess I've become a real fan of starting with twentyten. Clean html5 markup and designed from the ground up for fast development of simple, yet elegant child themes without all the bloat and overhead of all the "frameworks" out there.
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    • Profile picture of the author doorkicker13
      simpleX is my favorite. I like things nice and clean, almost minimal looking. simpleX gives me that - and if I want to make some serious chances I can always edit the template.
      WordPress › simpleX « Free WordPress Themes
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    • Profile picture of the author Sheila Atwood
      Originally Posted by danemorgan View Post

      Here lately I have to confess I've become a real fan of starting with twentyten. Clean html5 markup and designed from the ground up for fast development of simple, yet elegant child themes without all the bloat and overhead of all the "frameworks" out there.

      I agree and use the 2010 Weaver version. I love this theme. I moved to it from Thesis as a trial...won't be going back! I have put several clients on this theme and they love it.

      As a developer I like using iThemes, Builder. So many options without having to know code.

      For eCommerce themes I like PrestaShop Free Open-Source e-Commerce Software for Web 2.0
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      WordPress Freak

      WordPress For Business and Personal Use

      "You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose." -Dr. Suess
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      • Profile picture of the author danemorgan
        Originally Posted by Sheila Atwood View Post

        I agree and use the 2010 Weaver version. I love this theme. I moved to it from Thesis as a trial...won't be going back! I have put several clients on this theme and they love it.

        As a developer I like using iThemes, Builder. So many options without having to know code.

        For eCommerce themes I like PrestaShop Free Open-Source e-Commerce Software for Web 2.0
        I love the coding. I still sometimes start with a blank white screen, but i use a couple of stripped down "blank" theme startes and twentyTen more frequently as my workload increases.

        I'm really resistant to things like Thesis, though. There is so much overhead loaded with every page that most blogs will never even use.
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    • Profile picture of the author Conservationist
      Originally Posted by danemorgan View Post

      Here lately I have to confess I've become a real fan of starting with twentyten.
      Me too. If you're going to mod without doing anything radical, it's the easiest starting point (fewest errors for me at least).
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    • Profile picture of the author paulie888
      Originally Posted by danemorgan View Post

      Here lately I have to confess I've become a real fan of starting with twentyten. Clean html5 markup and designed from the ground up for fast development of simple, yet elegant child themes without all the bloat and overhead of all the "frameworks" out there.
      I know, this default theme is clean and can be customized to a surprising extent. It's great for the development of perfectly serviceable websites where you don't need anything flashy or terribly unique.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jake Gray
    There are plenty of free WordPress themes out there
    that I would prefer over paid. You are probably wondering
    why? Well, I customize them to my liking. I commonly tweak
    Twenty Ten, etc.

    Jake
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  • Profile picture of the author Whothar
    My favorite for sales pages and squeeze pages is WP-Spire. Way worth the money, very customizable, and a lot of features that I really enjoy.
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  • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
    Woothemes is my favourite

    Reason : I like them
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    no sig

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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Hughes
    I'm a big fan of Headway. It's a theme framework that is incredibly easy to customize without significant knowledge of CSS.
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    Never Give Up!

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  • Profile picture of the author doorkicker13
    Just a suggestion.. don't buy a premium theme unless you are positive you need it. I jumped the gun a few months ago and dropped $175.00 on PlatformPro. I used it once, decided I didn't like it, and haven't touched it since - meaning I pretty much threw away $175.00.
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    • Profile picture of the author danemorgan
      Originally Posted by doorkicker13 View Post

      Just a suggestion.. don't buy a premium theme unless you are positive you need it. I jumped the gun a few months ago and dropped $175.00 on PlatformPro. I used it once, decided I didn't like it, and haven't touched it since - meaning I pretty much threw away $175.00.
      I know a dozen guys who would have made you a full out custom theme to your exact specs for that price,.
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      Did you ever notice that “author” is the root of the word “authority“?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nickolie0990
    personally, I like the product launch theme, not so much for doing product launches, but I like the way it regulates traffic.

    Other then that theme, I really like the SimpleFolio theme.
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    • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
      I haven't got a favourite but WooThemes has some very elegant themes.

      I like Thesis as well.
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      'If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.' Vincent Van Gogh.
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    • Profile picture of the author doorkicker13
      Originally Posted by Nickolie0990 View Post

      personally, I like the product launch theme, not so much for doing product launches, but I like the way it regulates traffic.

      Other then that theme, I really like the SimpleFolio theme.
      SimpleFolio looks pretty nice... I've been using PortfolioPress for my personal (non-IM related) portfolio.. I may have to give that a closer look.
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  • Profile picture of the author bluewaterk
    The Ultimate Blogging Theme has really worked well for me. It is very user friendly for someone like me who isn't fluent in CSS.... It is flexible enough for me to make it look however I want it. =)
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  • Profile picture of the author KatyaSenina
    Check out New WordPress Themes - New and Fresh Free WordPress Themes for FREE awesome looking themes.

    But I might have to warn you, you might be spending quite some time over there. I really couldn't choose.

    Edit: my advice is, keep it clean, white and 2 column. Make sure it has ad space.
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  • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
    Originally Posted by CharlieSheenSays View Post

    Yes- They are seo friendly. With ePanel you are given full control over your meta elements. You can add custom meta titles, descriptions and keywords for every section of the theme individually. You can also enable canonical URL's to avoid duplicate content filters.
    That's good, I'll definitely check them out
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    'If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.' Vincent Van Gogh.
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  • Profile picture of the author gilmore
    Free Theme: I have been using the Weaver theme and like it a lot. You can do so many with it. I created 3 different websites with it and they all look totally different. They provide plenty of CSS snippets and information. There is a support forum which is excellent.
    Paid Theme: Genesis.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Honestly, the new default, TwentyTen is way more functional than the majority of themes listed here in all those posts starting with "I like... XYZ" without giving any reason why that particular theme is better than others.

    2010 is SEO-friendly, well coded, versatile.

    Learn how to create small "children" themes for it and you can change its look in minutes.
    That's the way to go: child themes... > Child Themes « WordPress Codex
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    • Profile picture of the author mikeroosa
      I really like Plainscape for a free theme. For a premium theme, Elegant Themes has a good selection.
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    • Profile picture of the author afreshiowa
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      Honestly, the new default, TwentyTen is way more functional than the majority of themes listed here in all those posts starting with "I like... XYZ" without giving any reason why that particular theme is better than others.

      2010 is SEO-friendly, well coded, versatile.

      Learn how to create small "children" themes for it and you can change its look in minutes.
      Thank you for actually giving an explanation on why you prefer TwentyTen, very helpful
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  • Profile picture of the author ngseosept
    Honestly, I do like pure vision theme because it suits both, users with no programming background as well as advanced developers. It will also help you build your site in no time to your liking with minimal effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author seorules
    When i first buy a domain my friend recommends me to use the default themes which is "twentyten" , now i still using this wordpress themes because i don't encounter many problems like my other friends using some of free wordpress themes that they found in google search which result their website to have some errors, some errors they got are posts excerpt uncontrollable, sometimes alignment of some posts now perfectly align, and i also seen some free wordpress themes in google search slide bar 2 is not working well, and most of all some have a complicated settings to do with and not compatibility in wordpress 3.1... I feel safe using twentyten as my themes very simple, clean, and most of all no errors encountered yet.
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  • Profile picture of the author coronaborcalis
    Pagelines is my favorite, since it's free and it's easy to use because you can set it up with drag and drop
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  • Profile picture of the author CharlieSheenSays
    i like elegent themes. i think they are the best and cheap. read my article in article base that will give you the details of my experience-

    Elegant Themes - Nice premium word press themes that you should have
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    • Profile picture of the author salesmanger
      I am really like the flex theme I dont know what everyone else thinks but I have really found it easy to use. I am not very technical so some of the other themes I have found to be a little to technical so I rather stick to one theme instead of learning the other ones.

      I wonder how other people feel about this I hope I am not the only one feel this way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aurelius Tjin
    I like Thesis and I'm currently using the Catalyst theme on my blog.

    Both are pretty flexible in terms of options.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    I'm still partial to Thesis after all this time, mostly because of the great support you get from the vendor as well as the many Thesis enthusiasts out there. I also love the fact that the skins you can get allow you to change the look and feel of the theme without having to get into the code.
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  • Profile picture of the author basickno
    inove is my favorite and there many others also. Actually there is no single best template, you have to decide your self that which tamplate make you feed professional and conversational.
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  • Profile picture of the author rain21
    prosense brown is my favorite
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  • Profile picture of the author clydefrog
    i'm currently a fan of lightword theme. it's very basic, got the content body, and the navigational setup. simple, techy, works for the majority of my blogs i setup. i later on change the layout to suite the category, but lightword theme is what i usually use to begin with.
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  • Profile picture of the author websitedesign1
    simpleX is my favorite
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  • Profile picture of the author ArticlePenguin
    I said in another thread that a great theme was Aero, also I have used the Hulk theme before with some success
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  • Profile picture of the author brittney marie
    Even i like the woothemes..
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  • Profile picture of the author WAWarrior
    Some of the New Wordpress Themes look impressive.
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  • Profile picture of the author HypnoHugh
    iThemes Builder - no question.

    I'm in no way a techie and now produce websites for big companies just use

    • You can easily have multiple different layouts (including landing pages & squeeze pages)
    • The Style Manager lets you change all the colors - fonts, backgrounds & spacing you want.
    • It comes with some great plugins such as rotating images & billboard.
    • It's a multi site developer license - no extra cost.
    • There are loads of different Child themes - so you're really getting loads of themes for 1
    • Finally the support is amazing - they are very patient answering all my basic questions - even just Wordpress related.
    In summary Builder turns non-techies into fully fledged web designers at lighting speed - very dangerous

    Another option to consider just for basic sales sites and squeeze pages is Optimize Press.

    Good Luck

    Hugh
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  • I use Woothemes exclusively, myself, and I have 2 definite favorites. For my portfolio sites, I use Sophisticatedfolio, and for my online affiliate projects I use Gazette Edition. It's the best out-of-the-box theme I've seen as far as ease of use, monetization options, where the ads are laid out on the page, stability, plug-in compatibility, and a host of other reasons still, and I've customized mine even further.

    If I had to go with a free theme, I'd go with Twenty Ten. It's simple enough that code can be added to it easily, and it would still be very stable and reliable.
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