Your Favorite WordPress Theme?

by 55 replies
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Lots of people are starting blogs now. It seems many people are not even bothering with html sites anymore.

What is your favorite WordPress theme to use?

What is the WordPress theme you would suggest for someone who was starting out and wanted to modify the theme some? Assume they might want to add ads for their own products, CB and adsense as well.

Thanks!
#main internet marketing discussion forum #favorite #theme #wordpress
  • Hello,
    I can't say I have a favorite theme, lots of themes are very nice.
    One that I use and I think it's clean and good for users is :
    Theme Preview

    Good luck
  • I prefer clean designs as well. No need making it hard for blog visitors to read or find their way around.
    Do you have a favorite way to backup your blog?
  • Are you looking for themes that look more like regular, old-fashioned websites? Or themes that look like typical blogs?
    • [1] reply
    • I don't expect the blog to look like a website. I expect it to look like a blog.

      I'm looking for a theme I can learn with, something not too hard, but not too simple. It's hard to explain, but I have some html/blog experience; not a beginner, but looking to improve. So the theme would need to be adjustable.
  • I love Wordpress, most themes by woo are awsome.
    • [1] reply
    • I've seen a number of Warriors use one of the Woo themes.
  • There are tons of themes, I always find nice ones on widgetreadythemes.com or just by looking at the premium themes. you can also choose what kind of theme you want too, such as magazine theme.

    Mary
  • I seen a lot of people swear by Thesis theme. I have looked at it and it looks good but I haven't tried it. Something that you might want to look at. Also there is affiliate theme which looks good, and I have heard some great things about Flex themes.

    Haven't tried any of them so take this with a grain of salt but I thought They look interesting.

    Jae
  • I just go with whatever I find nice when looking for some. It all depends on what you are trying to do.
  • I use a software package to create my own, depending on what the blog is about.
    • [2] replies
    • Which one?
      • [1] reply
    • I have seen alot of people going with the revolution themes.

      Alot of people like these themes because they are professional, clean, and crisp and they offer a huge amount of variety for whatever source you need.
      • [1] reply
  • i use NewsPro. But i like OneTheme better.
  • I love the theme I am currently using at my blog, Moola Days.

    I got the theme for free in Woothemes. The freebies there, I strongly recommend to all wordpress owners.
  • I use Inove, it's free, simple and clean and you can can whatever you want with it.
    • [1] reply
    • Well, I use Artisteer to create myself themes from scratch,
      I`ve found it to be really good...

      I`ve browsed through lots of themes but none of them suited my needs
      so I decided to put up my own themes and I`m pretty happy with them.

      -Lauri
  • I'm with Lauri, I create my own themes using Artisteer and I usually keep them fairly simple but I like Artisteer because its very easy to use and you can create any theme to suit what you want.
    • [1] reply
    • I'll have to look into Artisteer since I'm experienced with html, or does it require programming knowledge?
  • I agree: the Woo themes are clean, stylish and effective. I highly recommend them.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Got a theme from these guys ..... been looking for that special one for days. Thanks
  • I like the "Thesis" theme. I like the clean layout and the gray background. I think most WP themes have that distinct clean look, easy to navigate. One of my favorite blogs use Thesis, Punk Rock Human Resources. You may want to check it out.
  • Thesis is really nice, amazing capabilities. That's what I am using on jrgriggs.net (pretty new have not done much with it)

    I have also heard good things about affiliate themes for making affiliate landing pages.
    • [1] reply
    • I usually create my own theme and try to keep it very simple and clean. If I do use other themes I tend to customize them a little. I like Simply Valid light which is a minimalistic theme. On the flip side, I use Brian Gardner themes which I also change around a bit.

      Ken
  • As far as premium themes go, I've always like the original WP Remix theme (I'm not as familiar with the 2.0 version). I've used the old one many times with great success.

    My favorite free theme of all time is the Blix theme.
  • It varies from one niche to another and from someone's taste to another...
    For myself i prefer inove theme foe IM
  • I Swear by Thesis as well.
    I use it on my blog The Niche Store Journey.
    Take a look at my design/review if you like. (Click thru the above link)

    My concept was not to be super-duper crazy and artsy with the design. Just something readable, pleasant looking, and very user friendly.

    Check- Check- Check!
  • Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll take a look at them all.

    I'm going to choose one or two for more of a content type site and learn them inside out.

    I'm also thinking about a q&a blog where people can ask a question and I reply. Haven't quite figured out how to have someone ask a question without it showing until I review the questions to 'keep' unrelated junk off the blog. I know you can moderate comments, but haven't determined how to handle the q&a yet.

    Thanks again
  • I like Artisteer a lot for simple blogs. You don't have to have any programming knowledge, but it helps to know simple HTML. I use one of the Woothemes on my site at Get Niche Quick and it's really sleek. For client's sites and my web design site, I create customized WP themes.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
    • [2] replies
    • Since I installed it on my new site, I'm really liking the Magazine Basic theme. It's got a clean news-ish main page, which I modified slightly. This is the first free theme I've found that installs facility in your Dashboard to modify the page layout. You can set it for 0 to 2 sidebars, change the page width and set the number of article starts. The only weakness I've found with it is that since the sidebar is fully widgetized, you can't remove it just for special pages and still have one on other pages. Otherwise, it's a great theme.
    • That's what I'm looking for...
  • Visually I like Brian Gardner, Gorilla, and UBD's work. But on the back end there are several others. Really depends on the project. People usually pick the wrong theme because they are in a hurry to get something up and running. Then then end up with a poor site. Or they are not confident enough in their own marketing skills to invest a few dollars in their project so they settle for a cumbersome free theme just because it's free. But those people are not really marketing ... so it doesn't matter.

    Take the time to really investigate a theme demo to see if it will work for your project. If not then move on. You may spend half a day just on theme selection for a project, but it's time well spent.

    I've probably seen more than a 1,000 in just the past month. I finally found one that would do everything I wanted it to do for a small group of same niche related sites. I bought the multi site license and in less than a week had all the sites up and running.

    I could not have done this with any of the free themes I viewed because the ad management tools were not built in.
  • I guess I'll have to take a closer look at Artiseer.
  • I don't have ONE favorite theme. The choice of theme really depends on the nature of site. For example, in my site dpverdicts.com, I post reviews of digital products that make money online. So since the site is about reviewing, I thought it should look like a judge's wooden desk where he strikes the mallet and finally pens his verdict on paper. Luckily I found the WordPress theme blakmagik and with some customisation, here is my site:

  • StudioPress/Brian Gardner, ElegantThemes, Flexibility Theme, WPRemix, etc. There are really too many to list.

    Dennis
  • Very interesting, yes, wordpress is really popular, what is really amazing to me is how quickly google will spider a new word press install.

    As an experiment a while back I bought a domain name, installed wordpress and within ten min, I was listed in google

    Wow, thats fast,

    as far as themes are concerned I wonder myself what the best theme would be, because looks are not everything.

    The best theme might be rather plain looking, because what you want is visitors and good search engine listings.

    That would be the ideal theme as far as I am concerned.
    • [1] reply
    • I tried the same experiment you did Tim. The fast index is one of the reasons I use blogs.
  • I really like Pressrow. You have to fiddle with it a little after the install (but the download site has instructions) but it's a very classy theme.
    • [1] reply
    • My favorite so far is Flexibility, hands down. Straight forward and easy to modify, especially if you don't have experience modifying wp themes.

      Paul
  • i am a mimbo (by hoyt) fan. in my opinion it is the best free theme around because of the excellent support hoyt provides.
  • First Thing I would like to point out here. It does not matter what theme we like or use. Second thing is that you can still add your own product or offer with every single theme out there as well as adsense. What allows this is plugins. You can either make your own plugin to work with wordpress or you can use many of the plugins already in the wordpress database.

    I personally have one of the adsense plugins as well as one to run amazon ads on my blog as well. Then as an offer I used the aweber plugin which allows me to modify the offer they will recieve as well obtain there email so I can then later target them with a vast majority of offers out there now. Whether it be an affiliate offer or my own product. Any theme will work for this it does not matter what theme you choose. It is your blog you need to choose one that works with your theme. Our favorite theme means nothing to your blog since it is not tailored to your niche idea or blog.
  • I bought Thesis, but now I noticed a few other themes I like that are free. I may just make Thesis look like those sites.

    What drew me to thesis was it's powerful SEO and Customisability.

    ____Here is the link to Thesis

    However, I find almost ALL blogs to be just too blocky looking and too much info displayed at once. I would like to make sites simple or looks like static sites.
  • I like simple designs too. My favorites are Brian Gardner's (I use an older design for my site reliableplr.com if you want to check it out), Thesis, Woo Themes. They look very professional and clean.

    If you want to be easy on your pocket, there are some nice free WP themes. Just Google for free themes and you will get:

    100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

    Top Wordpress Themes - Best Free Themes for Wordpress
  • If you're just starting out and you want a nice, clean, and easy to customize theme, I suggest you go with the Thesis Theme or Flex Theme. With the Flex theme, you can move the objects around to suit your needs by clicking and dragging.

    Here's a few resources for free Wordpress Themes I've bookmarked recently:

    41 Great Looking Free WordPress Themes

    14 More Professional WordPress Themes

    30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

    Good luck finding a theme for your Wordpress blog.
  • Banned
    I always use themes from WordPress Themes
  • I've been playing with the Branford Magazine theme lately. Currently working it into a clients site. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves a little with this one but it's worth it.

    Rich Scherlitz
  • I did a whole site wide redesign after I found a WP theme: Dezzain Free WordPress Theme - Box Tube | Dezzain Studio for my main site. Compared to other Warriors, I did it backwards. Found the WP theme I liked and then redesigned my regular HTML portions of my site around it.

    I really like the simplicity of the Box Tube theme while it still holds a web 2.0 type look. Dezzain Studio - Personal Web Design, Blog Design And Custom Wordpress Themes Development has a lot more free good looking themes. I would search through their site and see what you come up with.


    Tracy
  • I'm still trying to find one that looks more like a regular website and less like a blog.
    • [1] reply
  • This question is for those of you using Artisteer.

    I've been demo'ing it and it sure makes the the design process quick and easy.

    However, I've heard that the code it produces isn't very clean.

    Can anyone speak to their experience from that aspect with this software?

    Thanks,

    Debbi
  • Thesis theme is known for its simplicity.

    G'day,
    Akky
  • I just finished my blog today, found a nice simple theme and edited to my liking, also added cool rss feed & twitter buttons... DannyKeegan.com

    Now just need to start writing!
  • I use the Super Magazine theme for my blog (in my sig)... its pretty cool, and easy to manipulate the sidebars in cares I want to add more (such as ads and optin boxes).

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