Best Wordpress Theme Structures

by 18 replies
22
HI Folks,

I'm an experienced WORDPRESS website designer and I'm considering buying into one of the Wordpress theme platforms. It's tough to decide which one to start with . . .

So far, I'm considering
WooThemes | Premium WordPress Themes
www.flexithemes,com
StudioPress - Premium WordPress Themes

They each offer great themes that can help meet my wide variety of local clients (from remodelers to artists). Up until now, I've been either using free themse and spending time to customize them or purchasing from themeforest and spending time customizing, too.

What would you suggest? Are there others I should be considering as well?

Thanks for your insight.

Theresa 8-)
#website design #structures #theme #wordpress
  • Hey Dialady,

    Since you're familiar with design, the following frameworks are very good and free:

    Thematic:
    http://themeshaper.com/thematic/

    Hybrid:
    Hybrid WordPress Theme Framework

    Carrington (Very good):
    Carrington - The CMS Theme Platform for WordPress

    Whiteboard:
    Whiteboard – A Free Wordpress Framework

    They don't have as many themes are WooThemes but they have solid frameworks.
  • There's 2 Premium WordPress Framework creators that stand head and shoulders above the rest.

    I've written an entire blog post on the top 7 Best WordPress themes/templates

    Once you own the framework you can fully customise it so your site is totally unique or

    Use a premium theme/skin on top of the premium framework which adds premium styling
  • I didn't know these things existed! Thanks for posting

    It'll come in handy just for my own site redesigns.
  • WooThemes is not that great. There are some stupid programming stuff in most of the themes.
    If you do your own themes check premium Genesis or free Hybrid.
    You develop using childthemes with those too.
  • wow great theme lady, seo friendly?
  • Thesis Theme is my bet! Its super SEO friendly. Plus its very flexible.
  • Hi Theresa

    These are my rules of thumb for theme selection

    Choose Genesis if one of their child themes is a close match to the site requirements and minor customization is necessary

    Choose Thesis if SEO is the main concern and low to medium customization is required

    Choose Hybrid if something highly bespoke is required
    • [1] reply
    • Thesis was great - maybe a year ago. It hasn't kept up. A better term is "antiquated." (Though it still is great for SEO). There is much better out now. Trying to decide myself right now, but these blow Thesis away. Completely SEO friendly and extremely flexible and user friendly. You'll be impressed. Take a look and try and decide yourself. Here they are:

      Headway Themes
      Catalyst
      Genesis (haven't actually investigated this one, but highly rated - but I think the others are still better)
      Themeframe (this one is actually different. It's not actually a theme, or even a framework. It's software for creating themes. Both this and Headway use VISUAL EDITORS - something you won't find anywhere else, period).
      • [2] replies
  • I've a had a blast developing child themes for the Genesis Framework, I really love how integrates SEO, customization and a great structure. Its very versatile.

    Although I'm researching a bit more on the blog by haymanpl. Really great info, and im actually starting to consider other frameworks.

    But overall I think Genesis offers a really good balance between SEO and customization with an amazing framework.
  • Thesis is the best premium wordpress framework in my opinion followed by Catalyst and Genesis

    Really depends on your experience level and how much customisation you need to add
  • I don't understand the infatuation of some with Thesis. It's nice but cut through all the hype it's not any better than any other well made premium theme. As Shelle Said, out-of-the-box it's a very expensive and generic theme.

    It's not the gold standard of WP SEO like some believe. Proper SEO coding really isn't that complicated. I get the impression that often people are only repeating what they have heard or want to believe to justify their purchase.
    • [1] reply
    • I would imagine the ongoing support and updates has something to do with it. A lot of times you can download a free theme and after a few updates of Wordpress the theme is broken.

      I would much rather put my trust in a theme that is heavily supported and I know I can rely on.
  • Thesis is a great framework, but there are very use-able alternatives. It's really about how extravagant you want your design to be, or how much functionality you need, and balancing the both.

    In the case of Thesis, I feel like they are lagging behind as far as design and theme choices.
  • Headway Wordpress theme all the way.............it rocks
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