One could argue that every year the WordPress platform gets better and better, and 2011 was no different with the release of three major updates: WordPress 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. We have seen the addition of post formats, advanced taxonomy and custom fields queries, an improved import and export system, the introduction of an admin bar, distraction-free writing mode, revised dashboard interface, drag and drop uploader and much more.

As always, it’s theme developers who are taking advantage of these new features and pushing WordPress to do things that no one expected it to do. Today we would like to share with you 25 more of our favourite WordPress themes from the last 12 months. Included in the list are themes for personal blogs, photography websites, businesses and communities. There have been so many great designs released this year that this list could have extended to over 200, so please don’t be offended if your favourite design didn’t make the final 25 :)

2011′s Top 25 Themes

1. Daily Post
FREE

A simple yet beautiful free design from WPLook that was created for personal blogs. It was designed using HTML5 and CSS3 and due to its responsive design it looks great on portable devices such as phones and tablets too.

Post formats are supported and through the theme options area you can define your social media profile URLs and modify some basic SEO options.

Info & Download | Demo

2. Pink Touch 2
FREE

Designed by WordPress developers Automattic, Pink Touch 2 is a great looking single column blog design with beautiful typography, unique designs for post formats and custom header and background. Although the blog doesn’t have a sidebar, there are three widget areas in the footer. This simplicity is what sets the design apart from many alternatives.

Info & Download | Demo

3. PhotoClick
FREE | $4.99 For Premium Version

A feature rich design that was created for photography websites and personal blogs. It has great typography, shortcodes for styling content and its one column design is perfect for displaying large images.

The theme is free to download however for only $4.99 you can get an additional colour scheme (grey), custom widgets, banner integration, more theme options and the original layered Photoshop PSD file.

Info & Download | Demo

4. ProReviewTheme
Single License: $37, Multisite License: $67, Developer License: $127

An advanced WordPress theme that allows you to create an Amazon or Clickbank affiliate review site in seconds. All products can be rated using the popular 5 star rating system and the theme helps push traffic to affiliate sites by prominently displaying links to the product website.

It has been optimised for use on mobile devices such as tablets and through the theme settings area you can change basic style settings and modify the header. Arguably the best affiliate design for WordPress released in 2011.

Info & Download | Demo

5. FaultPress
Regular License: $100

Working in a similar way to their help desk theme SupportPress, WooThemes FaultPress design turns WordPress into a fully functional bug tracking system. It allows you and your team to monitor the progress of your project through milestones. Tickets can be raised by users to allow you to track what needs to be addressed.

It also features a great messaging system to allow users and developers to communicate with each other effectively and it has been optimised for use on mobile phones and tablets.

Info & Download | Demo

6. The Navigator
Regular License: $40

The perfect theme for a travel website. Utilising Google Maps, The Navigator shows a map of the world in full screen. Every trip (post) is noted on the map using a pin. Details of each location are displayed in a content box at the left hand side of the page whilst an image of the location is displayed in the background in full screen.

Info & Download | Demo

7. Delicioso
Regular License: $35

Perfect for restaurants, Delicioso displays a large image slider on the home page to showcase your dishes. It comes with 6 colour schemes and its own unique shortcodes to help style your content. There are also dedicated blog, gallery and menu templates.

Info & Download | Demo

8. PixelPower
Regular License: $35

A responsive WordPress theme that has a clean minimal styled design. With support for all post formats, PixelPower is one of the best options available for personal blogs. It also comes with 1, 2 and 4 column portfolio templates so should prove popular with photographers and designers too.

It is optimised for use on mobile devices and it includes dark and no-CSS child themes too.

Info & Download | Demo

9. Continuum
Regular License: $40

Boasting over 200 theme options, Continuum is one of the most feature rich designs released in 2011. It comes with 5 custom sliders, 11 custom widgets, 19 unique sidebars, 68 custom shortcodes, 6 colour schemes and 28 pre-selected backgrounds and 8 page templates.

It also has an in built ratings system that supports 5 review types: movies, music, video games, books and products.

Info & Download | Demo

10. Grido
Regular License: $39

A responsive Tumblr style theme from Themify that supports all WordPress post formats. The sidebar can be placed on the left or right or be removed altogether. You can also set 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns of posts to be displayed.

Coded using HTML5 and CSS3, it comes with a lightbox gallery, 9 post gradient colours and 7 colour schemes. It also has child theme support.

Info & Download | Demo

11. Rockwell
Regular License: $35

Packaged with one of the best looking theme options areas we have seen, Rockwell is a versatile design that is suitable for portfolios, business websites or blogs.

In total there are 43 category templates, 20 single page templates, 10 page templates, 30 shortcodes and 6 colour schemes. There are also 3 different home page sliders, 3 different styles of top navigation menus, a slider manager and much more.

Info & Download | Demo

12. Announcement
Standard License: $70, Developer License: $150

It’s becoming very common for couples and families to create websites to celebrate important events such as weddings, graduations or the arrival of a baby in the family. The Announcement theme was created specifically for events such as these.

Everything is displayed on one page. When a user clicks on a section in the top navigation menu the page scrolls to the appropriate area on the page. Visitors can also leave comments at the bottom of the page. It also includes a photograph slider and you can choose between 1 and 3 columns for your content. There are several preset layouts for evens such as births, graduations and website launches. A baby statistics grid is also included.

Info & Download | Demo

13. Sofa Shoppr
Regular License: $40

A cool eCommerce design that works with PayPal, 2CheckOut and Authorize.net. Orders and stock inventory can be tracked in the back end and featured products can be rotated at the top of the home page. There are 8 built-in widgets and 3 different layouts for the home page.

Info & Download | Demo

14. Studio8
Regular License: $35

A minimalist photography design that comes in white and black colour schemes. Images are displayed in the background in full screen and it is optimised for use on tablets. Videos are also supported though what many photographers will love is the ability to upload hundreds of photos at once using the themes built-in gallery management system.

Info & Download | Demo

15. Stereotype
Regular License: $32

A clean looking one page portfolio design that was created using HTML5 and CSS3. It comes with 4 colour schemes and is optimised for use on mobile phones and tablet devices. Featured images, videos and galleries are all supported and the contact area has Google maps integration.

Info & Download | Demo

16. Daily Deal
Standard License: $89.95, Developer License: $179

Given the success of daily deal websites such as Groupon and Living Social, it isn’t surprising that a lot of imitation scripts and templates have been released. Daily Deal is one of the best available. The design turns your WordPress website into a full functional daily deal service.

Each deal shows the length of time left before the deal expires, the savings you can make and the number of items sold. Several payment gateways are supported to allow sellers to upload their deals directly with no fuss, and there is a newsletter form built into the home page design that supports MailChimp and Feedburner.

Info & Download | Demo

17. Morning
Regular License: $69

A visually impressive magazine theme that comes with blue, dark and light colour schemes. Posts and pages can be shown in full width or have a sidebar placed on the left or right hand side of the page. It has fantastic video support and images are automatically resized so that they fit into the design correctly. One of the best looking magazine designs released this year.

Info & Download | Demo

18. Handmade
Regular License: $30 ($50 on Obox website)

A warm theme that was designed with arts and crafts, cooking and clothing websites in mind. It has a great looking home page that displays large featured images of your latest blog posts. The included gallery makes it a good choice for anyone who wants a welcoming blog design.

Info & Download | Demo

19. Lucky Times
Regular License: $30

A responsive design for blogs, portfolios and online magazines. The developer allows you to download the Photoshop PSD file for free before you buy to see if the template is suitable for your project.

It sports a unique columned menu design at the top of the page and bizarrely no home page template. Instead, users of the theme can build a homepage design using short codes. The theme has great typgography with Google Fonts support and it a great options panel that lets you customise the header, footer, colour scheme and blog and portfolio templates.

Info & Download | Demo

20. Me Gusta
Regular License: $35

The self proclaimed ‘user driven content sharing system’ uses a Facebook-like system that allows visitors to vote for the posts that they like. Posts that get a lot of votes are deemed ‘Hot’ and can be listed in your sidebar or your home page (instead of new posts). You can also make posts ‘Not Safe For Work’ for adult related content.

Me Gusta has great Facebook integration too. Users can register and login using their Facebook account and you can replace the default WordPress commenting system with Facebook comments directly from the options area. With good support for post formats, Me Gusta is great for a content sharing website or a personal blog.

Info & Download | Demo

21. Huddle
Regular License: $50

A community design for users of the popular BuddyPress and bbPress plugins. It features 6 custom page templates, 9 custom widgets and a blog template that supports featured images.

Even though BuddyPress and bbPress had major updates during 2011, support for the plugins has been lukewarm at best from developers. Huddle is certainly one of the best options available if you want to create a community website using WordPress.

Info & Download | Demo

22. SocialLike
Regular License: $30

Another Tumblr style blog design that has support for all post formats. It could also be used as a portfolio as it has 4 great looking gallery templates.

It includes 22 background images, unlimited colour options for text using a colour picker, 25 fonts for headings and 9 for body text and an unlimited number of colour options for your post icons. Content can be styled using over 40 included shortcodes and you can publish any type of post directly from your iPhone using the Express App.

Info & Download | Demo

23. DK For Photography
Regular License: $35

Another versatile photography theme that supports a full screen rotating image gallery in the background. There are 4 home page layouts to choose from, 10 page templates, 6 gallery templates, 7 custom widgets, lots of shortcodes and support for password protecting your galleries.

Whilst some photography designs consider the blog template unimportant, DK For Photography has a beautiful blog design that integrates Facebook and Twitter voting buttons into the post area perfectly.

Info & Download | Demo

24. Humble
Regular License: $35

A powerful WordPress theme that can be used for just about anything. The first thing that you will notice about the theme is the unique polaroid style slider on the home page. It’s a great change from standard featured post sliders.

The homepage can be styled using shortcodes which allows you to create a near unlimited number of layouts. Additionally the theme includes support for 19 fonts, 5 custom widgets, over 80 shortcodes and 4 portfolio layout designs. You can also change CSS settings directly via the options area without having to touch the style.css stylesheet file itself.

Info & Download | Demo

25. Lightning
Regular License: $35

A beautiful business and portfolio WordPress theme that allows you to create an unlimited number of layouts using a visual drag and drop interface (this costs $25 if you buy it separately as a WordPress plugin). This allows you to create portfolio pages, columns, sliders, tabs, galleries and much more.

Info & Download | Demo

We hope you enjoyed this list of further theme faves from the year we just left. As always, we would love to hear what your favourite WordPress theme from 2011 was. Feel free to let us know about it in the comments, or leave your opinions on some of the featured themes that you may have used yourself.

(rb)

  

There are probably a good amount of Noupe readers who would think little to nothing of paying money for a high quality WordPress theme if it was exactly what they were looking for. When compared to spending thousands of dollars on a unique design, a $40 investment in a premium theme for your website design is relatively painless. The number of premium WordPress theme stores and marketplaces has increased considerably over the last two years. Thankfully, many developers are still releasing quality designs for free.

Today we will be showing you 50 great WordPress themes that were released in 2011 for free. A few of the themes listed are the free version of a premium theme. Upgrading to the premium version usually gives you priority support and/or more features.

We hope you enjoy the list :)

1. News

A clean design from DevPress that could be used for a blog, news or magazine website. The home page has a beautiful featured slider for showcasing your important articles or videos.

Info & Download | Demo

2. Swatch

A free business and portfolio design that was developed to celebrate the release of the 100th theme from WooThemes. Features a custom homepage, featured slider, custom widgets, custom typography and multiple colour schemes.

Info & Download | Demo

3. Wootique

A free ecommerce design that was released in conjunction with the launch of the WooCommerce WordPress Plugin (which is a modified version of Jigoshop, the free ecommerce plugin we reviewed in Extending the Functionality of WordPress). With a featured slider, custom home page and custom widgets; Wootique is a great example of what can be achieved with Wootique.

Info & Download | Demo

4. Fungus

A Colourful blogging design that has social media links integrated in the sidebar and support for post image thumbnails.

Info & Download | Demo

5. WordPress Anniversary Theme

Released at the beginning of 2011 by Matt Mullenweg and ‘The WordPress Crew’, the anniversary theme has a traditional blog structure with a prominent header image.

Info & Download | Demo

6. BlueBubble

A simply minimal design that would be suitable for a blog or a portfolio. Includes an advanced option panel, 8 different colour schemes and social media integration.

Info & Download | Demo

7. Fotofolio Landscape

Designed for artists and photographers, Fotofolio Landscape automatically resizes uploaded images to fit the surrounding area and includes a useful slideshow option.

Info & Download | Demo

8. Big Square

A clean minimal design that is suitable for photo blogs. Perfect for travel blogs, personal blogs, portfolios and photography websites.

Info & Download | Demo

9. Balita

A brand new eCommerce designed for Smashing Magazine that was created to help sell children’s toys and related products. It was designed using HTML5 and CSS3 and features a beautiful home page slider, custom shopping cart and Facebook integration.

Info & Download | Demo

10. Parallax

A simplistic portfolio design that features a large homepage slider and a useful portfolio template page.

Info & Download | Demo

11. AutoFocus 2.0 Lite

Designed for photographers, AutoFocus lite is a simple HTML5 powered design that has a grid design and clean typography.

Info & Download | Demo

12. WordPress Diary Theme

A retro style design that was designed in HTML5 and CSS3. It uses Google web fonts, has built-in pagination and an AJAX powered contact form. Uploaded photos are displayed beautifully using lightbox.

Info & Download | Demo

13. Splendio

Based on the Twenty Ten theme, this is a feature rich colourful blogging theme from Smashing Magazine. One of the few free designs that also comes with the original layered photoshop psd files.

Info & Download | Demo

14. Gynix Tema

A business design which places featured articles on the home page. The theme could easily be used for a blog as well.

Info & Download | Demo

15. Triton Lite

Triton Lite is a self-proclaimed ‘All In One’ design that features a beautiful home page slider, shortcodes for styling content and 3 built in widget areas.

Info & Download | Demo

16. Shuttershot

A portfolio design with a difference, Shuttershot shows photos in full screen in the background of the design. Even when a visitor views a blog page or page the background continues to change. A unique idea that has thankully been implemented well.

Info & Download | Demo

17. Bonpress

A colourful blogging theme that supports custom widgets. It includes custom widgets for social media services and comes in 4 colour schemes (blue, black, pink, orange).

Info & Download | Demo

18. MyPhoto

The first photography theme from WP Explorer is a minimal effort that uses Javascript to highlight photos when a user hovers over them. It’s clean and fast loading, making it a good choice for a photo website.

Info & Download | Demo

19. Shadows

A minimal blogging design that was created for WordPress 3.0+. It supports post thumbnails and includes built in pagination and an author information box on blog pages.

Info & Download | Demo

20. MyCorp

A business theme that features a home page slider, custom post types and custom fonts.

Info & Download | Demo

21. GazpoMag

Featuring post image thumbnail support, social media integration and a beautiful home page slider. GazpoMag is a great option for an online magazine.

Info & Download | Demo

21. Lefty

A fun blogging design that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The home page has a featured post image slider and you can use custom fonts using Google fonts.

Info & Download | Demo

22. theSevenFive

A social media theme that is powered entirely by custom widgets. Through the options page you can style the colour of the background, fonts, links and borders.

Info & Download | Demo

23. Side Blog

A great looking blogging theme that uses post image thumbnails in the index and in the recent posts section on the sidebar.

Info & Download | Demo

24. PolarMedia

A multimedia friendly design that would be suitable for a blog, news website or online magazine.

Info & Download | Demo

25. Blissful Blog

A simple yet elegant WordPress theme that was created specifically for wedding related websites.

Info & Download | Demo

26. Melville

Inspired by classic literature, Melville is a clean minimal theme that has beautiful typography.

Info & Download | Demo

27. PhotoClick

One of the few one-column themes that was released in 2011. It comes in two colour schemes and includes short codes and custom widgets.

Info & Download | Demo

28. Minimatica

A fantastic looking minimal theme that has a beautiful image slider on the home page. This feature rich theme is perfect for blogs, portfolios or video websites.

Info & Download | Demo

29. Min

This is an extremely simple, clean and to the point theme. It has two widgetized footer areas to handle navigation or anything else you feel like sticking in there.

Info & Download | Demo

30. Ari

A beautiful 3 column blogging theme that comes in a light and dark version. It uses Google fonts and has great social media integration.

Info & Download | Demo

31. Grid

A fantastic fast loading minimal design that uses a 4 column grid layout to display posts. Perfect for a portfolio or blog.

Info & Download | Demo

32. Amphion Lite

A blogging design that comes with 2 theme skins, 2 custom widgets, 2 short codes and 2 WordPress menus. Featured articles are displayed prominently on the home page in an image slider.

Info & Download | Demo

33. Grid Portfolio

A beautiful minimal theme that was designed for illustrators, photographers and graphic designers. There are several custom home page layouts to choose from with most displaying posts in a grid layout.

Info & Download | Demo

34. Scherzo

A simple, clean and minimal design which features a widget ready sidebar, custom header image and custom background.

Info & Download | Demo

35. Showcase

A portfolio design that could also be used for a corporate website or blog.

Info & Download | Demo

36. WP Creativix

A nice corporate design that also features a basic portfolio template (which has jQuery lightbox support).

Info & Download | Demo

37. Spectacular

Another fantastic design from Smashing Magazine, Spectacular includes short codes for styling content. An elegant theme that is perfect for blogs.

Info & Download | Demo

38. Steira

A boxy minimal blogging theme from the Automattic team.

Info & Download | Demo

39. Platform

Designed in HTML5, Platform is a drag and drop framework that makes creating your ideal site a breeze. One of the best free blogging themes released in 2011.

Info & Download | Demo

40. Retro Fitted

A fun retro style blogging theme that comes with several widget areas.

Info & Download | Demo

41. Ambrosia

An HTML blogging design that is optimised for viewing on mobile devices. It features 4 widget areas, two custom menus and an option to stick posts.

Info & Download | Demo

42. HTML5Press

Created using HTML5 and CSS3, the theme lets you choose from over 40 Google fonts. It includes a featured posts slider, post image support, post format support and 6 colour schemes (pink, blue, green, red, orange, and bluish purple).

Info & Download | Demo

43. Portfolio Press

Another theme that was designed using HTML5, Portfolio Press is a good option for a simple portfolio blog.

Info & Download | Demo

44. Liquorice

A beautiful vintage design that uses Google fonts.

Info & Download | Demo

45. Delicate

A clean minimal blogging design that was created using the NattyWP framework.

Info & Download | Demo

46. PressWork

An HTML5 WordPress Framework for designers, developers & publishers. The user friendly front page editor allows you to move things around and modify your website in a live environment.

Info & Download | Demo

47. Tungstenation

A good choice for a business or portfolio website. The home page features a beautiful jQuery slider. It also features post image thumbnails, social media integration, built in page navigation, custom font integration and much more.

Info & Download | Demo

48. SixHours

A great looking minimal blogging theme from Caroline Moore.

Info & Download | Demo

49. Busby

A clean blogging theme that was built using the UpThemes Theme Framework. It includes social media integration in the header and a featured post slider on the home page.

Info & Download | Demo

50. Blog-O-Folio

Last but not least is Blog-O-Folio, a great looking blog and portfolio design from Noupe. Features portfolio integration, built in advertisement options and an email subscription form.

Info & Download | Demo

Do you know of a great WordPress design that was released for free in 2011 that didn’t make the list? If so, we encourage you to share it with fellow readers in the comment area.

(rb)

  

Previously, on Noupe. We brought you a handful of ways to expand on the functionality of any WordPress based site using some inspired plugins and/or themes to elevate this CMS beyond its humble beginnings as a blogging platform. With ways to turn WP into a Discussion Forum, an Online Shop, and a Helpdesk. Today, that mission continues.

Excerpt from Part One

Theme designers and plugin developers have been pushing the boundaries of what WordPress can do for some time. This has accelerated since the introduction of Custom Post Types into the WordPress core as it allows developers to use WordPress in a lot of weird and wonderful ways.

Today we will begin showing you examples of themes and plugins that let you use WordPress in ways you may have never thought possible.

As we mentioned last week, in this installment we will show you how to extend the possibilities of your WP site to make it a Wiki, an Arcade, a Job Board, a Membership based site, a Review site, or just a Q&A site. Now let’s get at it.

Wiki

Due to the sheer amount of content they contain, Wikis are a good way of making money online (take Star Trek fan wiki Memory Alpha for example). They are also a useful addition to blogs and websites as it allows readers to contribute to the site. As you would expect from a CMS, WordPress handles Wikis easily.

Theme

WikiWP – FREE

In A Nutshell: A free WordPress theme that’s based on the Wikipedia design.

Pros

• SEO friendly.
• Clean design (though perhaps a little dated).

Cons

• Hasn’t been updated for years so new WordPress features aren’t built into this theme.

WordPress Wiki Theme – $30

In A Nutshell: A premium WordPress design that uses WordPress to create a wiki.

Pros

• 6 colour schemes to choose from.
• Features sliding sidebar menus and a dedicated FAQ page.

Cons

• Hasn’t been updated with WordPress 3.0 features such as featured images.

Plugins

Wiki – $39

In A Nutshell: A premium WordPress plugin that lets you convert any post or page into a Wiki.

Pros

• Entries can be edited directly on the page without having to access your admin area.
• Works with WordPress, WordPress MU and BuddyPress.
• Perfect for adding a Wiki to an existing website.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• eSimple Wiki – A basic free Wiki plugin for WordPress.
• Wiki Embed – Lets you embed wikis onto any WordPress page or post.
• WikiPress – An open source plugin that lets you collaborate with other users in your admin section via a Wiki.

Arcade

There are quite a few premium products that allow you to build an arcade website using WordPress. Most plugins come packaged with a theme and charge a little extra for the games to be included in the zip file.

MyArcadePlugin Lite – FREE | My Arcade Plugin – €29.95

In A Nutshell: A feature rich arcade WordPress plugin that lets you install a whopping 29,000 games.

Pros

• Games can be downloaded and posted automatically.
• Great looking design and can be customised with your own brand in minutes.
• Leaderboard support to encourage visitors to come back.

Cons

• Free version of the plugin is very limited.

WP Arcade – $33

In A Nutshell: A premium arcade theme store that comes packaged with a plugin that automatically grabs games from MochinMedia.

Pros

• All themes come with 5 colour schemes.
• Advertising and Google Analytics integration.
• Huge amount of customisation through the themes unique options page.
• Good price for an arcade solution.

Cons

• There are currently 10 themes available however they are all very similar.

WP Arcade Engine – $29

In A Nutshell: A premium arcade plugin for WordPress.

Pros

• The plugin can be set to publish new games every day automatically.
• Support for any type of game type.
• Includes a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee.

Cons

• The plugin retails for $29 however you don’t get any games for this price. You will need to pay an additional $29 to get a game pack.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• WP Mini Games – Allows you to easily embed flash games onto posts, pages and sidebars.
• ArcadePress – An fulley fledged open source arcade solution.
• WP Games Embed – Lets you embed flash games into your posts and pages using shortcodes.

Job Board

There are a lot of job related plugins available for WordPress though 3 stand out from the rest: the Job Board and Jobroller designs and the very useful Job Manager. I recommend Job Manager for those of you who want to add a job section into an existing WordPress website.

Themes

Job Board – $65

In A Nutshell: A premium theme that uses WordPress to power a job board.

Pros

• Complete control using a dedicated theme options page.
• Coupons feature to allow certain customers discounts.
• Automated payment collection via PayPal.
• Very easy to brand.

Jobroller – $99

In A Nutshell: Turn your WordPress website into a fully functional job board.

Pros

• Easy to use theme options area.
• Options for job seekers and employers. Job seekers can also upload their resume/CV for employers to see.
• Five different colour schemes.
• Social media integration.

Plugins

Job Manager – FREE

In A Nutshell: An open source job plugin that doesn’t scrimp on features

Pros

• Can create multiple job boards.
• Applicants can apply directly through the website.
• Good template system that allows you to customise the job area into your existing WordPress design.

Cons

• If you are looking for a dedicated job website, it may be better to use an all in one job solution such as the premium themes mentioned as you would need to use this plugin with an existing design.

WPCareers – FREE

In A Nutshell: A free plugin that lets you create a searchable resume (CV) database.

Pros

• Users can modify descriptions at a later date and upload their own photos/images.
• Can manage job seekers and employers.

Cons

• Limited features when compared to other options.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• CareerBuilder Jobs – Power your own job board through CareerBuilder.
• Job Listing – An open source plugin that lets you create a fully customisable job board on your website.

Membership

WordPress is the perfect platform for a membership website. The premium member plugins are better supported however free alternatives have a huge range of features too.

Members Only – FREE

In A Nutshell: Make your content viewable only by signed in members.

Pros

• Can specify what page the member is redirected to when they log in.
• Can protect RSS feeds for members too.

User Role Subscriptions – FREE

In A Nutshell: A user role subscription plugin that allows you to restrict content to paid subscribers.

Pros

• Can modify the email template for new subscribers.
• Automatically deletes expired subscribers.
• Can accept payments via PayPal.

Cons

• Quite limited. There are better alternatives available.

WP-Members – FREE

In A Nutshell: A membership system that restricts content to signed in users.

Pros

• Can block pages, posts, both or neither by default.
• Registration process can be changed to suit your needs.
• Private member area can be determined.
• Well documented.

Cons

• No support for paid membership.

Members – FREE

In A Nutshell: A user role and content management plugin.

Pros

• Capabilities of users can be modified.
• You can control what user groups can see specific content.
• RSS feeds can be restricted.

s2Member – FREE | s2Member Pro – $69

In A Nutshell: An feature rich membership plugin.

Pros

• Includes 4 membership levels: Free, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
• Works with multiple payment gateways.
• Can setup one off or recurring payments.
• Can restrict content and downloads to specified member levels.

Membership – FREE | Membership Premium – $39

In A Nutshell: Transforms WordPress into a fully functional membership site.

Pros

• Can offer free memberships that turn into paid memberships after a set number of days.
• Unlimited membership and subscription levels.
• Can restrict access to members only in lots of different areas including posts, pages, comments, categories, galleries and more.
• Well documented, well supported and updated regularly.

WP-Membership – $25

In A Nutshell: Sell your content with this premium membership plugin.

Pros

• Can setup unlimited membership levels.
• Payments can be made via PayPal and the dashboard shows sales for that month.

Cons

• Limited number of member options compared to other paid membership plugins.

CMS Members – $59.50

In A Nutshell: A solid membership plugin that boasts some great features.

Pros

• Create unlimited memberships.
• Built in mass mailer.
• Accepts PayPal and 2Checkout as payment from new members.
• Content within a post or page can be restricted to different member groups.

MagicMembers – $97

In A Nutshell: A premium membership plugin that has a huge amount of features.

Pros

• Works with a huge number of payment gateways.
• Integrates with popular auto responders.
• Premium content can be restricted on a ‘Pay Per Post’ basis.
• Categories can be protected and RSS feeds can be restricted to paying members too.

Wishlist Member – $97

In A Nutshell: One of the most popular premium membership plugins available today.

Pros

• Sequential content delivery for those who want to drip-feed content to members.
• Flexible membership options including free, trial or paid. Members can also migrate to other membership levels after a set period of time.
• Works with many shopping cart systems.
• Integrates with many popular WordPress plugins.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• DW Members Only – Redirects any unregistered members to the login page.
• Membership Database – Manage a member database for your club or association.

Review Website

The surge to make money through review websites has died down a little however there are still some good premium plugins out there for those of you who are looking to launch a review website.

My Review Plugin – $90

In A Nutshell: A flexible rating plugin that can add ratings to any WordPress post, page or product.

Pros

• Can use stars, letters or percentages to grade items.
• It’s easy to build horizontal and vertical comparison tables.
• Add ratings to any area of your site automatically with a one-click install.
• 45-day money back guarantee.

WF Review – $89

In A Nutshell: A review plugin that was created specifically for affiliate marketers.

Pros

• Import CSV feeds from affiliate networks such as Commission Junction and ShareASale to create thousands of products in seconds.
• Support for comparison tables.
• Amazon ratings stars are fully customisable via CSS.

WP Review Engine – $99.95

In A Nutshell: A premium rating plugin that can be customised easily.

Pros

• Rating comments and rating tables can be styled easily via the admin area.
• 13 star images, 23 buttons, and 6 comparison table image sets are included with the plugin.
• Add comparison tables to any post or page on your site.
• 30-day money back guarantee.

Q & A

The following themes and plugins allow you to create a question and answer website. This type of website has become very common due to the popularity of sites such as Yahoo Answers, Stack Overflow and Quora.

Themes

WP Answers – $89

In A Nutshell: Turn WordPress into a cash generating question and answer website.

Pros

• Pull content directly into your website from Yahoo Answers.
• Full Facebook and Twitter integration.
• Packaged theme comes in 6 custom colours.
• Intuitive points system that gives members points for answering questions.

Plugins

Q&A Lite – FREE | Q & A – $39

In A Nutshell: Add a questions and answers section to your existing WordPress website.

Pros

• WYSIWYG editors for both questions and answers.
• Integrated reputation points system.
• User profile pages for those who use the question and answer service.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• Question and Answer Forum – Easily add a question and answer area to your website.
• FAQ Builder – Create a FAQ area easily on your website.

Overview

Throughout the course of these two articles we have shown you how flexible the WordPress is and how it can be used for a variety of purposes. The products that have been listed in this article can be split into two categories: plugins that integrate with your existing WordPress powered website to add extra functionality to an area of your site and themes or plugins that use WordPress to completely change how WordPress is used (e.g. a discussion forum).

When you are using a product that uses WordPress to power the main areas of your website, you need to consider the stand alone scripts that are available. For example, The G Forums uses the WordPress platform to create a discussion forum. It achieves this through custom theme templates therefore it couldn’t be integrated into an existing WordPress website. The script retails for $29 and has very basic features therefore, in my opinion, you would be better off using a PHP bulletin board such as phpBB or Simple Machines instead. If however you wanted to integrate a forum into your existing website, a plugin such as bbPress may be better than phpBB or Simple Machines.

Another factor to consider is plugins. The official WordPress plugin directory has over 15,000 plugins. The number of add ons available for stand alone scripts is sometimes poor therefore if you need additional functionality on your website, a WordPress product is a good choice (e.g. one click installs of forums, sitemaps, member areas etc).

Also, if you know of any great free or premium WordPress products that extend the functionality of the platform, please share it with other readers in the comment area.

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For a platform that started its life as solely a platform for blogging, WordPress has come a long way over the last few years. It’s certainly earned the right to be known as the most popular Content Management System (CMS) on the net with speculation that between the self hosted script and its hosted service WordPress.com, it powers over 25% of the web (WordPress.com exceeded 50 million websites last week!).

Theme designers and plugin developers have been pushing the boundaries of what WordPress can do for some time. This has accelerated since the introduction of Custom Post Types into the WordPress core as it allows developers to use WordPress in a lot of weird and wonderful ways.

Today we will begin showing you examples of themes and plugins that let you use WordPress in ways you may have never thought possible. Most of the newer themes and plugins in this list use custom post types however some older scripts still use a custom solution.

One of the main benefits of using WordPress instead of a stand alone script is the versatility it offers you. You quite literally have thousands upon thousands of plugins and themes that you can use on your site. You shouldn’t underestimate how useful this is!

Many plugin developers use the freemium business model so if a lite version of the plugin you want to purchase exists, it makes sense to download that first and try it out.

In this first installment we will look at ways to expand your WP site into a Discussion Forum, an Online Shop, and a Helpdesk. So without further ado, let’s get the show on the road

Discussion Forum

Due to the popularity of WordPress, there are bridges available for most popular discussion forums such as IP Board, phpBB and vBulletin. These bridges allow you to merge the user database from WordPress and the forum software.

Sadly, most forum solutions for WordPress are quite basic. This is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion as there are lots of stand alone alternatives available with many features. They do however tend to have more features than is always necessary therefore if you are looking for a lighter solution you may want to try one of the solutions below. Here’s hoping that the conversion of Automattics forum bbPress from a stand alone script to a WordPress plugin will prove to be a success.

Themes

The G Forums – $29

In A Nutshell: A premium design that uses WordPress as a backend for a discussion forum.

Pros

• PSD of theme and icons included with purchase.
• Ability to add a slideshow on set areas of the forum.

Cons

• Basic design.
• Better free stand alone alternatives available therefore no real need for using WordPress instead of a more developed feature rich script.

Plugins

bbPress – FREE

In A Nutshell: Automattics forgotten bulletin board project.

Pros

• Allows you to add a WordPress forum to your existing WordPress site at the click of a button.
• Forum integrates directly into your existing design.

Cons

• Very slow development and the community is very quiet.
• Very little documentation.
• Very few plugins available at the moment.

Simple Press – FREE

In A Nutshell: A forum plugin that integrates with your WordPress website.

Pros

• Integrates with your existing WordPress installation.
• Updated regularly and well supported by its developers.
• Boasts many features that simple solutions such as bbPress lack.

Cons

• Forum design feels a little outdated.

Mingle Forum – FREE

In A Nutshell: Another open source forum solution that plugins directly into your existing WordPress design.

Pros

• Works with WordPress 3.0+.
• Integrates with your existing WordPress installation.
• SEO friendly URLs.
• Can create a corresponding forum post whenever a new post is added on your WordPress website.

Cons

• Default forum design looks very dated.
• Developer has indicated he no longer has time to update plugin.

WP Forum Server – FREE

In A Nutshell: A WordPress 3.0+ compatible discussion forum plugin.

Pros

• Integrates easily into your existing WordPress website.
• A basic forum though it should be more than sufficient for many users.

Cons

• Default forum design is very basic looking.
• An improved version of the plugin exists. Strangely, the purchase link does not work therefore there is no way to actually buy and no details of what the price is.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• Vanilla Forums – An light open source forum script that integrates well with WordPress.
• WP Forum – The original forum plugin that WP Forum Server was based on.

Online Shop

E-commerce is one of the areas where WordPress is leading the pack with many solutions matching or even bettering popular free alternatives. There are a few good plugins available however most developers tend to be integrating their shopping cart into a unique theme. With more than 50 premium e-commerce themes available and more being released every month, WordPress is a great choice for launching an online shop.

Themes

SimpleCart – FREE

In A Nutshell: A free e-commerce theme from developer Chris Wallace

Pros

• One of the few existing free e-commerce designs.

Cons

• A very basic design.
• Hasn’t been updated for years.

ShopperPress – $79

In A Nutshell: A premium e-commerce solution for WordPress.

Pros

• Product is open source therefore can be used on an unlimited number of websites.
• Package comes with over 20 online shop designs.
• Huge amount of features. Is Google Adsense and Analytics ready, works with over 20 payment gateways and has data import tools for Amazon, eBay and CSV files.

Cons

• Many designs have a similar feel and look.

eStore – $39

In A Nutshell: A beautiful e-commerce design from theme developers Elegant Themes.

Pros

• Comes with 5 unique colour schemes.
• Comes with it’s own unique options page to give you complete control over your site.
• Additional features such as shortcodes, thumbnail resizing and advertisement integration.

Cons

• Is not a complete e-commerce solution. You will have to find a suitable e-commerce WordPress plugin in order to use the design efficiently.

Store Front – $65

In A Nutshell: A complete e-commerce solution from theme developers Templatic.

Pros

• Store lets you sell physical products or digital products such as e-books, digital art etc.
• Includes 5 colour schemes.
• Multiple payment gateways.
• Built in affiliate module

Plugins

DukaPress – FREE

In A Nutshell: An open source e-commerce solution.

Pros

• Allows you to sell physical or digital products.
• Multiple payment gateways available.
• Integrates with your existing WordPress website.

Cons

• Lacks many advanced features.
• Default design is very basic.

eShop – FREE

In A Nutshell: A versatile open source e-commerce solution.

Pros

• Various methods for listing products.
• Multiple payment gateways.
• Includes stock and tax options.

Cons

• Default design is very basic so best used with a good e-commerce theme.

GetShopped – FREE

In A Nutshell: A feature rich free e-commerce solution that’s been downloaded over 750,000 times.

Pros

• Integrates with any WordPress design.
• Multiple payment gateways.
• Marketing tools built in that allow you email customers, blog and post about your products on Facebook.
• Well documented, regularly updated and active support community.

Cons

• Would have to customise your existing design or purchase a suitable e-commerce design in order to launch your shop.

WP Store Cart – FREE | WP Store Cart Pro – $29.99

In A Nutshell: A flexible, featured rich e-commerce solution for WordPress.

Pros

• Easy to setup due to a web based ‘Setup Wizard’.
• Size and colour of products can be set.
• Can be used to sell physical or digital products (or both).
• Coupon and discount system bult in.

Cons

• Limited number of payment gateways currently available.

JigoShop – FREE

In A Nutshell: Another great open source e-commerce solution that you should consider.

Pros

• Localisation options that allow you to set your currency, tax by location and modify shipping costs accordingly.
• Very easy to setup and use.

Cons

• Limite number of payment gateways compared to alternatives that are available.
• Integrates perfectly with the Jigotheme however that will set you back $79.

Cart66 Lite – Free | Cart66 – $89

In A Nutshell: A good premium e-commerce solution which has a limited version of the script available for free.

Pros

• Multiple payment gateways.
• Integrates with popular plugins and services such as Gravity Forms, ZenDesk, MailChimp and iDevaffiliate.
• A limited version of the plugin is available for free.

MarketPress – FREE | MarketPress Premium – $39

In A Nutshell: A flexible e-commerce solution that integrates with WordPress, WordPress MU and BuddyPress.

Pros

• Can be used to sell physical or digital products.
• Free version of the script boasts a lot of great features such as temporary sale prices, coupon codes, order management alerts and much more.
• Ability to link to external websites such as Amazon, ClickBank and E-Junkie in order to increase affiliate commissions/li>
• 3 CSS themes included with the premium version.

Cons

• In comparison to some other e-commerce plugins, the number of payment gateways available to you is quite limited.

WordPress eStore – $49.95

In A Nutshell: A premium e-commerce plugin that fails to justify its price.

Pros

• Easy to use.
• Will work with your existing WordPress design.
• Integrates well with a number of other WordPress plugins.

Cons

• There are free alternatives that have more features.

Shopp – $55

In A Nutshell: A feature rich premium e-commerce solution for WordPress.

Pros

• Supports the sale of physical and digital products.
• Automatically calculates shipping rates for numerous mailing services.
• Works with a huge amount of payment gateways.
• Regularly updated and quick response times for customers who need support.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• Ecwid Shopping Cart – A fully functional e-commerce solution that lets you add a shopping cart to your website in minutes.
• WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart – Lets you add an ‘Add to Cart’ button to any page or post.
• ArtPal – Integrates PayPal into your WordPress powered website.
• Google Checkout Shopping Cart Plugin – Easily add Google Checkout buy buttons to your website.
• TheCartPress – A flexible open source e-commerce solution.
• Zingiri Web Shop – A free e-commerce plugin that lets you sell digital or phyiscal products online.
• Quick Shop – A WordPress MU compatible e-commerce plugin that shows what the user has in their cart via a sidebar widget.
• FoxyShop – A plugin that lets you integrate the FoxyCart shopping cart into your website.

Helpdesk

There haven’t been too many A+ helpdesk products released for WordPress as yet though WooThemes recent release SupportPress is encouraging and is a great example of what can be achieved using custom post types.

Theme

SupportPress – $100

In A Nutshell: A premium design that uses WordPress to power a fully functional helpdesk.

Pros

• Has a fantastic knowledgebase feature built in. Customers are asked to check the knowledgebase before submitting a ticket and existing tickets can be converted into knowledgebase entries too.
• Email notifications can be customised.
• Optimised for use on mobile phones.
• Very easy to use.

Cons

• Those of you on a budget may find $100 expensive for this product when there are free stand alone alternatives such as SysAid and SpiceWorks.

WebHelpDeskHQ – $55

In A Nutshell: A premium WordPress helpdesk design.

Pros

• Support requests can be turned into knowledgebase entries.
• Support tickets are stored in a forum and can be set to be viewed publicly or just privately by staff.
• Includes a WordPress iPhone application.

Cons

• Not as advanced as some other helpdesk solutions.

Plugins

WordPress Advanced Ticket System – FREE | WordPress Advanced Ticket System Premium – €50

In A Nutshell: A free plugin that adds a complete ticket system to your existing WordPress website.

Pros

• Users can create tickets without having to sign up as a member.
• Each ticket can be assigned a category and priority.

Cons

• Basic looking design.
• Most features are only available in the premium version of the script.

Zendesk for WordPress - Plugin is FREE though ZenDesk prices start from $9 per month

In A Nutshell: A plugin that helps you integrate the feature rich ZenDesk helpdesk service into your WordPress website.

Pros

• Logins are synced between your website and ZenDesk i.e. no need for customers to sign in twice.
• Can turn blog comments directly into helpdesk tickets.
• Access tickets directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Cons

• Whilst the plugin is free, ZenDesk packages start from $9 per month. The service is worth the money however those on a budget may prefer a solution with no recurring costs.

You May Also Want To Consider…

• Support Tickets – A basic ticket support system for WordPress.
• IzzyHelp – An integration plugin for users of the IzzyHelp helpdesk service.

To Be Continued…

That wraps up this installment of ways to expand your WP based site. Be sure to check in next week as we deliver more ways you can use this powerful CMS to create a Wiki, an Arcade, a Job Board, a Membership based site, a Review site, or just a Q&A site.

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For a fair few numbers of years Drupal has had the reputation of being a difficult CMS to learn. Any web developer will tell you that. It is a fair reputation, but this does take a lot of the gloss and prestige away from what it deserves.

Whereas once you manage to get beyond the initial tricky learning curve, everything falls into place and is relatively straight forward, and what you are left with is one powerful beast of an engine that can handle anything you throw at it. You either really love Drupal or you should learn to love Drupal. Yes, I am a Drupal fan.

Drupal does hold its place well amongst the top three CMSes (WordPress, Joomla and Drupal), and does have its own specialized section within web development. And contrary to belief, it is a highly versatile CMS that can be used for almost any type of website whatever the size, just as you can with almost all other CMSes.
Of course, it is all down to the personal preferences and choices of the developer, and Drupal should be considered for all projects.

In this collection, we have not only collected the best free and premium Drupal themes, we also offer a useful selection of blank or starter themes, perfect for your first steps into Drupal development.

An Introduction to Drupal

If this is your first step into Drupal, perhaps you should take a look at the basics first. In this 9 part tutorial video series they offer a concise introduction into Drupal and all of its subsequent tutorials cover all aspects of its theme development, from first installation to controlling the visual design of an operating site.

9 Part Drupal Development Video Series:

1. Drupal 6 Introduction
2. Downloading and Installing
3. Initial Setup
4. Home Page Setup
5. Creating a Poll
6. Drupal 6 Blocks
7. User Setup and Profiles
8. Drupal 6 Themes
9. Relaunching Bitnami

Free Magazine and Newspaper Style Themes

Alphorn (Demo)

Blog Grail (Demo)

Analytic (Demo)

Conch (Demo)

960 Robots (Demo)

Free Corporate and Business Themes

Orange (Demo)

Summertime (Demo)

Acquia Prosper (Acquia Prosper Demo)

Chrono (Demo)

Corporate Website (Demo)

Acquia Slate

Zero Point (Demo)

D4rk (Demo)

Free Blog Themes for Drupal

Dessert (Demo)

BlogBuzz (Demo)

Browny (Demo)

Gateway (Demo)

Elements Theme (Demo)

Mulpo Theme (Demo)

id-Facta (Demo)

Alpha

Dingus

Fusion Theme (Demo)

Beach (Demo)

Arclite (Demo)

Mystique (Demo)

Pixel (Demo)

Internet Encyclopedia

Nitobe

Light (Demo)

Twittish

Free WordPress Ported Themes for Drupal

Magazeen

Arthemia

Colourise (Demo)

Color Paper (Demo)

Agregado

AD The Morning After (Demo)

Blank and Starter Drupal Themes for Developers

Zen
If you are using Drupal for the first time to build your own standards-compliant theme, you will find it much easier starting with Zen.

Out of the box, Zen is clean and simple with either a one, two, or three column layout of fixed or liquid width. In addition, the HTML source order has content placed before sidebars or the navbar for increased accessibility and SEO.
This theme is backed up by fantastic online documentation and tons of code comments for both the PHP (template.php) and HTML (page.tpl.php, node.tpl.php).

Beginning Blank Canvas
The Beginning theme is a W3C standards-compliant blank canvas theme for developers with support for one , two or even no sidebars and with up to ten editable regions.

Framework Blank Canvas
Framework is another user friendly blank canvas theme that is set to a 24 column grid of 950px, with support for one, two or three-column layouts.

Genesis Starter Theme
Genesis is first and foremost a base theme for building Drupal 6 sub-themes with very flexible layout options and very easy to install with its simple three step process.
This starter theme is very well documented and supported with a collection of video tutorials, which can be found here: Genesis Video Collection.

Blueprint starter Theme
Blueprint is a starter Drupal theme built upon, as its name states, the Blueprint CSS framework. As with all starter themes it has a very flexible layout, from 1 to 3 columns, based on where you configure your blocks to show (left, center, right).

Basic
Basic was originally a stripped down version of the ZEN theme (see above), it has now become its own concept of a theme starter and boasts a clean HTML structure with extensible CSS classes and ID's for unlimited theming possibilities as well as a top-down load order for improved SEO.
Basic's goal is to provide themers the building blocks needed to get their designs up and running quickly and simply.

Fusion
Fusion is a powerful base theme, with layout and style configuration options built in that you can control through Drupal's UI. It's based on a simplified 960px or fluid 16-column grid.
It includes a commented "starter" subtheme for easy CSS theming and also has plenty of helper classes for even easier Drupal theming.

Premium Drupal 6 Themes

Web Solutions
Web Solutions is a two or three column corporate site with numerous regions in the upper area of the page, so you can easily build custom landing pages with blocks to highlight certain projects, products, or features.

All Geared Up
All Geared Up is a very flexible theme, with a translucent drop down menu for your primary links and two different header styles that allow for a custom front page. The preface regions are collapsible, and the sidebar expands and alternates between two block styles. Postscript regions are designed to match the site and can be used in any combination.

Platino (Demo)
Its clean and bright style, accompanied by its flexible 25 editable regions, Platino is perfectly suited for any community themed site.

ZincOut (Demo )
The ZincOut theme has 28 regions, a built-in jQuery menu, built-in form tooltips and completely customizable via the themes settings.

Premium Business & Portfolio (Demo)
This professional business Drupal theme comes with a portfolio page, front page slider, and seamlessly features your content. This theme also features many Drupal customizations such as front page slider for portfolio/service items, user avatars in comments, featured front page footer blocks, and much more.

Kontroller Drupal Dark News (Demo)
Kontroller provides clean, usable styles and defaults, is easy to customize via the CSS file and provides easy administrative configuration of the front page.

ThemeNews Drupal News (Demo »)
The ThemeNews Drupal News Theme is a grid based news & magazine style theme that features a sidebar that is perfect for displaying 125×125 ads. The color scheme is completely customizable via the CSS file and the theme is easy to set up and comes with step by step instructions.

Magazine Plus (Demo)

The Magazine Plus premium theme for Drupal is a news and magazine theme with clean lines and precise image handling. This theme is a very flexible and unique magazine-style theme for blogs of any topic — celebrity, news, business, movies, music, travel, etc. It's great for colleges and universities and can be easily adapted to fit any online publication.

Black Portfolio (Demo)
Black Portfolio is a clean and simple folio template with jquery slider effects to show off works can be controlled by keyboard ( arrows, space bar enter ) too, this theme works for web designers, photographers etc…

Smart Interiors (Demo)
Smart Interiors is a simple and easy to use clean and simple elegant Drupal theme.

  

Many designers enjoy creating WordPress themes. And creating a theme isn’t that difficult if you have a basic grasp of CSS and can follow directions (WordPress’s Codex has extensive documentation). But that doesn’t mean that every designer out there who can create a theme has created a good theme. In fact, really poor themes abound.

But what exactly makes a WordPress theme great? How does one go about creating a quality theme? In fact, it’s not that difficult. You can do a few simple things while developing your theme—from the planning stage right through coding—to make it stand out from the legions of average (and below-average) themes out there.

1. Complies With Standards

Whether you plan to customize it, use it straight out of the box or build your own, getting a theme that’s standards-compliant is important. Standards-compliance ensures that your theme will appear as it’s supposed to across most modern browsers.

Standards-compliance also makes future maintenance and modification easier. If your code is written to Web standards, it also less likely to break when you modify it later on. It also makes for a better foundation on which to create new themes, based either in whole or in part on the existing one (and saving you a lot of time and effort).

Example: Intaglio Theme

The Intaglio theme is XHTML and CSS standards-compliant.
Demo | Download

2. Helpful Comments

When creating a theme, add comments to your code so that the people who use it can figure out how or why you did a particular thing. Quality comments need not be long but are often most helpful if you provide structural clues to your CSS and HTML. In many themes, we see comments in the CSS files that distinguish between styles for the header, footer, sidebars and content. You might also see commenting in the HTML files of some themes, especially if some of the coding is uncommon.

If you’re looking to customize a theme, make sure the code is commented well enough so that you can understand it. This will save you many headaches down the road, especially if you want to do extensive modifications.

Example: Thematic Theme

The Thematic theme framework is fully commented in both the CSS and HTML files, making it much easier to customize and modify.
Demo | Download

3. Optimized Graphics

Graphics in themes should be optimized for Web use. This includes using proper file types and compression levels as well as avoiding graphics where they’re unnecessary. Combining graphics where possible is also a good idea, because it reduces the number of HTTP requests for the page.

If you’re creating a theme, make sure to save all of your graphics at appropriate quality levels and in appropriate file formats. Educate yourself on what various file and image types are good for.

Example: Royalle

The Royalle theme has a number of images but keeps the file sizes small.
Demo | Download ($70 and up)

4. Minimal Required Plug-Ins

If a theme requires certain functionality, coding the functionality right into the theme rather than relying on plug-ins is usually best. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, if the theme is applied to an existing website, a required plug-in could conflict with another plug-in that’s already in use.

The second reason is that relying on third-party plug-ins will likely cause headaches down the road. If you decide to change the functionality of your plug-ins down the road, that could end up breaking your theme. Is that really something you want to deal with?

Rather than rely on plug-ins, code the required functionality directly into your theme. This will save you and your theme’s users trouble down the road and will likely make the theme easier to maintain.

Example: Atlantica

The Atlantica theme has a number of extended functions coded right into it.
Demo | Download ($32)

5. Easily Customizable

I’m not talking here making the code easily customizable. I’m talking about making customizations in the admin area of WordPress easy to do. Options for customizing things like the color scheme and header image are often looked upon favorably by people in the market for a theme.

In many cases, it’s not that difficult to make the header image or color scheme customizable (for example, by letting users change the post’s heading color or providing a variety of pre-set color schemes). While these options aren’t necessarily vital to a good theme, they’re a nice touch and can set a great theme apart from good ones. Just make sure your design still holds up when someone opts for a hideous shade of puce or an ugly header image.

Example: Blixed

The Blixed theme allows users to upload a custom header image in the WordPress admin area.
Demo | Download

6. Semantic Mark-Up

Semantic mark-up has a few positive effects on a WordPress theme. First, it makes it easier for those who didn’t design the theme to decipher the code. If elements in the design are named logically, figuring out which elements in the code correspond to which elements in the design becomes faster and easier.

Secondly, semantic code improves search engine optimization. Heading and other standard tags tell search engine spiders what parts of your pages are most important. Combined with good keyword usage, this could greatly influence your website’s ranking.

Yet another reason to use semantic code is that it makes websites more accessible to people who require special browsers (such as the visually impaired). These browsers have a hard time wading through code, but semantic code makes it easier and improves the experience of these visitors.

Example: Stakers

Starkers is a completely “naked” starter theme upon which other themes are built, but one whose mark-up is fully semantic.
Demo | Download

7. Well Supported

The best themes are well supported by their creators. When WordPress issues an update, they make sure that their themes still work properly, both aesthetically and functionally. If administrators find a security hole in the code, they fix it. Basically, they’re there to resolve any problems that may arise.

Premium (paid) themes are the most supported, though some designers also support their free themes, at least partly. If you pay more than $10 or $15 for a theme, you should expect at least basic continued support (but check the terms of use). Support may even include free help if you’re customizing a theme or having problems implementing it. Some theme creators have dedicated forums where you can get help, either from the designers themselves or from other users.

Example: Delegate

Delegate was created by WooThemes, which supports all of its themes via its support forum, and it provides free updates.
Demo | Download (starting at $70)

8. Purposeful

The best themes were made for a specific purpose. The purpose could be as simple as being for text-heavy websites, where readability is key, or for image-heavy websites—or it could even be more specific, such as for children’s writers, car enthusiasts or artists.

The reason that a purposeful theme is superior to a generic theme is that it does not try to be all things to all people. It excel where necessary and puts secondary functions on the back-burner. This usually results in a theme that does one or two things very well, and other things adequately.

Premium themes usually excel at this specialization. But plenty of free themes out there have clear purposes. Photo-blog themes, video-blog themes and themes for particular professions are most common.

Example: AutoFocus

The AutoFocus theme is very good for showcasing photos and places, with little emphasis on text.
Demo | Download

9. Uses As Few CSS And JavaScript Files As Possible

Sometimes there’s a valid reason why a theme would have more than one CSS file or JavaScript file. But usually these separate files only confuse the person looking to customize or tweak the theme. Nothing’s worse than having to look through four different CSS files just to find where to change the link colors or line height. And multiple JavaScript and CSS files add to your website’s loading time and increase the number of HTTP requests.

Unless you have a specific technical reason for using more than one style sheet or JavaScript file, condense your files into one. Many designers include multiple files because they reuse bits and pieces of code from one theme to the next. Take the extra five minutes to combine your files into one. It will save headaches down the road for anyone who customizes your theme (including yourself, if you come back to the code after months of not looking at it).

Example: Simplicity

Simplicity is available in light and dark versions and has a single style sheet for each.
Demo | Download

10. Well Structured

By well structured, I’m not just talking about the visual appearance of your theme. It’s also important to make sure that your theme’s files load in the proper order. Ideally, your header should load first, followed by your content, and then the sidebars and footer. This structure gives more weight to the content of your website in the eyes of search engine spiders, which generally results in better rankings.

Of course, front-end structure is important, too. Make sure your sidebar(s), header, footer and content areas are laid out well on the page and that none of the elements break if the length or type of content they contain changes substantially (for example, very short content or very long sidebars shouldn’t create issues with the placement of the footer).

Example: Cutline

The code for the Cutline theme is structured so that the main content loads immediately after the header.
Demo and download

11. Works Well In The Test Run

The Test Run area of WordPress.org’s theme directory can put a lot of strain on a theme. WordPress showcases free themes by basically throwing a variety of elements at them, including headers, images, lists (both ordered and unordered), long post titles and combinations of all of the above.

Make sure your theme looks as good in this test run area as it does in your own environment. Because many users find themes through WordPress.org, this is more important than many designers realize. Of course, depending on how varied your own sample content is, making your theme work properly in the directory could be easier said than done. Hint: make your sample content mimic the content on WordPress.org’s theme directory so that you don’t get any nasty surprises later.

Example: Pixel

Pixel performs very well in the test area of WordPress.org.
Demo | Download

12. Makes Good Use Of Existing Template Files

WordPress can use a variety of template files to display different types of content differently. These template files include home.php, index.php, single.php (for posts), custom templates (which must be assigned to the page in the admin area), page-slug.php, page-id.php, page.php, category-slug.php, category-id.php, category.php, archive.php, tag-slug.php, tag-id.php, tag.php, author.php, date.php, search.php, 404.php and attachment.php, among others. Some page templates are only available for WordPress 2.9 and later.

These page templates let you completely customize the way your template behaves. For example, you could have a custom “About” page template that’s entirely different than other pages. You could have a customized contact page or store page or any other kind of page you can imagine.

Setting up individual template pages is no more difficult than setting up your index.php file; it just takes a bit more time. But it’s well worth it if it sets your theme apart from competitors.

Example: Ashford

Ashford makes use of custom page templates as well as standard WordPress templates.
Demo | Download

Conclusion

Creating a quality WordPress theme isn’t that difficult, and there’s no reason why any theme designer out there couldn’t create a theme that follows the guidelines above. All it takes is a little extra planning and effort, but the results are well worth it.

Further Resources

• 11 Principles to Design a Great WordPress Theme
  A great post from Daily Blog Tips that lists guidelines for creating a WordPress theme.
• Theme Development General Guidelins
  Part of WordPress’ theming documentation, which covers a few best practices for creating themes.
• Designing Themes for Public Release
  Another guide from the WordPress Codex on designing themes for public distribution.
• W3C
  The World Wide Web Consortium’s website, which has information on Web standards and semantic mark-up.

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