Alana Riley August 22nd, 2012

High Quality Responsive and Retina Display Ready WordPress Themes

Mobile web traffic is growing at a rapid rate. According to The Next Web, mobile web traffic has risen as much as 35% since July 2011. What will that mean for 2013 and 2014? We're sure you can guess. The web is propelling forward at warp speed, such that the weight sitting upon the shoulders of web designers and developers has never been greater. Mobile web consumers expect to view web content on the device of their choosing without straining their eyes -- and rightfully so. Whether you're an online store, real estate firm, antique shop, restaurant or university it's time to start thinking about how you can revamp your site to be as user-friendly as possible. We'll stress the word "revamp" as it's not about jamming your current content structure into a responsive design but rather thinking outside the box to determine how you can best serve information to consumers in a way that makes sense in a responsive environment. That may mean focus groups, market research and a lot of trial and error, but in the end it will be worth it. Also keep in mind that smartphones have become quite accessible to those with hearing and/or vision impairments, and guess what? They're your web consumers, too. Wouldn't it be nice to give them a site they could easily navigate without having to zoom-in over and over, possibly getting lost in the process? As if that wasn't enough to think about, there's one more thing to keep in mind -- the Retina display. Just as HD televisions became the norm over time, the Retina display is following in its footsteps. The better of an image we see on our desktops and laptops the better of an image we'll want to see on our smartphones. Ask yourself this: What happens when the current Retina display on an iOS device gets two times better? Five times better? Your slightly-blurred image will really be in rough shape then. So let's get to it! After viewing hundreds of responsive and Retina display ready WordPress themes on our MacBook Pro's, iPad's and iPhone's we've compiled a list of 50 for you to check out. The majority are business and portfolio themes with a few e-commerce mixed in, but with a little tweaking these could suit just about any industry or profession.

Responsive Retina Display Ready WordPress Themes

Appster ($40) | Business and Portfolio Theme by Prothemeus

Appster Info | Demo

Camp ($55) | eCommerce Theme by Prothemeus

Camp Info | Demo

Entity ($40) | Portfolio Theme by SwiftPSD

Entity Info | Demo

Fresco ($45) | Portfolio Theme by Contempo

Fresco Info | Demo

Kingdom ($40) | Portfolio Theme by SwiftPSD

Kingdom Info | Demo

Lattice ($45) | Portfolio Theme by Contempo

Lattice Info | Demo

OrganicWeb ($40) | Environmental Theme by Colibri Interactive

OrganicWeb Info | Demo

Outreach ($40) | Charity/Nonprofit Theme by Design Crumbs

Outreach Info | Demo

SneakPeek ($40) | Portfolio Theme by Add Two More

SneakPeek Info | Demo

Stacker ($30) | Portfolio Theme by xRicrdx

Stacker Info | Demo

Responsive WordPress Themes

Agenci ($40) | Creative Agency Theme by Purty Pixels

Agenci Info | Demo

AREA53 ($50) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by AREA53

AREA53 Info | Demo

Aware ($45) | Portfolio Theme by Andre Gagnon

Aware Info | Demo

Bruan ($40) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by Jonathan Atkinson

Bruan Info | Demo

CleanR ($35) | Creative Agency Theme by Zen Themes

CleanR Info | Demo

Contrast ($40) | Creative Agency Theme by First Base Design

Contrast Info | Demo

Cotton Candy ($40)| Portfolio Theme by Pixelous

Cotton-Candy Info | Demo

Cubano ($40) | Portfolio Theme by MushinDesign

Cubano Info | Demo

Desat ($40) | Portfolio Theme by Themnific

Desat Info | Demo

Float ($35) | Blog Theme by myTheme

Float Info | Demo

Fluid ($59) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by Theme Fit

Fluid Info | Demo

Gigawatt eCommerce ($55) | eCommerce Theme by Obox Themes

Gigawatt eCommerce Info | Demo

Hero ($49) | Portfolio Theme by Theme Trust

Hero Info | Demo

Jigsaw ($45) | Creative Agency Theme by Adaptive Themes

Jigsaw Info | Demo

Magic Space ($40) | Business Theme by HawkTheme

Magic Space Info | Demo

Kinetico ($55) | eCommerce Theme by XThemes

Kinetico Info | Demo

Knead ($35) | Portfolio Theme by Obox Themes

Knead Info | Demo

KnowHow ($45) | Knowledge Base/Wiki Theme by Chris Mooney

KnowHow Info | Demo

Mindful ($49) | Creative Agency Theme by Theme Trust

Mindful Info | Demo

Plug ($40)| Creative Agency/Business Theme by jdsans

Plug Info | Demo

Radius | Creative Agency Theme by Okay Themes

Radius Info | Demo

Reach ($40) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by EugeneO

Reach Info | Demo

Reason ($45) | Portfolio Theme by MDNW

Reason Info | Demo

Responser ($45) | Portfolio Theme by 70kilo

Responser Info | Demo

Reveal ($49) | Portfolio Theme by Theme Trust

Reveal Info | Demo

Rime ($50)| Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by imaginem

Rime Info | Demo

Ruskin ($40) | Creative Agency Theme by United Themes

Ruskin Info | Demo

Shelflife ($70) | eCommerce Theme by Woo Themes

Shelflife Info | Demo

Shiny ($45) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by MC Studios

Shiny Info | Demo

Simflex ($40) | Blog/Portfolio Theme by Pablo Fierro

Simflex Info | Demo

Size Mttrs ($40) | Portfolio Theme by HappyCom

SizeMttrs Info | Demo

Slick ($45) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by Mattia Viviani

Slick Info | Demo

SmartStart ($45) | Creative Agency Theme by Samuli Saarinen

SmartStart Info | Demo

Spacing ($45) | Creative Agency/Portfolio Theme by Tauris

Spacing Info | Demo

Stilo ($40) | Portfolio Theme by Purty Pixels

Stilo Info | Demo

Submarine ($45) | Portfolio Theme by Pressly Themes

Submarine Info | Demo

Travel ($40) | Fullscreen Travel Theme by UIUXUX Studio

Travel Info | Demo

Uber ($49) | Creative Agency Theme by Theme Trust

Uber Info | Demo

Viewport ($50) | Blog Theme by ThemeZilla

Viewport Info | Demo

William ($40)| Portfolio Theme by nistic

William Info | Demo

Wrapping Up

Change is never easy. We're with you on that. But this is one change you should consider making for your website and the sites of your clients. Granted, there will be some exceptions -- if you're working in IT with complex networking software maybe you don't need a responsive site -- but the rest of us likely fall within the consumer web market and would be more than fine on a responsive platform. It will mean rethinking your content strategy, including marketing and adspace, but as the saying goes -- "content is king" -- and it should be your top priority to focus on delivering it well to as wide an audience as you can.

Helpful Resources

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Alana Riley

Alana Riley is the Associate Director of Web Design, Content & Social Media at Providence College and a freelance designer. When she's not tweeting about design-oriented things or snapping shots for Instagram she's researching + testing Responsive WordPress themes that display multimedia in beautiful ways. Connect with Alana: Dribbble | Portfolio | Store | Zerply

11 comments

  1. I would recommend mashable to come up with some cool concept redesign and make it addictive on mobile devices.
    How about pop up relevant article?
    Pop up like, share, save, email!
    Your facebook friends also read

    an idea can change your life!

    Reply

  2. I must say, I am very impressed with these themes. Ha, I remember back when WordPress first came out, the themes were horrible.

    Reply

  3. Great web design creates great themes. And I agree with the article, we are hurdling towards the mobile movement, time to get prepared.

    Reply

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