WordPress – How to Find the Best Free Themes
On Monday I asked the readers what they would like me to write about. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a response. Either I have no readers, my readers want me to stop writing, or they, like Vered, are happy with the topics I have selected. Ellen asked me a question about image padding and olu_guy on Twitter asked me to write about how to find Wordpress themes and customize them. I’ll accept olu_guy’s request even though he didn’t ask me in the comments :-)
I plan on discussing image padding and other properties next week. Today, I am going to tackle part of olu_guy’s question; How to Find WordPress Themes. His entire question is an enormous topic so I am going to have to break the theme issue into different articles.
So, how do you find WordPress themes? Well, it depends. Do you want a free theme, a premium theme, or a custom built theme? Today, I am going to primarily discuss free themes.
My first recommendation is to subscribe to the following three RSS feeds.
The Weblog Tools Collection is a comprehensive resource of all the new WordPress themes and plugins. Most of the themes covered are free. I go through this feed weekly to see what new goodies have been created and bookmark and sometimes download my favorites.
Smashing Magazine provides resources for Web Designers and Developers and so more than WordPress Themes is covered. When they do cover themes, however, it is SO worth it. Some of the most beautiful and unique themes are featured. Smashing Magazine is also the home of 100 Excellent Free WordPress themes and 83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You Probably Haven’t Seen. You can spend hours going through all these themes. And when you follow the link to each theme, you will probably find even more themes on the designer’s page.
I have a huge collection of delicious bookmarks and have been bookmarking themes for years. I have not checked the links or weeded out the old links recently, but I have a list of almost 50 theme resources. You can subscribe to the RSS feed listed above or check out all of my bookmarks. I must admit, however, that I have not always tagged consistently. You can also subscribe to the feed for ALL of the WordPress themes bookmarked on delicious.
I hope this provides a start in discovering the best free WordPress themes. I bet you’ll lose hours marveling at some of the beautiful creations.
photo credit: Buou
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September 18, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Oo…I got one to add. How about New Wordpress Themes dot net. They’ve got a pretty good collection.
September 18, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Kim,
Ha! How weird! I’m writing a post right NOW on free themes! Well, the one I’m using anyway. A little contest I’m entering and I dropped by to grab a link. I tried to subscribe to your RSS the other day and it was too busy. Maybe I will have better luck today. Cheers! E
Ellen Wilson’s last blog post – Do You Know This Woman?
September 18, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Nice one Kim!
I am one of those who ramp the web looking for cool wordpress themes and also ones that I can customise to suit my needs. Interesting to see various themes designed with monetisation in mind e.g. those built soley for adsense purposes.
September 18, 2008 at 8:51 pm
@Susan – Thanks for sharing your link.
@Ellen – How funny that we both wrote about themes on the same day :-) Good luck with the contest. Apparently the first time you tried to subscribe to my feed was when hundreds of other people were. lol :-)
September 18, 2008 at 8:58 pm
@olu_guy Thanks! It’s just a start to answering your question. WordPress themes is a big topic.
When you say that the the design of themes for monetization is interesting do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing? Or just interesting? I understand that people want and need to make money but I get annoyed when themes are built solely for that purpose.
September 18, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Do NOT stop writing.
This blog is USEFUL.
September 18, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Vered – Thanks! I think so too. That’s just my own style of self deprecating humor. Hmm … maybe I should have added a smiley in the article.
September 19, 2008 at 2:37 am
Hi Kim,
I love looking at WordPress themes. When I first started blogging I was switching my theme pretty often. Then I decided I better start being more consistent when I started getting regular readers. I didn’t want them to think they had landed on the wrong blog.
I’m in the process of WANTING to switch my theme again, but haven’t found one that’s ideal. I know I can make changes, but have to study CSS a little more.
Thanks for all of the links. I’ll be back to check them out.
September 19, 2008 at 6:32 am
Hi Barbara,
Thanks so much for visiting! I love and hate themes – I love to look at them and try them but am never quite happy and keep fussing with the layout. Whenever I’ve started a new site I’ve spent WAY too much time selecting the theme. I am, however, really happy with the one I have now.
Have you taken a look at any of the magazine style themes like Thesis (not free) or Arthemia? You start out with a very clean and professional template and can customize to make it your very own. I’m going to write about premium and magazine themes next week.
I like the theme you are using now. I used it on my elephant site for awhile.
Thanks!
Kim
September 20, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I think Google would have answers to this query… Nevertheless good links and sources! Free themes are the way to go if you cannot afford to purchase a theme, they are way better than the default Wordpress themes provided which only go so far.
September 21, 2008 at 3:47 am
Great Post Kim. Normally i used to perform a Google Search or ask recommendations from frellow bloggers for this.
Madhur Kapoor’s last blog post – Super Sunday Links Episode 16
September 21, 2008 at 5:41 am
@moserw – True – we can always use google. Sometimes though it’s easier to start with a few links to the best themes and then use google if you haven’t located anything. Also, last week I wrote a post saying my readers could ask me anything they wanted and themes was one of the questions :-)
Thank you so much for visiting and leaving a comment – it’s always great to see a new face.
@Madhur – Google and recommendations are definitely a good way to find free themes. Thanks!