If you’re wondering why this blog changes its looks regularly, I have one confession to make. I have been experimenting with various WordPress themes on behalf of some clients and for emanila websites.
Every now and then, without significantly altering the image or brand that we have established for our websites over the years, I closely examine how we can change the design and layout of our websites to improve user interaction.
This has all been made possible since we migrated most of our sites to WordPress.
When looking for WordPress themes, our first port of call is the WordPress Themes section. It has a number of themes (more than 500 themes reported as of my last visit) posted by WordPress theme designers and developers. The themes are GPL governed, meaning free to use and customise but subject to GPL licensing where the links to the designers/developers sites should remain somewhere, mostly on the footer.
Given that the WordPress community of web designers and developers have their own preferences and capabilities, we should expect that WordPress Themes section populated with good themes and bad themes. Design elements? Layout? Javascripts-installed? Loading speed? Cross-browser compatibilities? These are some of the things I normally consider when choosing a WordPress theme.
Because most emanila websites are content-focused, I have a bias towards minimalist designs. For example, this theme which I am currently using for this site is a free theme from Revolution2. It is very minimalistic with almost no graphics. It is easily customisable.
The two other sources I also frequent are Revolution2 themes and iThemes. Most of their themes are the “premium” type (meaning, you have to pay a license fee to use their themes) but they have free themes as well.
TemplateMonster.com? Yes, it has one of the largest collections of themes and skins catering to almost all applications from WordPress to Joomla, from OSCommerce to Zen cart, etc. I visit TemplateMonster too but I prefer exploring the sites of specialist WordPress theme designers given our limited time.
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