Which WordPress Theme?
Ajith | Apr 2009 | Miscellaneous, Your Opinion
With DollarShower completing an year in the blogosphere, I thought, it is about time I gave a facelift to this blog. Somehow, I myself have got a little bit bored seeing the same blog theme over the past one year or so.
The following are the technical and aesthetic activities pending on this blog:
- Get a new professional theme – a free theme, if possible
- Get a professionally designed banner to complement the theme
- Upgrade to WordPress 2.7.1
- Adapt tools (ProdFinder, Scorecards etc) on this blog to the new skin
- A new avatar image
Which theme?
There are plenty of themes out there but as much as possible I would like to go for a free theme that can be further customized. I need your suggestions on some good themes. Of course, I have thought about those $200 themes but I do not want to spend that much for the time being. Also, I got suggestions such as woo themes, elegant themes etc but I need to know which particular theme among their offerings. I already have an Ultimate Blogging Theme with me, but I do not want to use it as so many other blogs in the niche already have it. Though, free themes are the first preference, I do not mind spending up to $50 if a good professional theme comes for that price with decent support.
As regular readers, I thought, you are the best ones who could decide what goes well with a blog like mine that deals with blogging tips, make money online, search engine optimization niche. So, please shoot your suggestions. Needless to say, the theme should support widgets and should be 125×125 ads friendly on the sidebar.
Banner for this blog
Once the theme is finalized, I need a banner to match that theme. It would be great if somebody is able to sponsor that as well. Those who sponsor the banner will get either a backlink from the footer or a 125×125 banner spot on this blog (one of them for three months). If somebody is able to customize the theme completely (including the banner), they will be given a permanent backlink from the footer of this blog.
WordPress upgrade?
One reason for changing the current theme is its compatibility issues with newer version of WordPress. Also some of my newer plugins were misbehaving with my current WordPress version. Although, I had seen a lot of comments on WP 2.7.1 upgrade issues, it would be great if you can point out a couple of key issues that I need to watch out for while upgrading.
These changes were planned as part of the blogging objectives for 2009. Even otherwise, I think every blog needs to get some facelifting once in a while in order to catch up with the trends.
Please come up with your suggestions on WordPress themes 
Though I cant comment too much on many blog themes I can just say I have been very happy with Atahualpa which is a free theme and allows a good deal of customization. It is 2.7.1 compatible (since I am using 2.7.1). Only point I would say is a lot of the popular older plugins are not yet 2.7.1 tested/compatible. Some research on your existing plugins is required to ensure they support 2.7.1. I can volunteer to test any plugins you are interested in on 2.7.1 if you need – just let me know.
Check this theme.
You can change the colour and tweak it more.
There is also Nometech template here.
Is your existing theme a free one? It has been quite sometime since I have been thinking of moving to a new theme. Your existing theme looks cool.
I feel thesis from DYI will be a good option.They promise good support and thesis can be easily customized.I hope this theme will support 125×125 ads as well.
The usability and sheer number of themes to fit any type of blog is probably the number one reason why I love Wordpress more than any other blogger platform out there.
You can assign your banner design job to me ; i would love to design a banner for your site. again if you wish to install “Thesis” theme then i can give it to you for free. I have it with me.
Most of the people are now switching to “thesis” theme, have u seen Matt Cutts blog. ?
He is also using Thesis now. You can tweak the thesis theme as u want, its very flexible and good theme.
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hey good theme…. thanks Kurt.
Try Thesis at $ 87 …then vouch for it and recover the money
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Even, i want to change the my theme. It is there from last one year. I am not sure about the good and cheap premium themes.
I will follow this and if you decide any good theme will checkout the price.
All the best for dressing your wonderful blog on new Theme!
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Everyone giving idea about Thesis theme !!
…
Chetan’s last blog post… Ubuntu 9.04 launched including for Notebooks.
Choosing the theme is quite a hectic task. I would suggest that you get a premium theme rather than a free one. The iFlexx theme is a great one (subscribe to their newsletter and get some discounts, I am told so, not sure).
The StudioPress themes could be another choice. The problem is that, they release their themes are opensource, so they are mostly over-used. Still, have a look at their gallery (in case you are purchasing it, drop me a mail, I will give you a discount code)
The Elegant Themes is something which caught my eyes recently (I had a review 2 weeks back). The cold stone and interphase would look good here.
I am surprized that you never upgraded to 2.7.1, you should do that asap.
Here are some free theme from SM: 83 Beautiful Themes
The problem with a standard theme is that, the better themes are always overused. In my case, there are many bloggers who have used my theme (and copied a lot from what I customized), so people get confused with the blogs. The brand is broken. I am trying to hire a designer to get a custom theme, If you can afford one, I would say, you do the same. Such a theme would make the blog ultra unique.
Good luck!
@Folks,
Thanks for all your suggestions. Most people seem to be of the opinion that a professional theme is better in terms of possibility to customize better, brand and also receive support.
First of all thanks to Shanker for offering the thesis theme & banner for free. This will definitely influence the decision on which theme to use
A few of you have been willing to test the upgrade as well. Thanks Sushil for offering to test the plugins for compatibility
Thanks Arun and Kurt for the other recommendations.
Let me know if you have other recommendations on reasonably priced themes. As Arun mentioned, I really do not want my blog to look like 100 other blogs
I saw some seriously improvised customizations (of course at a cost) over thesis and I am impressed. However, it’s a big job ahead. I hope nobody stops reading the blog while I am on upgrade… I have changed a lot on the theme as well as WP core files… Might need several days of manual work to put everything in place.
Any suggesions on things to be put on to the sidebar/pages etc? Anything to be taken out??
Ajith,
Have you not noted down all the manual hacks/changes done to the WP Core files or Plugin files?
Even i would like to change my theme, so i will keep in touch with you regularly as you are also thinking of changing the theme…
My Suggestion:
have two sidebars on the right in such a way that you can fit 125X125 3 ads. Like currently i have.
I like so many free premium themes but no them fits the above need and i go over manual editing of theme to increase the sidebar length.
Nice to know Ajith is now inclined to Thesis theme.I was the first to suggest Thesis, so we can see Dollarshower on Thesis soon.
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If it helps, here’s a post by Sire that HIGHLY recommends FlexSqueeze over Thesis…
http://wassupblog.com/thesis-theme-is-just-not-flexible-enough/
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@Nihar, not really… I guess, I need to redo a few things. But at least, I had written a couple of posts here on the changes and hence bigger changes are not difficult to reimplement. Thanks for your suggestions on the sidebar. Only problem there is that, I need to have two blocks of the OIO scripts then
@George, Of course man… You talked about Thesis first (While commenting, I searched for ‘thesis’ and replied
Since you had mentioned it as ‘DIY’, I just missed it…
@Dennis, let me give that one a try… At the end, it’s about flexibility and the after sale support. I heard, DYI provides good support and enhancements for every upgrade.
Thesis theme is great.. you can find some themes at wpthemedesigner.com too
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Arthemia has a free version
http://michaelhutagalung.com/2008/08/arthemia-20-released-the-updates/
and I’ve seem some sites using it that are so customized you can’t tell it’s Arthemia.
It intrigues me that so many people are recommending Thesis – basic features are very customizable but more advanced customizations are not as easy to accomplish – not without learning hooks at least. And there are some Thesis sites that are very customized but you can almost always tell that it’s Thesis.
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I still love your current theme. Is this personalized? I have some niche mini blogs that uses self hosted WP platform. I only use the new versions of free flexibility themes for them. Thesis theme looks good, but if you don’t want to spend anything right now for a theme, I suggest that you just use a free theme and tweak it to look personalized.
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@Simran, yep, I used to visit WPthemedesigner… Her themes are damn expensive and in the order of ~$300.
@Kim, Arthemia has always been one of my favorite themes
I liked its pleasant looks – on blogger as well. I shall take a look at how it can be tweaked. Thanks for reminding me of this.
@Frenchy, the current theme is modified by me after taking the DBT’s studiopress. However, in the modification process, I lost control of good whitespace, font combination etc
[...] My friend, Ajith is looking for a new Wordpress theme; if you have any suggestions for a theme that suits him, please have your say. [...]
There are a lot of good free themes available. Choosing one can be tough but i am sure you will find something suitable.
@Madhur, the abundance makes the selection process difficult. While I know that the perfect themes can be only custom made, I might get a free theme (or buy thesis) that can be tweaked
Hi dear this is really good theme i like your theme.
i want this theme so from where i can download this them.
please reply soon
@Mohan, I downloaded this theme from Daily Blog Tips. Check out the link below to download (I have customized it a lot myself)
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/studiopress-wordpress-theme-released/
But they have free themes too… follow this link to get free themes from wpthemedesigner.com
thanks ajith for your reply
ajith first iam using blogger but now iam shifted to wordpress and i started a new blog in wordpress but i did not know that how can i upload this them on it plese help me
agin many thanks
mohan
[...] | May 9, 2009 | Blogging Tips, Miscellaneous As I mentioned in a recent post, I am in search of a new WordPress theme for this blog. I already figured out that choosing the right theme, while theoretically very easy, [...]