Cool, beautiful Wordpress themes
HelloBlogger isn’t flashy; it’s a simple, clean, two-column WordPress theme with a splash of colour.
The theme is predominantly white and grey; it’s easy to read and has a very clean, traditional blog-style layout.
Plenty of white space and attractive typography make this one a winner.
Lightning is a simple but extremely stylish two-column WordPress theme which could easily be customised to create a unique and powerful blog site.
The theme’s unique, multi-coloured sidebar design gives it an impressive flourish which makes it stand out from the pack, alongside very clear and easy to read typography.
In addition, the sidebar is widget ready and the code is designed with SEO in mind.
Ashes is a lightweight magazine-style WordPress theme with an extra-large, tabbed main story box, dedicated ad space and a weblog style highlighting images for each post.
The grey-and-blue theme also includes Flickr integration, Gravatars and auto image resizing.
It’s worth a look for bloggers who want a little more zing than the average free WordPress theme.
The Ashes theme costs $US49 for a single licence, or for $US500 you can join the Wordpress Developers club and get a developer’s licence for all their current themes, as well 1 per month for the next 12 months.
Please note: The download link above is an affiliate link. If you purchase this theme using that link, you’ll be helping to support www.bestwpthemes.com.
Dark yet colourful, the Firebug WordPress theme has two widget-ready sidebars, space allocated for ads and social tagging options built into the posts.
It’s also Gravatar ready, works with WordPress’s built-in Gallery feature and offers Photoshop file for replacing the logo in the banner.
Firebug has a stylish, modern layout. The background can make the (small) text a little hard to read, so a flat colour without the texture may be a better option.
WP-Polaroid is a modern, funky design perfect for a personal website, with pink and blue versions.
It offers widgetized sidebars and valid XHTML/CSS code (if you care about that sort of thing).
It has three columns, with space allocated for ads, a top horizontal navigation and a central image inserted into a polaroid-type context, perfect for a shot of the site owner.
Demo (use the style switcher to select WP-Polaroid)
Download
Thematic is an open-source theme designed as a starting point for simple customisation, which also happens to look pretty darn good out of the box.
It features classy search engine optimization, multiple widget-ready areas (not just in sidebars and footer but between posts, above posts etc.), and a grid-based design.
Site owners can choose from three different layouts - two columns with the sidebar on the left or the right, or three columns with the main content in the centre.
The included stylesheets are aligned to a strict 18px vertical grid featuring refreshing and sophisticated typography.
To see what can be achieved by styling this theme, check out the designer’s site: ThemeShaper.
Charade is a professional-looking, Web 2.0 style weblog theme with a blue-and-white colour scheme, clear typography and a wide right-hand sidebar.
The theme also has built-in spaces for ads and features eye-catching icons for publicising your site and posts on social networking sites.
The sidebar is fully widget enabled, and features a quick configure Subscribe by Email option for Feedburner users.
TrueBlogger won’t appeal to everybody but for those attempting to become probloggers and earn an income from advertising, this might be an appealing commercial theme.
The theme has a blue and white colour theme, includes a news ticker, is widget-ready, XHTML compliant and has well-commented, easily edited CSS code.
It features four ad spaces in a very prominent location in the central column of the theme, above the main body content.
The TrueBlogger theme costs $US79.99 for a single licence or $US280 for a developer’s multiple site licence.
(Note: The download link above is an affiliate link. If you buy using that link, you’ll help support bestwpthemes.com.)
Andrea is blue, modern and funky. This is a Wordpress theme that stands out from the pack due to its great colour choices and lovely typography.
The theme also has a nice expanse of white space (or, perhaps, ‘blue space’).
It’s two columns, with the main content on the right. It also has a simple but effective top navigation bar and lovely styles for images.
The theme’s author says it was “inspired by an incredible woman”. Let’s hope it has done her justice.
WP Bats is a two-column theme largely inspired by the design of the New York Times’ blogs.
As you can imagine that gives it quite a newspapery look and feel. The main column is on the left, with a widget-compatible sidebar on the right.
Nice touches include a print style sheet, tags, horizontal navigation across the very top of the page and an archives template. The theme is also valid in terms of its XHTML and CSS coding.
TV Elements: Sharp and dark, this is a perfect video showcase.
