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Wordpress Theme

How To Find The Appropriate WordPress Template For Your Blog

Using WordPress for your blog is a smart idea for a number of reasons. Not only is it free but it's also easy to use.

Installing WordPress to your server is easy as most hosting providers offer one click installation. Changing content is similar to using a word processor. Its so easy, kids use it all the time.

Changing the layout of a WordPress website is as easy as clicking a button and you can edit the look of your website to match your brand without ruining the content. You could stay with the normal blog theme or if you're interested, you can edit your own custom WordPress templates.

There are countless themes available and more are being developed all the time. WordPress dot com offers many free skins on the WordPress website and there are many more available all over the web. There are alot of these free themes available, and browsing through them for any length of time can be tiresome after a while. The free themes are nice enough but are usually very simple. You get what you pay for.

If you're serious about your site and you don't mind paying a few bucks, you may want to think about professional WordPress templates. The pro skins are about as easy to find as the free ones. they're all over the place.

The best place to start would be a market for themes. Finding a market that has WordPress website templates and themes should be easy as WordPress is the most widely used.

A respectable theme marketplace will show the newest items on the main page and you should notice the difference in quality immediately. Each will have a live demo so you can try it.

Buying a theme offers a lot more value than using a free theme. Not only are there more features than there are with the free themes, but the customer service is usually quite good. Not only is there a FAQ file, but the designer is sometimes available via instant messenger or through a forum to help if you have questions with the theme.

The numerous categories include corporate, entertainment, retail and more. You can even have mobile WordPress themes. Take a quick look into the Popular category and you'll find the nicest ones. If you're looking for a more original skin, you could view a category that your site isn't in. This may seem counter productive, but if you remove the pictures from a real estate site, it can be used for any business.

Once you swap out the default pictures and logo with your own and change the colors, the template will look entirely unique.

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Choosing A Mobile Theme

1 Comment »Written on May 20th, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Wordpress Theme
Tags: mobile, mobile theme, mobile website, mobile wordpress

Should You Use A Mobile WordPress Theme?

Based on Google Analytics for most of the websites I have built, close to 10% of visitors are viewing the websites on their mobile devices. Of course, this depends on the website and niche, with travel and travel related websites the figure is closer to 15%. So should you have a mobile theme installed for your website?

I have started using mobile wordpress themes for some of my websites. My opinion is that you should, if your website is content based. Articles are easier to read when it is presented on a mobile theme, and your photos are automatically sized to fit into the mobile theme. It works, most of the time. If it is a standard blog.

When You Should Not Use A Mobile Theme

Most mobile themes are easy to set up and ready to use. But there are times when it just will not work. This normally happens if you are using a custom theme, one that has a lot of custom code, or if you tend to use shortcodes in your theme. It is not the fault of the mobile theme, it depends on the way the coding is done.

For instance, if you use shortcodes on your website, the work around is to write a plug-in for your shortcodes. That way, the mobile theme will still be able to read and render your website correctly. Otherwise, there is no easy way around it.

What Mobile WordPress Theme Are Available?

Currently, I am using WP Tap from www.wptap.com and WP Touch from www.bravenewcode.com. Both offer free themes, as well as premium themes. The free themes are installed into the plug-in folders and you activate them as you would as a plug-in. Simple to install, and setting is a breeze.

WP Tap mobile wordpress theme

Wp Tap
I like WP Tap, the way it looks and I prefer their settings. In truth, there is not that much of a difference really, and the mobile site looks more or less the same except for the colors. You can also choose to view the website as a mobile theme or a desktop theme, there is a button on the footer if you wish to change the view.
The free theme is available for download at www.WordPress.org. For premium themes, WPtap has a number of great looking mobile themes priced at US$39.99 and US$49.99.

Wp Touch mobile wordpress theme

WP Touch
Like I said, there is not much of a difference in the free theme between WP Tap and WP Touch. But between the WP Touch and WP Touch Pro, the Pro version is completely different theme. But you will see the difference in the admin area. The Pro theme is priced at US$39.00.

Both themes allow you to drop in your adsense publisher code in the free mobile theme. The premium mobile wordpress themes will have more functionality built in.

Wp Tap has a wider selection of premium themes but either one of the themes will work. They can create a better surfing experience for your visitors. Using a mobile theme has an additional benefit if you run adsense on your websites. It will show the ads above the fold, making them the first thing the visitor will see. You can imagine the benefits in that.

How Does It Work?
It works by detecting supported devices like iPhones, iPads, Android, Blackberry and other mobile devices, such as iPod Touch. It then serves the mobile theme instead of your regular desktop theme, and visitors can always switch back to your desktop theme if they choose.

You can also show or hide options like author names, categories, tags, and such. It will serve your photos and videos too. The settings in your dashboard is straight forward, just like a plug-in.

Given that our target market are online with their mobile phones, it makes sense to optimize your website for mobile devices.

Gateway Studios Theme

2 commentsWritten on December 15th, 2010 by adrian
Categories: Wordpress Theme
Tags: wordpress theme

Gateway Studios Premium WordPress Theme

Gateway Studios for WordPress features a simple yet beautiful design, that will impress your visitors with its delicate form. The theme comes with many great features that just work out of the box, without the need for plugins, making Gateway a very smart decision with everything Integrated.

A lot of flexibility has been integrated into the theme, so you can use it from a Personal Site, to a Photography Blog to a complete Studio Website. You have an arsenal of Features and Customization at your disposal, and also a Clean Design created with usability and typography in mind.

Main page for Gateway Studios wordpress theme

Gateway Studios Features

3 Colors Plus Custom Colors
You have 3 awesome colors to play with, just choose the one that fits your personality or branding!. Also the theme comes with a Custom color option, which is specifically made for you to modify it and bring it to the next level. All the instructions are in the Documentation PDF.

Homepage Layout
Starting from the homepage, you have two layout choices, Gateway’s Native Slideshow, which provides a slight touch of elegance, putting your company’s branding on the top. For flash and 3D lovers, it also comes with the famous CUB3R, which adds an impressive and amazing touch to the overall layout.

Blog Layout
The cool thing about Gateway, is that it can display as much information as you want. If you’re a Professional Photographer looking for a theme to showcase your work, this is your place. If you’re a passionate writer, you can also take advantage of gateway’s Blog Layout Options. You have a simple blog layout with sidebar, and also a Full Width Layout, targeted for Photography Professionals and anyone that loves to share beautiful images with the world!

Portfolio page on Gateway Studios wordpress theme

Post Layout
The layout flexibility continues with Post Layouts. Ever wanted to have all the space in the world to show everybody that sexy picture ? Well, this is the time to do it. Gateway features a layout for every purpose. You can have your normal layout including Sidebar and Widget Areas, and also a clean Full Width layout. Each post can have its own layout, depending on your needs!

Built-In Portfolio Widget
Gateway comes with an unique Portfolio widget, ready to showcase your work and keep your visitors on your site, having a peek at what all you have to offer. The widget has many configuration options, you can set as many items to be displayed. You can set it to display your latest work, or random selection of portfolio entries.

Contact Form
You can customize the contact form in any way you want, and specify where you want your mail delivered, right from the Theme Options page.

Cross Browser Support, Valid XHTML and CSS
Gateway has been extensively tested in Internet Explorer 6/7/8, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera. Also it has been coded using Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and Valid CSS 2.1.

View Demo Here

I have tested this theme on one of my websites, and I found it easy to configure. It comes with full documentation, so that was a big plus. One of the main colors is orange, and while not everyone will like this color, it does look good if it fits your concept or brand.

It looks very clean and easy to read. It has a portfolio page and a contact form, very easy to setup. This is a premium theme, which means you pay for a license and it is a single use license. Being a premium theme means it is supported and if you have any issue with this wordpress theme, support is only an email away.

InFocus Professional WordPress Theme

2 commentsWritten on November 28th, 2010 by adrian
Categories: Wordpress Theme
Tags: themeforest, wordpress theme

InFocus is a powerful professional premium wordpress theme, ideally suited for your business website. It comes with an impressive fully customizable jQuery homepage slider with 3 different staging effects, and 10 different skins and colors to choose from.

InFocus wordpress theme

With a huge custom back end area you have complete control over the look and style of your theme. Add images to your homepage slider, add as many sidebar widgets as you like, pull in your latest tweet from Twitter and much much more. Whether you are a wordpress pro or just a beginner, you will find this theme easy to use, all without having to touch a single line of code.

InFocus WordPress Theme Features:

jQuery Slider
Custom Sidebars/Widgets
Page Templates/Portfolio Gallery
Ajax Contact Form
Social Bookmarking
Multiple CSS Styles
34 custom Style Shortcodes
jQuery Drop-down menu
and more.

Color Variations:

Black
Blue
Coffee
Deep Blue
Golden
Grey
Hot Pink
Lime
Red
Silver

To view the demo, click link below and test the theme.

Infocus WordPress Theme Demo

Cross Browser Compatible

My browser of choice is Firefox, as most websites look great with Firefox. InFocus wordpress theme looks good in Internet Explorer 6 & 7.