- WordPress 2.7 Cookbook
- Jean-Baptiste Jung
- 2755字
- 2021-04-01 13:55:47
Installing a theme
Let's go ahead and learn how to download and install a WordPress theme.
Getting ready
Installing a theme is easy. You only need to browse through one of the theme galleries that are listed from page 4 to 11, and carry out the following simple steps:
How to do it...
- Visit the WordPress Theme Directory web site at: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/.
- You might find a theme that you like right on the homepage, so just scroll up and down and see what catches your eye. However, don't forget that a theme may look great as a thumbnail but might not be right for your type of content or audience.
- You can also browse through the web site for themes based on popularity, tags, or by searching the descriptions (and tags) for words that fit your needs.
- Once you've found a theme of your choice, click on its name for more information; as shown in the following screenshot:
- You can see how the theme will look in a live blog by clicking on the Preview button. This is a great way to eliminate themes before you download them. The following screenshot shows the preview of a theme:
- If you like the theme, then click on the close (X) button, and then click on the Download button. This will save the theme in a
zipformat. Make sure you remember where you have saved it because you will need to locate it when it comes to installing the custom theme. Otherwise, keep browsing until you see a theme that you like. You don't have to make your final choice yet. Download a few themes. Don't make your final choice until you see how it looks with your content.
There's more...
This section is about finding free and premium themes online.
Your theme will be your blog's visual identity. Therefore, using the right theme is a very important factor to be considered. To help you make your choice, I have compiled a list of very good looking themes. Don't hesitate to try as many themes as you want and see how they fit your content.
Let us start with browsing through a few classic themes. Themes that I call classic are simple and do what you expect from a blog. They display entries on the homepage in chronological order. The classic layouts are the most popular, mainly because they don't need extra or manual configuration, and because they're visually stunning.
Agregado is a very beautiful free theme, which is brought to you by Darren Hoyt and the Smashing Magazine. Agregado features fancy CSS or JavaScript effects (drop-down menu, search bar, and so on) and a life stream displaying your entries from Twitter, Flickr, Magnolia, and many other web sites. Visit the following web site for more information on the Agregado theme:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/08/agregado-a-free-wordpress-theme/
The Agregado theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
This is one of my favorite free themes ever!
If you love Mac OS X (as I do) you'll probably enjoy the Leopress theme! Leopress mimics the look of the Mac OS X Leopard desktop with a Finder window displaying your posts. Visit the following web site for more information on the Leopress Theme:
http://www.7graus.com/tech/wordpress/leopress/
The Leopress theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
The Rio theme is very simple in terms of code, but has a very beautiful design. It is also extremely easy to customize. You can transform it into your very own theme in less than 20 minutes. If you're looking to create a photoblog, then this theme is just perfect. Visit the following web site for more information on the Rio theme:
http://www.amypink.com/downloads/rio-theme-wordpress-theme/
The Rio theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
The WP Imagination theme, created by ThemeLab, is perfect for a design or a company blog and includes a nice image gallery on its footer. Visit the following web site for more information on the WP Imagination theme:
http://www.themelab.com/2008/03/05/free-release-18-wp-imagination/
The WP Imagination theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Inspired by the well known Coda web site, WP CODA is a delicious mix of WordPress and JQuery. Even if this theme may not be suitable for every blog, if you're looking for a stunning design and functionality, then you should give WP CODA a try. Visit the following web site for more information on the WP CODA theme:
http://bustatheme.com/wordpress/wp-coda/
The WP CODA theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
The Outdoorsy theme is a very unique theme with its nature design. I would recommend this theme to anyone who wants to stands out of the crowd of white, grey, or blue themes. Visit the following web site for more information on the Outdoorsy theme:
http://wefunction.com/2008/07/free-theme-outdoorsy/
The Outdoorsy theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Now that I have introduced you to a few of my favorite classic themes, let's have a look at the advanced themes. The advanced themes are usually referred to as Magazine themes due to their online magazine-like layouts.
Most of the advanced themes need some extra configuration to be added to the custom admin page or by directly editing the source code. Refer to the theme web site for more details.
The most popular free magazine theme, Mimbo 2, has been downloaded by thousands of users and was a huge source of inspiration for many theme designers (including me).
Mimbo 2 is a must download theme for everyone who want to create a magazine theme. A few features of the Mimbo 2 are:
- It is very easy to customize
- It can be the base of your own magazine theme
- You can use its clean source code to learn many secrets of premium WordPress themes
Visit the following web site for more information on the Mimbo 2 theme:
http://www.darrenhoyt.com/2007/08/05/wordpress-magazine-theme-released/
The Mimbo 2 theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
OpenBook was one of the first WordPress themes that I created, and it has been downloaded more than 5000 times since its release in May 2008. OpenBook features a drop-down menu for your categories, a JavaScript gallery to visually enhance your best posts, fancy color, and a three column homepage. Moreover, one of the most important features of OpenBook is its embedded control panel, which allows the user to set theme options without having to manually edit the code. Visit the following web site for more information on the OpenBook theme:
http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/featured/wordpress-openbook-premium-theme-available-for-download-20
The OpenBook theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Brightness is a very beautiful magazine theme; even if it's less popular than the Mimbo and the Revolution theme. Just like OpenBook, Brightness features its own control panel where you can set up the theme options without editing any files. It is a nice theme with an original light brown and orange color scheme. Visit the following web site for more information on the Brightness theme:
http://www.dailywp.com/brightness-wordpress-theme/
The Brightness theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
The Rebel Magazine is a free magazine theme with an easy to customize layout, a video integration system, a featured post, and a two column layout. This will prove to be a good choice if you need a simple and clean magazine theme and want to transform it to fit your needs. Visit the following web site for more information on the Rebel Magazine theme:
http://www.wpthemedesigner.com/2008/05/07/rebel-magazine-theme/
The Rebel Magazine theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Brian Gardner is one of the world most famous WordPress theme designers. After successfully launching the Revolution series themes back in 2007, Brian is back with the Revolution 2 series, which is even more beautiful than the first one. Visit the following web site for more information on the Revolution 2 theme:
The Revolution 2 theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Arthemia is the perfect theme for an online magazine or a blog, with lots of content. Arthemia features thumbnails images in posts, category browsing, featured section, and a very professional menu. This theme is also very easy to customize and I have seen many great personalization of it. Visit the following web site for more information on the Arthemia theme:
http://michaelhutagalung.com/2008/08/arthemia-20-released-the-updates/
The Arthemia theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
We have already learned about the Classic and the Advanced WordPress themes. Let's now learn more about a few premium WordPress themes.
If you liked Mimbo 2, then there are strong chances that you'll love Mimbo Pro. It is more colorful than the free version. This premium theme provides drop-down menus, JavaScript slideshow, and colors per category. A good choice if you're looking for a complete but clean magazine theme. Visit the following web site for more information on the Mimbo Pro theme:
http://www.darrenhoyt.com/2008/03/12/mimbo-pro-magazine-theme-released/
The Mimbo Pro theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
With ten different color schemes and two different layouts (two or three columns) the WP Vybe theme is actually one of the most advanced premium WordPress themes available. Another good point is that you'll get the PSD files along with the purchase of this theme, so its customization will be a lot easier! Visit the following web site for more information on the WP Vybe theme:
http://www.solostream.com/category/wordpress-blog-themes/
The WP Vybe theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
With its frozen color scheme and very clean layout, the Open Air theme is the most original theme in comparison to most of the WordPress magazine themes. Curiously, I have never seen it being used on a blog. It is a good purchase if you want to be original. Visit the following web site for more information on the Open Air theme:
http://www.woothemes.com/amember/go.php?r=402&i=b0
The Open Air theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Citrus is an original premium WordPress theme that is slightly different from most paid themes. Available in 6 different color schemes and two layouts (Blog style and News style), Citrus also features a very complete control panel which will allow you to change many settings without editing a single line of code. Visit the following web site for more information on the Citrus theme:
The Citrus theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
One thing I really like about the Fresh News theme is that it comes with a lot of different styles and color schemes. Therefore, I feel that this theme will be suitable for almost every blogging project. It doesn't matter whether your blog is about gardening, about music, or about your company. Visit the following web site for more information on the Fresh News theme:
http://www.woothemes.com/amember/go.php?r=402&i=b0
The Fresh News theme will appear as shown in the following screenshot:
Here's a list of web sites where you can select, and download, a WordPress theme of your choice.
There are actually 500+ themes in this web site. All of them are free to download and use. Most of them are very nice. The following link will take you to the WordPress.org theme gallery:
At this site you will find 100 WordPress themes, organized by style. This page has been a good resource for me while I was looking for some inspiration. The following link will take you to the desired web site:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/08/100-excellent-free-high-quality-wordpress-themes/
If you're looking for a premium (paid) theme, then this page is one of the most complete web sites that I was able to find on the Internet. All the themes listed here feature an online demo. The list is updated frequently so you won’t have to worry about old, unsupported themes. The following link will take you to the desired web site:
http://hackwordpress.com/best-premium-wordpress-themes-gallery/
This list is almost similar to the last one, but the eighteen themes listed here are completely free yet they provide a level of quality comparable to premium themes. The following link will take you to the desired web site:
http://hackwordpress.com/best-magazine-style-wordpress-themes/
This is a young web site which already features a list of more than 50 very nice free themes. All of the themes have an online demonstration. The following link will take you to the desired web site:
WPVote is a social bookmarking web site where the users discuss WordPress. It features a nice WordPress Themes section, where users can freely submit and vote for WordPress themes. I have seen some stunning themes available in the following web site:
Now that we have learned about the various WordPress themes and the web sites from where you can download them, let's earn some extra knowledge about them. There are a few important points to be considered while dealing with the WordPress themes.
Apart from the way a theme looks, there are some important issues to be considered before settling for a theme:
- Is it compatible with a range of browsers? Look for evidence to prove that the theme has been tested in many different browsers, otherwise test it yourself. Many of the free WordPress themes aren't fully compatible with Internet Explorer 6, which may be totally obsolete, but still used by a wide range of people.
- Is it accessible? How will the theme look with a 1024x768 pixel resolution? Does it have a lot of heavy JavaScript coding or very large images? The required loading time is an important factor to be considered, as many Internet users will not wait for your site to load. If your blog's too slow, then visitors will leave.
- Will it work with my plugins and widgets? Most of the recent themes are now fully widget-ready, but there are still a number of them that arent. For those that are not widget ready, I'll explain how to make a theme widget-ready later in this book.
- Do the themes use a specific JavaScript framework? For example, some themes use the Mootools framework, while some plugins use jQuery, or vice-versa. This can lead to problem and incompatibility.
- Does it require you to customize it or create custom graphics? Even if most themes are ready to use, you may want to modify background images or logos. Are you able to do this?
- Is the theme ready to use? While most classic themes work out of the box, some magazine themes require extra configuration from the user in order to be fully functional. Most themes feature a custom admin panel page, but some others (such as Mimbo 2) require you to directly modify the theme files.
Since approximately one and half years ago, magazine themes have become overly popular in the WordPress community. Indeed, these new layouts are a real innovation and it gives the bloggers an opportunity to own a real online magazine instead of a blog.
Nowadays, many bloggers seems to have come back to a simpler layout. For example, two of my three blogs have a normal layout and the last one has a magazine layout, but I'm already thinking about coming back to a more classic theme.
The following are a few questions that you must ask yourself before choosing a magazine theme:
- Do you write enough posts per day? Most magazine themes feature posts by categories on the homepage. If you only write one post per day, then some categories will be updated only once a week, which doesn't look very professional.
- Do you blog alone, or with other bloggers? A magazine style layout is a brilliant idea if you run a multi-author blog. Therefore, I personally think that a classic layout is better for someone who blogs alone.
- Why a magazine theme?Do you need a magazine theme because you actually need the kind of layout it provides, or just because it is popular? Don't follow the hype, be yourself and choose what you really need.
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