Starting with WordPress 2.8, users will be able to install WordPress themes out of the official repository with one click. This may sound nice but why limit your chances of styling your blog in a unique and individual way?
- The WordPress theme directory isn’t very big compared to the millions of users. There are about 800 themes for about 15 million WordPress users worldwide. This is about 18,750 users per theme. Hardly unique.
- I willingly admit, there are some excellent free themes in the directory, but they are downloaded 10,000 or more times a week. Excellent, but off-the-shelf. Do you want your blog to look like your neighbor’s?
- The vast majority of WordPress themes in the directory are variations of the two default WordPress themes without additional options, functions and styles. Often, they are the first exercises of web design novices, which explains the poor quality of many themes.
- Users who start with WordPress and don’t know anything but the built-in theme installer might not realize that there is a whole universe of themes outside of wordpress.org. From the beginning they will be limited. I actually don’t think that’s the intention of the WordPress guys.
These are just some reasons why you should consider looking beyond your WordPress backend for themes. I don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes. It’s good that thousands of people contribute to open source software. But the fact remains: the themes out of the default WordPress theme installer will limit your chances of finding the perfect theme for your blog.
Go looking for websites that offer or distribute WordPress themes. You will be pleasantly surprised. There are thousands of free themes for any imaginable topic.
Premium themes are quite unique and special. They are downloaded much less often than free themes, better supported and the designer offers customization.
Custom Themes are made for you and only you, according to what you want. You pay a web designer to program your theme. This is the most expensive option, but it’s also the only way to ensure you’re getting a truly unique blog theme.
I recommend Premium Themes: you’ll be one of a few people who use a theme, themes are affordable and you can ask the designer for help.
GOOD NEWS: The new theme installer also has a THEME UPLOAD FUNCTION. Here's how to upload themes other than the ones out of the WordPress directory (starting with WordPress 2.8):
- First, download the theme to your PC. It is a compressed directory.
- Upload your theme directory (ZIP-file) by using the new THEME UPLOADER
- You can now directly preview and activate your uploaded theme.
- That's it. Edit your theme using the WordPress Editor, or just enjoy the theme as it is.
Questions? Just leave a comment and I'll try to help you out.
Thank you for the useful suggestions and tips on how to upload free themes.
Thank you for your article. Is useful and well written !
Today i've see the new implementation in wordpress 2.8 It looks promissing. Thank you for this info !
I just came across your blog about and wanted to drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with the information you have posted here. Being new to wordpress i had no idea i could look "outside" for a new theme.
Thanks again
Rick
Very useful article ..many thanks for that. Information that I can actually use..
Cheers
This is much easier than how I was taught to use Filezilla. Way to keep it simple.
-Matt San Clemente Mortgage
Thanks for the information,it will come in quite handy.
Awesome job !!! keep it up.
Just got the Aerotronic and loving it. Thank you for the easy of use and your knowledge of blogging.
One thing to keep in mind when installing WP themes is to look for compatibility.
I've had issues downloading a beautiful theme, but turns out it was old and incompatible with the latest version of wordpress.
themes...
Your topic Add new themes to Wordpress 2.8: Other than default directory? was useful....
Hi Joe,
I am seriously thinking about purchasing your aero mag style. I believe that it will showcase my content perfectly. My question to you is about the possibility of having the slide show represent the background themes. It that possible? My current website has had a lot of holes in it. My slider does not work, etc. I am moving to change to your product. It seems like a product that I pretty much can handle on my own. Currently, my website is http://www.inpublicschools.com. with a (parens of_ in public schools - from the outside looking in. The looking in that I want to portray is what I want represented in the slide show and the background images. Is it possible to hook these two together so that they can be changed simultaneously? Please respond. Thank you.
rose marie
Hi Rose Marie, of course we can do that as customization at affordable rates. If you're interested, after checkout + download just contact me.
Thank you for writing this article I found it quite usefull since I don't love most of wordpress's general themes.
sure you worked hard to make these themes but i think they are a bit pricey..