It can be very difficult to know what theme to use with your WordPress blog/site. There are so many to choose from. Loads free and loads ‘premium’ which usually means you have to pay for them.
If you are just starting out with limited time and budget you cannot beat the ones supplied with WordPress. Simple as that really, especially the new ones like Twenty Fourteen. They perform well, look great on mobiles and tables and get updated so they always work with the current release of WordPress. And there is a degree that you can customise them and make the site your own. They are impressive.
However if you are a bit further along the road and want responsive (good on all sizes of screen) reliable and quick Themes, that you can customise nearly endlessly and make your site stand out, then you need 3rd party themes.
I have used the free third party Themes but I am always concerned that when WordPress updates, there is no support or ongoing development and then you end up with a broken site.
I have tried several premium Themes and one of my favourites is Thesis by DIY themes. Now this is endless tailorable and very well priced at a one off starting at $87 for a single site with lifetime upgrades and support. Please note allot of the premium Themes out there are $99 per annum, if you want to upgrades.
Now word of warning. Thesis is not the easiest to use, but the control you have over your sites look, feel and performance is almost endless. If you do not like getting involved, your hands dirty and working on your business, it may not be for you.
If I was starting again, I would advise me to get thesis and then while I am playing and learning the ropes, get a ‘Skin’ from another designer/developer, use it, see how it works and then develop my own skin.
Now hope I have not confused you here (because it is confusing and I may have some of the technical explanations wrong here) The theme Thesis works with the basic WordPress code to produce a site/blog that can be viewed on web browsers. The skin (in the case of Thesis and Genesis) ‘overlay’ the basic and tweak all the design elements for you to to most of the hard work, then you just add content and some minor changes to layout, colours and fonts etc.
Hope that helps!
If you go down this route the I can recommend Themedy skins.(the call it the cure for the common Theme!) Now these are from $99 pa but for unlimited use of all the skins (most charge per skin per year) and as I said, you can look under the hood of these skins and see how things are done and develop your own skin before the year is up.
Sound like a plan? Let us know how you go on.
