Written by blazelook.com on 24 March 2010
If you’re using WordPress out of the box, you might want to use a more unique theme that will create interest and connection with your visitors. After all, even the most valuable content gets boring if it’s set against a forgettable backdrop.
Anyone who’s interested in finding a niche WordPress theme is looking to appeal to a select group of people. As such, which WordPress theme you choose to use will affect how successful your business is.
So what are some general things to look for in a theme?
First and foremost, it’s the Google AdSense color and its placement.
Your niche blog is a business venture, therefore, you want it come off looking as professional as possible. Look for themes that match your AdSense so that AdSense looks like an organic part of your website. Seamless integration is what you should be going for.
But that’s not all you have to watch out for.
What about the specifics?
Niche WordPress themes, though already somewhat customized, can be customized further for easier integration with your business.
So prepare to customize!
…and get a little technical (or hire someone talented to do that for you).
Find niche themes that allow you to modify:
The main keyword phrase
This option is great because it allows you to put the keyword phrase in the meta title tags and headers of each page. It’ll also help you tell search engines that you want to be on top of results. Some business owners prefer to leave this blank, but they lose out on a way to promote their business.
Header images and text
Images and text are something that you obviously want control over. Make sure that you can easily modify both so that they can work for your business and not against it.
Fonts
How your text is presented is just as important as the content that it contains. Some fonts leave un-businesslike impressions in prospects’ minds, but it’s all relative. You wouldn’t set up a hospital blog and then use the comic sans font all over it, would you? Similarly, using a cursive script font for a blog dedicated to a kindergarten class seems out-of-place, right? Decide what font best represents your business and then implement it.
CSS
Let’s face it- not every pre-designed niche theme is 100% perfect. But if you’re allowed to modify CSS, you can help make it as close to perfect as it can possibly get. You’ll need a little bit of training beforehand, but CSS is far from impossible to learn. When you’re dealing with CSS, there really aren’t any limits. You have control of even the most minor details. Modifying CSS is great for perfectionists and those who have an exact vision of how they want their blogs to look like.
Finding a WordPress theme that offers all of these options can set you on the right path towards a blog that looks, talks and walks like you. Getting your brand out there will be a snap once you find a niche WordPress theme you like and can turn it into something unique that sets it apart from your competition.
Written by blazelook.com on 24 March 2010
Are you a dedicated blogger? Do you always browse the Internet in search of templates and premium WordPress themes? If you have answered affirmative to either of these questions, then we have some pretty interesting information for you. It involved custom WordPress themes and additional information on the subject. Enter the world of blogging with us!
WordPress has generally been defined as a smart system for those who want to publish their very own blogs. Written in PHP, WordPress is quite easy to use and highly functional. Millions of users have learned to rely on custom WordPress themes for their blogs and are now spreading the word to their friends. Premium WordPress themes represent some of the most popular searches on the web, especially as there are hundreds of websites presenting such templates as great prices. The important thing is that you are patient enough to find the very best.
You may be wondering what the difference between free and premium WordPress themes is. While you may not have to pay for those that are free, these cannot be compared so easily. Custom WordPress themes have a professional look and they are recognized for their top quality. The template is simply amazing and you can convince of the difference on your own, once you enter online and start searching. Two other very important features of a premium theme are represented by: the footer contains absolutely no links, plus the footer PHP file is not ciphered.
Premium WordPress themes are generally used for personal online blogs but you can also expect to find them used for business blogs. If you are interested in purchasing custom WordPress themes, then all you have to do is go to the website of your choice and click on a simple button. The most common method of payment is through PayPal. Online, you will encounter the greatest diversity of premium WordPress themes, with various elements of designs and motives. Those who are planning to start an artist’s blog are invited to use custom WordPress themes, especially those that are art-inspired. We are talking about a 3-column template, with bright shades of red and yellow.
You may have noticed that the number of party blogs has increased in the past few years. People and particularly youngsters are using the revolution in blogging to catch up with friends on partying. They use custom WordPress themes suitable for their needs, with funky designs and awesome colors. You can expect party blogs templates to come in darker shades, such as black and blue. Premium WordPress themes for party blogs can also come in simpler tones and designs, suitable for those who are beginners. It all depends on what you are looking for and what image you are trying to create.
If you are a girl creating a blog, then perhaps you might prefer custom WordPress themes with floral elements. What does red garden suggest to you? Well, you can expect a premium theme that comes with bright red colors and beautiful flowers. This is perfect for your personal blog. There are plenty of other choices out there, such as a pink evening or a windmill sunset in elegant shades of pink and grey. Discover premium WordPress themes today and prepare yourself to amaze all of your friends with your blogging!
Are you interested in finding premium WordPress themes? You’ve come to the right place. Pick up the ones you like and return real soon for some more! We also offer custom WordPress themes design service for your blog and we invite you to contact me and ask for a quote.
Written by blazelook.com on 18 March 2010
Let’s face the facts; there are a gazillion websites on the internet. You don’t have the luxury of publishing a mediocre site when, at most, you have only a few seconds to capture the reader’s attention. Your site design is the web with which you catch your fly. Whether they stick and stay is up to your content. One of the main reasons Thesis WordPress Theme has become so popular, is that it provides a clean, elegant design with enough flexibility to allow you to tailor it to any need.
Design – Thesis WordPress Theme Version 1.3
Thesis Version 1.3 continues where previous versions left off, by providing stellar typography, user accessibility, interface design and search engine optimization. The overall look is professional, with sufficient gravitas to lend authority to your content. Elements of the overall design are endlessly customizable through the easily navigated user interface. Layouts and fonts are controlled without the need to fiddle with the site’s core code. Everything is laid out in an intuitive manner which doesn’t require an advanced degree in computer science to navigate. This attribute alone makes it a perfect choice for anyone deploying a site for the first time. The interface abounds with nice ergonomic touches such as the inclusion of an asterisk next to web-safe fonts on the selection menus. And let’s not overlook the “B.A. Save Button”! But even this trademark item is customizable, although Chris Pearson, Thesis’s creator, doesn’t advise it.
Changes from Thesis WordPress Theme Version 1.2
Many improvements were added to version 1.3 however, there are three additions that deserve special mention. The new Thesis Layout Constructor allows you to mix and match the column order any way you like, maximizing the possibilities between one, two or three column layouts. Content can be located in the middle or either side of the sidebars, all with the click of the mouse. This is possible due to a new HTML module structure creating six new possible layouts. In addition to this added flexibility, Thesis WordPress Theme now adds a Framework Selector which allows you to select between a page framework and a full-width framework. In full-width mode, your headers and footers carry to the edge of the browser’s viewable space. Again, the concept is flexibility without having to touch the underlying core code. The third major improvement over version 1.2 is a more robust hook system. Previously, if you wanted to customize your theme, you hacked away at the HTML for each individual template file. This process was time consuming at best, and a recipe for disaster at worst. Once you worked out all the bugs, you were off and running, but what if you decide at some point to change your theme? Guess what? You get to do it all over again. The hook system, which was introduced in version 1.2, solves that problem by creating one of the most critical ways to customize your theme without touching the underlying code. Even more importantly, hooks do their work while assuring forward-compatibility. Thesis WordPress Theme now has thirty-one hooks which allow you to add and subtract content such as ads, pictures, design attributes etc.
Thesis WordPress Theme And Search Engine Optimization
The whole point of a website and/or blog is to drive traffic to it so that you can share your unique content. To do so, you must optimize your code for search engines, without landing in the dreaded Supplemental Index. To begin with, WordPress is designed to be very amenable to SEO, but even with that on your side, the way your theme(s) are built have an enormous impact on how search engines view your site. Thesis WordPress Theme includes code that is optimized for search engine retrieval without any customization. With Thesis WordPress Theme you can easily optimize the content of a page and manage keywords for better pass-through. Of course Thesis plays well with plug-ins like SEO Title Tag for more control, but out-of-the-box, Thesis handles SEO well.
Thesis WordPress Theme – Pricing And Support
Thesis provides purchase options to fit the needs of every level of user. The basic package, or Personal License, sells for $87 and includes a single seat license for one production site and one development server. The catch with this package is that the footer information must remain intact, although this is truly a small nit to pick. For a little less than double the price of the basic license, or $164, you get the Developer’s License which gives you unlimited use of the theme on any number of sites and the ability to remove the footer link. If you’re unsure, and just want to dip your toe in the water, you can opt for the Personal License and then upgrade to the full-up Developer’s license later for an additional $77. What do you get for your money? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot: Theme upgrades are free for life. You get total access to Thesis Forums, free tidbits to customize your theme such as styles, images and the like, all available for download, and unbelievable support. This touches on an itchy subject. We all know that claims of superior user support are, more often than not, marketing hype designed to make you feel better about putting forth the green. Except that in this case, it happens to be true. The creator of Thesis, Chris Pearson is often the one providing support, often within a day of posting your question. But you don’t need to take my word for it, just check out the testimonials page.
Thesis WordPress Theme : The Conclusion
Yes, there are thousands of free themes out there available for download, and yes, you can create your own with WordPress template functionality, but why? If you’re a novice webmaster or just starting to blog, then you probably don’t have the requisite skills to do all the hard-core coding. On the other hand, even if you have god-like coding fu, why bother? You have far more important things to spend time on such as researching and writing content and managing your ad revenues. Especially if you are in the latter classification, Thesis WordPress Theme will pay for itself rather quickly. There simply is no other WordPress theme available that delivers so much for so little. That is why Thesis is one of the best choices of WordPress theme available today. And for the same reasons, I use Thesis WordPress Theme for my blog. 
Thesis WordPress Theme Version 1.3.2 is already out. And the newest version of Thesis includes more fantastic features that makes blogging more efficient. Some of the added features are: more SEO options and improvements, fixes on SEO plugin compatibility, improved multi-media box functionality, new page template functionality and hooks, design and layout changes, and MANY MORE!
What do you think of Thesis?
Written by blazelook.com on 15 March 2010
WordPress has become a hugely popular open source blogging and publishing platform. The abundance of free themes and plugins as well as its ease-of-use have contributed to the attraction and popularity for using WordPress. While there are some great free themes for WordPress, many only offer basic functionality and simplistic designs.
Since late 2007 however an increasing number of WordPress theme developers have been offering premium WordPress themes – themes which are offered for a fixed price. These premium WordPress themes are usually sold for between $50 to $250. Originally only a small number of talented and well-known WordPress theme designers created paid premium WordPress themes which were well designed, highly functional, top-quality themes that transformed a WordPress installation from a simple blog into a powerful content management system. However as the premium WordPress theme business concept spread, more and more WordPress theme designers have hopped on the bandwagon trying to cash on the new trend filling up their portfolio with premium (paid) wordpress themes.
However with greater variety and numbers of paid premium WordPress themes also comes varying levels of quality. So what specifically makes a premium WordPress theme premium? Some characteristics that should set a premium wordpress theme apart from a free theme are listed below:
Quality and Unique Design
Premium WordPress themes should be just that – Premium. They should look better and be of a much higher quality and unique design than compared to those available for free.
Features
While all themes are different, in general premium WordPress themes should have more “Features” than their free counterparts. What that means depends on the theme in question. However some features may include: “Featured Posts” areas, Multiple layout options for the home page, drop down menus, multiple customs templates for pages, custom field options, print style sheets etc.
Customization Options and Fexibility
People want options, so Premium WordPress themes should be customisable. Buying a premium theme will set you apart from the crowd significantly, but since other people will still be using the same theme, premium themes should be able to be easily customized further, whether it be for the layout, colours, images, or all of the above.
Live Preview or Demo
There should be a live demo or preview of the theme so you can test it and check it out before buying. If there is no live preview or demo that should be a warning sign. You should ask why don’t they want you to test the theme first? All reputable premium theme sellers will have a live demo full of content for you to test. Explore the live demo thoroughly, testing all pages to see that the theme works properly and there are no errors or mistakes.
Full Support
If you’re buying a premium WordPress theme it should also come with a certain degree of support from the designer. The level of support can vary however and will range from personalised individual support from the designer, to the provision of forums or blog comment sections for asking questions and obtaining support from the designer and other people who have purchased the theme.
Supporting Documentation
Premium WordPress themes should come with an instruction manual or document. This should explain how to upload and install the theme and how to manage any of the options that are built into the theme.
Free Updates
WordPress is continually being updated and improved and a premium WordPress theme developer should be offering you free updates of the theme when required.
Well Coded and Error Free
There should be no coding errors, misspellings, X images, etc in a premium WordPress theme. The theme has cross browser compatible and been tested to work properly on all the major browsers, plus the theme should have clean and valid code and adhere to strict XHTML and CSS standards.
Written by blazelook.com on 14 March 2010
WordPress is an open-source blog engine released under the GNU general public license. It allows users to easily create dynamic blogs with great content and many outstanding features. It is an ideal tool for developing blogs and though it is chiefly used for blogging, it can also be used as a complete CMS with very little effort. Its versatility and ease of use has attracted a large, enthusiastic, and helpful community of users.
This book walks through clear, step-by-step instructions to build a custom theme for the WordPress open-source blog engine. The author provides design tips and suggestions and covers setting up the WordPress sandbox, and reviews the best practices from setting up the theme’s template structure, through coding markup, testing, and debugging, to taking it live. The last three chapters cover additional tips, tricks, and various cookbook recipes for adding popular site enhancements to WordPress theme designs using 3rd-party plugins as well as creating API hooks to add custom plugins.
Whether users are working with a pre-existing theme or creating a new one from the ground up, WordPress Theme Design will give them the know-how to effectively understand how themes work within the WordPress blog system enabling them to have full control over their site’s design and branding. Users only need to be comfortable with the basics of web development and this book will take care of the rest.
What you will learn from this book
Set up a basic workflow and development environment for WordPress theme design
Create detailed designs and code them up
Enhance your sites by choosing the right color schemes and graphics
Debug and validate your theme using W3C’s XHTML and CSS validation tools
Customize and tweak your theme’s layout
Set up dynamic drop-down menus, AJAX/dynamic and interactive forms
Download and install useful plug-ins and widgetize your theme
Improve post and page content using jQuery and ThickBox
Add interactivity to your themes using Flash
Includes a reference guide to WordPress 2.0′s template hierarchy, markup, styles and template tags, as well as include and loop functions
Chapter 1 introduces you to the WordPress blog system and lets you know what you need to be aware of regarding the WordPress theme project you’re ready to embark on. The chapter also covers the development tools that are recommended and web skills that you’ll need to begin developing a WordPress theme.
Chapter 2 looks at the essential elements you need to consider when planning your WordPress theme design. It discusses the best tools and processes for making your theme design a reality. The author explains her own ‘Rapid Design Comping’ technique and gives some tips and tricks for developing color schemes and graphic styles for your WordPress theme. By the end of the chapter, you’ll have a working XHTML and CSS based ‘comp’ or mockup of your theme design, ready to be coded up and assembled into a fully functional WordPress theme.
Chapter 3 uses the final XHTML and CSS mockup from Chapter 2 and shows you how to add WordPress PHP template tag code to it and break it down into the template pages a theme requires. Along the way, this chapter covers the essentials of what makes a WordPress theme work. At the end of the chapter, you’ll have a basic, working WordPress theme.
Chapter 4 discusses the basic techniques of debugging and validation that you should employ throughout your theme’s development. It covers the W3C’s XHTML and CSS validation services and how to use the FireFox browser and some of its extensions as a development tool, not just another browser. This chapter also covers troubleshooting some of the most common reasons ‘good code goes bad’, especially in IE, and best practices for fixing those problems, giving you a great-looking theme across all browsers and platforms.
Chapter 5 discuss how to properly set up your WordPress theme’s CSS style sheet so that it loads into WordPress installations correctly. It also discuss compressing your theme files into the ZIP file format and running some test installations of your theme package in WordPress’s administration panel so you can share your WordPress theme with the world.
Chapter 6 covers key information under easy-to-look-up headers that will help you with your WordPress theme development, from the two CSS class styles that WordPress itself outputs, to WordPress’s PHP template tag code, to a breakdown of “The Loop” along with WordPress functions and features you can take advantage of in your theme development. Information in this chapter is listed along with key links to bookmark to make your theme development as easy as possible.
Chapter 7 dives into taking your working, debugged, validated, and properly packaged WordPress theme from the earlier chapters, and enhancing it with dynamic menus using the SuckerFish CSS-based method and Adobe Flash media.
Chapter 8 continues showing you how to enhance your WordPress theme by looking at the most popular methods for leveraging AJAX techniques in WordPress using plugins and widgets. It also gives you a complete background on AJAX and when it’s best to use those techniques or skip them. The chapter also reviews some cool JavaScript toolkits, libraries, and scripts you can use to simply make your WordPress theme appear ‘Ajaxy’.
Chapter 9 reviews the main tips from the previous chapters and covers some key tips for easily implementing today’s coolest CSS tricks into your theme as well as a few final SEO tips that you’ll probably run into once you really start putting content into your WordPress site.
For more details on the book please visit http://www.packtpub.com/wordpress-theme-design/book.
Tessa Blakeley Silver’s background is in print design and traditional illustration. She evolved over the years into web and multi-media development, where she focuses on usability and interface design. Prior to starting her consulting and development company hyper3media (pronounced hyper-cube media) http://hyper3media.com, Tessa was the VP of Interactive Technologies at eHigherEducation, an online learning and technology company developing compelling multimedia simulations, interactions, and games that met online educational requirements like 508, AICC, and SCORM. She has also worked as a consultant and freelancer for J. Walter Thompson and The Diamond Trading Company (formerly known as DeBeers) and was a Design Specialist and Senior Associate for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ East Region Marketing department. Tessa authors several design and web technology blogs. Joomla! Template Design is her first book.
Written by blazelook.com on 12 March 2010
The first thing that will come to one’s mind, when decided to write a blog on a topic they are interested in, is selection of the theme or template for their blog. There are number of blogging platforms like WordPress,Blogger,Typepad ,etc. If you do a search on google for the blogging platforms, you will get a list of those. Among all, WordPress is most popular and has thousands of blogs built using this platform. It is Open Source project and is free to use.
In this article, I will tell you how to select a WordPress(WP) theme. A WP theme is nothing but a piece of software used to build your blog. It contains various templates or files which work together in the background to give you the desired look and feel for your blog. Following the below tips help you to select your blog theme easily and efficiently.
1. Category: This means what is your blog all about. It defines the kind of audience you want to target your blog to. For example, if you want to write a blog about dogs, then your blog comes under the ’Pets’ category. Or if you like to target to the people interested in cooking then you category would be ‘Food’. Finding your category helps you to find the right theme and thus saving your time and energy in the process of setting it up and later correcting it. There are themes in every major category ranging from Travel to Music to Business. You can find these at the WP Theme directory and also at number of websites like Free wordpress themes, Daily Blog tips,themestudio.
2. Colors and layouts:Some people like to have their favorite colors to their blogs. So, try getting your themes in those colors as much as possible but this may not be possible always although there are hundreds of WP themes which match every desire. Also there is another advantage in using a theme of your favorite color as you do not need to change a lot in the theme to get your color. But I recommend not to focus much on this aspect because it is not that difficult to change it later once you are comfortable with the code behind it. Rather concentrate on the layout of the theme. Decide on what type of layout you want. Browse through the list of themes you have at WordPress.org and other websites sited above. This will give you an idea of how it looks and then you can easily make a decision. There are number of layouts available, but popular are:
Single Column
Two Column (With Sidebar)
Two Column (Without Sidebar)
Three Column
Four column
Fixed width
Fluid width
Also there are some layouts specifically designed for Photos centered and Videos centered blogs. I feel you have to select a theme which you can live with it for long term as you are the one who visits your blog the most. Experiment some themes with some test posts and pages. Comment them, categorize them and see how your selected theme looks. This is the best way to ensure you have the right theme. Do not see the blog theme from your own point of view but from your reader’s point of view.
3. Purpose of your blog:This is important as this will help you to select your theme for the long term. If you are going to write a blog only for you to vent out your emotions and thoughts, you do not need to give much importance to many other aspects of your blog like advertisements, widgets, etc. But if you blog to help others like this one you are presently reading, or to make money out of it, then you need to also consider few other things in addition to the above ones. Some things you need to consider are, if that theme supports advertisements without much tweaking and turning the code, does the theme supports the widgets or plugins, like RSS, Protection from Spam comments, Search engine optimization, etc. By default when you have signed up for a WordPress blog, you will be provided with default themes. You can use them or select your own from visiting the WordPress’s own free WP themes or other Paid WP theme websites like Revolutinary Themes, StyleWP, BlogOhBlog. These websites provide professional looking themes with excellent support. If you are serious about blogging or making money from blogging, you should use one of these Paid WP themes.
Following this tip helps you to achieve the goal you have set before starting to blog, more easily and efficiently.
4. Support: Ensure you will get the support you needed while using the theme from the theme author or website owner. I have seen many times, that the site owner from where the theme is downloaded could not able to help the user who have downloaded and used it for their blog because they are not developed by himself but somebody else and he is only promoting them. If this is the case when you need the support most, then it would lead to frustration and waste of time for you.
Happy Blogging.
I am a IT consultant in the Customer Relationship Management(CRM)domain. In my blog Bizknowledge.net I share my knowledge gained through out my career and life’s experiences which will be powerful, useful and ready to implement. You will find many interesting articles and tips related to Blogging, Marketing and Business at my blog.
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