I recently commented that I come across so many awesome free themes on WordPress.org that I want to create blogs just to utilize them. Well let me tell you something — at the time of writing I have no less than seven ideas for different blogs stored away in my Evernote. And with this edition of our themes of the month series I have a burning desire to launch five of them immediately.
To be perfectly honest, I am utterly gobsmacked by the quality of themes I had to choose from this month. Each and every one of the five offerings below has been beautifully designed and I am really excited to showcase them. Don’t get me wrong — there are always good (and often great) themes find for these posts, but never before have I come across such an awesome selection.
With the above in mind, if you’re in the market for a new theme then your search may well be over. Enjoy!
elegantWhite
This theme suits its name well — it is both elegant and predominantly white. And given that I’m such a fan of simple designs with plenty of white space, this definitely gets my seal of approval.
elegantWhite is one of those themes where you can literally plug and play — as far as I can see, every last bit of formatting has been carefully considered. No dodgy margins on images or poorly spaced text — it truly is elegant. Oh, and responsive too, just for good measure.
Designfolio
If you like the idea of a responsive theme but want something a little “busier” than elegantWhite, check out Designfolio. This full width design could be adapted to suit any number of sites. The generously-sized slider dominates the available space above the fold, but this theme’s got nothing to hide — both posts and pages look awesome.
It is clear that a lot of care and attention has gone into the development of this theme, and it really shows.
Clean Retina
Yet another responsive theme, Clean Retina has a slider like Designfolio but offers a far more “bloggy” experience by default. Having said that, it’s not short on options with no less than nine homepage designs.
If you’re looking for a relatively calm and collected design for your site, this theme is a great option.
Spun
This theme really blew me away. I’m not sure how it could be used in terms of practical applications, but I almost want to come up with something just so I can use it. Spun was developed by one of my favorite independent theme developers, Caroline Moore, and as per usual she doesn’t disappoint.
Content is the sole focus here — each image represents a post, which reveal themselves beautifully when clicked upon. You have to see it to really appreciate it.
Deux Milles Douze
I love Deux Milles Douze for two reasons:
- It’s a great-looking theme
- It’s an example of what can be done in child theme development
It is in fact a Twenty Twelve child theme, which you can no doubt spot. However, the subtle changes are really effective, and I for one love this theme. The red on white contrast works brilliantly and has a far greater impact than a color-packed theme.
There are some really nice touches too, such as subtle bordering and shadowing on images and beautifully designed post formats.
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