My New Blog Theme
My New Blog Theme
Shortly after beginning my blog back in March, I began to fall out of love with my original choice of site theme. It is not because I did not like the overall look or layout, but rather I quickly realized it probably was not the best fit for what I was attempting to accomplish. The love lost was in some way a contributing factor as to why it took me another five months before my next update.
If maintaining a productive blog is not a simple matter, designing one is downright daunting (especially for the non-developer). While I have performed some web development over the years, I would not call myself a web developer. I know how everything works and I can produce clean code, but when it comes to a personal site, my OCD kicks in so hard that anything I come up with will never be complete or exactly what I want.
Depending on who you ask, purchasing a commodity WordPress theme will be understood either as a smart decision, or a cop-out. Themes have been available for WordPress many years now, with the vast majority of commodity themes available gratis. Design firms and brand agencies, contracted by a third party, might have created themes for their client’s WordPress site as part of a larger marketing deal, but at significant cost. The minimal presence of any middle ground solution was responsible for the market for premium WordPress themes.
Knowing myself the way I do, purchasing a premium theme is the best way to go. Even if the theme only provides 80% of what I would like, that is 80% more than what I would have otherwise. Since every action we perform in life requires a certain amount of time spent, and the fact this is a personal blog that provides no income to me, the personal time savings in achieving even 50% is significant, let alone 80%.
The approximate, average market rates I have seen for premium themes is anywhere between $25 and $200 per theme. Ask yourself, how much is your time worth per hour? If you say your time is worth $25 per hour, could you produce a complete design and develop and test code within one hour? What about eight hours? Depending on your level of proficiency, you might, but if that were the case, chances are you are not the demographic the premium theme market is after (since you would likely develop your own anyway).
With so many gratis themes available, why would someone pay even a small amount for a premium theme? The reason I believe is a result of the level of quality or available built-in features found in gratis themes. Designing, coding, and testing any site design takes time, even with WordPress under the hood, and time is money. In my search online for a theme that delivered the quality and features I desired, gratis themes always come up short. I assume anyone investing the time in developing a high-quality theme will use it for themselves, rather than make it freely available, therefore I turned back to shopping for a premium theme.
Of all the premium WordPress theme development shops I came across, the design and features coming out of WooThemes impressed me. My original theme, Open Air, came from WooThemes. Unfortunately, this particular theme ended up being more that I probably needed in the ways I did not. Also unfortunate was that WooThemes did not have any other theme in their inventory at the time that might be a better fit. That is, until they released Antisocial. After a week of using the new theme, I feel it delivers on the 80% I need and I am happy with the purchase.
Now for the few of you who might be reading this at the moment, you may be thinking “He should have gone with Thesis.” I spent some considerable time looking at Thesis, and I think Thesis is a great solution, but I do not feel it is the right solution for me and my infant blog. While very powerful, it would take time to fully exploit the potential of Thesis, and as previously stated, time is money. There could come a time down the road when I outgrow my current theme, and when that point is reached, Thesis could possibly be the answer.
I would like to hear your opinions on WordPress themes, premium themes, and Thesis, so please feel free to leave comments.
