Anxious To Hear Your Opinion Of The Beautiful New Site Layout!
I overhauled the look and feel of my blog this weekend! I applied a fantastic, new WordPress theme to the site. I decided it was time for a fresh new magazine-style layout. I hope you will take a few minutes to look at the home page, read one of the featured articles, and let me know what you think of the exciting changes!
Finding a new theme for my WordPress blog
Being able to easily apply a new theme that totally changes the look of my blog is one if the things that I love about WordPress. I was a little nervous about it, but everything went very smoothly. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went.
I looked around quite a bit to find the exact features I wanted in the new theme for the site. In the process, I found some great resources that I thought I’d share. If you are a blogger or if you are thinking about starting up your own blog, then you will likely find these resources valuable.
1. Three sites that highlight great themes
Finding the WordPress theme of your dreams can be a daunting task. There are literally thousands of possibilities out there. Fortunately, I found a few sites that had done some of the work for me. They have gone through and identified the best of the best. There is still a lot to choose from, but at least the number is manageable. Take a look at these:
Best WordPress Themes – The tag line on this site states, “Sorting Wheat From Chaff Since 2007″. I’d have to agree. They have a great collection of links to some of the best themes available. The themes are categorized so you know from the start whether it is one-column, two-column, three-column, magazine-style, photo gallery, specialized, or premium. I highly recommend checking it out!
WordPress Premium – Although “premium” is included in this site’s name it includes free themes as well. A premium WordPress theme is generally one that you have to buy. Again, this site has a large collection of themes that are categorized nicely. It also offers some nice thumbnails of the themes to help you zero in on what you are looking for.
16 Free Premium WordPress Themes That Don’t Suck – Finally, if you are looking specifically for a free theme, then you want to check out this list. This article just goes to show you the versatility and flexibility of WordPress. Also, it is amazing at what you can get in a theme for absolutely no cost.
2. How to set up a copy of your blog for testing
Installing a new theme, upgrading to new a new version of WordPress, or just monkeying around in the back-end of your blog site can be a little frightening. To lower the stress, you may want to set up a testing and development copy of your site. I found some great instructions on how to do this.
Testing New WordPress Versions – This series of three articles is slanted toward setting up a separate copy of your blog for the purpose of testing a WordPress upgrade prior to doing it on your live site. However, the instructions apply to other scenarios as well. This set of articles offered the most detailed information that I could find including screenshots. If you haven’t done this, then this is a great place to start!
The premium theme I ultimately chose for my blog
After looking at numerous themes, I decided to go with the WP-Vybe 1.0 premium theme offered by Solostream. If you are interested, I suggest watching the demo video and checking out the WP-Vybe theme in action. Personally, I love all the options that are built-in and its magazine-style layout. It was a snap to apply. I couldn’t be happier!
What do you think of my new site theme?
What other WordPress theme resources have you used?
As I shared with you on Twitter, love the new theme. I read most of your posts from within Google Reader, but now I’ll have to visit your site more often to see this beautiful design.
Cheers!
Read Russ´s lastest article – Let’s be Honest About It
I like the new design, but I think the dark blue is a little too dark. I’d lighten it up. Also, the header is dying for a cool looking logo.
Hi Jeff,
Love the new theme. It looks very professional. It kind of makes me want to change things around on my site as well.
Read Steve C @ MyWifeQuitHerJob.com´s lastest article – Starting Your Own Business: Getting Beyond The Excuses
@Russ – I’m very happy with the new theme and I’m glad to hear you like it too!
@Kevin – I kind of like the dark blue. I started with a lighter blue, but this makes the text pop off the page better.
I’d love to get a cool logo. Any suggestions on how I can get one?
@Steve – I was a little antsy about making what seemed like such a big change, but getting this theme going was pretty easy. I’m glad I did it. If you are thinking about it, you should go for it!
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts!
Looks great Jeff! Very professional.
Read Ron@TheWisdomJournal´s lastest article – Countdown to College
Nice layout, clean colors, refreshing. WordPress rocks! Thanks for including the resources.
@Ron – I followed your lead and decided to try a new theme.
@Angelsong – WordPress does rock! It never ceases to amaze me.
Thanks for your feeback!
The overall design and layout is great. It makes topics easy to find and helps with navigation, however the dark blue colors and background personally doesn’t appeal to me. I feel more comfortable reading a blog that uses light colors.
Read Adam Sicinski´s lastest article – Basketball Movement Tactics | IQ Matrix
Very nice – I agree with the other commenters tho – the sidebar colors are a bit hard to read – either lighten up the background or make the letters white?
Top looks great.
Read Four Pillars´s lastest article – Four Pillars Sold!
@Adam – Thanks for the feedback on the colors. I have lightened things up significantly. I hope this helps!
@Four Pillars – I hope my effort on lightening up the sidebar worked. Thanks for your input!
Congratulations. Great job with the new layout. It is very professional looking.
Read Mary@SimplyForties´s lastest article – Shock at the Grocery Store
I love the new layout. Looking overall your list of suggestions on wordpress galleries, I was surprised that this one wasn’t listed (http://new-wordpress-themes.net) – it has a pretty good list there too.
But yeah… I like the placement of the google ads in the left sidebar!
Read Susan´s lastest article – Oceanside Beaches
I changed the look of my blog this weekend, too! Is this a synchronicity?
You look very cool. Great job.
@Susan – Thanks for adding another resource for finding a new theme!
@Akemi – Apparently, we were thinking along the same lines. Your new look and layout is very neat!
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts!
Hey Jeff, I did a double take! I love the new look, and I’m not usually a fan of dark backgrounds (too hard to read). You’ve done a great job, and I think magazine styles are such a good idea to showcase more of your content.
I recently switched over to the Revolution Magazine theme by Brian Gardner. It is so easy to work with. (It’s actually not available through him anymore as he’s released brand new open source themes.)