Comments on: Free WordPress Themes? Forget it. It’s Over.

By: The Best of Theme Lab in 2009 | Theme Lab

The Best of Theme Lab in 2009 | Theme Lab — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:43:16 +0000

[...] Free WordPress Themes Dead? – This post of mine was a response to a post at WPShout entitled Free WordPress Themes? Forget it. It’s Over. Basically, I disagreed that all free WordPress themes were dead, but rather lame, boring themes [...]

By: Peter Huntley

Peter Huntley — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:43:10 +0000

On thinking further, I believe that in the last 2-3 years, the number of WordPress users have increased manifold. In this state, if the theme is good, there are likely to be many WordPress sites who will use the theme. Many serious bloggers, including me, wouldn’t like that. However, I think that your theme would do well, as it looks good.

I believe that if the theme is good, it will eventually be used by many bloggers. It needs to be simple and elegant(read: super easy to install and configure) in addition to be being good looking.

By: Free WordPress (Portfolio/Personal Blog) Theme: Happy Go Try | WPShout.com

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:55:12 +0000

[...] recent discussion about the future of free WordPress themes and some criticism of the quality of said free themes, [...]

By: Alex Denning

Alex Denning — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:44:30 +0000

Hey Jean. Good to see you here

It’s true that the repository has a lot of crap on it, but that doesn’t mean all free themes are awful, not to any extent.

By: Alex Denning

Alex Denning — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Fair point. Whether SM is paying for those themes is another matter, but see your point.

By: Alex Denning

Alex Denning — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:55:59 +0000

Glad to see someone agrees with me

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:35:26 +0000

In my opinion people aren’t ignoring free themes. Well, they aren’t ignoring good free themes, and that is the main point. As mentioned in the comments above, the bar has been raised to an extremely high level. So much so, that a person looking for a theme will look for high quality themes and ignore the less than satisfactory ones.

Just look at the response Smashing magazine has with their free themes.

I’m afraid it’s the same in the big wide world. If you want to be noticed then you have to produce exceptional work. Simply shouting “look at me, look at me I can do that too, but not quite as well” no longer cuts it because of the sheer number of people doing that and the superfluous noise they are creating.

By: Alex Denning

Alex Denning — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:04:03 +0000

Fair point. But what happened to quality free themes? Sure, I’m not the best designer in the world and nor was I trying to release the best free theme ever with Biblioteca, but I’m not the only theme designer out there. The bar has been raised and now days we seem to be following whatever WooThemes do. As you say, they are of a high quality, but that’s no reason to just ignore free themes, is it? The point I’m making is ignore free themes and they’ll disappear. You’ll now say look at the quality of free themes, but as people are ignoring them, you don’t necessarily know about these new themes. And unless the community as a whole starts noticing these free themes, the quality will continue to deteriorate and they’ll eventually disappear. And that’s my point. They’re not quite dead. Yet. But they could well be soon.

By: Kevin Gilbert

Kevin Gilbert — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:00:31 +0000

Well said. Couldn't agree more. .-= Kevin Gilbert´s last blog ..WordCamp 2009 is here =-.

By: JohnONolan

JohnONolan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:47:54 +0000

Have you considered the face that they’re “premium” themes for a reason? No offense at all intended, but the quality of say WooThemes, is much higher than what you’ve done with Biblioteca. I don’t think it has anything to do with free or premium – the bar has been raised, and people are demanding higher quality, which currently only the premium guys are producing.

Fair play to them.
.-= JohnONolan´s last blog ..FreeAgent: Big Review + GiveAway =-.