Those of you with an eye for detail may have noticed that I changed the design of this blog recently and returned to using the Genesis framework. This is a framework I used for many years on this blog.
Rise Forums regulars will know that I have not been too impressed with many of the designs StudioPress has released over the last year or so. They are great looking designs, but I just feel that they are falling behind the competition a little and not taking any risks. I would like to a see a better variety in their designs.
I do, however, love the default Genesis theme and I know firsthand that support from StudioPress is always top notch. Time will tell whether I use continue using Genesis long term or whether it will be a stop gap until I find another design.
Searching for a new WordPress theme can be a tiring affair but in my search for a new design I did come across some great designs. I thought I would share some of them with all of you as I know you will love them.
1. BloMag
A stylish blogging template that was designed for bloggers and marketers. It has built-in MailChimp integration and the typography looks beautiful.
The theme also allows you to display a permanent widget in your sidebar that remains there when readers scroll down your page. This is a great location for an advertisement or for a newsletter sign up form.
2. Sense
Sense is a versatile blog design that offers over twenty different layout combinations.
It features three different header styles, newsletter sign up zones, custom widgets, and a colour chooser. It is undoubtedly one of the best looking blogging themes on the market at the moment.
3. Adaptation
Adaptation is a great looking WordPress blogging theme that was released today. It has support for seven blog post formats and includes five featured slider styles.
Custom widgets and custom shortcodes are also available together with an unlimited number of colour variations. One to consider.
4. Bone
Bone is a flexible WordPress design that comes with a large number of blog and magazine layouts. It supports post formats, has built-in review ratings and related post features, and it includes many custom widgets.
I highly recommend checking this one out if you are looking for a magazine style blog layout.
5. Presenter
Presenter is a clean blog design with four home page and blog layouts. It supports five blog post formats and allows you to choose an unlimited number of colours from the settings area.
The variety of home page layouts is refreshing. The default version is more suited to marketers while the blog layout adopts the traditional blog layout. There is also a grid layout that displays blog posts in multiple columns.
6. Expert
Promoted as being a theme for marketers, Expert can be adapted for many different types of blogs. It has many useful features including social media icons in the top navigation bar, big bold headings for articles, call to action bars, and a subscription widget.
Over six hundred Google fonts are available for selection and the colour scheme can be changed from the admin area.
7. Safir
A beautiful blog design that features six different single post layouts and two home page lauouts. It also has a built-in review system.
Other features include support for post formats, seven custom widgets, and four unique page templates.
8. Beans
Sanjay Ojha posted about Beans a few weeks ago on Rise Forums. It is a beautiful minimalistic WordPress framework that features a responsive design, adaptive images, great SEO support, and fast loading times.
The developer Thierry Muller dropped by Rise Forums and explained his vision of the framework.
Beans is 100% free to download and there has been a couple of great WordPress themes designed using the framework already. If you are looking for a minimal WordPress theme for your blog, I recommend checking it out.
9. Readable
Readable is a clean blogging WordPress theme with beautiful typography and support for multiple post formats.
The theme has full support for the WordPress theme customizer and comes packaged with a useful drag and drop page builder and many unique widgets.
I hope you have enjoyed this short list of good WordPress blogging themes.
What’s your favourite design? Please let everyone know in the comment area below :)
Thanks,
Kevin