I don’t claim to be a designer, but I have been in the “market” for a number of years, and have seen thousands of themes promoted and designed. Over the course of two years, more than five hundred themes have been showcased on this site, and I’ve reviewed thousands more across other sites.
The method many designers use to promote their free and premium themes has changed somewhat over the past few years, but the main areas that they should be addressing haven’t really changed, and I’d like to point them out today.
Sure, these aren’t the main areas everyone looks at, but they should be main focus points if you are serious about creating high-quality themes that can be used for years to come.
1. Have a Consistent Format
When you release a theme, develop a format that will work for all of your themes. For example, you might want to place a screenshot of the theme at the top, with a list of features below this, etc., in a manner that makes it easy for anyone who wants to download/purchase the theme easy to discover what separates it form the rest of the themes.
2. Clear Download/Purchase/Demo Links
There is nothing worse for someone who wants to use the theme than one that makes it hard to find the links to download, demo, or purchase the theme. Many theme designers focus on this, as it generates them cash, but others make it hard to find. Even if the theme is free, you want people to download and use the theme – you put all the time and effort into creating it, after all.
Styling links or placing them in the sidebar are good ideas, but even placing the links beneath a main screenshot of the theme can also help.
3. The Demo – It Has to Showcase the Theme’s Potential
Many “demo” sites theme developers/designers set up do not properly showcase the theme’s potential, or the elements aren’t properly used. It’s the same way with the WordPress Theme Directory. Use it as a prime example of how not to setup a demo. All the themes on the site use a default set of posts and the layout can be thrown off many of the previews on the site.
If your theme supports video, showcase this ability. Don’t leave out the standard HTML/CSS elements, and clean everything up, so when your users go to download/purchase and use the theme, they have the default template the way you wanted it to look.
4. Support Requests
I realize that it costs time, and in turn, money to support the themes you develop, but there should be at least some understanding that you address some of the questions and problems users are having. Reply to at least 10% of the comments users have left, and this will show that you are willing to support your work. Charge users for any customizations they want and if they are having severe problems with trying to use the theme.
This doesn’t mean that you have to provide the theme with “full” support, but please address some of the comments received within the release post.
5. IFrames
In recent theme releases, I’ve seen more designers incorporating IFrames into their demo sites, which leads to some problems. If you want others to promote your theme (it can be either free or premium/commercial), you need to build it in a way that allows them to remove it by going through a direct link to preview the theme. Otherwise, all the screenshots will have to be edited, and knowing the time it takes to create all the screenshots, it can draw some people away from promoting your theme.
I see the benefits of using IFrames, but they should be built in a way that they aren’t fully integrated into the theme, but can be removed at will.
6. Pricing
Maybe this belongs into a new discussion, but I find it frustrating to find theme designers changing their pricing all the time. Customers who see the pricing one day and then visit a week later want to see the same price and not some huge shift. It draws people away from premium themes and it is a practice that should be avoided.
I understand price rises and cuts, but it doesn’t help when the price changes frequently and you have ten price points across all the themes, rather than two to four main points for the different licenses.
7. The Styling of Themes
Spacing is extremely important in themes. I’m really drawn away from themes where text isn’t spaced properly from other elements. Even though I don’t consider myself a designer by any stretch, it distracts the readers from the content, and into the design of your theme. This isn’t good if you put a lot of time into your content.
All the standard HTML – header, bold, italic, etc. elements should also look beautiful. Typography is important, no matter what type of theme you are designing.
8. Lists of Features
Often, I find the list of features lacking on a majority of the themes that have ben released. It seems quite obvious from the standpoint of the designer to highlight what the theme features, but maybe it is more about the looks of the theme?
I want to see a full list of all the features, including whether it is widget-ready, has customization options, etc. What are the abilities of the theme, and how can the theme be used?
9. Include Everything
Whether or not you release a theme for free or at a cost, everything required for use should be included. If you’ve been testing the theme with a particular plugin, provide a URL link for the user to download it, or include the plugin if applicable.
Users looking for free themes (and if they’ve paid for it) want to be able to use the theme after downloading it, rather than having to customize it to look the way the demo looks or how it was intended to be used. Note that this doesn’t mean you have to stop charging for the PSD files (often included in developer packages).
10. Page Templates
404 pages, search results pages, and archives pages are becoming more standard. At one time, most bloggers didn’t focus on these pages, but they are more important today than ever before.
The default search page included with WordPress is rather standard, but the best search results pages answer questions and provide links to pages where the answer may be found. Archives pages that have been designed update automatically with new content, without the need of a plugin.
Conclusion
I hope these main points reflect what others feel in terms of what is lacking across most themes released. While I like the work many designers are releasing, it can be frustrating when some of the “best” designers leave out or skimp out on some of the most important factors of a great design.
What are your thoughts on the points mentioned?
January 14th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Thanks for the Post, I hope you have a nice day!
January 14th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Thank you very much for providing this post.
October 7th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Very good article. Keep up the good work
April 1st, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Great site. Design is definitely my passion. I’m so happy I found this site. Will definitely be checking back in for updates.