Although WP Hacks was originally setup with WordPress Hacks in mind, based upon our readers needs we’ve invested a lot of time over the past year and a half into researching WordPress themes and providing you with a large selection of WordPress theme galleries.

Back when this website was launched the premium themes market didn’t exist yet, so we had originally placed our focus on the different types of free WordPress themes.  The result was a bunch of galleries broken down into types.

Since that time, a second market has emerged known as premium WordPress themes (premium was the term originally used to describe a more advanced or higher quality WordPress theme).   Over time we adapted and now offer a variety of both types of theme galleries.  

I always felt there is a market for both types of themes in the WordPress community, but some shoppers don’t know which of the two they should be looking at.   Add in the fact that too many designers over the past year have released low quality themes under the ”premium” business model, and a lot of people have been left unhappy with their purchases and an overall loss of trust in the premium themes market as a whole.   

So, if you were shopping for a new WordPress theme for your website or blog, what should you be looking for?   Based upon the individuals needs of the shopper, there are a variety of factors that should be considered, but it mostly boils down to three essential factors:

1. Price - Is the theme free?  If there is a cost associated with the theme, am I getting the right value for the price?   In the price category, free WordPress themes are always going to have an advantage, but there are a few downsides to going this route.   Free themes usually require you to leave the link in the footer, while many premium themes do not.   Many free themes are also unsupported, so if you aren’t comfortable hacking your own theme, it may be worth the price to purchase a supported theme.   There is also minimal risk of sponsored links or malicious code showing up in a purchased theme. 
2. Quality – Another obvious point of comparison between free WordPress themes and premium WordPress themes is the quality of the themes.   There are a number of high quality free WordPress themes and (as mentioned above) there are some low quality premium themes.   When looking for your theme, the designer or design companies reputation is everything.   Does the theme I want offer control panel options, cross browser compatibility, or widget support? Are there multiple layouts and color choices to choose from?
3. Support – Although support isn’t going to be relevant for some people looking who have the ability to customize their own theme, for most shoppers this should be the most important factor.   Some free themes offer support from the designer, but most do not.   If you decide to purchase a theme, you are usually paying as much for the support as you are for the acutal theme!   Does this designer have trustworthy testimonials?  Do you know any existing customers who are happy with the support they are receiving?  

What do you value most when shopping for the right free or premium WordPress theme for your website or blog?  I know most of the WordPress theme designers read this site and will see your feedback, so let us know in the comments!

Updated: March 29, 2013

As WordPress continues to grow in popularity, more and more designers are realizing the potential of building WordPress themes.   In addition to the financial benefits, designers can also use WordPress themes to create additional inbound links, improve their reputation as a designer, and of course help generate freelance work.

Because of the huge size of the WordPress theme market, it has become increasingly difficult to find a good way to browse through the available WordPress themes.   Unfortunately I don’t have a solution, but I have spent several hours trying to sort through the available themes and create a gallery to display many of the top designs in both the free and premium WordPress theme markets.  Currently this page has over 150 WordPress themes, plus a few known theme clubs thrown in at the bottom for people that prefer that route.

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Blog WordPress Themes

Vintage Theme

Source | Demo

Blues Theme

Source | Demo

Shades of Blue Theme

Download | Demo

PassionDuo Theme (3 Colors)

Green: Demo | Download, Red: Demo | Download, Blue: Demo | Download

SimpleWP Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Evolution Theme

Source | Download | Demos: Blue, Green, Red

GlossyBlue Theme

Source | Demo

Color Paper Theme

Source | Demo

StudioPress Theme

Source | Demo

Several3 Theme

Download | Demo

Mag on Wood Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Simply Ornate Theme

Source | Demo

Agregado Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Daily Press Theme

Source | Download

Curious Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Rewire Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Daily32 Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Digital Statement Theme

Source | Download

Maggo Theme

Download | Demo

Firebug Theme

Source | Download

Black and White Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Xplosive Theme

Source | Download

Blog oh Blog Theme

Source | Download

Blue Block Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Dark Zen Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Tomodachi Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Blue Dream Theme

Source/Demo | Download

Simple Red Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration) | Demo

True Blue Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration) | Demo

Silveray Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Rhea Theme

Source | Download

Aspire Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Velocity Theme

Source | Download

Techicon Theme

Source | Download

Biz Theme

Download | Demo

Quadruple Blue Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Lightsource Theme

Comes with $20.00 subscription to Elegant Themes Club!

Source/Demo | Download

Prose Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Canvas Blogging Theme

Multiple-Use ($70.00), Developer’s Pack ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Mag.net Blog Theme

Single-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Glow Blog Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Flexx Blog Theme

• Over 1,000 Possible Layout Combinations!
• Completely widget based
• Multiple Styles to choose from

Multiple-Use ($79.95), Developer’s Pack ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

PersonalPress Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Social Life Blog Theme

Multiple-Use ($75.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Thesis Theme Framework

Single-Use ($87.00), Developer’s Pack ($164.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Genesis Theme Framework (by StudioPress)

Multiple-Use ($59.95), Developer’s Pack ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

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Magazine/News CMS WordPress Themes

Options Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Hamasaki Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Structure Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Visionary Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Mimbo Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Morning After Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Forte Theme

Source | Download | Demo

The Studio Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Arthemia Free Theme (Premium Version Also Available)

Source | Download | Demo | Premium Version of Arthemia

Guzel Magazine Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Newsweek Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Studio WordPress Theme (Available in Blue, Green, & Red)

Source | Download | Demo

Transparency Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Slick Press Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Cellar Heat Theme

Source | Download | Demo

MonarTech Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Lifestyle Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP Smooth Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Zenko Magazine Theme

Multiple-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Magazine WordPress Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Blissful Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Manifesto Magazine Theme

Multiple-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Chatter Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP Sublime Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Elle Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Boutique Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Legacy Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Vintage Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Prosper Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Modern Blogger Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Minimal Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Mocha Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Tribune News Theme

Multiple-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Polished Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Amped Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Gadget Theme

Multiple-Use ($39.95), All Theme Junkie Themes ($69.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Streamline Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Evertis Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Serenity Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Blog Newspaper Theme

Multiple-Use ($59.00), Developer’s Pack ($179.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

NewsTube Theme

Multiple-Use ($39.95), All Theme Junkie Themes ($69.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Emporium E-Commerce Theme

Single-Use ($69.00), Multiple-Use ($99.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Monograph Magazine Theme

Multiple-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

News WordPress Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Cube Light Theme

Multiple-Use ($39.95), All Theme Junkie Themes ($69.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP Launch Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

eNews Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

WP Ellie Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

My App WordPress Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Lumin Magazine Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

WP Genius Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Bigfoot Theme

Multiple-Use ($39.95), All Theme Junkie Themes ($69.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Going Green Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Bold Magazine Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Arthemia Premium Theme

Multiple-Use ($59.95), Developer’s Pack ($159.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

The Source Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Memoir Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Crystal Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Newswire Theme

Multiple-Use ($39.95), All Theme Junkie Themes ($69.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Nova Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

My Cuisine Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Fabric Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Yamidoo Magazine Theme

Multiple-Use ($69.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Glider Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

WP Media Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

In Review Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase MembershipOutreach Church Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Magnificent Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Chameleon Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Foundation Church Theme

Included with iThemes Builder Theme ($127.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Pretty Young Thing Kids Theme

• Child Theme of Genesis Theme Framework

Multiple-Use ($59.95), All StudioPress Themes ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP Jazz Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Newspaper Theme

Multiple-Use ($59.00), Developer’s Pack ($159.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

“On The Go” Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

Aggregate Theme

Included with Elegant Themes Club Membership! ($39.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase Membership

WP Clear Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Glide Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($179.00), Developer’s Pack ($279.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Whether you are in the market for a new custom WordPress theme, premium WordPress theme, or a free WordPress theme, their is one often forgotten factor that you should be considering when shopping for a new WordPress theme.  That factor is the reputation of the theme author.

Why is author reputation so important?   In addition to things like quality, theme support, etc., you’ve also got to worry about potential problems such as unknown links (these are usually hidden and could get your blog banned from search engines if discovered) and things like malicious code being run via your WordPress theme.

Recently Viper007Bond wrote about a theme that was discovered with hidden links (not the same thing as sponsored links):

What I found inside the theme’s footer.php file though was tons of malicious code. The entire contents of the file was heavily encoded (it was encoded with gzinflate(), str_rot13(), and base64_decode() around 150 times) and a ton of eval()’s. Since I was curious what it was doing, I wrote some PHP to decode it without using the nasty (and unsafe) eval()’s and I finally ended up with the HTML for the footer file (I assume to stop people from removing the code) and some more crazy eval() PHP code to display links to websites.

Luckily the code was just there to insert links (although using such a theme is a good way to get banned from Google), the PHP could just as easily have stolen passwords and other things. Remember, themes are exactly like plugins — they can execute code. You wouldn’t download a random program off and Internet and run it on your PC, so why would you do it with a plugin or theme?

So please, only download themes and plugins from reputable sites such as WordPress.org. If in doubt, don’t use it.

The author cites QualityWordPress.com as the source of this theme, so I would recommend avoiding this site if you are looking for a new theme.

Conclusion

There is a good chance that no matter which theme you end up going with (free, premium, or custom) you are going to be fine, but author reputation is just one more thing that should factor into your decision.   Find a theme made by an author you can trust.  I’ve seen many situations over the past couple years where people unknowingly get banned from Google or run into other problems because they made a bad choice when picking their theme.

Do you factor an authors reputation (word of mouth) and theme support into your decision before downloading/buying a WordPress theme?   I know I do and I also try to keep that in mind whenever I support a theme by adding it to our WordPress theme galleries.

Inspired by the well-known Mimbo theme by Darren Hoyt, OpenBook is a free Magazine style WordPress theme, which doesn’t require you to manually edit a file.

I first realeased this theme in January, but at this time it was only available in French. So it is the very first English version.

Download OpenBook

Download OpenBook 2.2 WordPress Theme: zip archive

If you’re looking for a live demo, check out my personal blog which uses this theme.

OpenBook Features

Here’s what you can expect in OpenBook theme:

• Magazine-style homepage, including 2 columns and SmoothGallery for your featured posts.
• 100% Gravatar compatible.
• Custom fields to insert images on the homepage gallery, on homepage posts and in categories posts.
• Magazine-style dropdown-menu for your categories.
• Not manual editing required. After installing the theme, you’ll find an OpenBook tab under Design, where you can set up the options for the theme, including featured posts, featured category, blog logo, number of posts to display on the gallery, categories to display on the blog homepage…
• If you hate Internet Explorer 6 as I do, you’ll probably be happy: OpenBook have an option which litteraly crash IE6 if checked. If unchecked, IE6 will not crash and people who (still) use it will see your blog just as other users.
• Compatible with Firefox 2, Firefox 3 beta, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 6. (OpenBook is also probably compatible with other browsers like Konqueror, I just haven’t tested it myself)
• Widget-ready sidebar
• SEO-friendly titles
• Page templates for Links and Archives
• Compatible with WordPress 2.3 to 2.5.1

Installing OpenBook

OpenBook install is like installing any WordPress theme: Unzip the archive, and upload the openbook22-en directory into the wp-content/themes of your WordPress install.

Then, go to your WP administration panel, Design » Theme and select OpenBook.

Now, you should go to Design » OpenBook and fill the various fields:

• Your blog logo url
• ID of your featured category
• Number of posts to display in SmoothGallery.
• IDs of categories to display on the homepage.
• If you want to make any IE6 crash, just check the related checkbox.
• Number of posts to display on the homepage, by category

Configuring SmoothGallery

SmoothGallery is a very pretty mootools script by Jonathan Schemoul which display posts along with big images. In order to configure it, you must create a new category (In this exemple, we’ll call it featured) and report its ID to Design » OpenBook.

When you want to show a particular post in the SmoothGallery, just edit the post and check the featured category. Of course, you can add the post to other categories as well.

Now, you should define an image that will display in SmoothGallery. Juste create a custom field, give it featuredimg as key and your image url as value. Once saved, the post will be displayed in SmoothGallery.

The ideal SmoothGallery image size is 600*250 pixels. You can use different size, but the image will be cropped or will not fill all the available space.

Using custom fields to display images in posts

As I said above, it is possible to assign one or more image(s) to a post. Theses images will be displayed on the homepage, or in categories pages, depending of the custom field used.

Here’s the custom fields keys, and the place where the images will be displayed.

• featuredimg » The image will be displayed in SmoothGallery (Only if the related post is in the featured category)
• Image » The image will be displayed along with its related post, on the homepage.
• catimage » The image will be displayed in category pages. Ideal size is 125*125 pixels.

Please note

The OpenBook theme is (and will stay) 100% free. I also try to always help people who use it as much as I can. The only thing that I’m asking, is that you leave my link on the theme footer. Thanks in advance

Edit on July 3, 2008: I just wrote a simple tutorial for modifying OpenBook color scheme. You can read it here.

Updated: March 29, 2013

About a month ago, I sent a call out to the WordPress community requesting that more themes be released that by default include slots for 125×125 banners. These ad ready WordPress themes are all the rage, yet it seems that few designers took the time to optimize their themes for these banners. Common sense says that if there is very little supply but a lot of demand, the people that fill the demand will find tremendous success.

In looking at the recent trends with newly released themes over this past month, it seems that bloggers have really responded and there is now a wide variety of WordPress themes available for download. I decided there are finally enough of them now that I can throw together a gallery of WordPress themes that allow for 125×125 banners. Enjoy!

Update:  The below are all free WordPress themes.  If you’d like to get a more advanced WordPress theme, check out our Premium WordPress Themes gallery.

2-Column Themes

Typebased Theme

Source/Demo | Download

Vintage Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Blues Theme

Source | Download | Demo

PassionDuo Theme (3 Colors)

Green: Demo | Download, Red: Demo | Download, Blue: Demo | Download

WP Freemium Theme

Source | Download

Dark Zen Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Maggo Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Green Tech Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Blue Sensation Theme

Source | Download | Demo

3-Column Themes

Padangan Theme

Source | Download | Demo

SimpleWP Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Black and White Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Firebug Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Simple Red Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration)

True Blue Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration)

WP Premiere Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Magazine-Style Themes

Structure Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Forte Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Mag on Wood Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Studio WordPress Theme (Available in Blue, Green, & Red)

Source | Download | Demo

Know of a good quality one we missed? Contact us or let us know in the comments below!