@Derek: Glad to see you had such a positive experience with the Revolution theme.

@Richard: I guess it’s a matter of priority – I can sympathize with you, because I’ve been through that stage – and have to constantly fight changing themes. As Kyle mentioned already, modding a theme does take up a lot of time and energy, which could be used for other things, which will be looked at by you as more or less important.

@Kyle: Thanks for the kind words, I couldn’t have done it without you.

With most decisions, it comes down to a time vs. money thing. I personally would rather spend some money to buy a template and save some time. Others are the opposite and find their money more valuable than their time.

When I launch a new site, I generally start out with a template and build it into a unique look (though I try to have some consistencies across my sites to help develop a brand of sorts, such as the footer).

I will never understand the people that change their WordPress theme constantly. Even if I start with a template, it could take me a full day to get it customized to how I want it to look and that takes me away from doing productive things like blogging or domaining.

What I’m after is a theme that has all the functionality I need, that I could stick with for the long haul, yet modify whenever I get the urge for a new look and feel. No theme change required.

I’m currently working on my own theme to do just that, but man, it’s a lot of work. So kudos to those out there that consistently design and deliver quality themes.

Before purchasing the theme I knew virtually nothing about CSS or modifying a theme, but the simplistic nature of the theme in combination with great support allowed me to get exactly what I wanted.

In fact, I believe the theme here at hackwordpress is a mod off one of the revolution themes (and a well done one if I do say so myself!)

If you’re looking for a solid theme I would STRONGLY encourage any of the revoultion themes. I’ve used them on several sites already and plan to launch a gaming portal site using the theme in the coming weeks.