Where To Look For High Quality WordPress Themes

The favorite hunting ground for those looking for new themes used to be the official WordPress Theme Directory until they stopped accepting new themes some while ago. Although the directory has been revived recently, submissions of new themes has been slow and at time of writing there were only 10 themes available at the New WordPress Theme Directory. Of course given the previous popularity of this portal, I have no doubt that things will start to pick up real fast.

There are practically hundreds of sites that offers free theme downloads but most of the themes found are sponsored themes. Some contains malicious codes that are so well hidden that most users will never know that they are passing out link juice freely. Of course there are also some honest ones who declares clearly that the theme is a sponsored one and courteously request that the links at the footer of the theme remains intact if you decide to use the theme. Personally, I have no problems with one or two links at the footer. The designer has spent hours designing and coding the theme and I think it is fair if he makes some money from the work that he has done. However, as far as possible, I try to avoid using sponsored themes. There are tons of other themes that are free of sponsored links like the free blog layouts that Simone has on her blog.

Then of course most theme designers offers some free themes along with their premium ones. Some are really of excellent quality. Sites like Dezzain Studio which does Personal Web and Blog Design carries lots of high quality but yet Free Themes. Another good resource is WordPress Themes By Sadish who is famous for his hugely popular MistyLook Theme, the theme that John Chow used and personalized before getting his own design. Chris Pearson, the guy who owns The Best Damn Blog in The Planet, and who is responsible for Probloger’s old theme also offers a number of very good and well SEO-ed WordPress Themes. His Cutline Theme has a cult following. Even though he has sold the theme to anew management, the popularity of this theme has never weaned.

If you google for the term “free wordpress themes”, you will find millions of page hits, but even though beggars cannot be choosers, do keep in mind that you might end up with a dirty theme. As laymen, with no resources to check if the theme is clean, the best way is to download themes from reputable sites. Sites like WPDesigner, owned previously by Small Potato before he sold it to Pawel Ciszewski, offers Free WordPress Themes that can be trusted and downloaded with a peace of mind.

For the latest releases of New WordPress Themes, the place to head for is of course, WebToolsCollection. Other than periodically showcasing new themes that has been checked for malicious codes and links, there is also a forum for designers to post their New WordPress Themes and also Premuim WordPress Themes. However, free themes posted there have not gone through the filters and there lots of sponsored themes being posted. It’s up to you to decide if you want it.