Wordpress Themes of 2009: The Evolution of the Do It Yourself Website

Yesterday I talked about the birth of “Motivate Thyself,” and the premium Wordpress theme I used to give the blog a face.  Now I’d like to discuss the fast paced evolution of WordPress themes, and how the average blogger can benefit.

What’s changed in the last 6 months?

A half year back, having the full ability to tweak your theme without monkeying with internal code was a rarity, to say the least.  Thesis was the only theme that even came close.  You could change both font type and size, content placement, sidebar size and position, as well as a host of other useful features.

Even with all that, it was still difficult to insert a custom logo or change the background of the blog.  It could be done, but not with the instantaneous click of the mouse that would make it simple for newbies.  iThemes Essence series, used by “Motivate Thyself”, had some phenomenal back end features, but was lacking in most other areas.

That was 6 months ago…

Fast forward to early ‘09.  Now you can enjoy a wide array of benefits from the latest batch of fantastic looking, internally robust, and easy to manipulate themes.  From iThemes, Flexx series (this is what’s beneath the hood of the Blueprint) to a few free offerings like Ikarus and Flexibility, consumers are experiencing the multiple benefits that come from thriving competition met by solid innovation.

Down to the details.

When you login to WordPress to make design adjustments on your blog, you are at the mercy of your theme’s back end features.  Let’s assume you’re not a design geek.   The latest batch of themes meets the average blogger with a host of new features that allow the user to easily adjust the theme from many available single click tweaks.  Programming skills not required.

Let’s return to Flexx for a moment.  As you can see, one of its excellent features is the ability to change the entire layout of your blog’s design with just a few simple clicks.  You can add a custom header, then adjust the background with a different color, or even an image if desired.  Heavy design tweaks that used to require at least a basic understanding of CSS and PHP (computer code), now do not.  This is an evolution that has swept the entire WordPress community, not just that of paid themes.  There are some excellent Wordpress themes offering similar features at the unbeatable cost of nada.

How about some negatives?

Well, if you DO know how to get under the hood of your blog and really tweak the heck out of it, you might find these newer features a bit cumbersome.  Before, you could just open up the lone style sheet and change a few things around and be able to do whatever you’d like with your theme.  Now you’ll find you must deal with multiple CSS files and more complicated coding.  You can still tweak to your hearts content as long as you’re willing to manipulate the more complex files.

It’s a bit like being a mechanic and working on a 21st century car.  You’re used to doing everything with a good old fashioned wrench, but now must fix several tons to a computer just to make a few adjustments on the engine.  There are now circuits where there were once just nuts and bolts.  To the average driver it’s all positives, but to the person lying on their back facing all the metal, the new advantages are coupled with complication.

The future looks bright!

Overall I’m ecstatic about the advances I’m seeing; better looks and increased functionality right out of the box.  This will narrow the field for the average blogger.  Great writing framed by bland blog design will become increasingly less common.  Just as blogging has leveled the playing field for the broadcast of our individual voice, these new Wordpress theme designs are making it so everyone can look like a blogging pro.

For those like myself, who like getting their hands dirty with a little code now and again, we’re just going to have to learn how to work with a bit more complexity.  That sounds just fine to me!

Eric

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