A blog theme is one of the most important aspects of any blog. It’s a visual representation of your brand, your content and what makes your blog unique from everybody else. A theme can make or break your blog. One of the things that make WordPress a very viable and popular choice as far as blogging platforms are concerned is the huge selection of free/premium themes and plugins.
In the past, self-hosted WordPress users were the only ones who were able to enjoy this benefit as WordPress.com users are limited to preselected free WordPress themes listed on the WordPress.com Theme Showcase. That’s no longer the case now because starting today, WordPress.com will now be offering premium themes to its users.
To start things off, WordPress.com will be offering two premium themes – the Headlines theme by WooThemes and the Shelf theme from Theme Foundry.
Headlines Theme ($45)
Looking for a clean and sophisticated magazine theme? One that elegantly showcases the best of your blog? With a Featured Post slideshow, multiple color schemes, multiple menus, control over post excerpting, and a clean design, Headlines might just be it!
Features:
- Two Columns
- Fixed Width
- Custom Colors
- Custom Menu
- Featured Images
- Full Width Template
- Sticky Post
- Theme Options
Shelf Theme ($68)
Shelf is a unique tumblelog style theme featuring a fluid and responsive design with an original horizontal look. With its use of media queries your site shall look great on the iPad, iPhone, and other modern mobile devices (you can even swipe to browse the content).
Features:
- Flexible Width
- Custom Background
- Custom Menu
- Featured Images
- Theme Options
If you’re a WordPress.com user and would like to purchase any of these premium themes for your blog, all you need to do is login to your dashboard and go to Appearance > Themes then look for the “Premium” link next to “Recently Added“. Users who purchase premium themes will have full access to the dedicated “premium themes” forum on the WordPress.com forums.
It’s good to see WordPress.com giving their users more options and I’m sure a lot of WordPress.com users would be very happy to hear this. This is just the start so expect to see more premium themes added to the WordPress.com Theme Showcase in the next few weeks or months.
Any WordPress.com users here? What do you think of this latest announcement? Any particular premium WordPress theme/s that you would like to see added to WordPress.com? Please share your thoughts.
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February 7th, 2011 at 1:18 AM
i find free themes better and easy than premium ones . blogs dont need a proffessonal theme , they need quality and organized content
February 4th, 2011 at 4:03 AM
I was actually searching for a nice theme for one of our business section. This one is worth considering.
Thanks for sharing dude!
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Not bad. Can users tweak or customize the premiums they bought on WP.com?
I hope so, if not then it would just be a very expensive theme change.