WP Theme Review: DesignPile

DesignPile WordPress Theme

After the SimpleFolio theme, Smashing Magazine’s next free WordPress theme release is another awesome freemium theme called DesignPile which was created and released in collaboration with hosting reseller Site 5.

Short introduction from the Smashing Magazine post:

..we are glad to release DesignPile WordPress Theme, a theme designed by Site 5 and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The theme comes with 3 color styles and a couple of jQuery-based goodies. It can be used for portfolios and blogs as well as corporate webAs usual, the theme is free to use in private and commerical projects.

Features:

  • Widget ready (footer and sidebar)
  • Built-in gravatar support
  • Built-in threaded comments support
  • Theme Options Page
  • 3 Color Styles
  • Custom homepage
  • Simple Post Thumbnails Plugin
  • 125×125 ads section with enable/disable option, using “WP125″ plugin
  • JQuery Lightbox
  • JQuery Forms
  • AJAX-based based contact form
  • Live form email validation
  • Theme Requirements: WordPress 2.9.1+

Screenshots:
Homepage
DesignPile WordPress Theme

Post page
DesignPile WordPress Theme

My Take:
DesignPile is easily one of the best looking and best designed freemium WordPress theme released to date. I’m quite picky even with WordPress themes but I immediately fell in love with this theme the moment I saw it.

DesignPile has so many things going for it. Design-wise, it has a very nice custom logo, custom grungy background, custom date graphic, custom sidebar section title graphics (categories, recent comments, archives), a nice comment form with custom icons, the layout and spacing is well done, it has very good typography and has 3 color styles to choose from. Feature-wise, it has a custom homepage, a theme options page that usually doesn’t come with free WordPress themes, post thumbnails, banner ad management (via plugin), social bookmarking section with icons, a post author info section and a footer section to display content.

DesignPile requires a couple WordPress plugins to work – Simple Post Thumbnails and WP125 which both come with the theme download.

If you’re like me who’s into themes that have nice graphics and custom icons, I’m sure you’re gonna like the DesignPile theme. Aside from that, DesignPile comes with a lot of features that most free WordPress themes which gives the user a lot more flexibility and control over the theme. Thanks once again to Smashing Magazine for another awesome freemium WordPress theme release and also to Site 5 for designing the theme!

For further information regarding the installation and usage of this theme, check out the DesignPile WordPress theme documentation.

NOTE: This theme was scanned using the Theme Authenticity Checker and doesn’t contain any hidden or encrypted code.

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12 Comments

  1. @DiTesco – A new blog eh? Well, I can tell you that you’re starting it right because this theme is a very good choice. All the best with that up and coming blog of yours. :D

  2. This theme is very interesting and I have been looking for a free theme for a new blog. I will definitely give this a try. I just hope that one of the 3 color options suits my taste:) Thanks

  3. @WP Explorer – That’s great and it deserves to be on that list. Adding a jQuery slider is good and although that is the trend nowadays, not all bloggers like or need it. Anyways, with or without the jQuery slider this theme is still one of the best.

    Yup, Smashing Magazine rocks! :D

  4. I added this to my list of Top WordPress Theme as I definitely agree that is one of the best free premium-like themes released in a while. The only think I would have liked to see was a nice jQuery slider on the homepage as these are becoming more and more popular these days.

    Overall a great theme though…as always Smashing Rocks!

  5. @Joie – That’s right. The theme design, layout and features are premium quality, the only thing missing is support.

    Thanks for the kind words my friend! Its always a pleasure to share cool and free stuff to you guys. :D

  6. This themes looks like Premium themes. It is hard to find a good free wpthemes but Jaypee makes it easier by reviewing some good free wp theme. Thanks for sharing bai.

  7. @Jacques – It sure is! This are the types of themes/designs that I like and in this case, its not only beautiful but FREE! :D

    Running WordPress on XAMPP is fun but I prefer testing stuff on my sandbox because there are some elements that you can only do when its online.

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