Comments on: WordPress Theme Forecast

By: Roberto

Roberto — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:36:03 +0000

Interesting article I was looking for something like this. thanks Jeff

By: Andreas

Andreas — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:57:00 +0000

I’ve noticed a big interest from the tiny group that knows about my take on the “premium theme” view. I have been planning to do something that nobody has done before and probably not even seen as an option (it is a bit out of the box), that would bring some fresh ideas into the theme world. I don’t want to reveal the entire concept yet since I’m a slow worker and need some more time before everything works as I want it to, but some of the features are very likely being developed by others as well - although separately or as a part of other larger concepts. Some of those less dramatic features are:

- Automatic theme updates.

- Theme addons (like shopping cart, contact form, expanded plugin support etc. pre-styled for the theme - a useful addition to regular widgets and plugins)

- Layout widgets (haven’t seen anyone do this yet, but I am sure that this will common in the future since it is incredibly useful. See below…)

- Multi-design themes. I have built a theme based on an old modular CSS template I made years ago which has 9 different general layouts, 4 different color schemes and 17 internal style blocks that can be freely combined to create hundreds of different designs from one single theme (or website template - it can probably be ported for other systems than WP as well). Uses layout widgets, which unfortunately makes the theme quite slow - but I’m working on that as well…

Those are some of the ideas. More will be presented once I manage to get it all pieced together! I am not really interested in being one of the “movers” or “shakers” in the theme world, I am just looking for different ways of helping people improving the quality of their blogs and websites. But sometimes it is fun to do something special.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:48:31 +0000

First to build a shopping cart theme that accepts major credit cards will have something worth paying for.

Perhaps they’ll make it into a plugin?

By: Premium WordPress Links for 10.03.08 | Premium WordPress

Premium WordPress Links for 10.03.08 | Premium WordPress — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:48:07 +0000

[...] WordPress Theme Forecast Not to be left out, Weblogtoolscollection.com also reports of the premium WordPress theme future issues and asks for your thoughts on the issue. [...]

By: W-Shadow

W-Shadow — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:11:16 +0000

Built-ins will replace plugins.

Not going to happen. Plugins are much more flexible.
Personally, I’d like to see more widget/sidebar stuff, but I don’t see any trends leading to that.

By: skarld

skarld — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:10:21 +0000

Premium designers are already running scared. Design and layout will not be enough. Functionality with reign. Built-ins will replace plugins. First to build a shopping cart theme that accepts major credit cards will have something worth paying for.

By: Mark Fulton

Mark Fulton — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:22:50 +0000

I think the future of WordPress themes will be innovative and have much more functionality and be very easy to customize colors and layout.

The new WordPress Market Theme is a prime example of what is to come. Taking a very minimalistic layout and including built in functional storefront.

Also, things like your other article on making WP into a membership directory.

Exciting times for web developers indeed.

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:20:41 +0000

I can tell you where the future isn’t: sites like Themeshaper.com that don’t have print CSS (if you must know I wanted to read the article in the can).

But seriously, I almost never see print.css in themes and it would nice if theme designers started doing that. I customized the Cutline theme for my own site and had to make my own print.css. If anyone out there uses Cutline feel free to grab my print.css for free.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:31:27 +0000

i think everyone is gonna end up having to pay for premades (for those who cant design for themselves). since all the big theme maker names are doing it already.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:04:23 +0000

See, I think widgets and options pages are going to be more available, because I see more WPMU-based site owners looking for themes that their users can easily modify.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:38:31 +0000

Well done, you didn’t mention Shifter once It may well be the future.

I think though that a lot of people are placing too much emphasis on widgets and sidebars. They are great, but I think someone will come up with a much more intuitive interface for laying out content and widgets will remain small content pieces.

I also think that the fremium themes will catch up with the premium themes and the margins will begin to disapear. I suspect that premium themes may morph into basic platforms and the developers will be paid to customise them instead of the blog owner paying for the theme and customizing it themselves. A halfway house between premium and custom.