One Column Themes
DePo Skinny
A very simple one column theme with easy integration for your Flickr pictures at the top of the page. It is a real bare bone theme and is only 500 pixels wide. Though DePo Skinny does not have a sidebar it makes it up in the footer with a bottom sidebar to display additional information.
Being a one column theme main advertisement options are within the post itself.
Widget Ready: No Sidebar Options
Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.
Validations: Invalid XHTML 1.0 Transitional with 30 errors | Valid CSS
Two Column Themes
Twister 2.0
Twister 2.0 is made up of dark colors with a mix of gray and black with on a grayish background. The links are white in color and easy to spot with the darkish background. However the text color is harder to read in bright lights. This is an update over the earlier version which includes CSS code cleanup a fix for sidebar in IE6 and a new addition of 3 new columns in the footer.
Overall a good looking theme which is a bit more than simple. Main flaw is that there is very limited advertisement options.
Widget Ready: Yes
Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.
Validations: Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Invalid CSS with 90 warnings
Codelog
Codelog is a minimalistic two column theme with sparse use of colors. The theme consists of a sidebar and navigation to the left side. The right side consists of the content area.
Codelog theme is quite simple and makes use of 3-4 colors. Advertising options are limited to the content area.
Widget Ready: No
Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.
Validations: Valid XHTML 1.1 | Valid CSS
Three Column Themes
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace is a fast loading theme made with light colors that are variants of green. There are two levels of menus one on the top of the page and one included in the header which are quite diversified to gain maximum user attention on the top of the page.
The link colors are a bit dull and a darker shade would look more better. Other than that a good theme which can be optimized to include better advertisement options.
Widget Ready: Yes
Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.
Validations: Invalid XHTML 1.0 Transitional with 45 errors Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional| Valid CSS
ColorblindS
Colorblinds is a dark 3 column theme with minimal use of colors, the background is made up of gray and black with small squares and rectangles forming part of the background image. The text is again gray with the links a mix of variations of green. Comes built with a drop down menu which I don’t see would be useful for regular blogs. Overall quite a simple theme and good for blogs which do not want much fanfare.
The major backdrop is advertising options are quite limited for both contextual as well as banner ads.
Widget Ready: Yes
Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers. In IE6 I could see some color loss in the content area.
Validations: Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS
Hey Keith,
Like the way the themes are organized here.
I like the way you did this round of theme releases as well. However, I would recommend making one small change … be sure to link to the theme’s release page if the author has one set up. There may be things on the release page that the user needs to know.
awesome, these are going to come in handy
@Ronald glad you liked it 🙂
@Nathan will keep this in mind the for the next time.
Nice, amybe include a thumbnail too 🙂
new format of releases?
All future releses will be this way? just wondering….
Srik your looking at the new format of releases, it will be so for quite some time now. About thumbnails am not so sure but will try and do that too.
First… I was “jonesing” for a new theme release… even if I don’t use them I like looking at them. I think the last one was 01/08/08. To long… 🙂 (I know you can’t control when themes are released.)
Second… I love the new layout and design of the theme information. A thumb would be icing on the cake, however, I do enjoy going and visiting the author’s site(s).
Great job guys…
yes please, let them come to our sites and download the themes, that way we get some traffic and they can get a look at other themes of ours 🙂
Amazing Grace is an excellent theme!
Cool, much like the way ive been doing it, it does help people know more about a theme.
I like the new setup. I can keep my RSS reader open now and demo the themes immediately!
Keep it up THNX!
User Fendly 😀 special for nubie
I also like how the themes are organized although I would love to see download link lead you to theme release page instead of direct download.
Doesn’t Flock use Gecko? Generally if something displays right in Firefox it should display right in other browsers using Gecko.
Anyway, I like the new format of theme release posts, it’s much better and readers can learn more about themes without having to click links first.
Good job on your first theme related post Keith. I too enjoy this new format. You even present validation stats for those that want them. As the others have said, thumbnail is not required, but would be icing on the cake.
I like the new format too, but I agree with others that you should provide a link to the author’s download page. I actually think you should give that as opposed to the download link. I, as I’m sure many theme designers do, provide vital information that users need to read before downloading.
Well, after just finishing my new theme I’m on the lookout for more inspiration.
Thanks for the themes! 🙂
I really like this new format for new theme releases. 🙂 Much more helpful.
Nice theme layout – easier to check out the new themes.
And I honestly only love the DePo theme … very slim, elegant and simple. I like it. The rest are ok, but nothing else really strikes me. Sorry!
the amazing grace theme site no longer appears to be online. Where did they go? lol
The Amazing Grace theme looks very much like the one used at http://www.blogsociete.com/ (According to the footer link it’s called PortraitPress). I admit the colors are different, but the layout and many elements look quite identical. At the Amazing Grace website, there is no hint that the theme is a variation of another theme.
Does this seem strange only to me?
Agreed, like the new format for the weekly theme releases. Helps us find what we need easier.
How about a thumbnail? 🙂
I am the author of Amazing Grace. First thanks all for all the positive feedback, you’ve been wonderful.
Jeffro2pt0: Yea the site might have been unavailable shortly this day due to massive amounts of downloads I think I went over my quota 🙂
Alex: You are right, I have hired Magnus (the author of PortaitPress) to do the initial design and I took it from there.
Is this the correct link? http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/ I can not for the life of me get the page to load. Server not found. Firefox can’t find the server at http://www.prelovac.com
That’s the correct link, and I can confirm people accessing and downloading the theme as we speak so it must be something on your side.. or gremlins of course
I’m weighing in with the majority here… nice format for the Theme reviews. I appreciate the time you put into presenting this information to the WTC audience. Blog on!
Love the post but I’ve gotta say: there’s absolutely no reason why people should be releasing invalidly coded themes. That’s just lazy.
I agree, I love the ratings and error report for each theme!
Vladimir (#23), thanks for clarifying.
@Alex (#21) No, you’re not the only one to think that was strange. I even compared the styles.css files and found them strikingly similar, enough to not know which one to use. (Don’t want to reward an uncredited derivation.) Trusting him to be truthful, I’m glad Vladimir jumped in here to clarify.
I finished my modifications to the Codelog theme and I’m now using it on my site. The most significant changes are to make it widget-aware and to support both fixed- and fluid-width layouts. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
David