In this post I would like to talk a little bit about what makes a good wordpress theme. Do you think your blog’s theme is good? Check out the following list of characteristics I’ve created to see if there’s an idea on how your theme could get even better:

Layout

Before thinking of a theme, you should already have your blog’s concept ready and at least know the answers to the following questions:

• How many categories do you want to show?
• Are you going to put banners or other ads on your blog?
• How should your front page look like?
• Are you planning to integrate a search feature on your blog?
• How about combining your blog with your twitter account, e. g. via a “latest tweets” section?
• Are you looking for a free theme or do you prefer a more advanced theme and are willing to pay a small amount of money?
• Do you usually incorporate a lot of pictures in your blog posts, or are you going to maintain your blog rather text-based?
• Would you like to offer a newsletter to complement your blog?
• Where is the RSS subscribe button going to be?

As you can see, you really should have your concept clear before starting out to look for a suitable blog theme. If you’re not sure about the answer to one or more of the questions above, relax! Sit down, get a piece of paper and a pencil, and start drafting what your blog should look like.

Customizability

Althouth you might have a clear concept of your blog now, I’m absolutely sure the concept will change. Not only due to your focus slightly shifting, but also because your audience might suggest some ideas that cause you rethink your concept. That’s no problem at all, as long as your theme allows these changes.

Many free themes expect you to have in-depth knowledge on web development with HTML or Java Script. Other, slightly more advanced (and commercial) themes will allow you to do a great number of customizations right via the wordpress user interface.

Have this aspect in mind when comparing different themes and theme authors, and ask for possibilities to customize the themes’ behaviour so it better fits into your blog’s concept.

Thesis

It was my fault, I admit it! I’m going to take the entire responsibility for one of my biggest failings since I began dabbling in the world of blogs: I didn’t use the Thesis Theme right away. I used one of those free themes you can download everywhere … just to find out a couple of days after installing them that they just didn’t meet my expectations. It’s more … I spent hours and hours trying to adapt them, later writing my own themes from scratch, but I’ve never accomplished a blog theme as great and flexible as Thesis.

In case you there is the remote possibility of you taking your blog seriously throughout some time, invest the few dollars and get your own Thesis theme – it’s well worth it! Apart from complying with current web standards, there is no other wordpress theme as flexible and customizable as Thesis. It comes with several layouts and easy ways to adapt them so they suit your needs, so instead of spending some days creating your own theme from scratch, start off with Thesis Theme and later adapt it in case you’re not 100% satisfied!

Web Standards

Following the standards is really important, especially when trying to accomplish decent search engine rankings, or creating barrier free web sites. For these reason, when choosing a theme for your blog, try to consider using of the available XHTML syntax checks, like W3C’s validator, for example. Thesis Theme comes with a 100% valid HTML code, so that right from the beginning your blog will be technically optimized for search engines and other standard-sensitive front-ends like mobile phones, etc.

Search

Never underestimate the importance of having a good search function on your blog. People might come across your blog and want to know what you wrote about tuning on your blog about BMWs. I recommend trying your blog’s search function once in a while to have an idea about what people are going to see when searching for certain expressions.

Of course, the search function must be fully integrated in the blog’s design and supported by the theme you choose. As you can see on my blog, Thesis offers a smooth integration facilitating a blog’s usability.

Which blog themes do you use? Have you considered using a commercial theme? Which other aspects are important at the moment of choosing a blog theme?