Many choose WordPress as their blogging platform of choice because of its endless customisation possibilities. A plethora of free WordPress themes and plugins to choose from means that a WordPress website is no longer limited to just being a bland looking blog. With so many possibilities available, it is imperative that you spend some time researching the best free WordPress theme for your needs.
Minimum requirements
If you want people to find and read your blog or website you need to make sure any free WordPress template you consider fulfils the following requirements:
- The HTML and CSS code is search engine friendly and standards-compliant. This usually means at the very least a table-less layout. You can use the W3C Markup Validation services to evaluate the theme’s demo even before downloading it.
- The licensing is suitable for your intended use. If you have a commercial website the amount of free templates that you are allowed to use will be limited. If it does not specify a license it is better to stay on the safe side and avoid using it or risk being accused of stealing content.
- The template is easy to configure from the Administration section. This often means that widget-enabled WordPress templates are preferable, unless you are willing to hack into the code yourself.
- Does not have any hidden or cloaked code designed to trick search engines or spread malware.
Where to find free WordPress themes
While a simple Google search can provide you with countless sources of alleged "Best WordPress Themes" it is often better to search within established marketplaces or designer magazines. There are several reasons for that:
- Most marketplaces and magazines verify that the WordPress theme is not stolen, does not contain malware, does not use unlicensed images, and is of high quality. They do this to protect their own reputation.
- Both marketplaces and magazines that feature designs to their readers keep control over the templates they accept, and make sure the license terms are clear and no claims can be brought against those who use the downloaded template.
- You have access to ratings and reviews from other users that can pinpoint problems with a template before you go through the trouble of downloading and installing it.
- WordPress template marketplaces have filtering and search features, making it easier to find a template that fits your website using criteria such as "magazine style, green, two columns."
Good places to start your search
WordPress Themes Base offers a plethora of free WordPress themes available for download along with demos of each of them. WooThemes and ThemeForest offer both low cost and free premium quality themes for a variety of CMS.
If you want to see what the Open Source community has to offer, OpenSourceTemplates is a community powered WordPress template repository offering free, open source WordPress templates for download.
Another great source of free WordPress themes are magazines such as Smashing Magazine that often offer exclusive themes designed for their readers or compilations of the best WordPress themes of a particular style or period.
A word of warning
Most free WordPress templates will include one or several links to the author's website or other sites that cannot be removed unless you pay for a license. Make sure those links are not pointing somewhere you do not want your website to be associated with, such as gaming or adult sites. While it is not frequent, some template authors will use templates to build links back to that kind of website.
It is also a good idea to throughly test your newly downloaded WordPress theme before replacing your existing one, especially if your website has a healthy number of visitors. You should also back up your database to avoid losing content in the unlikely event of something going wrong.
And last but not least, don't be like this article's author and miss out on several days of Google Analytics data because she forgot to edit her new template to add the Google Analytics code!
Sarah Arianrhod - Irune is a PHP Developer and owner of A Creative Dream, a boutique web development, online marketing and SEO Agency based in London ...
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