10 great WordPress themes for your online magazine
Earlier this week, I suggested Flavors.me has the edge over WordPress, when it comes to creating a visually unique portfolio website for journalists.
But, when it comes to doing something more complex – such as creating a new online magazine, then WordPress still wins hands down (in fact, don’t even try using Flavors, it wasn’t designed for it!).
If you are starting an online magazine, or a complex blog, you’ll need a theme with the flexibility to create new articles and arrange them, create featured posts and media galleries. Luckily, hundreds of WordPress theme designers have come to the rescue with some awesome themes – many of which, won’t cost you a thing!
After a several weeks lost in theme galleries, I have picked out 10 really exceptional themes. I won’t describe each one – you can see for yourself whether it suits your purposes. Remember, don’t just pick themes based on their colours or fonts – those can be changed by editing the theme’s CSS file.
Free wordpress themes
(A NOTE about free themes: these themes come from trusted producers (such as WPShower), or via a trusted curator, such as Smashing Magazine. However there are dangers with using any old free theme you can find, as highlighted in this article. Thanks to @mike_rawlins for the tip)
Suburbia by WPShower | Demo
Magazeen by WeFunction | Demo
Sight by WPShower | Demo
Imbalance by WPShower | Demo
Premium wordpress themes
The Style by Elegant Themes $39 per year | Demo
Magazine Theme by Organic Themes $69 | Demo
Le News by Mrmema $35 | Demo
FolioStudio by BeanTheme $42 | Demo
Blogazette by Readactor $30 | Demo
Bulldog by SweetThemes $33| Demo
Why pay for a theme? Some of the benefits of a premium theme are better support, often better coding, and more flexibility. I have used both free and premium themes in the past; the free ones can have bugs and be a lot harder to understand for a novice web designer.
Any more to add? Stick ’em in the comments!
Adam Westbrook // ideas on digital storytelling and publishing 
Actually, I’ve been getting a lot of comments about the theme I’m using for my citizen food journalism site…
http://www.plentyonyourplate.com
I have a comment for you too, Chris. That theme sucks. Hard.
@ChrisG No you haven’t – nice try though.
For a free wordpress magazine theme I’d definitely reccomend ‘Aparatus’ (misspelling intentional) by Fearless Flyer:
http://fearlessflyer.com/2010/01/get-some-aparatus-free-theme-for-wordpress/
I think in most aspects the design shapes up to some premium themes and it comes pre-configured to display any adverts you want to use, sharing buttons at the bottom of each post and a box for most popular posts, comments and tags. I guess it’s mainly useful for people starting out who don’t then need to spend lots of time messing around with plugins and code.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/business/media/17local.html?_r=1
have you seen this article?
I pitched a proposal to Patch to be a regional staff photog for them, to train editors and to recruit freelancers, and was ignored. (I am a staff photog for a 11 weekly newspapers just outside NYC). yet all the Patch editors I know (cuz we cover the same events) said my proposal was great!
argh….
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Hey everyone!
Just want to recommend a brand new website called Doomags. At this website it is possible to upload PDF’s and convert them into nice online magazines… it’s fast and and really cheap!! Tryk it out, they have a free trial!
Nice list, some of those wp themes are really nice and professional looking, good job
Marios
nice!
I think you haven’t seen latest magazine themes, you can get 12 Best Magazine wordpress themes of 2011 @ http://www.nichewp.com/12-best-magazine-wordpress-themes-of-2011.html
Wow!!! Awesome collection of free WP Themes 🙂 Good work, Adam…………….
[…] 10 Great themes for your online magazine – if you’re starting an online magazine, here’s a great resource of free & premium themes to use. […]
GReat themes, am already working with imbalance.
Not the best list, that’s for sure. No offense, but 4 or 5 of them are already featured in Smashing Magazine for a while now.
Some of them, however, are new. Thanks for that!
there are many free CMS themes better !!
WOW! Really good collection of themes you have here, well done. 😀
[…] via 10 great WordPress themes for your online magazine « Adam Westbrook :: online video & entrepren…. […]
I like the structure theme. Simple and clean so people can find what they wnat fast. Page should load faster also.
I ahve been looking for an ad freindly wordpress theme i have tried so many but havent yet found any good one. i think Le News might be the one after all. mostky because of the top add (300×250). will be buying it soon.
Thanks
Nice theme collections 🙂
nice and modern designs. I will use some of them. thanks
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Waooo…really gr8 themes…
good theme collections
Graph Paper Press have a great theme called Modularity, that I have used for a few different projects.
very useful for my inspiration, thanks
One of the BEST compilations I´ve ever seen. I´ll take profit, thank you!!!!!
May I simply say what a relief to discover somebody that truly knows what they’re discussing on the web. You certainly know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More and more people should check this out and understand this side of the story. It’s surprising you are not more popular given that you certainly have the gift.
Great list no doubt..
i will defo use my elegant membership for ‘thestyle’
Very useful for my inspiration, thanks ^_^
Quality posts is the key to be a focus for the visitors to
pay a quick visit the web page, that’s what this web page is providing.
Cool selection despite the fact that all are premium themes and we get used to see Free price tag next to WP products 😉
It’s hard to come by experienced people on this subject, however, you seem like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
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I have a comment for you too, Chris. That theme sucks. Hard.
Very nice collection of themes! Bookmarked. Will be using a few of these in the near future. Thanks!
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Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up
and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a
linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same results.
Whats up are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but
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Hey there this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so
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Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
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Any tips?
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I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is needed to get setup? I’m
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I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100% positive.
Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images
on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure exactly why but this website is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
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Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Thanks for finally talking about >10 great WordPress themes for your online magazine | Adam Westbrook // ideas on digital storytelling and publishing <Liked it!
Definitely good choice and selection of magazine WordPress themes man! Any idea to add portfolio wp themes as well?
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Me tienen estado buscando para un anuncio simpático tema de wordpress que he probado tantos, pero havent aún encuentra alguna buena. Creo Le News podría ser el que, después de todo. mostky por el complemento superior (300 × 250). va a comprar pronto.
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