Themeshaper asked what we (the WordPress Community) think the next default theme should be like.
I am NOT a developer or designer in any way!
So my input is strictly from a WordPress user.
I’ve used various themes on a few of the different blogs I’ve had.
I’ve used the artsy themes with huge headers and lots of images - they took forever to download!
I’ve used simple and clean and very Zen-like - made me want to do yoga!
Some were supposed to be SEO friendly - but seemed a little too boring! Yawn!
I’ve also used a few that were newspaper or magazine-like themes - classic and impressive! Almost the opposite of me!
However, none of these fit me right and I’ve continued my search for the perfect one.
But perhaps I’ve found the right fit!
I recently found the Options Theme that seems to have it all and here are some of the features of the that I like and would like to see in a default theme.
- Use of Custom Fields - I’ve never known about custom fields before and never had a theme that incorporated them into the design.
- Lots of options - like the name says - there are plenty of options to choose from. Dark or light style, various sidebar widgets, various homepage layout options, etc.
- Easy to understand directions - I have found this theme to be easy to set up and use because of the available online documentation.
- Various supported plugins
- Easy to add various elements like ads, video, Flickr, etc.
Some other features I would like would include:
- Choice between 1, 2 or 3-columns
- Clean code - that’s as deep as my developer talk goes!
- Image or text options - have it easy to choose between the two for buttons and headers. I visit a lot of artsy blogs and many of them are designed using images instead of regular text headers…so an easy-to-install option for these bloggers would be appealing!
- Easy archives and contact page setup - don’t make me have to use more plugins for these!
I really believe that a theme could easily appeal to a wide range of users if it offers lots of options. Newer users could choose to use the theme without enabling more advanced features but other users could dabble and learn in areas they would like to!
I will keep pondering this question and perhaps come up with more items to add to my list. I’m interested to see what other features fellow WordPress bloggers would like to see in a default theme!
