Premium WordPress Theme Guide

A premium WordPress theme can be one of the best ways to take advantage of the open-source WordPress platform. It gives you all the bonuses of a solid content management system, but because WordPress is free you don’t have to spend money on the backend. With the money you’ll save you can afford to spend more on the design and get a premium theme—and it’ll still be cheaper than a custom-designed site.

Buying a premium theme means you can avoid the shoddy work that so often shows up in free themes. Not to say free themes aren’t a fine way to go, but often a lot of the detail work that really makes a theme shine is missing. Anyone can slap together a free theme and throw it out to the masses, but it takes a little more care and dedication to build themes people are willing to pay for.

But just because you pay for a theme doesn’t mean it’s worth the money. Not all premium themes are created equal. And not every top-notch theme is going to work for your needs. This guide is all about helping you sort through the sometimes murky waters of premium themes.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

1. What you should know before you even start looking at themes
2. How to assess a theme’s quality
3. What you should be getting when you purchase a theme

This guide should take some of the mystery out of premium themes and give you the confidence to choose a theme that will work for you.

NEXT PAGE: Part 1: Needs and Expectations

Premium WordPress Theme Guide
Table of Contents

• Part 1: Needs and Expectations
  • What is a Premium Theme?
  • What Do You Need in a Website?
  • What Kind of Theme Should You Buy?
  • How Much Customization Are You Comfortable With?
• Part 2: Assessing Quality
  • Valid Code
  • Browser Compatibility
  • Styling
  • Typography
  • Comment Styling
  • Pages
  • Commented Code vs. Admin Pages
• Part 3: What Do You Get For Your Money?
  • Page Templates
  • Instructions
  • Photoshop Files
  • Compatibility with Feature Upgrades
  • Support
• Resources
  

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