What To Look For When Choosing A Premium WordPress Theme

WordPress is very powerful and flexible. A premium WordPress theme should be able to accommodate its power and flexibility. How would a buyer know? Which to pick? Here are some tips of the things to look for in new breeds of premium WordPress themes:

1. Intelligent framework – It must have a framework that separates function from the design.

The framework should be coded intelligently, in such a way that if new fixes or add-ons are released by the theme maker, the end-user won’t lose any changes that he or she made on the earlier versions of the theme. In short, the template function files containing the hooks and actions must be separate from the folder that keeps the design aspect of the template, such as the HTML, CSS, images and javascripts.

2. Flexible – It can make a website behave the way a user wants it to.

Want a blog, cms, corporate site, file repository, database driven or video streaming site? The user must be able to transform a premium WordPress theme into any of these by simply changing or adding just a few lines of codes into the template file.

A Premium WordPress theme should be fully-documented and contains actions and hooks and other codes that a user can simply copy and paste to the function files when needed.

3. Easy To Use – It allows a user can turn a feature on or off via the admin panel.

A feature-packed theme does not have to be complicated. It must have an administration panel where a user can change the settings or activate a specific feature of the theme. One area to edit the settings, features and other functions is easier and user-friendly than requiring a user to add a number of plug-ins that slow down the site especially if there are conflicts or compatibility issues with 3rd party plug-ins.

4. Regular Software Updates – It has a regular fix and special releases whenever WordPress updates its core files.

WordPress regularly releases fixes and new versions. A premium WordPress theme should be able to keep up with these changes. It must support the latest releases to promote the use of a more stable, mature and secure version of WordPress.

5. Continuous And Proactive Support – It is managed by a group that communicates, assists and teaches.

A theme is only as good as the support group it has. Without an active support team, the full potential of a premium theme won’t be realized.

A support group is not only there during the selling and installation stage; it is there most especially at times when its users are starting to ask questions about how to add or activate a certain feature or how to customize the theme for their specific and specialized needs. In turn, users help the theme maker and his group realizes what the theme lacks, what it is capable of and what its limitations are.