Welcome back everyone to MyTutorialz! You’ve not missed out on anything, this is my first post in 2012 and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for 2012 – hopefully, fingers crossed, this will be a big year for my blog – I sure hope it is!
In today’s post I’m going to be running down the top 10 themes for tech blogs running on WordPress.com – these themes are all free and range from Apple-inspired designs to creative templates. Let’s begin counting down!
10. iTheme 2
Obviously inspired by all things iTech, this beautiful Apple-inspired design features custom headers and backgrounds, alternate colour schemes and featured posts. In my opinion this one of the best WordPress.com Apple inspired themes available. Details.
9. Nuntius
Although the details page does specify that this aims to be a general news theme, this template boasts a featured slider and sidebar, featured categories, custom menus, additional widgets, tabbed widget and multiple styles. One of the main features for a tech blog would be the featured slider, a rarity to be found in free WordPress.com themes – this is the ideal space to show off the best of your blog. Details.
8. Twenty Eleven
Yes, WordPress’s own default and latest theme (that by now you’re probably sick of seeing) has made it onto the top 10 list, but just stop to admire the simplicity of the design, this simplicity makes this template ideal for tech blogs – although the simple design may not be immediately associated with a tech blog, it’s ideal for those who wish to expand out of the technology subject field. Some of the main features are post formats, multiple colour styles, multiple layouts and pull quotes. Details.
7. Mystique
Another theme that by now you’ve probably seen all around the WordPress network, the Mystique theme truly is unique and should be appreciated for this one reason (which also probably explains the wide use and adaptation amongst blogs), by default the theme appears to be quite futuristic, what with the jQuery sidebar and the beautiful background. Some of the features of this theme are sticky posts, thumbnails and multiple layouts / colour schemes. Details.
6. Elegant Grunge
My reason for choosing this theme? It’s elegant. But tech blogs shouldn’t use an ‘elegant’ theme, I hear you shout. Think. Wouldn’t it be a nice change to do something different, perhaps this would be a feature that singles out your blog from the others, the fact that you’re not afraid to do things differently. Maybe though it would be more tailored to a tutorial blog. One problem, though, is that this theme doesn’t really have any definitive features amongst any other free themes. Details.
5. Bueno
I’ve secretly had a soft spot for this theme for quite some time, every time I’ve seen it on a blog, I’ve thought to myself “that’s just beautiful” and before I broke down into an emotional wreck, I noted some of the significant features of this theme, which are: seven colour schemes, featured posts and images and custom header and background images. Details.
4. THEME NAME
Admittedly not one of the most appealing themes in terms of appearance, but you can’t help but admire the creativity of the theme’s creator’s – it’s a unique idea, but one that’s been attempted and failed before. A must use theme for the true Apple fan-boy blog. This theme boasts a custom menu (to the right, notice the folder icons), custom menu and background and further customisation options. Details.
3. THEME NAME
I can hear you from where I’m sat asking why this is in the top 3 if it’s only a single column template. Ideally, this theme (in my opinion) would work well with the casual-posting tech blog – why? Well, the theme doesn’t utilise the sidebar function of WordPress, so there’s less space for featured posts, newsletter aubscriptions and all the usual stuff in the sidebar, onto the positives, it’s a beautiful theme, with a modern and fresh layout, which is very different from your typical tech blog. Details.
2. Comet
Imagine the latest iPad unveiling appearing on this theme or a Windows 8 hands-on demo. Just like the tech, it’d be a pretty nifty theme to accompany it. A beautiful colour scheme choice by the authors follows quite a defined layout style too and these elements together really pay off. Some features: custom appearance and no sidebar pages. Wonderful! Details.
1. The Morning After
I hope you’ll agree with me that my top choice of this list is The Morning After. Currently adapted by the WordPress.com team, it’s a free theme with all the elements you’d expect of a premium theme. And that’s why it’s my favourite. This theme would be perfect for a medium to large scale tech blog that posts around 4 or more times a day. Hence the half side of the homepage which is dedicated to categories, latest posts and the other to featured content. A true magazine theme for free! Details.
Have you got a different opinion on the themes listed in this post? Drop a comment below and let me know!
I’d just like to point out that the screenshots used in this post are hosted on the WordPress.com theme showcase at: http://theme.wordpress.com/
Thanks for this post.
Mystique is ma fvr8 one
m usn this theme to ma blog
Morning After .. Awesome !!!
Hello.. I like iTheme2 and Twenty Eleven themes, as I plan to change the theme of my tech blog http://www.techrazr.com. Can you guide me, whether these themes are also good from SEO point of view,? thanks!