Review of Woo Themes

It’s official, J.R. is now a Woo Themes subscriber. Yep, I gave in and bought the developer subscription on Woo Themes.  I did this about 2 months ago, but sadly I am just finding time to review them and give my thoughts about Woo Themes custom Worpdress Themes.

Before finding Woo Themes and eventually purchasing their subscription I began to follow Adii, one of the founders of WooThemes.  I subscribed to his blog and followed him on Twitter.  When I started to see post’s about their new project I was pretty anxious to see what they would come up with.

Who is Woo Themes?

WooThemes is a project started by three respected designers – Adii, Magnus Jepson and Mark Forrester – whom all share one thing: their passion for WordPress. All of the themes available on WooThemes are 100% unique and we can assure you that you won’t find similar CMS solutions elsewhere for any other platform.

We pride ourselves not only in the quality of our themes releases, but also that of our support & customer service. Our ultimate aim is to build a community of passionate WooThemes users, where future themes will be influenced by our userbase.

We truly love WordPress and after using any of our themes, you’ll not only love WordPress, but you’ll love WooThemes as well!

I won’t lie, there are plenty of “so-called” Custom WordPress Themes, so I couldn’t imagine it being much different.  I already had purchased one of Brian Gardner’s themes and he is one of the pioneers of custom WordPress Themes.

The Bottom Line… Worth It or Not?

100% Yes.  I am not new to WordPress, I have had my fair share of free and premium WordPress themes and these themes are worth every damn penny.

They include a one of kind “theme option tab” in the admin section which includes all kinds of goodies:

• Easily change your logo
• Add Feed Burner URL
• Add Google Analytics
• Add Flickr photos
• Add Twitter updates
• And More!

The best part is, all of those things I just mentioned take about 5 seconds flat to add to your site.  There’s no digging through the code, not worrying if you placed it in the right section, it’s all laid out for you ready to go.

Lastly, WooThemes has collaborated with well respected designers (Elliot Jay Stocks), making their designs not only genuine but truly nothing you have ever seen before.  They also guarantee that you’ll see at least 1 new theme every month.  So far they have delivered.

UPDATE

Today is December 28th, 2009. It’s been well over a year since actually wrote this post and bought the Woo Themes club package. I’m happy to say, I’m still a customer. I pay my $15 every month and I have yet to be disappointed with Woo Themes. From fresh design to a speedy customer service team, they’ve got a handle on it. With that being said, just go and purchase a theme and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

You don’t need to take my advice though, go to their site and demo any of the themes, read what the community is saying on their blog and you’ll know what I am talking about.

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P.S. – You can Follow Me on TWITTER.

Are you using Google Analytics on your WordPress Blog? If you’re not currently using any type of Web analytics on your site you should seriously consider it. Why you ask?

1. It’s $FREE.⁹⁹
2. Its’ easy to install
3. It’s helps measure your blogging efforts
4. I love Google Analytics more then a friend and you should too

But just a few reasons why Google Analytics is vital to any WordPress Blog — now onto the meat of how to easily stick this sucker in your site.

If you DON’T have a Google Analytics account yet start here:

Step 1 – Setup a Google Analytics account.

• Head on over to Google Analytics and sign up for a free account. Complete the steps by filling out your website and general information.

If you DO have a Google Analytics account start here:

Step 2 – Choose the correct Google Analytics tracking code.

• When you reach the point of copying and pasting the tracking code you are given 2 options:
  • The New Tracking Code (ga.js)
  • The Legacy Tracking Code (urchin.js)
• See the example below –
  • 
• Basically just choose the “New Tracking Code.” Only people with the Legacy code already on their site, should even consider placing that script on their site. The new tracking code allows you to receive updates and is also compatible with all the features of Google Analytics.

Step 3 – Installing the Google Analytics tracking code.

• One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress is how easy it is to edit and customize on the fly. Simply login to your WordPress Blog Admin section and take the following steps.
• Make sure you copied the “New Tracking Code” from your Google Analytics account. Now head back to your WordPress Admin Section and click on the “Design” Tab. Below that you will see a link labeled “Theme Editor” click that link
  • 
• On the right hand side you will find all of your themes files. Choose the file labled “footer”
  • 
• Just before the “</body>” tag paste the Google Analytics code.
  • 
• By installing this snippet of code in the footer, this will be the only place you need to install the code. The code will follow on every page since the footer obviously needs to be on every page of your blog.

And that’s it! Wham bam, thank you Ma’am.

If you got tripped up at all leave me a comment and I’ll walk you through any sticky parts.

More to come…

WordPress Fun Theme

This WordPress Fun Theme was featured on Smashing Magazine just recently.  I actually used this theme myself for quite sometime.  Takes a little bit to get up and running but the illustration and design work is unlike any other WordPress Theme I have ever seen.

Preview: Click Here to see a Live Demo of the WordPress Fun Theme.

Download: Click Here to Download the WordPress Fun Theme.

Additional Downloads: Click here to Download the PSD and EPS files.

WP Polaroid by adii (WordPress Rockstar)

The WP Polaroid theme is one of a kind.  The polaroid images at the top are easily customizable along with the rest of the WordPress Theme features.

Now I don’t know adii personally but I do follow him via RSS and Twitter and this guy is brilliant when it comes to WordPress.  Like I said I follow him regularly and just last month, adii and a few other designers launched Woo Themes.  If you haven’t checked it out already, head over to WooThemes. Over at Woo Themes you will see some of adii and the other 3 founder’s awesome work.  There are 4 creators of Woo Themes and all of them do fantastic work.

Woo Themes consists of “Premium WordPress Themes” so they are not free.  If you are going to spend money on a theme I would definitly check there first.  Also if you have sec when you’re there, check out the creators personal websites.  They are kick ass, trust me.

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P.S. – You can Follow Me on TWITTER.

Tutorial on How to Install a WordPress Theme

PLEASE READ.

If your WordPress Blog is hosted on WordPress.com then…

The following tutorial is for “self hosted” wordpress blogs. If you have a blog that is hosted on WordPress.com (www.yoursite.wordpress.com) check out this brief tutorial on WordPress.com on how to change your wordpress theme.

If you have Self Hosted WordPress Blog then…

This is for you!  If using WordPress to power their self hosted website, here is a quick tutorial on how to Install & Activate your WordPress Theme.  If you get lost, feel free to comment and I’ll be glad to answer any questions.

Step 1. Downloading your WordPress Theme

Once you have found the WordPress Theme(s) you must download the zip file to your desktop or designated folder.  If you’re using a PC you will need to extract the file.

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