Blog themes have risen in popularity as more blogs have been established.  After all, every blog needs a theme or it isn’t much of a blog.  When browsing for themes, most people focus on the amount of focus on their blog niche, then on other factors such as web standards, features, coding (WordPress/CSS/XHMTL), and aesthetics/reader value.

The rapidly changing market for themes has permitted the growth of a premium blog themes market.  What truly separates the not-so-great, OK, “premium” and paid themes from one another?  Is it simply based on the amount of experience of the theme designer, the functionality of the theme, or a combination of factors such as web usability, interactivity, design, and so on?

When bloggers want to make the switch from a free theme to a paid/premium theme, are they really purchasing the theme that is best for them, or is the theme premium simply because there is a $200 price tag attached to it?

For this experiment, I want to focus on the difference between the levels and quality of themes and what bloggers should be looking for in themes whether downloading or purchasing them.  As theme designers, they are simply trying to contribute to the blogging community, although it is important to be aware of the amount of influence a theme choice places on your image as a blogger.

We’ll address the following theme properties:

Coding

Is the XHTML and CSS code easily editable using modular code?  Poor designers generally don’t separate each line of code and place it so the user has to spend a large amount of time gazing over code that they probably don’t know what it means.  Unnecessary code that leads to a longer page load may be included.  Code left out will also lead to major problems, as the missing code will prevent numerous functions from working.

Valid XHTML and CSS code should be standard among themes unless they are using techniques that can’t be made web standards-compliant.  Before downloading the theme, check if it is using the XHTML and CSS validation pages.  If the theme contains errors, it is an immediate indication that the author didn’t place the required time in to make it valid.

Approaching web usability, it should have cross-browser compatibility with at least Firefox and Internet Explorer, but also appear semi-correctly in Safari and Opera.

Finally, the theme should follow WordPress coding standards, and basic usability guidelines.

Design and Features

How unique is the design?  Did the theme “designer” simply adapt another theme and add a header image and style the fonts differently?  For example, in the WordPress Presentation area, is there a separate page for customizing the sidebars?  Is the footer expanded or is it plain - limiting the ability to place content/links there instead of in your sidebar.

If the designer has included pages that can be customized, they should tell you how to make the most of the feature.

The sidebar widgets should be styled to fit with the theme (and any customization abilities), including but not limited to, advertisements, most commented, etc.  There should be a default set of widgets pre-styled into the theme to make use of the available features, right from download.

Aesthetically, does the design focus more on navigation and organization first, rather than the color scheme and typeface?  Your readers should be able to say “I enjoy the great content at Your Site“, not “I wish they would change the font size.”  While the theme design should appeal to your selected reader base, it should be styled so that the widest audience can gain knowledge from your blog.

In addition, does the theme make the most out of the features of WordPress, and does the theme fill the space of the average screen size, making the most of white space?

Is the theme as SEO friendly as possible?  Sidebar content should load and be placed after the content area.

Documentation and Support

Each theme should be documented, providing a link somewhere within the theme to the author’s release page.  Often, web hosting review sites partner with a “designer” and create a 5 minute to release theme, simply for the purpose of adding sponsor links within the theme, and not crediting the author at all.

Within the release page or the author’s site, they should provide free support to any theme that they have released, whether that is in the form of a contact page or by replying to comments.

A Read Me or some other type of how-to guide should be included for users of the theme, in the case that code or plugins have to be added to make the style work and appear properly.

It is also important to look at how the author presents the theme - does he or she go into details about the qualities of the theme and the process they used to achieve the effects, or is there only a download/preview link?  Is there even a preview or demo link at all?

If the designer incorporated icons, JavaScript, or other types of code that require a fee, link back, etc., they should have noted that somewhere in the files, or the theme isn’t legal and can result in legal problems if the designer failed to mention them.

Qualities to look for in themes:

Note: This is a general look at what to expect from each quality-level of themes.  There may be different features of each which determine the quality, in your own opinion.

Features	Poor Quality	OK Quality	Excellent Quality	Paid/Premium Quality
Coding and Styling
Valid CSS/XHMTL
Cross-Browser Compatible
Unnecessary Code
WP Coding Standards
Usability
Malicious Code/Ads
Design and Features
Unique
“Wow!” Factor
Customizable Options
Pre-styled Sidebar
Widget Ready
Typeface Quality
Navigation and Content Styling
Screen/Page Usage
SEO Friendly
Documentation and Support
Release Page
Support - Email/Comment
Fee for Support				- Sometimes
Read Me or Instructions to Install Plugins/Features
Legal
Pricing/Other
Fee Required
Sponsor Links

	Contains or includes the specified features, or is incorporated well/correctly
	Does not contain the specified features, or is poorly incorporated

As noted in the table, when considering the number of qualities that are similar between “Excellent Quality” and “Paid/Premium Quality” themes, there isn’t much differentiating between the two.

In the comments, please address what types of themes you distinguish as premium, or high quality, and free.

Icons used in the table are courtesy of Fam Fam Fam’s Silk Icons.