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10 Fresh, Elegant and Clean Wordpress Themes
We like to observe the Web. We like to present fresh ideas, creative solutions and interesting approaches. We like to share them with our readers, making both our personal work and the work of fellows developers easier. Observing creative works of talented designers, you can improve your skills and learn new techniques. However, to do that, you need to keep an eye on fresh and inspiring starting points. We collect them. And present them to you. Every month. So you don’t have to.
Let’s take a look at 5 fresh and elegant and 5 simple Wordpress themes you might be willing to use for your next project.
You can find even more themes in our post 83 Beautiful Wordpress Themes and in Arpit Jacob’s Top Ten Best Free Wordpress Themes And Templates.
[By the way, did you know there is a brand new Smashing Wordpress Book? Push WordPress past its limits!]
Fresh and Beautiful Wordpress Themes
1. Dark Theme Release at iLEMONed
2. iTheme
3. WordPress Theme: Hello 2007 – Hello Wiki
4. Digital Pop Wordpress Theme
Clean Wordpress Themes
6. JsThemeV1.1
7. WordPress Themes – esn studio
9. Recycled Canvas :: Creative Synthesis
10. Y Go Lonely
Bonus: Download 2410 Wordpress Themes!
The guys over Xyberneticos.com have collected over 2400 Wordpress Themes, packed them in a .zip-file (251 Mb!) and offered them for free download. Impressive, really.
Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine (www.smashingmagazine.com), an online magazine dedicated to designers and developers.
(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)
Loading ...- 96 Comments
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May 7th, 2007 10:16 pmwow,thanks smashing for this pretty good wordpress template. can you give the info beside the wordpress template like popular plugin component wordpress.thanks
- 3May 7th, 2007 10:50 pm
Thank`s a lot!!!
- 4May 7th, 2007 10:57 pm
Regarding the Xyberneticos file, I really appreciate their effort, but after waiting forever for the file to download and the contents to unzip, one sees that it is not possible to preview the themes. In my honest opinion, I find it more comfortable to go to themes.wordpress.net and play round there.
Thanks for the info anyway. - 5May 7th, 2007 11:28 pm
The Hello Wiki theme is partially ripped from Dan Cederholm’s SimpleBits site. The header graphic and navbar look to come straight from his site. I’d probably remove this one…
- 6May 8th, 2007 12:15 am
Rick, i see what you mean but i think its different enough to constitute as a different theme seeing as how it might have been inspired but the graphics they used we’re all theirs and the layout changed a bit so i dont think its the same code.
- 7May 8th, 2007 12:36 am
Great collection!
- 8May 8th, 2007 12:44 am
hey whats Happening to smashing magazine this post looks More like a rip off of.
http://www.clazh.com/top-best-free-wordpress-themes-templates/
- 9May 8th, 2007 1:37 am
Dear friends,
I am really sorry about that, but the fact is we’ve been selecting these themes for the whole month, and it is quite interesting that many of them are the same. However, not all of them are the same. Well, we’re doing research as well as other bloggers (probably) do, so we must have had similar sources. We appreciate Arpit Jacob’s work offering us and fellows developers more creative Wordpress themes.
- 10May 8th, 2007 2:28 am
Well our theme certainly isn’t on the other list and given how weird it is (in objective, not design) I was kind of surprised to see it on the list.
Coincidently it was just really released (like 15 minutes ago) so great scoop Smashing Magazine!
- 11May 8th, 2007 2:32 am
Gotta agree with Rick; the “Hello” theme is very obviously a rip of Dan Cederholm’s site, with just a few elements tweaked. Compare the color of the header areas, the type of pattern lurking just above the header, the placement of the navigation with the extended bar beyond the last tab…
It’s a rip. It did change a few things to not be a direct copy, but there’s little to no actual originality or creative design work going on in that theme.
- 12May 8th, 2007 2:51 am
This is fantastic! We need more list of the best blog CMS themes.
- 13May 8th, 2007 2:57 am
really is vrey nice
- 14May 8th, 2007 3:10 am
Hey guys on the smashing web leading magazine ^_*
I really adore your work all over the time .. but excuse me this time .. I can’t find the real beauty with those themes and with this post this time :(
They’re simply ordinary and some below basic themes .. and without the real sense of innovation except couple of them or something ..
I really believe there are hundreds of themes that look much more attractive, simple and innovative than those ones ..
Sorry for being disappointing .. But I love you Smashing Guys :)
- 15May 8th, 2007 5:01 am
Hm, to me first 3 themes look like wordpress adaptations of (top down respectively) 1. bartelme design; 2. centrigy 3. iconshoppe or bunch of similar sites. I.e. looks like people behind these sites leave their skin like snakes…
- 16May 8th, 2007 7:29 am
Thank you so much Smashing, I may just use of these for myself!
- 17May 8th, 2007 9:20 am
Finally a good breakdown! Great pics!
- 18May 8th, 2007 9:54 am
Hey there Thank you for the link back and I apologize if I was too harsh.
- 19May 8th, 2007 11:40 am
I keep on top of the new releases quite well, but you’ve managed to bring a couple that I’ve never laid eyes on…nice ones too.
God job guys!
- 20May 8th, 2007 11:40 am
Wow, very nice collection of themes. I would advise your readers to steer clear of the giant zip file though…Most of the themes in there are crappy. Stick with the 10 listed and customize from there.
Nick - 21
- 22May 8th, 2007 1:19 pm
Thank you very much to include one of my subjects, all the others are really wonderful, I feel pleased :$
- 23May 8th, 2007 1:21 pm
Why why why … aren’t there good themes for Blogger ?
- 24May 8th, 2007 2:08 pm
Amazing List!
- 25May 8th, 2007 3:50 pm
I gotta love iTheme (simplicity rocks sometimes). I haven’t seen all of these but very cool stuff.
- 26May 8th, 2007 4:20 pm
2410 themes in a single archive is not impressive, it’s a total waste of time, space and bandwidth. Who wants to dig through such a number of themes, which has to include anything from top notch to super ugly ?
- 27May 8th, 2007 4:59 pm
I’ve just found some blank templates to create my own themes, they’re very good for a starting point!
use them to create your own layout and design. A fantastic resource! - 28May 8th, 2007 6:56 pm
Is there any way to submit one’s own theme to such round. I’ve released one, previously called myJournal ethereal. Pretty light minimalist though. I thought it fitted the description of clean wordpress themes, that’s why I’m asking :)
- 29May 8th, 2007 7:02 pm
I was getting a little bored with K2 modifications and now You’ve listed the best of the best for me :-) Thanks sooo much for this list.
- 30May 8th, 2007 8:38 pm
You guys really should get rid of #3. It’s quite obviously a cheap rip-off of SimpleBits. Just admit you made a mistake and take it down.
- 31May 8th, 2007 10:14 pm
I love this collection!
Thank you for this list…
- 32May 9th, 2007 12:10 am
These are totally cool !
- 33May 9th, 2007 1:44 am
Ah, I’ve been on the lookout for a cool 3-column theme. Thanks for pointing me to Digital Pop – it will work well for my new blog on InformedVoter2008.com.
Of course, now I’m back to square one, but I was only at square 1.5 anyway :)
- 34May 9th, 2007 7:05 am
I really like those. Thanks!
- 35May 9th, 2007 7:15 am
now only miss 1 plugin that display allways a random theme and your blog will allways look diferent…!!!!
Or you can have a dark theme at night and a white theme during the day ;)
- 36May 9th, 2007 6:50 pm
would be nice if you post also some nice compatible themes for Drupal..
thx anyway! - 37May 10th, 2007 12:56 am
Hmm. Cheers but maybe you could explain what you like about these templates. In anycase, the designs look fine.
- 38May 10th, 2007 7:06 am
Excellent stuff guys – as usual! I think my personal fave has to be the iLEMONed bartleme theme. :)
- 39May 10th, 2007 10:18 am
cheers mates :)
- 40May 10th, 2007 11:20 am
any effort from sm to look for clean joomla template?
- 41May 11th, 2007 1:35 am
The website hosting ‘iTheme’ seems to have gone down! Anyone got a mirror?
- 42May 11th, 2007 3:24 am
Like them all however the iTheme… that background… just seems like I’m seeing that too much these days…
- 43May 11th, 2007 8:38 am
Hmmm,nice list. I’m considering a new theme for my blog. This surely will help. Thanks!
- 44May 11th, 2007 5:32 pm
Great list..
- 45May 11th, 2007 8:37 pm
What about this theme:
http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/2229/insense-10/
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- 48May 12th, 2007 6:38 pm
Once again, another awesome post. This makes me want to start a blog! But I dont have anything to post.
And navdeep, thats a nice design!
Cheers,
Jack - 49May 12th, 2007 11:01 pm
iTheme is superb.. i really like it
- 50May 13th, 2007 2:04 pm
Fine collection. In the beginning of wordpress it was easy to find good themes,… now there are so many themes,… thats why its very useful to find your list.
Thank you!
- 51May 14th, 2007 8:30 pm
Thank you for featuring my theme (esn studio – Golden Green). That made my day. :)
- 52May 16th, 2007 6:30 pm
oh this file is very big for me.
- 53May 17th, 2007 12:51 am
thanks for spotting us , the zip of all those cute and great wordpress themes .
thanks and it was really helpful rather than collecting them , individually . - 54May 18th, 2007 5:32 am
Thanks for this list. I have already translated in french the dark thème : http://wordpress-tuto.fr/bartelme-dark-ilemoned-114 et aussi le ithème : http://wordpress-tuto.fr/theme-itheme-ajax-75
Je me demande quelle sera ma prochaine traduction en français ? - 55May 18th, 2007 10:58 am
Very nice theme.
- 56May 20th, 2007 5:56 am
The only similarity I can see between SimpleBits and Hello Wiki is the header. Oh right, nobody else has ever made a header like that before. Dark background with menu underneath. Get real.
- 57May 21st, 2007 5:33 pm
good job
thx u - 58May 22nd, 2007 2:36 pm
artentertainment
- 59May 23rd, 2007 6:18 pm
Thanks for this great list. I have finally found a theme that I actually really like.
- 60June 5th, 2007 8:57 am
I’d really like the Minyx theme if available in english
- 61June 22nd, 2007 2:45 am
iTheme and iLemoned are the best of the lot.
I guess the future belongs to themes with Ajax supported sidebars now….as in iTheme :)
Thanks for the compilation - 62September 7th, 2007 4:59 pm
nice themes
thanks
- 63September 13th, 2007 11:07 pm
I have found great collection of free templates here. Some of them are quite nice :)
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- 65October 12th, 2007 4:22 pm
I’ve just found some blank templates to create my own themes, they’re very good for a starting point!
- 66November 10th, 2007 1:29 pm
iTheme and iLemoned are the best of the lot.
I guess the future belongs to themes with Ajax supported sidebars now….as in iTheme :)
Thanks for the compilation - 67November 24th, 2007 4:50 am
I thought the themes were very original and sleek looking. I should try them on my original nintendo blog at http://classicvideogamereviews.blogspot.com
I enjoyed your post. Have a great day.
- 68January 1st, 2008 8:00 pm
the theme buy?
- 69January 2nd, 2008 1:38 pm
I think I might have to give Wordpress a go, they really seem to be getting it right design-wise. I’m going to be checking the other articles on these now!
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- 71January 16th, 2008 11:15 pm
Thanks ..!!!
- 72February 4th, 2008 11:57 am
I’ve just found some blank templates to create my own themes, they’re very good for a starting point!
- 73February 5th, 2008 2:06 pm
There are many useful informations in this great article…I really enjoy reading the whole blog that you write. Thanks!
- 74February 7th, 2008 5:27 am
Hello, Congratulations, your Job is excelent!
Japublicidade - 75February 18th, 2008 8:41 am
Why is it so hard to choose a theme for a blog?! :)
I am still on Kubrick…
Ivan | http://www.JobsBlogs.ie
- 76March 11th, 2008 9:38 am
very nice theme lists , Well done
thanksALVIN
- 77March 12th, 2008 7:32 pm
I would also check out http://new-wordpress-themes.net for new wordpress themes…
- 78March 13th, 2008 12:02 pm
Whoops…for some reason the http is showing odd. Here’s the link…I hope it shows ok this timeNew Wordpress Themes
- 79May 4th, 2008 9:32 am
why is it when i goto that link all i see is spanish? no one else said anything about it being in a different language so maybe im missing something
- 80May 14th, 2008 10:06 pm
I’m really enjoying a new clean theme just released by Todd Hiestand. Theme’s at Lean and Clean, and my implementation is at In the Coracle.
I’m not a bot, just a satisfied user of a clean 3-col theme.
- 81June 1st, 2008 3:21 am
Cool work! … but take a look at what I found a min back!!
http://www.anewmorning.com/2008/06/01/excellent-wordpress-themes-my-favorite-in-past-month/
- 82June 4th, 2008 4:07 pm
These are simply beautiful. Thank you!
- 83June 30th, 2008 7:56 pm
Nice post! Which are the ones that are compatible with latest wordpress 2.5.2 or is it 2.5.1? :) kelly, MyQute.com
- 84August 21st, 2008 8:42 am
I still use Kubrick/Default theme with a little change of look. I prefer something simple and the list is interesting. And this is mine site with Default Theme Camerawebs.com
- 85September 24th, 2008 10:30 am
Thanks for let me know this beautiful wp themes. Still plan to build another blog using your themes
- 86September 30th, 2008 3:47 pm
Thanks for the great Theme!!!!
- 87November 21st, 2008 8:31 am
Nice themes. Looking for more..
Thanks
- 88December 18th, 2008 2:27 am
Nice Themses Thanks for themes. Love them.
- 89February 4th, 2009 7:31 am
Thanks supper themes…
- 90March 28th, 2009 1:11 pm
New Order Wordpress Theme is beautiful css design!
- 91April 20th, 2009 11:22 pm
thank you
- 92May 5th, 2009 10:23 pm
COOL=)
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- 94October 16th, 2009 6:44 pm
Truth: all are low quality themes and useless
- 95November 26th, 2009 2:24 am
I really liked themes one and two best, especially as I have seen theme two as a 3 column design. Very functional and very modern and clean
- 96February 6th, 2010 4:11 pm
Thanks for sharing! I quite like JsThemeV1.1.
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