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21 Fresh, Usable and Elegant Wordpress Themes

By Smashing Editorial, June 26th, 2007 in Design Showcase | 236 Comments | Forum

Sometimes it’s just amazing to see, how developers use creative approaches to design amazing layouts, based upon a simple Wordpress template. Every now and again we take a look around, and select Wordpress themes, which offer thought-out design, flexible template structure and conform to the basic principles of usability. The choice is big enough, but the search is worth it. We invest our time, browsing through dozens of web-sites, news aggregators and design-communities and put enhanced solutions together, so you don’t have to.

Let’s take a look at 21 23 fresh, usable, simple and and elegant WordPress themes, which have been released over the last few months. Among other things, we’ve also selected some of the new minimalistic solutions - all of them make use of clear and precise typography. They’re definitely worth a look.

You can also take a look at

Elegant Wordpress Themes

1. Copyblogger Theme

2. Dark_Black

$Impressive Wordpress Themes - Dark_Black Release at {one more revision}$

3. HemingwayEx

4. Deep Blue

5. i3Theme brothers, Left and Right!

6. Bus Full of Hippies

6.1. (Bonus, updated) Illacrimo

Impressive Wordpress Themes - Illacrimo

7. PinkLove

8. Swiss Cool Wordpress Theme

9. School’s in Session

Impressive Wordpress Themes - Nuwen.Com » Wordpress Themes

10. Xenoria

Impressive Wordpress Themes - Nuwen.Com » Wordpress Themes

11. Autumn Concept 1.0

Impressive Wordpress Themes - Autumn Concept 1.0 Ed Merritt | creative web design from Bournemouth, UK.

12. Blue Idea

1.

fatih (June 26th, 2007, 9:27 pm)

really fast research for new wordpress theme
thank you smashingmagazine!
2.

WraithX (June 26th, 2007, 9:30 pm)

They are all really beautiful - particularly the Bus full of Hippies. I found a great one a while ago which I am using on my blog: Link [www.simplyfinethings.com] - there is a link at the bottom to the author - he has others on his site too. The amazing thing about his themes is that he really pays a great deal of attention to detail.

I am also using number 5 on my personal blog: Link [blog.frater.com] - it is a breeze to set up and works well on all browsers. I would definitely vouch for it.

Thanks for yet another great post smashingmagazine. This is fast becoming my favourite blog :)
3.

raziel (June 26th, 2007, 9:30 pm)

Don’t like them tbh, all these fresh themes look like the old “fresh” designs :-F
4.

Hans (June 26th, 2007, 9:45 pm)

Thanks a bunch for the link
5.

Ron S (June 26th, 2007, 9:54 pm)

Another sparkling piece from Smashing Magazine. You guys rule!
6.

Xin (June 26th, 2007, 9:55 pm)

the bus full of hippies theme is completely broken or very very ugly in IE6
7.

Richie (June 26th, 2007, 10:05 pm)

Those wordpress themes are amazing,thanks for the post!
8.

Arpit Jacob (June 26th, 2007, 10:24 pm)

hey thanks for the link :) …. love your collection there are a few themes I seem to have missed out
9.

Upstart Blogger (June 26th, 2007, 10:31 pm)

Thanks for the links! To have two of my themes selected by Smashing Magazine, and to be in such good company… You’ve made my day!
10.

meizopan (June 26th, 2007, 10:41 pm)

Thanks for the list. always smashing.
11.

Volkan Karakus (June 26th, 2007, 11:17 pm)

Oooo super! Thanks for the list SM! The most beatiful collection of Wordpress Themes.
12.

taozz (June 26th, 2007, 11:34 pm)

thanks for collecting these good stuff
13.

Sandaruwan (June 26th, 2007, 11:45 pm)

cool…
14.

Sue (June 26th, 2007, 11:56 pm)

Bus Full of Hippies is a rip off of Calibri, a theme Link [blogger-templates.blogspot.com].
Whoever did it also failed to remove the gridlines in the image, which I did when I was using it.
Check it out here Link [michiganmemories.blogspot.com] as a “fixed” image, as opposed to the blue gridlines in the other link above.
This is just a blogger test blog, so no posts are there.
It’s pretty, but kind of busy. And it doesn’t translate well to MSIE6 or less, due to the png transparency.
However, if anyone wants to use it, please contact me for the revised image. I’ll be happy to email it to you. sbclark2002 at yahoo dot com
15.

Arthur (June 27th, 2007, 12:38 am)

Man this is one of the best compilations.
16.

Rob (June 27th, 2007, 1:27 am)

@Sue

You obviously didn’t follow the link on the “Bus full of hippies” template.

Here is a quote from the page…

“Credits:

Original design by John Oxton
Illustration by Denis Radenkovic
Based on the Textpattern template reworked by Graham Bancroft.”

At no point does the author insinuate they created the design.
17.

eRay (June 27th, 2007, 1:27 am)

Simplicity is amazing!!!
18.

Ozh (June 27th, 2007, 1:44 am)

Another list of WP themes…. *yawn*
19.

Karsten (June 27th, 2007, 2:03 am)

Uh, das freut mich, dass Euch meine Themes gefallen.

Schaue hier immer gerne auf der Suche nach Inspiration vorbei.
20.

guido_cc (June 27th, 2007, 2:26 am)

Notables, muchas gracias por el listado. :D
21.

Mac-Sage (June 27th, 2007, 2:31 am)

These are nice, but some seem familiar.
22.

J David (June 27th, 2007, 3:15 am)

Awesome! Thanks for having my theme on the list!
23.

Ben Tucker (June 27th, 2007, 3:51 am)

Some nice themes there cheers for the post will be trying a couple
24.

markus941 (June 27th, 2007, 4:48 am)

You guys rock. I always use these posts as reference.
25.

mickeyckm (June 27th, 2007, 9:37 am)

Can’t believe my i3Theme got feature here ;) Thanks
26.

skarld (June 27th, 2007, 11:57 am)

Nice list. There are some new themes I have not seen and some old favorites as well.

I am going to have to start spending more time online and adding to my collection.
27.

firman firdaus (June 27th, 2007, 1:01 pm)

why didnt you include the grid focus public by derek punsalan?
28.

sd (June 27th, 2007, 3:04 pm)

great themes, great cms. well done.
29.

Hitesh Mehta (June 27th, 2007, 3:31 pm)

Loved Illacrimo theme!! will try using it someday :)
30.

Suryaningsih (June 27th, 2007, 7:12 pm)

Nice Info, Thanks For You …
31.

loops (June 27th, 2007, 7:55 pm)

The simple and clean ones like the Upstart Blogger Modicus one are pretty sweet.
32.

iddaa (June 28th, 2007, 1:32 am)

Very good read, thank you!
33.

Marco (June 28th, 2007, 4:09 am)

Nice selection. i3Theme is awesome.
I also recomend Web2Themes (www.web2themes.com). They have some pretty good themes that could have made the list.
34.

IhateDesign (June 28th, 2007, 5:15 am)

Thanks for the links, one of them are interesting, very useful!, cheers!
35.

skyjuice (June 28th, 2007, 9:09 am)

Like usual nice compile of GREAT WORDPRESS Theme
36.

Teft (June 28th, 2007, 10:48 am)

Nice themes! Great resource.
37.

e7art (June 29th, 2007, 11:55 am)

nice!,so many good theme,thanks!
38.

Jonathan Moore (June 29th, 2007, 1:01 pm)

Great list… I think I need to just go ahead and download one, slightly tweak it, and finally launch a blog.
39.

chinaseo (June 29th, 2007, 3:47 pm)

真是非常漂亮，统统收下，隔日换着用~~~thanks!
40.

PoXLine (June 30th, 2007, 9:45 am)

Wow so nice themes !

Thanks for share many wordpress themes ;)
41.

Jerome (June 30th, 2007, 4:47 pm)

THanks alot..

atomise.net is cool too !
42.

jayhan (July 2nd, 2007, 3:40 pm)

Thanks for the recommendation! :D

Now I’m using one of it. Thanks.
43.

Christian (July 6th, 2007, 2:48 pm)

Cool themes … shame I don’t use wordpress ;-)
44.

yaramazadam (July 9th, 2007, 11:58 pm)

this site is great.it has got the most beautiful wp themes..
45.

Astrid Paramita (July 10th, 2007, 2:16 am)

Thanks for the wonderful list :)
I changed my blog theme to Autumn Concept 1.0, almost perfect to what I need!

Keep up the good work!
46.

Nico (July 14th, 2007, 3:46 am)

Great themes! I love your work. Hello from France. :)
47.

Best Wordpress Themes (July 16th, 2007, 8:21 pm)

Hi,

Check out this new listing of the best Wordpress themes from all over the web. There are some really interesting listings: Link [www.bestwpthemes.com].
48.

IMJUK (August 19th, 2007, 6:37 pm)

Cheers for the templates - I’m now setting up my new site and blog and have found these to be the best set of templates so far. Cheers for the help.
49.

Hassan1 (August 21st, 2007, 9:33 pm)

Thanks,sir
continue your great work.
50.

Adam Breckler (September 17th, 2007, 11:25 am)

Nice themes! Check out my latest theme Link [www.adambreckler.com].
51.

BlogsTheme.com (October 2nd, 2007, 1:54 am)

Great themes, I just love these lists with good looking and free themes! Keep the lists coming, you’re doing a terrific job!
52.

Rene (October 11th, 2007, 10:58 pm)

Very good list of great themes I didn’t know of. Thanks!
53.

spor (December 15th, 2007, 10:46 pm)

thanks….
54.

Ensest Hikayeler (January 1st, 2008, 7:57 pm)

theme thanks.
55.

Victor Hugo (January 10th, 2008, 5:52 am)

Really nice.Thank you.
56.

Serdar SER (January 20th, 2008, 4:17 pm)

Thanks.
57.

karikatür (February 5th, 2008, 11:40 am)

thnks
58.

sinspy (July 14th, 2008, 2:16 pm)

nice template here Link [www.sinspy.co.uk]
59.

basetta (September 30th, 2008, 1:34 am)

great themes, as awlway…
I’ve used the upstart blogger one for my blog.. check it out!
Link [www.thesparetimetyper.com]
60.

chikitita (November 21st, 2008, 8:19 am)

most of them are like the old templates that has been re edited.. nothing amazing.. they are all the same except that theres a minor changes thats it..
61.

ForumKd (December 23rd, 2008, 11:44 am)

very very thanx…
62.

suiye (January 3rd, 2009, 7:48 pm)

very very cool…
63.

Petr (January 16th, 2009, 1:46 pm)

THANKS !
64.

Felix (March 17th, 2009, 10:23 am)

I tried to widgetize the Simplicity Bright Theme, maybe it’s useful for some of you: Link [felix.rohrba.ch]
65.

Sexy Female Celebs Wallpapers (March 24th, 2009, 11:39 am)

goood ,Thank you for the summary we are going some Wallpapers for some one its really good…
66.

davetiye (March 26th, 2009, 3:04 am)

davetiye It is really great. I also used same technic in my web site and it works.
67.

AhMeTMnS (May 11th, 2009, 3:35 pm)

wery beauitiful templates. Thanx.
68.

UnderMedia (May 17th, 2009, 3:41 pm)

Wow… Wonder themes. I am used #5 i3Theme brothers, Left and Right! in Link [blog.undermedia.com.ec]
69.

cgreality (May 24th, 2009, 4:44 pm)

Link [www.cgreality.ru] очень прибыльное и выгодное вложение, для покупателя. Приобретая недвижимость в Черногории Вы надежно вкладываете свои денежные средства и, кроме того, получаете квартиру или дом на берегу Адриатического моря. Для граждан России покупка Link [www.dvoriki.com] проблем не составляет. Вид на жительство получает каждый, кто открывает бизнес или приобретает недвижимость в Черногории. Link [slo.cgreality.ru] также доступна для российского покупателя. Создав фирму с капиталом не менее 10 евро, Вы можете приобрести недвижимость в Словении. Недвижимость в Черногории или в Словении обойдется Вам намного дешевле, чем в России на Черноморском побережье.
70.

Chat (June 9th, 2009, 12:30 am)

Themes are very nice, but the language of implementation. To each according to language adaptation think. The problem is some Turkish characters, themes.