20 things to check before buying a wordpress theme

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A premium wordpress theme can be an enormous timesaver when you want to have a high quality website  up and running quickly. But make sure that you know what you want to achieve with your site before you buy. Otherwise you may end up having to do a lot more modifcations than you expected (or start all over again if you are not happy with the result) and your template may prove not to be such a time saver after all. 

So what are the most important things you need to pay attention to before buying a premium wordpress theme?

1. Compatibility

Is it compatible with the latest version of WordPress?

2. Widgets

How much of the theme is widgetized. The more widgetized it is, the more you can determine the look and layout of your pages.

3. Has it been optimised for SEO?

SEO is very important as your main traffic will come from search engines. Make sure that the theme is properly coded and uses SEO optimisation techniques.

4. Is it easy to customise?

Does it have multiple css style sheets? (so you can easily change the colour). Is it easy to change the header image? Does the theme have any special theme options?

5. Structure

Is the structure of the theme similar to what you had in mind for your site? although you can play around with the code to change the structure, it is much more efficient if the correct structure is already in place. Pay attention to where the pages are located and the categories. In a business website your pages need to be more prominent (and sub menus functionality should be included) whereas on a blog or content site categories are usually more important).

6. Article structure

Have a look at how the articles are displayed. Does the theme display whole posts on the frontpage or only excerpts? What about the archive pages? Does it match how you want to display your posts?

7. Features

Does the theme have any special features. Some of the features you may want in a site are:

• featured sections
• automatic image resizer
• google analytics
• special theme options
• strolling or moving images
• flickr gallery
• advertising integration
• contact form integration
• tabbed sidebars
• image / banner rotation
• video integration

8. Support

Check if there is support for the theme that you buy. Any theme will need some tweeking and it saves a lot of time if there is a good support team that can help you with your questions.

9. Multple page layouts (templates)

Check if there are multiple page layouts or if every page looks the same. For a business site it is often desirable to have a different homepage from your content pages and a different blog section. Also check how other pages like the archives are formatted.

10. Determine how much customisation is needed

Most themes will need some tweaking. A theme that has special theme options allows you to make certain changes without needing to go into the code. Know how much you can customise yourself. Are you comfortable with adding plugins, tweaking code or do you want do everything with the theme options?

11. Validate the code

You can check if the code of the theme validates by going to http://validator.w3.org. It’s always better to buy a theme with no errors.

12. Browser compatibility

Check if the theme is compatible with the main browsers: IE6, IE7, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome. Try to test the theme in as many browsers as possible.

13. Styling

Examine how the theme is styled and what typography is used. Is it easy to read? How are the comments styled? Although a lot of the styling can be changed with css this will take extra time so the closer the styling is to your desired style the better.

14. drop down menus

Is the drop down manu functionality already built in?

15. Instructions

Does the theme come with clear instructions on how to install and customize it? Any theme is constructed slightly differently so good instructions are always helpful.

16. Is the source code well commented

If you do need to make changes it is very helpful if the source code is clear and well commented. You may need a sample of the original files to check this.

17. Photoshop files

Are the original photoshop or fireworks png files included? This is always a benefit as it will make customizing the theme even easier.

18. Theme upgrades

Will you get a free upgrade of the theme if WordPress has a new upgrade or will you need to pay again?

19. Error pages

Type in a wrong address for the site and have a look at what the error page looks like. Has this been constructed to your liking?

20. Price

Shop around. You can get really good value in some places with yearly membership that lets you use all themes.

Good luck with choosing your theme. And if you want help with choosing a nice one then stay tuned for a list of the best clean and functional themes coming up soon.