What is Elegant Themes?
For those who don’t know yet, Elegant Theme is a premium theme shop. The owner, Nick Roach, is a talented web designer/WordPress developer. Nick created Elegant Themes to provide WordPress themes of quality and integrity. Nick always craft his themes with a goal of simplicity and professionalism, and strive to inject each design with a dose modest elegance.
Styles
As in 2008, the premium theme market became very popular, a sure thing is that you have to be different to get attention. Most premium themes looks great, but they also looks like any other “pro” theme.
Seems that Nick Roach understood it. Many themes that you’ll find at Elegant Themes aren’t the now classic “Magazine Theme” with 90 queries per pages. No, Elegant Themes are – as the name says – elegant and simpler that most premium themes you can find elsewhere.
A thing I really enjoy with Elegant ThemesElegant Themes is the always gorgeous design. Many premium themes authors developed lots of cool functionnalities on their work, but somewhat neglected what you instantly see while opening a website: the design.
Common features
One of the most interresting point of Elegant Themes is that their themes features lots of options and interresting stuff that will make your blogger life easier. Here’s some of the common features of Elegant Themes.
- Dropdown menus
- Valid XHTML and CSS
- Compatible with modern browsers, and even with IE6.
- Dropdown menus
- Options page: To set up the theme options. No need to edit the theme files.
- Automatic thumbnail resizing: Absolutely awesome!
- Different post layouts: Some themes let you choose between a classic blog ost presentation and a more “Magazine” way to display your posts.
Prices
Of course, while purchasing a premium theme, price is important. Here, Elegant Themes makes a very good point by offering yearly membership for only $19.95.
Once a member, you’ll have access to all premioum themes. This is a very good thing in my opinion because I know lots of people who can’t afford to pay $99 for a single theme for their blog.
Gallery
Here’s some of my favorite themes released from Elegant Themes:
Basic :
Eartly Touch :
Studio Blue :
Quadro :
Your advice
And you, what do you think about Elegant Themes? Are you already purchased a membership, or plan to do it soon? Tell me in the comments, and let’s talk!
My name is Jean-Baptiste Jung and I'm the man behind Cats Who Code. I started to use the Internet back in 1998 and started to create websites three years laters in 2001.
39 Comments
This sounds like a sponsored post. is it?
@Tschai: It is. But is it the most important?
No, not the most important…but it’ll put things in perspective.
BTW, I do agree their themes are really sweet…and not expensive at all.
Ive used a few of there themes now and quite like them.
I’ve been a member of Elegant Themes for a while now. I think they’re excellent! Great value.
Hey Jean, i bookmarked your site because when i first came onto it there were quality posts, now all i see are sponsored ones. Where has the spark gone? Looking forward to seeing the old “Cat Coders”
@Neil: I have requests for sponsored posts every weeks. Most are for websites or services which haven’t anything to do with the subjects spoke here at CatsWhoCode. But a post about a Premium Theme shop should for sure, seems interresting to many of my readers who like WordPress.
When you have 1200+ readers (before the feedburner migration) you can’t satisfy anyone at once. I’m sorry you didn’t liked this post, though, some more technical posts are on the way.
thanks for giving out your opinion, it is always welcome!
Sponsored Posts? Big deal! I have no problem with my fav blogs (you) making some money and posting content that might interest me as well. Your all good. If people bitch. Their just lame. We all gotta eat. You have plenty of content that is not sponsored here to offer. Keep up the good work and you won’t see any bitching from me. I’m linking you on my site btw. I wish I was offered sponsored posts. LOL!
I’ve been a member for about 3 months and I’m very satisfied. You can’t go wrong with $20.
The themes are certainly worth more, shhh …don’t tell Nick
I’m a member of Elegant Themes (I believe I was part of the group that asked to have it included in the list).
I agree with all your points but have two more that I find important:
On the positive side is the forum where Nick (and others) will help you modify the themes if you’re having difficulties figuring out how to change something.
On the negative side it is a shame that he hasn’t thought more about optimizing it for SEO. There are some basic things that he should be using (H-tags etc.) which is not optimal. He has promised to look into it though so maybe it’ll change in the near future.
Hey guys I am new to WP Blogs and have been looking around for some good themes.. 19.95 sounds good but for how many themes? I clicked on their website and looked at the gallery but exactly how many themes are there and do they add very many during the year? One put off was the comment someone made about them not being SEO optimized like with H1 and H2 tags which in my opinion is huge to get your site ranked high for your keywords so is there a way you can have someone change the theme code to put in the tags? Thanks!
yeah, as a comment above. sponsor such as this, but I
recognizei I prefer to blog with the theme of elegant and trim
I love your blog mate, i also dont mind the ads, its just the posts, we all need to make a living I suppose!
Hmm, their themes really look professional and elegant. Very good color combination and contrast. I will bookmark them surely for time when i get in need for new and cheap wordpress theme.
I think JBJ is giving them a plug, either way good post.
Yeah its not a bad post, 20 bucks is a good price for a quality designed theme IMO.
I agree with you too, their themes are very sweet and simple to access.
I’m already a member, and I love the sweet sweet low price, and the range of themes.
Highly recommended from me.
Elegant Themes is a great way to have many options for a fixed price. For $20.00 you get to use all the themes and the killer is that you can use them forever after even if you do not renew the membership. As of now Elegant Themes have a collection of 20 themes. Some are OK but some are beautiful.
I am now working to modify the ARTSEE theme (you can see the work in progress on http://www.expressionsbymotti.com/)
Great work and who cares of it is a sponsored post.
Thank you,
Motti
The design are pretty nice and the price i think not too expensive.
that is sooooo neat ! i love it !
Even though a paid post, I think Elegant themes are worth it. Where else can you buy so many themes for that price of that quality that keeps on updating.
I joined a while back and it was worth the money.
They are certainly a good deal, specially for the price they offer.
I’ve a subscription over there, and have to say that they offer some good themes. I’ve observed a kind of repetition in their themes, but overall worth it. Good bang for your buck.
yeah, it’s a cool theme guys.
I’ve tried several theme, and i like the “earthlytouch theme”
i feel that a got it for free?
I’ve signed up. They have a great wordpress themes!
so, any news on the SEO shortfallings?? think i might join anyhow but this point makes me warey
SEO shortfalls? What shortfalls?
I like these themes. Very simple, not to snazzy, but very aesthetically pleasing.
Sponsored posts do not matter with me but i believe you should just mention it in little next to the post title. It is a sign of honnesty, it is normal to make money out of it, especially when products are interesting.
Olivia
Wow these themes are really fantastic.
They look very good, and $20/year is soo cheap, I hope they accept paypal, I’m registering right now.
Thanks for posting this!
Elegant themes are really elegant, especially for a personal blog. My friend is using one of their themes (www.stratos.me) and it looks so stunning
20$ to join it is nothing because themes and products in other places is much expensive this days .
Elegant themes are gorgeous, I have been a member for some time.
It doesn’t matter if this post is paid or what. Good review of the themes and they look fantastic for my eyes.
i don’t just think they look nice… I am also a user!!
Lori
these themes really looks good. Price are also reasonable ( not much expensive).
Yes, I believe Nick Roach is probably the best theme designer in the world. His Elegant Themes truly are elegant and Nick has an eye for harmonious blending of colors that other theme designers simply do not have, and I have seen a lot. He is an outstanding talent, and so young…I’m always keeping alert for his new themes when they come out. His three new ones Lumin, OnTheGo, and Deviant. Very unique and great themes always! Never disappointed.
It’s amazing how far the guys have come along over at Elegant Themes. Looking at when you wrote this post and how things have evolved, I’d say they are going from strength-to-strength in a very short space of time.
I love the fact they now have a developers license and the fact that their themes seem to get better on every single release.
The price has gone up of late, but $39 to access all of their themes is a steal compared to some places that charge $50+ just for 1 theme.
Well, as you can tell, I’m a fan.
Regards,
Karl