10 great WordPress themes for your online magazine

Earlier this week, I suggested Flavors.me has the edge over WordPress, when it comes to creating a visually unique portfolio website for journalists.

But, when it comes to doing something more complex – such as creating a new online magazine, then WordPress still wins hands down (in fact, don’t even try using Flavors, it wasn’t designed for it!).

If you are starting an online magazine, or a complex blog, you’ll need a theme with the flexibility to create new articles and arrange them, create featured posts and media galleries. Luckily, hundreds of WordPress theme designers have come to the rescue with some awesome themes – many of which, won’t cost you a thing!

After a several weeks lost in theme galleries, I have picked out 10 really exceptional themes. I won’t describe each one – you can see for yourself whether it suits your purposes. Remember, don’t just pick themes based on their colours or fonts – those can be changed by editing the theme’s CSS file.

Free wordpress themes

(A NOTE about free themes: these themes come from trusted producers (such as WPShower), or via a trusted curator, such as Smashing Magazine. However there are dangers with using any old free theme you can find, as highlighted in this article. Thanks to @mike_rawlins for the tip)

Suburbia by WPShower | Demo

Magazeen by WeFunction | Demo

Sight by WPShower | Demo

Imbalance by WPShower | Demo

Premium wordpress themes

The Style by Elegant Themes $39 per year | Demo

Magazine Theme by Organic Themes $69 | Demo

Le News by Mrmema $35 | Demo

FolioStudio by BeanTheme $42 | Demo

Blogazette by Readactor $30 | Demo

Bulldog by SweetThemes $33| Demo

Why pay for a theme? Some of the benefits of a premium theme are better support, often better coding, and more flexibility. I have used both free and premium themes in the past; the free ones can have bugs and be a lot harder to understand for a novice web designer.

Any more to add? Stick ’em in the comments!