One of the primary reasons that WordPress is the platform of choice for most bloggers is the incredible variety of themes that are available for its users. With thousands of existing free and premium themes to choose from (and plenty of designers willing to create custom themes), there is no need to settle for a one-size-fits-all solution.
There are a growing number of specialty WordPress themes available that have been designed for specific industries or for specific types of websites. These specialty themes in combination with the CMS capabilities of WordPress provide businesses, website owners, and bloggers new and improved opportunities to quickly and easily build and manage an effective website with substantially lower costs than just about any other option.
As WordPress continues to become a more popular choice for content management and users become more familiar with all of the possibilities, I believe specialty themes will only become even more common and higher quality.
In this post I’d like to take a look at 20 specialty WordPress themes that can help users to accomplish a very specific purpose with their website or blog. Some of these themes are free and others are premium. In many cases, you will still need a bit of customization to suit your needs and to help your site stand out a bit, but these themes give you a great foundation.
If you like getting design inspiration by looking at excellent blog designs, you’ll love our new gallery site Blog Design Heroes.
SPORTS THEMES
Revolution Sports Theme - Brian Gardner is one of the most well-known WordPress theme designers, and rightfully so. His Revolution line of premium themes includes one that is specially designed for sports-related content. The single-use license for this theme costs $79.95.
Template Xtreme - If you want a theme for any sports team, they will create one for you for $30.
Sk4t3 - This free theme features a grunge-style design that is intended for skateboarding and other extreme sports.
REAL ESTATE THEMES
Cory Miller’s Premium Real Estate Theme - Real estate agents can show off their listings with this premium theme for $59.95.
Real Estate Appraisal Theme - This free theme is intended for the industry of real estate appraisal.
MICROBLOGGING THEME
Prologue - This free theme was recently released from the people at Automattic. It is ideal for a group of people who need to be able to communicate brief messages while working in various locations.
NEWS AND MAGAZINE THEMES
Revolution News - Another piece of Brian Gardner’s Revolution line, the news theme is flexible enough to use for just about any type of news site. A single-use license costs $79.95.
Morning After - This free theme is attractive and has plenty of features for a magazine or news-style website.
Premium News - Another premium option for news sites, a single-use license for this theme will cost $99.95.
Mimbo - Darren Hoyt offers Mimbo, a clean, basic magazine theme that allows users to apply their own customizations. Darren will soon be releasing a premium version that is more styled. More importantly, the theme gets its name from Seinfeld, so you know it has to be good.
WP Magazine Theme - This premium theme is currently selling for$79 for a single-use license.
Branford Magazine Theme - Another quality option for free magazine themes, Branford features a clean and attractive look.
CHURCH THEME
Delta - This free theme is the only decent-looking church theme that I could find (not counting a Revolution rip-off that charges more than double the price of Revolution).
PHOTOBLOG THEMES
Neshita - A free theme that allows the emphasis to stay on the photos.
Nautilus - Another simple and free option for photoblogs.
PhotoPress - A free photoblog theme from Performancing.
Photo Blog - A dark theme, free theme.
CAR THEME
Ferrari Theme - This free theme shows that specialty themes exist for just about anything you could possibly want.
CSS GALLERY THEMES
Showcase - If you are interested in starting your own CSS gallery, this premium theme offers 8 different layouts and 5 different color schemes. A single-use license costs $70.
CSS Gallery Theme - This free theme is another option for starting a CSS Gallery.
February 11th, 2008
These are some marvellous selections. I particularly liked BrandfordMagazine. If I hadn’t bought mine already, I’ll definitely go for that theme. Especially since it’s free!
Thanks Steven.
Cheers,
Ellesse
February 11th, 2008
[...] 4.- 20 themes para Wordpress de Tematicas Especiales [...]
February 11th, 2008
Ellesse,
I think your theme looks great as it is. Revolution is never a bad choice. And thanks for the stumble.
February 11th, 2008
Thanks for the themes. You highlighted my choices for using wordpress as my blogging platform. The ability to download a lot of great quality themes and plugins.
I was going to code a blogging engine from scratch but what’s the point when you have Wordpress which gets the job done nicely?
- Dwayne Charrington.
http://www.dwaynecharrington.com
February 11th, 2008
The themes are very well done. Thanks for sharing all these. I have bookmarked your site.
February 12th, 2008
very Well
but i look for a job board theme
February 12th, 2008
While looking for a new theme to use on my personal branded site I came across the Branford theme myself. I love it and I reckon it will look just neat to showcase myself to potential clients.
Besides, I can only vouch the highest for Brian Gardener’s themes as I’m using the Magazine one myself.
Monika
February 12th, 2008
We used Brian’s Revolution Magazine theme for our new site at Men with Pens, and we’ve had some rave reviews on it. Customizing it to our tastes was one of the best experiences we’ve ever had.
Plus, we did a rockin’ job
February 12th, 2008
Excellent selection, Steven. Bookmarked and all the rest of it.
February 12th, 2008
Thank you so much! My old theme was getting … well, old and You just provided me with the change I needed. The Morning After theme really caught my eye.
February 12th, 2008
new Premium but FREE Real Estate them on wpjoy.com
February 12th, 2008
Dwayne,
I agree. Building a blog from scratch isn’t really worth the time, and you’ll have plenty of options with WP.
ma7moud,
I’m not aware of any job board themes, but there may be one out there.
Monika,
I agree. Branford is a nice theme and so are Brian’s.
James,
Your theme looks really good.
February 12th, 2008
[...] 20 Specialty WordPress Themes (tags: Wordpress theme design webdesign) [...]
February 12th, 2008
Wow! Impressive list, Steven. I’ll definitely be bookmarking it.
February 12th, 2008
Thanks Matt.
February 12th, 2008
Hey Steven, nice finds
I’ve been playing around with the Prologue theme, and it’s pretty cool, might use it (or something similar) on FF eventually.
February 13th, 2008
Some really great usable themes there! Thanks for pointing them all out.
February 13th, 2008
Hey Jon,
I thought about using the Prologue theme here to try to add a community feature. At the moment it’s not going to happen, but I think it could be cool on FF.
February 14th, 2008
Vandelay, I always think that YOUR blog theme looks great ! Every time I come here to read your posts my eyes thank my brain for having chosen your blog.
I assume you created it ?
February 14th, 2008
I really like Revolution and the sports theme. Brian Gardner really rules. Hey Steven, why not come up with a list of the best magazine type themes?
February 14th, 2008
Mouki,
Thanks for the compliment. Yes, the theme is customized from the default Kubrick theme.
Ruchir,
I have thought about that. Maybe it will happen. Thanks for the suggestion.
February 16th, 2008
20 Specialty WordPress Themes…
One of the primary reasons that WordPress is the platform of choice for most bloggers is the incredible variety of themes that are available for its users. With thousands of existing free and premium themes to choose from (and plenty of designers willi…
February 16th, 2008
[...] Source from: Vandelay Design [...]
February 19th, 2008
These are well designed themes, check out my blog to see my custom made WordPress Theme.
February 20th, 2008
[...] ha recopilado 20 themes para WordPress destinados a blogs temáticos: deportivos, fotoblogs, noticias, [...]
February 20th, 2008
[...] mas themes para Wordpress, para los que nos gusta mucho cambiar de estilo, es una compilación de 20 Themes especializados, sobre todo para deportes, sin duda los mejores son lo premium por los que se tiene que [...]
February 22nd, 2008
[...] attracted your interest the moment you set your eyes on them? How many websites delivered on both strong visual appeal and valuable content? Which websites tempt you the [...]
February 24th, 2008
[...] Por categorías, libres y gratuitos. Noticias Relacionadas:80 plantillas para WordpressLos mejores diseños de blogsWordpress 2.4, descubriendo novedadesSobre el cambio de webColección de temas para Firefox Compártelo Etiquetas: estilos, plantillas, style, temas, themes, wordpress. Hace 1 año en este blog se hablaba de: La visita a las obras de la Expo [...]
February 24th, 2008
[...] 20 Specialty WordPress Themes [...]
March 2nd, 2008
[...] 20 Specialist Wordpress Layouts Especially the Magazine ones are usefull [...]
March 10th, 2008
love the ferrari theme
March 12th, 2008
Revolution Sports Theme is as it says ‘insanely customizeable’ (but spelt proper) Im hacking mine up as we speak
http://www.thedailypunt.com
April 10th, 2008
[...] Read Full Entry Read More [...]
April 11th, 2008
[...] bet tā jau būs vienmēr, tāpēc vēlējos ar Jums, mani mīļie lasītāji, dalīties šajā saitē, kur ir daudz ādiņu: CSS Galeriju, Ziņu portālu, Photo emuāru, Sporta lapu un vēl [...]
April 29th, 2008
[...] number of my own WordPress themes were designed for churches in mind, and was surprised to discover someone had reckoned my Delta theme “the only decent-looking church theme”. I’m sure there are [...]
April 30th, 2008
Hi! thanks for providing these layouts they are really attractive. After watching these blogs I feel like having different blogs and use each of these layouts in them. I think blogs are a good way to enhance your web marketing skills as you can experiment with colors,layouts etc. Blog does improve your creativity and i enjoy blogging.
May 1st, 2008
Hi! Thanks for providing such a attractive list of themes. Having a eye catchy layout does help your business do well.
May 21st, 2008
[...] Clever Sage. Graph Paper Press. Michael Doig. The Blog Entrepreneur. Theme Playground. Vandelay Design. Visual Blast. Web Hosting Show. Squidoo Magazine Themes lens. If you enjoyed this post, [...]
June 9th, 2008
[...] Vandelay Design. [...]
June 19th, 2008
Theme for photography
http://jericosystems.com/2008/06/09/cloudscape-wordpress-theme/
June 19th, 2008
Cheers for listing the gallery themes. I’ve been searching through Google for these and the two you’ve listed look like they could be just the ticket. I am leaning towards the CSS Gallery theme just now but will keep looking to see if I can find one even better.
June 19th, 2008
Eric,
Thanks for the additional link.
Mercury,
I’ve toyed around with the gallery theme a little bit and it’s pretty cool. It’s a fairly bare bones look, which is nice if you want to customize it a bit.
July 1st, 2008
Thanks for this great resources, bookmarked your site! Well-done!
July 8th, 2008
The themes are very well done. Thanks for sharing all these. I have bookmarked your site.
July 13th, 2008
[...] 20 Specialty WordPress Themes | Vandelay Website DesignWith thousands of existing free and premium themes to choose from (and plenty of 20 Specialist Wordpress Layouts Especially the Magazine ones are usefull [...]
July 13th, 2008
Great theme. I gave it a testrun and encountered a small problem. In the featured content carousel are five
July 25th, 2008
Excellent selection, Steven. Bookmarked and all the rest of it.
July 26th, 2008
wow, great themes. i love it. nice selection.
August 2nd, 2008
It’s amazing
August 3rd, 2008
[...] Wordpress 20 Specialty WordPress Themes (tags: wordpress themes) [...]
September 8th, 2008
i dont think many people will be downloading the Patriots one anymore haha!
September 22nd, 2008
[...] Vandelay Design. [...]
September 22nd, 2008
[...] (Billeder; Vandelay) [...]
October 2nd, 2008
[...] http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/wordpress/specialty-themes/ [...]
October 17th, 2008
If you are looking for specialized church themes that don’t look like a blog you can find some free ones at http://www.organizedthemes.com.
October 23rd, 2008
Wow !!! i was searching one theme like this one for my Sports Car blog.
Good colection of Wordpress sports themes
November 5th, 2008
cool themes
December 7th, 2008
[...] 10 months ago I published a collection of 20 specialty WordPress themes that I had come across at that time. Today I’d like to feature another 17 specialty themes, [...]
December 10th, 2008
[...] de intentar cambiar esta situación, la web Vandelay Design ha publicado la segunda parte de su lista de temas para WordPress “especializados” para cubrir casi cualquier necesidad que pueda tener un bloguero o Web [...]
December 10th, 2008
[...] Vía: VandelayDesign [...]
January 20th, 2009
Very attractive themes. The real estate appraisal is very clean
January 29th, 2009
Hi
I love all those themes
They are all clean and well designed and laid out.
Thanks for sharing.
February 7th, 2009
I only want to say thankz for this themes!
February 25th, 2009
The Revolution News theme is my favorite one. It looks very clean, yet flexible as well. Thanks for sharing this!
February 26th, 2009
hello,
do you have an 2 column sports themes that are adsense ready that is hip and trendy
March 14th, 2009
Looking at some themes, its impossible to tell which ones are blogs. Some very good themes. Thanks for putting them together.
March 21st, 2009
The real estate theme looks very professional.
Nice clean layout and easy to identify and use navigation.
It’s superior at laeast in looks to many real estate agent sites I come across.
I own 6 real estate sites myself and so I appreciate a nice clean theme when I see it. Well done!
March 24th, 2009
I love the skate theme but can’t access it now. Is there any alternate site for downloads? Thanks!
April 1st, 2009
Woww, Thank you brother . Very good theme .
April 6th, 2009
Very nice themes thanks
April 8th, 2009
Cool post! I’ll bookmark this page and wish to share it to all my friends and clients.
April 16th, 2009
I am looking for Sports Themes collection… Any helpful link?
April 16th, 2009
Has anyone in here come across a decent user friendly directory listing plugin for wp?
By that I mean something which sets out categories for adding paid and free links in exchange for requiring a reciporovcal link ie a wordpress directory site
Andrew
Australia
April 16th, 2009
This is the only one I’m aware of - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/business-directory/
At this point it doesn’t offer options for a paid directory.
April 17th, 2009
Thanks for sharing! very nice themes.
Joachim
April 27th, 2009
Nice Themes…Thanks For Sharing
May 15th, 2009
Awesome themes! Very good and professional. Thanks for all of this.
May 20th, 2009
I like the real estate appraisal theme. Where can it be purchased?
May 20th, 2009
Darin,
That theme may not be available anymore, it seems to be a dead link. You can find a similar real estate theme here - http://themeforest.net/item/real-estate-theme/17730
May 20th, 2009
V - Thanks for the link.
June 29th, 2009
Great Themes. I used some of the themes as I develop websites in Wordpress for some of my clients. I did encounter some problems with some of the themes. But overall the issues are easily resolved. My clients loved them and so will you. Thanks for the great info
July 1st, 2009
The more simplistic.. the better!