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Choosing a WordPress Theme: Free or Premium? Posted: 30 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PDT Perhaps one of the most striking features of WordPress is the easy availability of themes. Take a look at any of the other CMSs – be it Joomla!, Drupal or Textpattern – none of them comes even close when it comes to the availability of ready-made themes and templates. Not only does WP have numerous free themes to its merit, it is also well supplemented for by several Premium theme providers. So, what exactly are Premium and Free themes anyway? In simple terms, Premium themes are those which come at a price that is paid to the theme provider whereas Free themes are just that – free!  Premium Themes Just like any other commercial commodity, Premium themes too often undergo the debate regarding pricing – there are some who claim that Premium themes are an unfair means to monetize an open source project, whereas there are still others who hold the view that Premium themes are solutions which cannot be provided in the absence of commercial funding and, owing to the competition, often Premium themes are under-priced. Pictured: 'Unsigned' -- a Premium Theme by WooThemes Link to ‘Unsigned’ by WooThemes When it comes to positives, Premium themes have many advantages: First up, most Premium themes come with A+ grade support which is missing in Free themes. This is because the developers build Premium themes as a means of livelihood and thus tend to provide excellent grade support. Further more, Premium themes are reliable. They are updated on a regular basis, often come with extended or lifetime support and extensive documentation. Premium themes also have several unique features that are otherwise lacking in Free themes. Plus, due to stiff competition, theme providers are working hard to make their offerings the best of the lot and thus, Premium themes happen to be super-rich in features. Premium themes generally pay great attention to details. In fact, they often have better tweaks for settings such as SEO than their Free counterparts. Along similar lines, Premium themes come in several forms to suit your needs – there are special offerings depending on the genre of your website. Unlike Free themes, Premium themes are not so common and this can lend a unique appeal to your blog. On the downside, Premium themes also have their share of disadvantages: Unlike Free themes, which are generally added to the official WP repository and undergo a review process, Premium themes can at times be mere commercial entities that may or may not be standards compliant in terms of licensing. Premium themes generally come for a fee and spending money on a blog that might just be a hobby may not suit everyone’s purpose. While this does not apply to everyone, at times, Premium themes, in their bid to be super-awesome, may come loaded with several features, whereas in reality, you may not need all of them. You will therefore, be using just a sub-set of the total number of features. In other words, for certain scenarios, using a Premium theme might be an overkill. WP Theme Repo is an excellent place to look for free themes Free Themes There are several Free themes for WordPress from different providers. Often, many developers develop Free themes to build their portfolio or just for fun. On the other hand, many Premium theme providers as well as WP-related blogs may release Free themes for their visitors. Pictured: 'Sight' -- a Free Theme by WPShower Link to ‘Sight’ by WPShower There are several advantages of Free themes: Firstly, Free themes don’t burn a hole in your pockets – simply download and use! There are no prices to pay. While personalized support is generally absent with Free themes, many developers respond to queries and comments in forums. Plus, you can always get great support from WP Codex and official forums. Since Free themes are more common, the number of plugins and configuration settings that they support is also large. And just in case a particular plugin does not work with a given theme, you can always report the issue to the official repository. With Premium themes, however, due to smaller user base, the process takes some extra time. On the downside, Free themes come with certain disadvantages too: Free themes generally do not come with any warranty or assurance of working. Unlike Premium themes, you cannot expect top-notch personalized support with Free themes. The update frequency, though good, is not as great as that of Premium themes. Most Free themes tend to be quite common and this can kill the ‘unique’ look of your blog. Lastly, there are several Free theme providers who offer themes with spam or phishing links. If you are downloading Free themes, the ideal method is to do so from reputable providers, instead of simply searching for themes on Google. Tips for Choosing an Ideal Theme Irrespective of it being Free or Premium, a theme should serve your purpose well. Only you can comment on what exactly your needs are, but it helps to bear a few basic points in mind when settling on a theme: Do not compromise on the features and functionality that you need. A good theme should provide ample features to suit both your present and future needs. Even though you may be well-versed in coding, look for a theme that is easy to use and modify. In other words, try to choose a theme that does not require rocket science for customization – the time and efforts invested in configuring a theme, if saved, can be invested elsewhere too. If you have a specific genre of website, such as a photo/video gallery, opt for a theme meant for that specific purpose. Ensure that the developers are active and the theme is regularly updated. Plus, check for the available support options. If it’s a Premium theme, ask for nothing less that personalized email support/ticketing system. And if it’s a Free theme, look for the level of activity in the forums (if any) and/or the frequency with which the developer responds to the comments on his website. Next up, bear in mind that the theme you are opting for should not be too old – this is especially true if you are choosing a Free theme. Web technology tends to get updated at a rapid pace, and it makes sense to opt for a theme that is updated. Just in case even Premium themes fail to impress you, and you have the budget, consider opting for a Custom Design. Which theme do you use for your blog? Is it free or Premium? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

A Handy Guide to Better User Experience Posted: 30 Mar 2012 04:00 AM PDT In simplest terms, UX, also known as user experience or user usability is the way most basic users feel about using an application, a program, a website or anything. User Experience is based on the reactions and responses the user performs and provides. While it can seem related to gaining feedback, it is actually not the same. User Experience is meant to understand and make the user reach the "final goal" which is defined by the owner of the product. Whether this goal is getting the person to subscribe to your newsletter, or make him buy  your new t-shirt, the main goal of the owner is to make the user's way as easy and hassle free as possible. There are many factors which can influence a user's experience with your system/product. The following are some of the most important factors. User's Previous Experience and State Image Source User's previous experience is probably the most important factor which can negatively affect your user's experience with your product/system. There is simply no easy way you can teach an old man to play the latest Angry Birds game, if he sees it for the first time in his life. Same goes with user experience. While a lot of internet users are actually pretty familiar with many technologies (considering just the user side, not the internal/developer side), if you come up with something really fancy and awesome, something really unique, that there is no easy way you will get everyone in the audience using it as if they "were playing with it, since young age". When deciding on any system, you must have the simplicity principle in mind as well. Overuse of elements may crush or lower your user-experience which will eventually lead to a loss of sales/customers etc. System Properties Image Source You shouldn't even bother about your user experience data if your system isn't perfect… or at least near-perfection level. After the page has been reloaded, the rate of leavers is about 25% which is actually a quarter of the sales/subscribers/customers you could have achieved! Having a flawless product is really important. Many clicks in order to perform a single action, also force users to leave. No one is interested in browsing 3-4 pages in a row only for watching a video describing your service. The most important key point to keep in mind, regarding your system defections is: "Save their Time, and they will Save Yours". Small Details which make Big Differences Image Source There are several minor things which tend to create either big successes for you and your product or cause your unavoidable fail. Bounce Rate is a pretty important factor which must be taken into consideration. Bounce Rate refers to visitors who tend to leave the website before making any action, even browsing the homepage. Modern traffic analyzers, such as Google Analytics provide us such data, so we know exactly where is the problem with our system. Maybe you've built an extraordinary product, but you haven't generated any sales which can create a lot of questions. It is very important that we analyze correctly the bounce rate data, so that we know exactly if there is a trouble with the system over-all or any page(s) in particular. Avinash Kaushik, a google analytics specialist says that a 35% bounce rate is concerning where a 50% bounce rate is actually worrying. User targeting is one of the most basic troubles related to bad UX. Incorrect targeting is a basic mistake which must not be performed by anyone who wishes a decent audience. You wouldn't like to target teenagers to your site for selling car washing solutions or under-ages to websites about alcoholic drinks. This will not only make you lose your money (if you are advertising) but will also mess up all the bounce and traffic rates you may have. Analyzing UX Elements and Details on Websites Forms and Fields Besides buttons, forms tend to be the most used UI elements in any website designs. You can basically see them on any website in any place: header, content area, sidebar, footer. They can be of any type and represent input fields for collecting info (such as subscribe forms), forms for messages, search forms, forms for comments etc. As you already know, our main goal is to make user experience as easy and understandable as possible. This is why, when working with forms, you should always keep in mind a few details which will make your forms more user-friendly and will help your users fill them without any problem. Use Unified Text Fields Unified text fields can actually be filled much faster than the regular, non-unified ones. The basic user tends to spend more time performing eye directions and imputing info from the side on regular fields, and in doing so, losing their precious time, which is definitely not our goal. Plain Search Forms A "button-less" search form allows users to perform easier searches. Many designers use plain forms for search, because they think that those will fit better into their designs, rather than forms with an addition of a button. It isn't a good practice simply from the designers’ perspective; using plain/simple search forms actually makes your users perform easier site searches. Rather then imputing their search term by typing, then grabbing the mouse and performing one more click, you just let them skip 2 steps, which is again a time-saver! Field Confirmations One of the most UX-unfriendly situations is when you fill out a long form, after hitting refresh you actually realize you've imputed some wrong information. That's where automatic field confirmations come really in handy. These types of confirmations usually flash an error message if the users have left any field blank, or any information is wrong: such as an email address without the ‘@’ symbol. Navigation It is a good UX practice to always set your links located on the top of your page, and especially if your navigation bar links open up in the same browser window. It is a well-known fact that you should only set external links to open in a new tab, and never let your internal links open up in a new tab or browser window as it may totally ruin your visitor's stay on the site. A lot of people prefer links to be opened in the same tab, however, you can make an exception on external links, but never on your internal ones. The Order of Placing Links in the Nav Bar You have probably seen that all sites tend to put the "Home" link at the beginning of their navigation bar, and links which require action, such as "Contact Us" at the end of their link "row". The placing of these links isn't dummy or random — all of this has a specific logic and the user's "ease of use" concept in mind. A lot of websites tend to put links in their navigation, either by their importance or by level of information offered. It is a common example to see the "Home" link followed by an "About Us" page because it is the starting point for offering information. The "About Us" page is usually followed by a "Portfolio" page or a "Know the Team" page, which is the 2nd informative page on most sites, after the "About Us". Conclusion The key is to always think about how your users will perform. You should attempt to make their task as easy as possible, save their precious time, and try to achieve the most important goal you have: engage them!

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