If your blog already has a small image (maybe it came with one in your theme), you just create a new header in something like Photoshop, and put the new image in the appropriate image folder in your hosting. Deleting or rename the old image file, and call your new image the same name as the old one. You can also upload your image, but change just the filename in the style.css file.

Often a theme comes with just a text title, that you want to replace with a header. This is more often the case, so here’s an easy way to do it.

1) create a header as close to the right size as you can, and save it as a .gif, .jpg, or .png.

2) open up any post in your blog.

3) insert your header image into the post. don’t worry, we’re not saving the post, so it can go anywhere. sometimes i make a ‘draft’ post just for situations like this. by uploading it, we are putting that image in your hosting.

4) grab a corner and slightly resize the image, bigger or smaller. This adds an image size line of code to the image, which can be useful later.

5) click on the image, and make it a link, back to your home page. get it to open in the same window. at this stage i usually center the image on the page, also.

6) ok, switch to HTML view. Copy ALL the code that has to do with that image – link, image title, image location, and image size.

7) open up the header.php file and look for the line of code that controls the printing of the name of the blog in the header. I just do a search for “name”. There is usually a similar line after that for “description”.

8 ) you can delete that line if you’re feeling confident, however it’s better if you “comment out” the line. do a simple google search if you don’t know how to comment out lines of code (it’s easy).

9) just before or after this commented out code, paste in your image file code from your post. Hit save.

10) open up a NEW tab or window, and see the results (opening up a new window lets you easily change windows and correct things if you’ve made a mistake).

Look ok?

If it’s too big or small, remember that you should have some numbers in the code controlling its size. Play with these numbers until you get the look you are after. Adding spaces around it, and line breaks before or after, should be enough to get the exact look you need.

If it looks good in Firefox, don’t forget to check in browsers others might be using too – like Safari, Opera, Chrome, Internet Explorer (yuck!), etc.

This same basic technique can be used for putting images (such as ads) in your widgets, or just about anywhere you want an ad or graphic to appear.

Any questions?

People often ask me where they can find a particular plugin I’ve used on a site, or how to do something like install a free script to insert an Ebay listing into their site. Here’s 100+ free (or very cheap) resources to get you started. Ok, so if you count closely ’s really 91 – but with some suggestions from you we’ll soon get over the 100 mark. More great tools coming soon from me, too.

Quick Site Building

• Wordpress
• Blogger
• Joomla
• Google Pages
• Squidoo
• BANS
• Develop Quick
• PPC-sites.com
• Associate-O-Matic
• WhyPark
• Homestead

Recommended Hosting

• Hostgator
• DimeReseller
• BlueHost
• The Legion Host
• Fused Hosting
• iiPanel.NET
• HostQuack
• Nixism

Handy Plugins and Add-Ons

• Free Wordpress Themes for Developers and Tips for Modifying Them
  
• Wordpress theme viewer, wpthemesfree, siteground, mambo, theme-time, web2feel
• Joomla Themesbase, Joomla Themes
• Wordpress Plugins – Sitemaps
• All In One SEO Pack
• Fonts and Tables, or Tables
• Changing Headers
• Color Picker
• Statcounter, Google Analytics
• Social Bookmarking
• Adsense Delux and Mighty Adsense
• Static Front Page
• Mini Forms
• Contact Form
• RSS feeds
• Shopping Cart (mixed reviews)
• Bravenet.net, Lists.topica.com email lists, logins
• HTML quick guide
• Other Plugins

Free Content

• GoArticles Free Content
• List of Free Stock Photos and Icons
• Free Fonts

Advertising

• Google Adsense
• RevenuePilot
• End User Advertising Rates

Affiliates

• One Stop Affiliate – Big List
• Ebay Partner Network Amazon Asssociates
• Abestweb Affiliate Forum
• A free Ebay storefront- see an example here

SEO

• Zero to Hero, Slaydragon, Seo For Everybody, Search Engine Watch
• All In One SEO Pack
• Website SEO Reports
• Marketleap SEO tools
• Check Your Search Engine Position here or here
• 136 Different SEO tools

Promoting Your Site

• Link Building Tips
• Press Releases, PRWeb
• CommentHunt
• EZineArticles
• iSnare
• Feedburner
• Big Directory List

Miscellaneous Other Resources

A portal for golf news, information and scores.

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Our sister site, offering low cost, high quality websites to artists. The challenge here was to mirror the minimalist product design, whilst drawing visitors in to the content they needed – in an inviting, easy manner.

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For the owner of this short name, we created a simple website to seem like an industry leader from the very beginning. With a few key articles, able to be indefinitely expanded, our site gave Vego.org a perfect placement in the huge vegetarian and health recipe market.

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An information site for and by cat lovers.

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A personal finances site the owner is establishing to later promote his own accountancy business.

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expireDN is an expired domain name service that uses Freshdrop and Godaddy Auctions to find valuable domain names. We designed a site that gave a nod back to the colors and feel of Freshdrop.net, that was fun to use, and that was optimized to encourage the maximum visitors to sign-up to their automatic email alert – which was an optional extra the customer wanted added to their site.

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Mermaid.net takes a great name and sets it up quickly as the premier site for anyone looking for anything related to mermaids. Visitors are quickly enticed into CD, Video and Costume shops, while younger visitors are enticed to return with a large number of cartoons, audiovisual material, games and chat.

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A community-written magazine on the theme of contemporary Buddhism.

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Or, why not go completely custom? Pay by the hour to get the site components you want at the lowest possible price. Use it to add extra features to our low plans, including personalized favicons (small website URI icons, pictured above), hosting help, advertising banners, personalized search engine assistance, design changes, content writing and copy, shopping carts, classifieds, forums, and more. We work fast and charge little – speak with us to achieve a solution normally way outside of your budget.

1. Launchpad

If you want a “site under construction” page – this is a great alternative. Instead of a static message (you can just have that with a bit of commenting out and deleting of image files) this has even more.

Launchpad has a sign up box for readers to get a RSS or email alert, telling them when the new website will be ready. And there’s no need to change the design much – as it will disappear when the new one is online. How handy is that?

Demo • Download • Designer’s Website

2. WP CODA

WP CODA is one of the most stunning – and truth be told frustrating – Wordpress themes ever. Check out the demo, if even just to see how far Wordpress theme design has got in recent years. The whole content slides across in a beautiful fluid motion quite unlike most sites out there.

The frustrating part comes when you try to download and use it – downloading takes an inordinately long time as you sign up, wait for email confirmation, get passwords, and the like. I’m all for people protecting and making some money from what they do, but this is seems like an awkward solution to the problem. The customization is also really difficult – changing the image files or trying to add posts (no page option). But – well worth it for some people who want to leave it as it is, and wow people with their expensive looking website.

Demo • Download • Designer’s Website

3. Cubist 1.0

I haven’t found a use for this theme yet – but I know there’s one waiting. It’d be a nice one to modify and to try out different colors with. The nice theme with this one is as you hover over each different text area, the whole square lights up – making for a unique, flash like theme.

Demo • Download

4. Ubian Nation

Ok, this is not a download, but I mention it because it is a pretty amazing example of a unique Wordpress theme. Someone is going to take this idea and run with it pretty soon – if they haven’t already. I only knew about it and the fact that it’s WP as the owner posted a question on a forum.

Basically this site reads like a book or magazine – with one single page intro, then whole pages that open up in a double format way. The whole thing could be toned down an inch for my taste, but the result blows me away.

I’m not sure I read the content or just oggle at how it works – which is one drawback!

Check it out here

5. Takimata

A real gem, but not for everybody or every project, that’s for sure. One of the most experimental and unique designed free Wordpress themes I have come across, this theme opens up like a graphic design convention’s lunch menu. Beautiful work, and here’s hoping it inspires more experimentation in this and many other directions.

Test Drive • Download

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6. Facebook Theme

I can’ think of a situation where you’d want to make a site that looks like Facebook, but it’s nice to think you could if you needed to. Here’s a pretty good Facebook clone, if you find yourself ever down that particular road!

Designer’s Website

7. Revolution-X Transparent Background

Ok, the screenshot and dramatic design isn’t for my type of projects, it might be for yours. But this is a great and rare example of a transparent wordpress theme, and I’ve ended up using this for the bare bones for many of my sites.

If you replace the background image for any image of your choice, and strip away every other image in the download folder, you’ll have a great, transparent theme, useful for almost any project. What you’ll have is your image, with floating text all over the top of it. Change the fonts, colors and remove the borders for best results.

If anyone wants any more information, let me know, and I’ll post some examples and a tutorial for you. But do try it out for yourself, it makes for a great, professional looking theme!

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

8. Open Air

Another transparent theme with a unique ‘action’ – as you scroll the posts go up to heaven, leaving the image at the background – your horizon, if you will – stay in the same place.

If you don’t like the artwork you could strip this back to basics and have some fun with this one!

Demo • Download

9. Strange Little Town

A third ‘transparent’ theme – ok, I’m not getting obsessed – this time with a pretty/ folksy pink starlit background. I’m wondering if and when someone is going to come up with a nice, minimal transparent theme? Anyway, no one is forcing you to use the background, and it might just suit a project – you know – for kids.

Preview of “Strange Little Town” Download “Strange Little Town”

Demo • Download

10. Compact

The closest we’ve found to a minimal transparent theme but – just to torment us some more – it’s still pink!

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Demo • Download

11. BlackBox

Another one I know there’s a person just waiting for – this is a really bold design with a black half for navigation, and a white half for content. Or you might swap them around with a bit of swapping of numbers in the style sheet. I can see a band information or any other slightly edgy project taking to it like a duck to water…

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Website

12. Motion

A nice alternative – this theme has little bars that open up to reveal content – sort of like a toast coming out of a toaster.

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Demo • Download at the Designer’s Website

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13. Natural Power

Ok, not your usual theme. You might have your own idea what it’s useful for. For my money, I find the rounded curves, flip out sidebar, and groovy logo-like text area great for making video featuring sites. There’s something about the interface which is great for saying “watch me”! The grey background is quite lovely, but I think it works better with a plain background you can set up just by changing the numbers in the stylesheet.css (and renaming the background file that comes with it). Let us know if you use this theme for any of your sites

Test Drive • Download

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14. Stripped

A stripped down Wordpress theme with a unique, typography focused theme that wins my eternal admiration for experimentation and creativity. One of the best designed themes out there, it has a completely unique navigation that I enjoy (although sometimes I forward my domains so that viewers land on a single post page, rather than the home page, to save time).

If you have a project that you want the look of stripped, but with a more conventional sidebar, WordpressTheme.me has made a hack that gives you this option. Basically, download a very Stripped-like theme (Estranged), and then add in our Stripped-like fonts, colors and sizes. You can get the hack here.

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

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15. Plain Box Theme

One of the most interesting and unique themes out there, this theme wouldn’t download last time I tried it – but it probably has been fixed since. It has great potential for a very unique site, and hopefully the file will be repaired by the author soon.

The theme has some very unique visual thumbnails on the front page, and then opens into a very visual-dominated, delux opening spread. Personally I would remove some of the extra elements on the front page, but you may have uses for them. Tell us how you go.

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

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16. Make Your Very Own Theme Generator

If you still can’t find something unique – why not make your own, with this theme generator online wizard. Type in the variables you want (one sidebar, two sidebars, etc.), fonts, colors and images, and the Wordpress Theme Generator will convert it all into a downloadable, zipped file you can use like any other free theme. Let us know of your experiences trying this software.

Try out the Wordpress Theme Generator for yourself here.

17. StudioPress

Ok, so this isn’t super unique, but I didn’t know where else to put it, so it’s in the “miscellaneous” category here. It’s an elegant theme well worth keeping a tabs on for its extended header – great for highlighting a photo that really sets the scene for your site’s content.

There is another version out there with the (white here) content box black, so the content seems to ‘float’. It’s something you can easily change yourself in the style.css, otherwise Google “StudioPress Black” and the theme’s designer, Danny Archer.

If you want to make your own header, simply fade the bottom of the image to black in Photoshop using the gradient tool and replace the file. If you want to use the same font that the “StudioPress” uses, it’s called Scriptina.

Download

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This section is growing by the week, make sure to come back soon.

Coming soon: Leopress for mac lovers.

Broken link? Do you know of more unique themes? Comments? Leave them here

Fear not, help is at hand. And if you already have a life (and don’t have a handy five years spare to learn graphic design skills) here’s a little trick I recommend for non-designers to use for designing great ads – every time. What’s more – if you do this often enough, you will learn those skills and be able to call on them instinctively.

What’s the trick? It’s called tracing.

I know you probably haven’t traced since second grade. Most people don’t think of tracing when it comes to the internet. You aren’t about to lay some tracing paper over something you see on your favorite sites. But it is how we learn to draw, it’s easy to trace, and here’s why you should consider it.

• Tracing changes your designs to what you think you see – to what actually is there, in a good design. Real designers use much more radically different font sizes, for one thing – and much briefer slogans than a lay person would use.
• Web designers use something mysterious known as “the grid“. An underlying rule that gives the secret to pleasing layouts – tracing gives you the ‘bones’ of good design.
• Tracing merely uses the grid, and things like the text justification. There is no copyright violation here.

How do I trace an ad?

1. Find an ad you like – approximately the same size as you need, or in a similar subject area as your ad or banner. You can do a Google image search such as “250×250 ad” for starters. Or, look at similar sites and see what ads, buttons or banners come up.
2. Save a few of these to your computer using a right click, control click, or screen grab.
3. Open it up in Photoshop. Design your new ad on a new layer over the top of this ad – setting your opacity (on the “layers” toolbar) to something like 50% – 70%.
4. Keep the underlying ad there as a guide, but don’t slavishly copy it. You can come up with your own (or another ad’s) fonts, colors, and content.

Combine this with some tricks you can pick up here – things like making stripes, finding the colors another website uses, and finding great fonts and clip art – and you’ll be on your way to a professional ad every time.

Trick Trick

As an example I had someone use this technique on the ad on the front page of this site (the one with the brown packages). Now – besides the fact that it doesn’t advertise anything in particular – and doesn’t link to anywhere – and has one of our “bunnies’ on it as a clue, the results are pretty good for a first timer. Did you pick it as an amateurs’?

Using This on Websites

But wait – there’s more. Why stop at ads? What about if you took a screen grab of your favorite whole website? You could then use that as the basic layout for your own site. All you would need are the basic skills in altering templates, which you can get right here.

When I design a site, the first thing I do is think about the top 3 sites I like the look of, and that I want to emulate in my site design. Mentally, I combine these into one layout – and then search for a free or premium Wordpress template that will suit my needs.

The tracing trick just makes this process much more precise. Do you think Google uses really small fonts underneath the search box? Well, not until you’ve traced on top of it do you realize how small those fonts are – and how big all the empty white space is all around it.

Take it from me – tracing isn’t just for kids. What do you think?

Some might need a bit of customization – I’ll try to include examples and tutorials down the track, so remember to call back if you need those. If you’ve done a customization to one of these themes here, or know of another good business site for us to mention – drop us a line!

1. Website Traffic

One of my favorite free business-like themes, you know it’s a serious company because there’s nowhere to put ads on the front page. Or, the whole thing is one giant ad for the business. If you look at companies like General Electric, they go for a feel that is not dissimilar. Last I checked the designers needed an email reminder to get the download file linked properly. They also have some great looking paid sites I’m hoping to try out in the future.

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

2. Sonar Tech

I normally like to show free themes where possible, but at $31 this price is pretty negligible. Working for clients often means you would have to pay to remove footer credits anyway (few of them like having an ad for a cruise or poker site in their footer – or an angry email from a designer if you delete it).

I like it better than the one above, all in all. There’s nothing about it that isn’t crisp and slick when you look at the demo in full format. It’s not hard to imagine adding a couple of zeros when you bill a client for organizing this theme for them.

Demo and Designer’s Website

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3. Corporate 1.0

Ok, it looks a little plain from the screenshot, but hey it’s free. And replace the title with a logo, maybe make a red navigation menu, and replace the other elements with image based introductions and menus, and you could have a site not dissimilar to a Dynadot or a Kodak. You might want to keep the footer section small. Let us know if you have any success with playing around with it.

Test run • Download • Designer’s Website

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4. Wordpress Remix

If you haven’t seen Wordpress Remix yet, it’s a boon for web designers looking to churn out professional sites for clients. It’s not free, but well worth it, if you value your time in. Basically you pay for a license, and then you get a package with something like 50 great page templates you can switch between – for each and every any page. You access each one in your basic Wordpress desktop, and each one is further fully customizable (if you should ever need to).

It’s really easy to use, but what I like about it is the clean look of the sites. I’ll post a few of my favorite screenshots, but you’ll have to check out the full portfolio to really see how it works. With options for contact pages, product pages, FAQs, sitemaps – even magazine style pages – this is probably the easiest way to get a business site done that I’ve come across yet.

Demo, Screenshots and Download

4. Notepad

I love this free theme – nothing “bloggy” about it – and not dissimilar to Website Traffic at the top. Another great thing  is the fact that it comes in 13 different color combinations, making it a really quick 1,2,3 to setting up a professional looking business entry page.

Demo • Download

6. Artificial Intelligence

This might be a good free theme for someone with a hosting, domain selling, or other IT business. The sphere themed header is quite smooth, and you could add your own logo over it, or replace the title in the top left hand corner to make a professional theme.

Test Run • Download • Developer’s Website

7. WP Contact Manager

Just say a big company doesn’t want a website – but maybe a central database for everyone to collate some sort of details – phone numbers, emails, job details, whatever. You could build such a thing from scratch and charge them thousands. Or you could download this for nothing and charge them the same thing. Let us know if you come up with an innovative use for this unique theme.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Website

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8. Timeless Perceptions

Going from high end to low end here, this is one of the free themes that I’ve had some success with as an online store. Sometimes the best Wordpress themes are ones you wouldn’t invent yourself in a month of Sundays. It sort of reminds me of a budget, fast moving camera or binoculars store, and so that’s what I’ve given it. I even left the little flame logo because it suited the “hot deals” theme.

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

9. Several3

Several3 has a great horizontal navigation section, and a color scheme you can use happily straight out of the box.

Demo • Download

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10. Template Pro Shopping Template

Ok, so it’s not my favorite style of theme, and in this case it’s a website template not a Wordpress – or even free. But some times you are selling to an audience that just likes the reliability of a type of store they’ve seen a million times. Template Pro Shopping Template costs $15, which is pretty cheap compared to having a website built. If you buy this this theme, leave a comment – or let us know if you find a better one.

You can get a slightly bigger preview by clicking on the above image, or go to the Company Website for more information and to order.

11. Modern

A very clean looking website that would be ideal for a professional individual or small, niche service provider.

Demo • Download

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12. WP Commerce Steel

This theme was specifically made for affiliate stores to be elegantly inserted into. If the benefits of it aren’t immediately apparent, it is deliberately minimal, to allow your logos and products to be the main selling points. What I like about it is the fact that the menu bars and buttons are subtle, whilst still being detailed – a rare thing these days. You can see an example of this used as a storefront here, although I think there are further possibilities with a slightly more heavily designed home page.

Demo • Info and Download

13. A Basic “Build Me a Website” Website

Quite often people are asked to “build a website” for a family member, colleague or friend that would like a really simple, professional looking site. I had a look around, and found the domain company Siteground has a whole lot of free Wordpress themes they give out to their customers, for just such a purpose. You can check the full list here. The great thing is, through this side entrance anyone can access them. One theme, known only as “Doggy” (or Siteground-wp53), I’ve found to be nice and functionable. It isn’t widget ready, which means you have to drop your sidebar stuff into the sidebar.php file in the Theme Editor. A pain, but a nice and elegant theme if you put in a good header image.

Test Run • Download • Designer’s Website

14. BizFresh

This one is called Biz, so it has Biz in mind – and while quite blog-looking (three column, RSS and the like), the shaded areas give a good background for a business site or perhaps a site selling products. With a bit of customization, this one could be a winner.

Demo • Designer’s Website

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15. Nice Blank Bones for a Website

Winterplain is a white – almost UberWhite – free template that has subtle blue shadows, as you see in many company websites. I’m yet to use it, but can imagine inserting “Ad-like” section introductions in the header, sidebar and main post window would make a nice, servicable company site.

Download • Designer’s Website

16. Skinpress

There’s something about the strong yellow and rounded corners with Skinpress that makes it seem a really contemporary looking business site. Perhaps limit the amount of text on the homepage for a truly professional feel.

Demo • Download

17. More Blank Bones for a Website

Another free one not dissimilar to the one above, with a slightly different page navigation and look. Don’t forget to delete the background image and header image to get a nice, blank canvas.

Download • Designer’s Website

18. Internet Hosting

It seems every man and his dog has an internet hosting business these days (a tip – don’t go with the dog – they are pretty hopeless). Here’s a pretty good free basic template that looks like a paid one, if that’s your new business. Saving a few bucks on the website design and offer cheaper monthly hosting is probably a wise way to go.

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Demo • Download

19. Any Theme

If you just wish to sell products on your site, and none of these themes quite fits your needs, then it’s relatively easy to insert an Amazon Store into just about any blog template you might have (complete with your site’s header, background, and everything else blended around it). You can see a tutorial about how to install the whole store here. What’s good about this technique is that it uses a new page template, so that your home page can be relatively complex leading up to it. It could go into more detail, so I’ll be posting a more simple tutorial soon.

There are plugins if you want to install just Amazon items into your page, also. For instance, this plugin will help get you started.

20. CafePress

And if it’s your own products you’re developing and marketing, don’t forget CafePress. There are others like it out there, but CafePress’ storefronts are great as they are nice and basic. If you want to get even more integrated, there are plugins and scripts that help you connect a CafePress shop font to your existing design even more closely.

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More business and storefront themes coming soon.

Comments? Customizations? Or know a better theme for business? Fire away!

1. Linoluna

A lovely free site, with a fading features gallery, and nice green color scheme. Perfect for food, lifestyle, and other type sites.

Check it out!

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2. Monochrome Gallery

Monochrome Gallery is one of my favorite Wordpress magazines at the moment, and I’ve created a couple of sites using it. It has a neat design that features five stories with pictures down the bottom, and a main slideshow that scrolls through five recent posts. There are also great sidebars for bits and pieces, asides, and ads if you prefer. A good example of a theme using it is here (most notably with the addition of a header picture) – the same basic layout but using the more extensive premium theme.

Before you download it though, keep in mind that the various bells and whistles can be tricky to set up. I’ve added to the support there with my own tutorial for setting up Monochrome Gallery, that hopefully should help you set up and on your way as fast as possible.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

3. The New Yorker

This one is not a free theme – but included because it’s an incredible artifact and an addition to your range of options. The New Yorker is an amazingly extensive, high-end newspaper clone. You’ll have to look at the demo to get some idea of the scope – the screenshot is only for the top third at most. With 37 different widgetised areas (most themes have one or two), nearly 140 settings, a separate theme control panel to run it all, and automatic control functions for videos, ad banners, and other aspects, this $39 theme is a Wordpress template out of control. It’s lovely to look at too, with beautiful attention to detail in the typography and layout. The only question that comes to mind is – how would you ever fill all that content?

Demo • Download

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4. Modern Paper

Cheap (free) and cheerful – take out the navigation bar, add in a big image header, and you have one fast internet magazine.

Check it out!

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5. Gangway

A lot like Modern Paper above, this has a nice variation where small sections of text are highlighted in the middle column – a nice option you might want to have for your project.

Check it out!

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6. Arthemia

A truly gorgeous theme, with a great drop down menu and colors. This elegant theme can also be chopped and changed by removing elements. Just leave the front page sections you’d like in the theme editor.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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7. Jello Wala Mello

Another great theme for showing a whole bunch of information on the homepage, for your readers to browse and go into for further detail. For an example of this theme with a logo in the top section, and the yellow scheme replaced with blacks and greys, see Rock Songwriting. Many other great modifications are possible for this free theme – just come up with a simple font and color change and you’re away.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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8. Wordpress Magazine

A lovely, professional looking theme that can be happily “tweaked”, or used as-is. I even like using the logo supplied, and have made a favicon to go with it which I’ll post if anyone is interested. Check it out.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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9. Mimbo

Perhaps the most stylish magazine – dare we say overly so? Mimbo is a classic of the genre, and with good reason. A little tricky to set up, but worth the effort.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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10. The Morning After

I have a love/hate relationship with The Morning After. On the one hand, it is one of the most desirable “open” page magazine themes out there, made in response to a survey of all the ingredients people wanted in a free wordpress theme. It has all sorts of great features, like a easy-to-print function for posts, asides, and featured articles. On the other hand, adding images to the front page is more annoying than with any other theme I’ve used. So many times I’ve started a project with The Morning After, and then swapped a little later. Perhaps I’m looking at it wrong, and you’ll solve this puzzle. Let us know. The prizes are pretty darn big. Check out the preview to see what it can do.

Test Drive • Test Drive 2 • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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11. Branford

The elegant grandfather of the magazine set, this Wordpress skin makes a blog look a million bucks. I’d love to see a funked-up version of Branford – it looks like it could loosen up a bit and be a completely different theme. If anyone has any creative examples, let us know.

Test Drive • Download • Designer’s Homepage

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This site is but a baby – a few weeks old. Stay tuned, because we have over 60 very selectively chosen magazines, ready to be uploaded!

Suggestions? Comments on your favorite magazine themes welcome.