[Last Updated October 17, 2008]

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the things Hack WordPress is most known for is our WordPress theme galleries.   Because of this, we have worked really hard to maintain them by both adding new themes as they are released, as well as removing older themes that are either outdated, are no longer available, or are no longer supported by their authors.

One of the most common requests I get via our contact form is to break apart our galleries into more of a niche focused display of WordPress themes.  Because we aim to serve, this post will be the first of a three part series breaking down the premium WordPress themes available.    Next we will be going through our free galleries and looking for more helpful ways to display those as well.

This first WordPress gallery was designed to feature some of the best News and Magazine Premium WordPress themes currently available for purchase.  I included both styles because the lines are kind of blurred between the two and I didn’t want any debate over which category each one falls under.  Themes are not listed in any particular order and I have included any listed features with the theme whenever it was possible.

Revolution Pro Media Theme

• Featured homepage tabber area
• Featured photos from Flickr
• Featured YouTube video
• Other featured areas using custom fields
• Google AdSense integration in between posts and comments
• Section, Archive, Blog page templates

Single-Use ($59.95), Multiple-Use ($149.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Magazine 1.0 Theme

• Widget-Ready, User-Friendly, and Optimized for Wordpress Versions 2.2 and Above
• Five Different Home Page Layouts
• Four Different Category/Archive Page Layouts
• Home Page Featured Article Glider Box
• Built-In Banner Ad Blocks
• Built-In Site Guide in Right Sidebar
• Customized Recent Comments in Sidebar With Gravatar Support
• Author Bio Information and Gravatar Included on Single Post Pages
• Alternating Color Comments With Gravatar Support
• XHTML Valid

Basic (Single License $99.00), Premium (Multiple Use $199.00), Developer ($299.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

One Theme (5 Color Choices Included)

• Five Color Schemes: Blue | Green | Pink | Black | Red
• Custom Control Panel
• Widget Ready
• Javascript Drop Down Menus
• Custom Search Result Page
• Archive, Links & Sitemap Templates
• Child Pages Ready
• Child Categories Ready
• Numbered Comments
• Valid XHTML/CSS - Full div layout (no tables)
• SEO Optimized Code
• FREE Updates forever
• FREE Support
• Logo Design Service Available
• Theme Installation Service Available
• Two Homepage Layouts
• Tracking Ready (Statcounter/Google Analytics)
• Gravatar Ready
• Thumbnail Ready
• Unique “Hot Conversation” Plugin
• Featured Homepage Article
• Featured Homepage Categories

Single-Use ($99.95), Three-Use ($199.99), Developer’s License ($299.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Open Air Theme

• An unique homepage layout, with a beautiful grid structure that keeps your content looking fresh and appealing.
• The ability to switch the look / layout of the homepage between a content-heavy magazine view or a more individually-focused personal blog design.
• A super-sexy and non-obtrusive video player, which will aggregate all of your videos into one, easy-to-use-space.
• A completely widgetized sidebar with custom widgets included in the theme packaging. No third party widgets required.
• Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme.
• Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images.
• Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap, Image Gallery & Video Player.
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments.
• Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice site-wide.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Pass It On Theme

• Cool Link Feature - Visitors see a green check mark beside links they have already visited.
• Social Media Ready - Check out the custom social bookmarking integration at the top of each post page.
• Premium Ad Placement - Plenty of places for ads to help you make more money from your blog.
• Related Posts - Related posts built into the content to promote click-thrus.
• Widget Ready - Use the built in coding or use Widgets. Whatever floats your boat.
• Gravatar Support - Built in Gravatar support is ready to go right out of the box.
• Easy to Use - Easy to setup even with no coding experience. Commented code and read me file makes setup a breeze.

Single-Use ($85.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Fresh News Theme

• 6 Different Colors to Choose From
• Automatic Image Resizer (requires PHP GD Library to work)
• Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments
• Author Profiles & Archives
• Featured news section
• Video Panel (for use with Flash videos)
• Traditional Blog Layout (for homepage)
• Integrated aside / sideblog section within the sidebar of the theme (optional)
• Navigation Dropdown Menu’s
• Sidebar Tabbed Box
• 2 different homepage layouts (featured section)
• Widgetized sidebars
• Integrated Banner Ad Management
• Integrated Flickr & Feedburner

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Papercut Theme

• Five eye-catching theme styles to pick from that include the default, newspaper, red print, wood and floral prints.
• An unique homepage layout, with a beautiful grid structure that keeps your content looking fresh and appealing.
• Beautiful comment styling and unobtrusive advertising banner placements.
• A completely widgetized sidebar with custom widgets included in the theme packaging. No third party widgets required.
• Integrated Banner Management widget to display banner ads of your choice site-wide.
• Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme.
• Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images.
• Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery.
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments.
• Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice site-wide.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Live Wire 2.0 Theme (Available in Green, Red, and Blue!)

• Auto Image Resizer - No more do you need to upload various sizes of images to make the featured posts and thumbnails look great - instead you now only upload one image of any size and our back-end does the rest.
• Author Profiles - We focused a lot of attention and making the author profiles and archives in this theme, really, really pop. This feature makes the Live Wire theme perfectly suited to multi-author blogs. We also included our built-in Gravatar support to display author thumb images.
• Built-in Gravatars - As mentioned above, we’ve included Gravatar functionality into the theme and it works without you having to install a plugin. The use of Gravatars can also be easily switched on and off.
• Custom Page Templates - The theme now includes custom page templates for General Archives, a Sitemap and Image Galleries.
• Color Schemes - Every theme also includes 4 different color schemes to cater for everyone’s taste!
• The Rest - Featured panel, video panel, drop-down menu’s, a tabbed box in the sidebar, integrated banner ad management and lastly easily integrated Flickr & Feedburner.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP Vybe Theme

• Theme settings page in your Wordpress control panel (see screenshots below).
• 2-column or 3-column layouts.
• 10 different color options with control panel setting for further customization.
• Optional featured article glider for home page.
• Gravatar integration.
• Optional banner ad integration.
• Optional built-in post thumbnails.
• Optional logo/header image integration via control panel.
• Built-in site search.
• Built-in drop-down navigation for sub-categories and sub-pages.
• Built-in author page and author profile with Gravatar support.
• Widgetized sidebars.
• Comment and trackback separation.
• Post author comments highlighted.
• Basic SEO techniques integrated.
• Original Photoshop files (PSDs) available for download via control panel.
• And much more …

Basic (Single License $99.00), Premium (Multiple Use $199.00), Developer ($299.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Tauren Pro Theme

Single-Use ($69.00), Multiple-Use ($128.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Chimera Theme

Single-Use ($59.00), Multiple-Use ($109.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Music Theme

• Special Featured Content plugin and thumbnail section on the homepage
• Drop-down menu navigation
• All 3 sidebar areas are widget-ready
• Theme options page inside WP dashboard
• Comments section coded for Gravatars
• Google AdSense integration in between posts and comments
• Blog page template

Single-Use ($59.95), Multiple-Use ($149.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($59.95), Multiple-Use ($149.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Flash News/Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Premium News: Gazette Edition

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution News Theme

Single-Use ($59.95), Multiple-Use ($149.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

DeepBlue Theme

Source/Demo | Purchase

Citrus Theme

• 6 Colors to Choose From - Pink, Light Orange, Green, Red, Blue, and Dark Orange.
• Advertising Management including 125×125 Ad Blocks.
• Two unique layouts - a “landing-style” news page and a two-column “blog-style” interior page.
• Change your theme’s color, layout, featured posts, and advertising - all without touching a single line of code.
• Clean, lightweight code means fast loading times.
• Extensive support resources available.
• Search engine optimized, out of the box.

Single-Use ($79.00), Multiple-Use ($99.00), Developer’s Pack ($149.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Traveler Theme

• Choose between Advertisement-Ready version and Advertisement-Free version
• IE6, IE7, Firefox, Safari and Opera compatible
• XHTML and CSS Valid
• Extensive help and tutorial included
• 2 Styles (Full Features & Clean)
• Ad your Adsense or Image Link Code
• Turn all-or-individual banners on/off
• Quick Post - No need to put an image
• Image Auto Resizer
• Random Video Rotator (copy/paste code)
• Flickr Integration
• Build your Own Menu from the Theme Options
• Drop Down Menu (Build your Own)
• Ad your own Logo and Styles Easily
• Unique Post Randomizer
• Gravatar Support
• Main News Section
• Widget Ready
• Customized Archives and Search Pages
• Stylesheet switcher
• Feedburner Integration

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($179.95), Developer’s License ($279.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Celebrity Gossip Theme

• 3 color style - Light, Warm, Dark
• Automatic image resizer to dynamically create the thumbnails on homepage
• Automatically use the first image in each post for homepage thumbnail, no need to manually key in custom field. Custom field method still available if you wish to override with your own image.
• Optional 2 column bottombar
• Widgets ready - easily arrange sidebar and bottom bar
• Advertisement ready - 4 125×125 banner slots and 1 top header banner
• Gravatar ready
• Social bookmark ready
• Print.css - for uncluttered printing
• Theme options admin panel (preview)
• PSD files included
• XHTML and CSS validated
• Tested on IE6/7/8, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Flock, Chrome

Single-Use ($35.00), Multiple-Use ($95.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

MagNews Theme

Source/Demo | Purchase

Gabfire Theme

Single-Use ($59.00), Mutiple-Use ($159.00), Developer’s License ($259.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Suvi Theme

• Integration of the Get The Image plugin to automatically resize the first uploaded post image for the featured thumbnails
• Fully widgetized sidebars
• Ajax tabs to show, recent comments, popular tags, archives and a chosen video post
• Flickr integration
• Drop-down menus
• A well structured code which can be edited easily through CSS
• Ready for 125px ads
• Custom video template page

Single-Use ($59.00), Mutiple-Use ($159.00), Developer’s License ($259.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

bSocial Theme

• Highlight Your Content: With the front three feature boxes, you can highlight any content you want on your home page, including older content that gets buried
• Social Networking: On the home page and each post of bSocial you can link to all your social networking content easily
• Custom image uploader feature allows you to personalize your site with your own logo or graphic!
• Drop Down Navigation Menu
• Professional support
• Search engine optimized
• Multiple page templates — like Feedreader and Search
• Widget-ready sidebar
• Comprehensive Theme Options page (see release page)
• Automatic image resizing — for front feature boxes
• Easy feature image uploading — with automatic image rotating

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

This guest post was written by Jean-Baptiste Jung, who maintains a blog (written in French) that covers WordPress. If you have webmaster or WordPress knowledge and are interested in writing a post for Hack WordPress, please contact us.

Tired of your old navigation? So, what about creating a Magazine-style drop-down menu?

I propose here a drop-down menu listing your pages and sub pages, including one last item to show up your categories directly in the menu.

HTML and PHP

We will start by using WordPress core functions in order to retrieve our pages and categories. Edit the header.php of your theme, and replace your old nav code by this one:

<ul id="nav" class="clearfloat">
<li><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/" class="on">Home</a></li>
<?php wp_list_pages('title_li='); ?>
<li class="cat-item"><a href="#">Categories</a>
<ul class="children">
<?php wp_list_categories('orderby=name&title_li=');
$this_category = get_category($cat);
if (get_category_children($this_category->cat_ID) != "") {
echo "<ul>";
wp_list_categories('orderby=id&show_count=0&title_li=
&use_desc_for_title=1&child_of='.$this_category->cat_ID);
echo "</ul>";
}
?>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

This code will make a list of all our pages and subpages, as well as a last list element named “Categories”. When an user will hover top level pages (in case of a page menu) or top level categories, we will show up the related sub pages/categories.

CSS

Even if the code is fully functional, our script needs a good CSS styling. This CSS, which was taken from Darren Hoyt’s free Mimbo Theme, is perfect for what we want to do.

#nav{
background:#222;
font-size:1.1em;
}
#nav, #nav ul {
list-style: none;
line-height: 1;
}
#nav a, #nav a:hover {
display: block;
text-decoration: none;
border:none;
}
#nav li {
float: left;
list-style:none;
border-right:1px solid #a9a9a9;
}
#nav a, #nav a:visited {
display:block;
font-weight:bold;
color: #f5f5f4;
padding:6px 12px;
}
#nav a:hover, #nav a:active, .current_page_item a, #home .on {
background:#000;
text-decoration:none
}
#nav li ul {
position: absolute;
left: -999em;
height: auto;
width: 174px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #a9a9a9;
}
#nav li li {
width: 172px;
border-top: 1px solid #a9a9a9;
border-right: 1px solid #a9a9a9;
border-left: 1px solid #a9a9a9;
background: #777;
}
#nav li li a, #nav li li a:visited {
font-weight:normal;
font-size:0.9em;
color:#FFF;
}
#nav li li a:hover, #nav li li a:active {
background:#000;
}
#nav li:hover ul, #nav li li:hover ul, #nav li li li:hover ul, #nav li.sfhover ul, #nav li li.sfhover ul, #nav li li li.sfhover ul {
left: auto;
}
a.main:hover {
background:none;
}

Javascript

Modern browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera, and even Internet Explorer 7) will not have any problem with the :hover pseudo-class on li elements. But as we can easily guess it, the obsolete IE6 can’t deal with that.

In order to make our script compatible with IE6, we’ll need to charge this little unobtrusive Javascript code, in the head section our our HTML document, or even better, in a separate .js file.

<![CDATA[//><!--
sfHover = function() {
var sfEls = document.getElementById("nav").getElementsByTagName("LI");
for (var i=0; i<sfEls.length; i++) {
sfEls[i].onmouseover=function() {
this.className+=” sfhover”;
}
sfEls[i].onmouseout=function() {
this.className=this.className.replace(new RegExp(” sfhover\\b”), “”);
}
}
}
if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent(”onload”, sfHover);
//–><!]]>

Now, your new drop-down menu is ready and will give your blog a professional look.

If you consider yourself a WordPress freelancer or at least have good enough hacking skills to do some paid work with WordPress, you may be wondering what the best ways are to find work?  

Over at the Planet Ozh blog, Ozh recently gave some great tips on how to find WordPress work.   The first tip?  Subscribe to the WP-Pro mailing list, where job offers are regularly available.   These jobs can range from theme design, coding help, or even basics like installing WordPress. 

Other places he mentions to look:

• Official WordPress jobs board - These boards look pretty busy
• WordPress Job - Aggregates job offers from several freelancers

Your other option is of course to do some work up front and then charge for it, which is how premium theme authors and premium plugin authors make their money.   This way people come to you and they know what they are getting ahead of time. 

Any other good places to find WordPress work?

Yesterday I wrote a post titled When Has Stealing Content Gone to Far?   At the time of publishing that post, I wasn’t really sure how it would be received because of the subject matter.   So far all feedback has been pretty positive, so I decided to write a quick follow up post talking about how to deal with getting your content stolen.  Thanks to Laurence for the idea.

As most people should know, when you publish content, pictures, or whatever else on the internet, there is always some risk that things will get scraped or stolen completely from your website/blog.  Despite everything falling under copyright protection, people sometimes get away with it because it is often difficult to enforce. 

So, what can do you to deal with content theft?  Here are two things readers suggested that may help:

1. Terms and Conditions - Create a clear terms and condition policy that is findable on your website.   It may not help, but it certainly can’t hurt anything.   Throw it in the footer of your blog or somewhere that it is accessible. 
2. Use Internal Links in your Posts - In addition to the SEO benefits of working on your internal linking structure, scraped and sometimes stolen content will often include these links back to your website.  

Hopefully those methods will help avoid this in the future, but what can you do when your content has already been stolen? 

1. Contact the Offender - Depending on the situation, some sites may have a contact form or some way to contact the thief.   You can also try checking the domain whois records.  This is a good way to request they delete your stolen content and stop stealing your content in the future.   Though most know they are doing so, a few might not be aware that this is illegal.
2. Take Action Against the Offender - If the first option doesn’t yield any results or there is no way to contact the owner, there are two ways to take action against the thief.   If they use Google AdSense to monetize the site (most do), you can report them to Google by clicking on the “Ads by Google” link in the lower right corner of the AdSense box and provide them feedback.  I believe stolen content is actually one of the default options you can check.   The other thing you can do is contact the hosting company and let them know they are hosting websites that are doing illegal practices.  I’ve heard of people have some success going this route, so it is a great last resort. 

So, that is what I have.   What do you do to deal with scrapers and content thiefs?

P.S.  Ironically enough, unless there is some sort of screening process that I’m not aware of, this post will be scraped at least 3 times shortly after publication.   Am I the only one that finds humor in that?

This guest post was written by Hayes Potter, a 13 year old programmer and web developer that gives webmasters tips on protecting their website from common hacking techniques. If you have webmaster or WordPress knowledge and are interested in writing a post for Hack WordPress, please contact us.

I absolutely love the i3 WordPress theme. I used it for my site for about a month, and I had no problems for what I needed. It features a “mac” look, has the Mac OS X classic background that fades into the mac’s “spotlight blue”. The sidebars are on the left and right side not attached to the middle content. The separate widgets are each in their own little bubble with a mac like toolbar as the header. The theme displays the pages in the middle content column, and this is one of the very rare themes that display the sub-pages very nicely under the page parent. Also you can move around the columns to your liking, so instead of the content being in the middle you can have it off to the right and the sidebars on the left, and vice versa.

If you are on the photos section it would display a small little bar under the pages bar displaying the sub pages, but if you are on the home page it will not display these sub pages. It has a built-in search bar in the top right hand corner, and it looks like the spotlight application in Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, except its black. The only problem I’ve ever had with it is displaying javascript in sidebar, ad- sense would fine, but a simple javascript code would make the sidebar screw up and shift to the bottom of the page. I switched themes because of that and because it is a very popular theme, and I like to switch up my theme every once in a while.

I highly recommend using this theme if you can’t find a better theme for yourself. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!