At this moment, I see the rise of the the premium (paid) themes for WordPress as an incentive for developers to reach higher levels. With the drive to create that one “has it all” theme and ask a nice premium for it, the copycats will generate more free themes with alike capabilities…

I want to mention 3 premium and 1 free WordPress themes that caught my attention and that show that next level.

One Theme [premium WordPress theme]

Our customers enjoy the knowledge that purchasing a license for One Theme will save them the hours it would take installing and implementing a competitor’s theme. One Theme’s backend is so powerful that it requires absolutely no web design experience, which means absolutely no hacking around in files you don’t understand. Sporting an unrivalled list of features, and rock solid stability, its easy to understand why purchasing One Theme is the popular choice for professional web masters.

One Theme for WordPress is as the name says: One theme that has everything you need and is easy in use even for those with no previous experience with WordPress themes.

Thesis Theme [premium WordPress theme]

I built the Thesis Theme because I wanted a framework that had it all—killer typography, a dynamically resizable layout, intelligent code, airtight optimization, and tons of flexibility. Now, after months of field testing, I’m confident enough to offer it to those of you who have come to expect nothing but the finest themes from me.

When you purchase a theme from DIY Themes, you are essentially getting a lifetime subscription to that theme. This means that you’ll be able to login at any time and download an updated version of the theme—it’s how you’ll keep your Website up-to-date and on the digital edge.

Thesis Theme for WordPress is yet another great piece of coding of Chris Pearson, who took up the challenge of creating the finest theme of them all.

Although this theme is great out of the box, it will even display more power in the hands of the creative blogger that has some styling knowledge as well. See what results you can get: Visit the Thesis theme showcase.

Themes by Thad Allender - GraphPaperPress [premium WordPress themes]

Graph Paper Press is a repository for Wordpress themes created by photographer and multimedia artist Thad Allender. Graph Paper Press pedals sophisticated modular designs that can transform your blog from a tubular list of posts into an aesthetically-pleasing news magazine website.

Currently there are 5 base themes, enough for a total of 14 variations.

View all themes by Thad Allender (you can buy all themes (14) now for only US$ 99,99 !) and you will understand what I am talking about. I came across his themes while drifting away from some flickr photos, when looking into sports photgraphy. His pictures caught me first (they really are amazing) and then I almost fell off my chair when seeing the superb themes he produced.

To take it a step further… he also developed one hell of a great gallery plugin for WordPress, which you will find here.

Ikarus Theme [FREE WordPress Theme]

Ikarus is my dream of a Wordpress Theme come to life. I’ve spent 3 months developing it and it’s absolutely perfect, with over 2,000+ user selectable variations and options all managed from the admin area. Four (4) homepage layouts (magazine, list, blog and magazine lis), over 10 colors that you can mix and match, left or right layout and tons more.

Without exaggerating, this theme gives you a very lot for a FREE theme. It has all the functionality you will need, ease of use and a very professional lay-out.

Furthermore, it is great to read that this theme is already receiving updates and additions and a lighter “white” version is coming up!

You can see all features (lonnnngggg list!) and updates in this post, over at the creator’s site, wpthemespress.com

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Think these themes are great… what do you think?

PS Oh, in case you are wondering, this blog uses used a tweaked premium theme also: WP-Magazine Theme by Solostream

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