A theme to study - Learn from the masters

Hello there.

I have been wanting to put down some money on an excellent WordPress theme to study. What I mean is I would like to learn from a theme that is considered to using best practice in a number of areas such as quality of code, best coding practice, proper and comprehensive styling, great usage of features and custom options panel etc.

I am not looking to copy anything but to study a great theme.

I have worked with CSS and HTML for a long time and done a few blog themes based on WordPress but I still feel I can get a better overview of how it all comes together in a Themeforest CMS theme.

I always make some funny mistakes here and there and it would be nice to see a real life example of how it is done when it is done the best.

If you have any recommendations let me know. Some reasons why would be great as well.

I heard Kriesi’s coding is awesome. Haven’t look at it myself but I’m pretty sure you can learn a lot with his themes.

http://themeforest.net/user/Kriesi/portfolio

I woludn’t recommened Kriesi’s having downloaded cleancut. Yes, his coding skills are awesome and he is a kickass developer, but he has his own framework, with a lot of files etc.

That’s actually a great idea of learning. However, it might be a little bit hard for you to learn from advanced techniques, if you’re not on a similar level. I would recommend you take a look at frameworks that are more or less empty, and build upon it (throughout tutorials). Also, you can definitely make use and learn from Drew’s and Jeffrey’s both excellent series.

Thanks for the advice so far, I already looked at Kriesi and I was wondering how he goes about things.

I was also considering Freshface with his great looking custom option and admin panels. I would love to go into that direction.

I am not really starting from scratch. I have done 2 themes before and I have worked on much larger projects as well.

My reason for studying the masters would be to learn from their way of doing things and pick out the things I feel will suit my own style instead of fumbling around blindly. My strength is on the mental side of things and I enjoy analysing other peoples work.

Doing a full CMS solution with lots of custom stuff is not as simple as just doing a regular blog theme which is quite easy.

That’s actually a great idea of learning. However, it might be a little bit hard for you to learn from advanced techniques, if you’re not on a similar level. I would recommend you take a look at frameworks that are more or less empty, and build upon it (throughout tutorials). Also, you can definitely make use and learn from Drew’s and Jeffrey’s both excellent series.

Hey could you point me towards these tuts, thanks.

Drew’s: http://blog.themeforest.net/author/drewdouglass/ (check for ‘Wordpress for Designers: Day XX’)

Jeffrey’s: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/the-best-psd-to-html-to-wordpress-video-series-available-new-plus-tutorial/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nettuts+%28NETTUTS%29

Forgot to mention Dan’s also excellent tutorial: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/new-plus-tutorial-wordpress-beginner-to-master/

Good luck

Drew’s: http://blog.themeforest.net/author/drewdouglass/ (check for ‘Wordpress for Designers: Day XX’)

Jeffrey’s: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/the-best-psd-to-html-to-wordpress-video-series-available-new-plus-tutorial/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nettuts+%28NETTUTS%29

Forgot to mention Dan’s also excellent tutorial: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/new-plus-tutorial-wordpress-beginner-to-master/

Good luck

Thats golden, thanks a lot man.