One Premium Theme to Rule Them All?
I think we’d all agree that Wordpress has to be one of the absolute best blogging platforms out there. It’s relatively easy to use and you have all sorts of opportunities to customize the look of your blog to your liking. While there are literally tons of free Wordpress themes out there, not all of them are pretty and a good number of them could be buggy. That’s where the field of premium Wordpress themes comes into play and if the subject of this review is to be believed, this is the one theme to rule them all. Dull is not an option.
The Only Theme You’ll Ever Need
That’s the first statement you see when you launch the promotional video for One Theme. The cool thing about this particular premium Wordpress theme is that it is “ever evolving” and the developers will offer you free upgrades for life. New versions come out at least every six months and your initial purchase entitles you to these new versions for as long as these guys exist.
One Theme has a lot of features. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to list them all, but some of the highlights include:
- Five color schemes
- Completely widget friendly
- 100% valid xHTML and CSS
- Pre-configured for easy monetization (AdSense, etc.)
- Custom control panel with multiple-choice style options
- Custom search results page
- Templates for archive, links, and sitemap
- Numbered comments
- Unique “Hot Conversation” plug-in
- Featured YouTube video
- Featured homepage article and categories
Aesthetics and Design
To get a full sense of what this theme is all about, you can check out the live demo. I have the red version displayed below, but you can access the other four color schemes through the main One Theme homepage or by clicking on “Change Color” in the navigation.
I think I like how the header image is effectively split into two halves. You upload your blog’s logo and this populates the left half of the header image, and then you upload another image to populate the right half of the header image. This way, you can have a special picture on right for special occasions and the like.
The two navigation bars near the top of the page are actually animated. When you hover your mouse pointer over certain links, like sport, a menu emerges with secondary options (football, golf, and rugby). This is quite sleek, but a little distracting. The placement of the RSS subscription options is quite nice though.
Going a little further down the page, I found that the right-most sidebar was a little cramped. Aside from giving you room for a Google AdSense skyscraper, this third column isn’t really necessary. The blogroll can be placed elsewhere and there is no need for the RSS and Meta subsections. Because this premium Wordpress theme has a featured article on top and only snippets underneath, I’d only recommend it to blogs that have multiple posts each day. If you only have one post a day, your homepage is going to look pretty stagnant.
Custom Control Panel
The custom control panel for One Theme makes it easy to use for even for the Wordpress (and monetization) novice. While the rest of the Wordpress dashboard is still in place, the One Theme section has a special section just for your ad settings.
The theme has been pre-configured to accommodate AdSense blocks of certain sizes. Just provide your publisher ID and the theme will take care of the rest. If you want to replace AdSense with different ads, you can do that too.
You can use the rest of the custom control panel to adjust the appearance, define the featured article and categories, upload your header background and logo, and set other options. It is all very intuitive and easy to use.
Pricing and Referral Program
One Theme has an affiliate program wherein you can make a 25% commission on every sale that you make. Payment is made by PayPal every month and you are notified by email of every sale. The affiliate program is managed by E-Junkie.
In terms of pricing, there are four options for buying One Theme. The $99 Webmaster, $199 Webmaster Pro, and $299 Web Developer Licenses allow you to load the theme on one blog, three blogs, and five blogs, respectively. Note that you need Wordpress 2.5+ to run One Theme. There is also the Reseller license, but you need to contact them for more information.
CLICK HERE TO BUY ONE THEME NOW
- Posted in Make Money Online, Reviews
- 54 comments what's your take?
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Its not a bad concept for the theme and I think the initial design is not too bad but I still like my theme better
Reply to this commentwell….don’t sing it…bring it…..share the link and let us decide
Reply to this commentmine is much better. http://www.stakloaded.net
Reply to this commentI saw it…not bad … in fact i stayed a bit reading some of the articles….take a look at mine http://www.peterdoylephotography.com you’ll have to click on “storyboard blog”…..I know … evil not to do it directly
Reply to this commentI think I will go for the affiliate…
Reply to this comment25% is a lot considering that the cheapest theme costs $100
Reply to this commenthey john,
the link for your last article is broken.
thanks a lot
Reply to this commentI like the theme, but there will never be one theme that is universally like or wanted. Blogs are all about creativity and the designs reflect that. Price isn’t too steep, but not something I am interested in due to all the free themes that can be customized.
Reply to this commentYeah, I definitely agree. Unless they constantly change the layout, nobody will be a 100% satisfied.
Reply to this commentIt’s probably a good idea to change or update your theme every 18 months to 2 years anyway.
Reply to this commentYeah, but a lot of people keep their themes the same & seem to be doing just fine.
Reply to this commentnice looking theme, i like the graphics used, but there are better options around, and believe it or not, free ones like i use… but that is my opinion. im sure in 100 commenst this posts gets we can find 50 different opinions…
Reply to this commentNice design, buat I don’t like magazine style themes…
Reply to this commentI know what you mean. It really depends on your site and your target audience is.
I think it is a very nice theme for the right site.
Reply to this commentI like the design, but as someone already said, there isn’t really a universal theme for blogs.
Reply to this commentThis would work really well for a site that I want to create except for the fact that the far right column is only 127 pixels wide and the headings inside it are only 120pixels. They made it perfect for a google skyscraper banner but most affiliate banners are 125 pixels wide. Plus they need some breathing room around those. If they remedy that I’m sold.
Reply to this commentI’m sure that can be easily fixed with a few tweaks to the CSS code.
Reply to this commentWhat I like most about this theme is the design. Competes with a lot of the existing Premium Themes , but it`s not widget ready at all. I still opt for mine, and it`s a free wordpress theme except I have implemented a lot of widgets and plugins for it to work properly.
Reply to this commentI like the theme. Seems like a pretty good idea. The price seems to be a bit high though. It is hard to make a theme to sell with all the great free ones that are available.
If I hadnt just made my own theme I might consider buying this.
Reply to this commentThe Theme is ok - Dont think it’s worth the cash though. In blogging surely one size can never fit all!
Reply to this commentMmmm…$100 for wordpress theme still to much for me…could not afford it…
Reply to this commentInteresting, but my theme is better and I made it all by myself.
Reply to this commentall in the eye of the beholder i guess
Reply to this commentI actually like your theme & how you left no huge space areas.
Reply to this commentThis is going to be hard to sell. A lot other free ones are way better than that. So why you want to pay for something worse?
Reply to this commentNice themes, but I think that the price is a little bit high, anyway I purchased a pack of professional WP themes with full resale rights and Im offering them for free, check out this post to see how they look:
I love it and I made it myself.
Reply to this commenthttp://www.zakshow.com/2008/06/30/professional-wordpress-themes-pack/
BTW my blog template is the best
This is what I like to call Lazy Cash. The theme is a spin off of other magazine style themes. I saw the theme and instantly felt like I have seen it before. At best this theme is worth $20. The originality is next to none. If you are charging $100 for a theme, we better not have seen it before. If you are charging more than that, we better not see it on any other site. I call it lazy cash because they are charging a steep price that n00bs will probably eat up because they don’t know any better. $500 for a review on JC means they only have to make 5 sales to make up for advertising costs. With the volume that this site brings, I see them profiting a few hundred. It is lazy because the theme is not original, and all they did was allow you to change the color of it. IMO for any smart person, stay away. N00bs can eat it up though.
Shudogg Dot Com - Make Money Online Blogging
Reply to this commentI think it’s worth the $100.00. It changes the architecture of how posts are organized and the back end control panel as well. They didn’t pay $500.00 for a review, this post wasn’t even by JC.
Reply to this commentDesign seems good but not sure if it can be a universal theme for blogs
Reply to this commentThe way you described it made me hungry for this theme. Looking at it with a $99 single license price tag, not so much
Its a + to my future “buy this” list.
Reply to this commentI think the top half is very nice. But I think the rest was just rushing and put together. There’s no design carried out, it’s just plain.
Reply to this commentI had 4 kinds of blogs and I used different theme for each. No theme is better than others, and you need to appeal differently to different audiences.
Reply to this commentWell, that’s pretty awesome, if only if it is free. But since it isn’t, I prefer to Jauhari’s Hamasaki Theme! Here is the url. Take a look! Worth to use, worth to download, and worth to install.
http://www.jauhari.net/themes/hamasaki/
Thanks!
Reply to this commentThanks John I´ve made a post in Portuguese related to One Theme.
Reply to this commentJohn you always come with wonderful writing sytle and useful info.Thanks..
Reply to this commentIts not John, its Micheal Kwan.
Reply to this commentWow! Seems like a great idea! Only question is, can it read your mind?
Well… I can keep dreamin’, right?
Regards
Reply to this commenthttp://online-multiplayer-mmorpg.blogspot.com/
Had it come out sooner, I might have bought it. Especially since I was looking for a decent theme.
But I already plucked down the dollars for the Thesis theme and I don’t feel like spending anymore cash on a new one.
Maybe next time I decide to upgrade.
Reply to this commentSo much info., Michael… Thank you is an understatement. You never can learn too much about how to make your blog better!
Reply to this commentIt’s a pretty nice theme and I like the fact they will give people free upgrades for life. It you’re going to spend money like that, you might as well get a custom theme created.
Reply to this comment~Terry
Nice theme but the third column is pretty narrow.
Reply to this commentGreat theme - Wordpress really rocks!
Reply to this commentNice Theme. Looking for more professional ones though.
Reply to this commentLike FREE ones better.
I feel like this type of premium theme comes out all the time. I’ve seen one called Remix.
Reply to this commentBeing a user of one theme I can tell you it’s a great, simple theme to work with. First off it has so much more to offer than the free and other premium themes, everything can be changed in the back end from the logo to the links in the footer - if you are a beginner it can save you a great deal of time and worth looking into.
Regarding the cost it maybe is a little too steep for many users, especially if their site makes $0 revenue. I think that the fact of getting upgrades for life and an ever evolving theme does balance the cost out and make it a good deal.
If you are familiar with the coding of templates etc you can customise it fairly easy as I have edited it from the default style to suit your taste.
Overall I am very happy with the purchase and would definately recommend it to others.
Richard
Reply to this commentAwesome theme! I am going to start working on making some WP themes soon, I may have to try and implement some stuff like this.
Reply to this commentLooks like a pretty nice theme and concept for 99 bucks. Just what a blogger who wants to customize their design for a limited budget needs.
Reply to this commentLooks nice for a start up blogger who wants to upgrade from the free WP themes out there.
Reply to this commentI checked out 1 Theme and I must say I am impressed. I thought the WP theme I already had was pretty slick but 1 Theme offers a ton more flexibility. Not sure I want to make the spend for it though.
Guess I’m jsut a simple guy!
Regards,
John
Reply to this commentJohnSpohr.com
Very nice but very pricey as well
Reply to this commentYes, there are so many pay-for themes out there now it’s crazy. The problem is sorting out the quality ones from the duds. I’ve but together a listing of some top premium wordpress themes on my site so check them out.
http://www.eblogtemplates.com
~David
Reply to this commentGreat looking theme. Very costly though
Reply to this commentDefinitely cool. $99 cool? Not sure.
Reply to this comment