This straightforward theme is probably a good choice for someone who doesn’t know how to do tons of customization. One of the most common questions when implementing a theme is inevitably “How do I change the logo/header”? This developer has thought of that. Advertising in also integrated, as is the popular most commented and most commented functionality.

Would love to see a larger search, email, RSS box, as well as category-based drop down navigation.

Live Demo | More Info |

Gorgeous and clean Wordpress theme with a two tiered-navigation menu — page-based and category-based. The majority of the homepage is taken up by the featured story (appears to be the latest story). Nice features include a slick “most popular” sidebar with popular, comments, latest and tags. Another unique feature is the robust footer which manages to pack in six stories in three selected categories. Currently does not come with advertising already implemented.

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I think I’d put this theme in more of the robust blog camp, in that it appears to be page-based-navigation (correct me if I’m wrong). The theme layout is perhaps more text-heavy than others. Unique design elements include the big footer, the “quote box” (upper left hand corner) as well as the HP latest entry — all in text. The prominent search box is nice.

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This minimalist theme takes a pyramid approach to content display — one feature story/large image, beneath that three smaller features (with smaller images), then as the base, five thumbnail features bolstered by a big footer. The main nav menu is a bit different than many themes in that it incorporates both pages and categories (sub pages and categories in drop down). An upper nav repeats the categories. Overall a nice theme, but the white space beneath the main story seems underutilized. If you like this theme, you may also want to check out Gridline, a theme by the same maker, Graph Paper Press.

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This Wordpress theme by Solostream offers critical magazine-style features with some emphasis on community. A big check to my #1 must-have — a category-based nav — as well as a large and potentially auto-scrolling main feature. But prominent too is the “most popular”/comments/tags/etc block on the HP; recent comments and gravatars get play as well. Comments on the article pages are nicely color-blocked.

The version I’m referring to is the version in the live demo; the theme comes with several different layouts for its HP and category pages.

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NewsPress defies the logic that columns must be differently sized. The theme manages to present two columns of equal width on the HP and it works well. I also like that the featured stories on the HP are not just the latest stories but the latest story by category. A++ for that. Not a huge fan of the ad implementation, but I’m sure that can be easily changed. The search box is in a bit of a weird place, but overall, a very nice theme!

More Info | Live Demo

Among all of PremiumNewsTheme’s themes (See the Live Wire series, for example), I’ve got a soft spot for Flash News. I like the auto scrolling main feature (which runs a touch too fast, but that can be changed), I like the look-and-feel, and I really like how the two nav menus are separated. I also like that there’s a separate video channel, and I like the big footer. I’m not particularly fond of the flickr widget, but I’m sure that too can easily be changed.

More Info/Live Demo

No, the screenshot you are looking at is not CNN. Can’t tell whether it’s the font, the red or something else, but this theme certainly lives up to its name. Gazette is a solid mag-style (or should I say, news-style) theme in a three-column HP design, with some standout features, such as the arresting auto-scroll main feature as well as most-recent posts from different categories as the secondary featured articles.

As with many of PremiumNewsTheme themes, Gazette has prominent search, rss/email and “most popular” module — all tops for me.

More Info | Live Demo