A few weeks ago, I wrote about what premium themes people chose to buy after reading my comparison post on Thesis vs. Genesis. I mentioned ElegantThemes as a good alternative for those looking for lots of design options at a lower price than StudioPress, and it has received almost as many purchases (if not more) than Thesis. So I decided to do a review of just ElegantThemes for those who want to learn more about their premium WordPress designs.
ElegantThemes Pricing
ElegantThemes offers over 75 premium WordPress theme designs in one membership. You can choose from the following pricing levels.
The big difference between the two pricing levels is the developer options to use themes on an unlimited number of client websites, receive the layered Photoshop files for customization purposes, and gain access to the premium plugins ElegantThemes has created for their themes which we will cover in detail shortly. Also, you can continue using all of the themes you have downloaded after your membership expires.
ElegantThemes Demo
Want to see ElegantThemes designs in action? Then head over to the ElegantThemes Demo viewer and start selecting themes from the dropdown. You’ll even get a little preview as you hover over the names of each theme.
This way, you can see the functionality you will be getting from your favorite designs! Or you can do a quick preview in the next section.
ElegantThemes Designs
ElegantThemes has a wide variety of designs that can function as standard blogs, eCommerce stores, business sites, question & answer sites, directories, real estate sites, photography galleries, single page portfolios, resumes, and much more.
One thing that drives me bananas on any theme website is having to go from one page to the next to preview all of the designs. So instead, I have images of all of the current 75+ designs for you right here – just click on the first one and click on the enlarged version of the image in the lightbox to continue previewing the designs. I chose my favorite version of each design, but most have an average of four other color schemes to choose from.
Note that the lightbox images and slideshow only works if you are viewing this post on my blog, not in a RSS reader, so please click through to the post to see the preview images in gallery display!
You have to admit – getting all of these designs for $39 (for personal use) or $89 (for developer use) is a great deal!
ElegantThemes Page Templates
Most of the above theme designs also come with built in page templates.
These include an image gallery, contact form (with a simple mathematical captcha), sitemap for visitors, advanced search page, full width page, custom member login, and multimedia portfolio for videos and images.
ElegantThemes Plugins
If you purchase the Developer’s membership, you will also get access to the following plugins build especially for ElegantThemes designs.
Handheld Mobile
Make your WordPress website mobile-friendly with this plugin. Mobile themes can be colorized any way you want and are compatible with all brands of smartphones including iPhone, Android, and Windows.
Elegant Page Builder
Adds drag-and-drop functionality to any design to add buttons, list styles, image sliders, lightbox images, large quotes, testimonials, and more to your pages and posts quickly & easily.
Maintenance Mode
Create a “coming soon” page for your upcoming website before its release and direct visitors to connect with you via email or social networks in the meantime.
Elegant Shortcodes
Shortcodes give you access to buttons, image sliders, tabbed content, toggles, boxes, quotes, pricing tables, and more. Visit the features page to see all of the features you can add quickly to your pages or posts with this plugin.
ElegantThemes Theme Settings
The epanel is the administrative dashboard for your theme’s options. It varies depending on which ElegantThemes design you choose. For example, I use the MyResume design on my freelance writing portfolio which has fewer options than other designs because it is a single-page design. The following are the standard epanel options.
General Settings
General Settings typically include your logo, favicon, color scheme selection for your theme, number of posts to be displayed, and more.
Navigation
The Navigation section of your epanel allows you to add, remove, and reorder links easily on your site’s navigation bar.
Layout Settings
The Layout Settings of your epanel allows you to adjust various elements within your design including information in your postinfo section, thumbnails, comments, size of images, and more.
Ad Management
The Ad Management section of your epanel allows you to easily add banners to specified ad locations in your theme design.
Colorization
The Colorization section of your epanel allow you to change some color settings without having to edit the CSS itself. This includes main font color, link color, headings color, footer color, and more.
SEO
The SEO section of your epanel allows you to edit specific SEO settings for your homepage. It also gives you custom fields that you can use for your single posts and pages. Although it works just fine, I still use external SEO plugins like Platinum SEO Pack (free), All-in-One SEO Pack (free), or Scribe SEO (paid) to configure more advanced SEO options.
Integration
The Integration section of your epanel simply allows you to add special code before the </head> and </body> tags. These are the spots you typically add code for your Google Analytics, Pinterest button, and other scripts for your website.
Support Docs
Hate themes where you have to locate a README doc within the files you have downloaded for your theme to get answers about installation, configuration, and other settings? ElegantThemes incorporates this information into your epanel. This includes links to troubleshooting for particular designs and video tutorials when available.
ElegantThemes Theme Editor
If you want to go beyond the settings in your epanel or the Photoshop files (if you choose the Developer’s membership plan), you can always edit the theme’s PHP files within the Appearance > Editor section of your admin dashboard.
This means you can edit the HTML / PHP directly within the files without having to deal with a hooks system like Thesis or StudioPress. While it is something I do almost all of the time, note that most theme designers discourage editing the files themselves because you will lose your changes if you have to update your theme files.
In Conclusion…
That’s ElegantThemes in a nutshell. OK, it’s not a nutshell, but it’s just about everything you need to know in one post. If you’re in the market for an inexpensive WordPress premium theme collection, I hope that you’ll give ElegantThemes a try. They have a 30 day, money back guarantee with no questions asked, so you have nothing to lose!
About Kristi Hines
Kikolani covers blog marketing and blogging tips for personal, professional, and business bloggers to succeed in search and social media marketing. Kristi Hines is a 
Ive used the Thesis framework on a number of client blogs, Genesis on one. Looks like I’ll be giving ELegant Themes a go pretty soon so thanks for this post. Their library of themes (skins) looks very impressive, and 90 bucks for an all-access membership seems to be great value-for-money.
Mike Dawson recently posted How to Stay Safe from Google Penguin in 3 Simple Steps
I definitely like having all three as an option. I find for sites I want minimal design, full SEO functionality, I go for Thesis. Sites where I want design and need SEO, I go for StudioPress. Sites where I need designs beyond what StudioPress has to offer, I go for ElegantThemes + a separate SEO plugin. All seem to be working perfectly!
Having a few options is always a good thing
Spent the 90 and gave a few of the themes a whirl. Not bad at all, although the framework and the back-end is nowhere near as powerful as Thesis.
Mike Dawson recently posted Pointers for Choosing a Good Domain Name (and Where to Register One)
Yes, if you want the powerful framework, you’d be better off with Thesis or Genesis. I find that I would rather not have a framework and just have the HTML / PHP templates to work with instead though. They get the job done.
Elegant Themes works like a charm. With nearly 76 premium themes plus more to come in the future (2 new ones every month). It definitely worths your money
So far, it’s my greatest investment on WordPress themes
Robert recently posted Best WordPress Hosting – What Is The Best Choice For Your Website
Glad to hear that Robert! You definitely can’t look through all of their designs and not find one that is good for a particular project.
Kristi Elegant Themes is such an amazing resource. I’ve been using their themes for almost a year now and the simplicity of it is exactly what I need. i also love the support. for the most part if you have any issue with your code the support team guides you through it and will keep responding to your forum post until the issue is resolved, or will let you know if you need a developer to fix it. Love them! And the themes are gorge!
Mys Palmer recently posted Business by Experience-Why No Amount of Reading can prepare you for entrepreneurship
Oddly enough, they’re the one premium theme that I haven’t had to go to support for. Probably because I’m not as good at hooks as I am straight HTML / PHP modification in the templates.
Great post Kristi! Elegant themes is a great way to “get your feet wet” with premium WordPress themes. If you are unsure about using paid themes because of the cost involved, I would definitely give Elegant a try. They are very cost effective to get started and offer great designs.
Chris recently posted Vantage – Business Directory Theme
Exactly Chris! It’s a nice bridge from using free themes to getting into paid ones without spending a fortune.
Wow! Great post Kristi. I’m in the process of creating 2 websites using Elegant Themes for the first time (had been using Genesis for my WP sites up to now). Very easy to use with a nice variety. I’ll be keeping this post handy. Thanks so much for the very helpful info.
Kathleen Dwyer recently posted Contact Web Designer in St. John’s Newfoundland
Good luck with your new websites Kathleen!
Some great designs here. Thanks for sharing. I have Thesis but I don’t think it’s as easy to customize as it should be and the OpenHooks plug-in can be a pain.
Jason Nelson recently posted 3 Awesome Internet Marketing Podcasts
Definitely. I like how sometimes I have to stick a random word in dozens of boxes before I get something in the right place.
Nice list of themes. I only use few of them. I still use most of the themes from StudioPress.
Terence Chang recently posted 10 Slides 10 Minutes 10 Million Dollars – 1
I think I use an equal mix right now between all of my sites. While doing this post I discovered a few new types of sites I can create with their themes, so those might have to get thrown in the mix.
I must say that Elegant themes for WordPress platform is the best, I used to use the same theme previously but moved to Genesis to consider better SEO. Though Elegant Theme was best and unbeatable
Parmar recently posted IRCTC Login Page & Sign Up Process
It’s a great value for so many designs indeed!
I’ve created many websites and WordPress has always offered the best themes. These are great layouts. Honestly, forking over the money for the more expensive themes are worth it if you’re willing to make/manage a visually appealing site.
I find more than the design, it’s the functionality of premium themes that lure me in. That and I know I can trust the coding in it. Had a few experiences with free themes where they embedded SEO links and other odd things that you couldn’t remove without breaking your site.
Nice list, but do you have any suggestions for a premium “Magazine” style theme? I’ve been searching for a good one for hours!
Danic recently posted Galaxy Note 2 Verizon version coming soon! U.S. Cellular will have it too!
There are a few in here that might fit the bill. If not, check out StudioPress – particularly the Lifestyle, Magazine, and News designs.
Nice summary and review. For anyone who is creating a lot of sites for clients, that pricing really is effective. I like their use of colors for the themes, too.
Exactly… designers can get a lot of mileage with this themeset!
I think premium themes like these are DEFINITELY worth the investment. Free themes in general look nice, but they lack a lot of functionality and customization options. With paid themes like these you can tailor a much more personal site with better features that will bring in new users and keep current ones.
Elegant themes has a whole bunch of beautiful themes!
I know that, since I have already seen so many of their designs.
Thanks for the awesome review of Elegant themes, Kristi.
Samuel recently posted Get More Followers On Twitter Like A King!
Wow, some of these are pretty fantastic. I am going to have to seriously consider getting this pack so I can have some fresh looks. A few of my websites are definitely on the older side now and could REALLY use a fresh coat of paint with themes like this.
Garrett recently posted The Three Trade Types of Elite Range Bar Trading
Great post, Kristi. I never looked into ElegantThemes so I appreciated your detailed review (not to mention your all-in-one-view lightbox). Very impressive theme and looks like it would be an excellent option for most of my clients. Most of them prefer to be involved with the content of their blog and not the look of the blog, but still want a great look just the same. Thanks! Looks like I’ll be adding another premium theme to my growing collection.
Jim Zboran recently posted [Infographic] Solopreneurs: How We Market Online
I’ve been a big fan of Elegant Themes since I stumbled across their site a few years ago. Great support and wonderful templates. It really is a nice compromise between a free cookie-cutter site and a totally-custom site.
@larryphoto
Larry Lourcey recently posted Changing Your Perspective
Nice Kristi,
It is good collection of Elegant Themes and great tutorial, I wish to implement in future requirements,
It was really useful for new bloggers like us.
Thanks for sharing with us.
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