Wordpress magazine themes are everywhere. They reached critical mass towards the end of 2007 and their popularity has continued to grow through 2008 and will, no doubt, keep rocketing forward.
It’s easy to see why they are so popular. They give individuals the opportunity to publish a fully functioning online magazine with no more effort than that required to run a blog. It really is very simple to get a magazine online. Get hosting, install Wordpress, download a free magazine theme and start adding content. Thats pretty much all there is to it.
Or is it? Is it really that simple? Or is there a catch?
The success of adopting a magazine style for your blog depends on a couple of things. A magazine theme works best when where content is strictly organized by the correct implementation of categories and tags. Most magazine themes use categories as menu items. If your content is scattered over a large number of categories, more than ten for instance, you may find it tricky to present that content in a magazine style. Furthermore, a magazine style blog can easily show up a lack of good content since a magazine presentation style often utilizes a densely populated front page.
However, categories can be pruned easily by converting some of them to tags. It may be easier to simply convert all categories to tags and then add a manageable number of new categories that will better suit a magazine layout. Wordpress makes category and tag manipulation a breeze, especially after version 2.5, so this needn’t be a problem, nor a barrier to any would be magazine publishers.
And if your problem is a lack of content then that’s pretty easy to fix. Just write more quality content before you switch themes or, if you are yet to jump into the blogosphere, before you launch your blog.
Looking for a free magazine theme to give the magazine look a spin? Try Futurosity, the Upstart Blogger theme that received glowing reviews from many corners of the internet upon its release and is still widely regarded as one of the best minimalist magazine Wordpress themes available. And, like all Upstart Blogger Wordpress themes, it’s free and easy to modify.
But that’s only half the story. The half that comes from the side of the blogger. Blogger’s seem to love magazine style themes. And I can genuinely see the appeal. But what about from a blog readers point of view?
And that’s where it’s over to you. What do you, as a blog reader, think of magazine style Wordpress themes?
Amazing how much your post mirrors a lot of my recent thinking. I am attracted to some magazine themes because of their design, but keeping up a mag theme in a ‘personal’ blog often doesn’t work. When utilized in the proper context magazine themes are both practical and pleasing.
The proliferation of magazine style themes has also started to where the style thin, with copycats and look-alikes in profusion. Rare is the original magazine theme these days. Their success, whether as free or premium themes, has so many jumping on the bandwagon that minimalism is going to come screaming back and the blog may just get personal again.
I loved the idea of a word press magazine style theme and my Tech guy suggested it for my other website he is going to give a face lift to. He showed me one I forget the name of it but it was fantastic. I was not sure about it for my blog though because of the layout.
I am currently working on a site that uses a magazine theme. My aim is to make it, rather than a typical blog, actually a portal…the possibilities with WP and these themes are endless and it can only be good for blogging as a whole.
The classic ‘list style’ blog has by no means lost it’s place however, it’s just magazine themes are more suited to other audiences.
i love magazine themes. i love them best when they are used appropriately. I’ve noticed that the ppl who are hip to mag style themes have the least amount of content. and conversly, the ppl with waay too much content have no idea what a mag style theme is.
i also agree that sense magazine style is the latest trend there have been hundreds of look alikes which makes it fustrating when you’re looking for quality and originality.