I currently consider purchasing a premium WordPress theme (or rather framework?) and – to say the least – i’m a bit overwhealmed by the sheer amount of what’s available. While most providers are offering live theme demos i still feel a bit like i’d buy the pig in a poke.

Why?

Devs are very good at advertising the countless features of their themes while not being too concise about where you can actually use them. Quite often you get options that are limited to a certain custom post type, a blog post format, a page layout or something the latter. That worries me. Can i put that fancy slider into a standard post as well? I like that gallery view, but is it only available for a certain portfolio page layout?

Been recently there with Cudazi’s freebie “Mono” (great work, Curt!). It’s jampacked with lots of options, shortcodes, custom formatting and portfolio layouts. After setting up everything, migrating posts from a blog category to the custom portfolio post type and starting to fiddle around i noticed that some of the features were exclusively available for portfolio pages only. Don’t get me wrong – i’m not complaining here – it’s an amazing free theme.

But what if i spent cash on a premium theme and face a similar situation?

It’s impossible to judge a theme or even nail down its limitations by clicking through a live demo. Few developers already share extensive admin panel screenshots which give you an impression of the options. A live admin demo would do more justice – let the user taste your themes’ pedigree, if he can deal with your framework etc.  Anyway, back to my personal requirements.

I’m looking for a premium theme that

• supports post formats for the blog/timeline while offering different options for standard posts (i.e. fullwidth, featured image, gallery, stuff like that)
• allows for customizable category templates for ones with standard posts only
• comes with options for customizing page/portfolio templates (custom post type or not)
• offers the usual shortcode suspects
• is well documented and possibly easy to customize
• optionally comes with fluid layout for mobile devices
• is optimized for reading, a clean design, big and bold typography por favor

Of course i could also do it myself but i’d rather start working on new tunes, making a mix, take some pictures, review new music gear… other than getting my mind around writing everything on my own – classic time management issue. Doesn’t mean i don’t want to customize – just keep the necessary amount to get done with what i want to a minimum.

If you’ve got experience (good or bad) with a WordPress premium theme provider leave me a comment here or via Twitter