vThematic Theme

Thematic is a WordPress theme framework, designed by Ian Stewart. It is based on the popular 960 grid CSS framework. Before going on to describe my findings on this theme-framework below are the points for the Framework.

• Firstly, I have to admit that Thematic is a beautiful and well polished code and the Themeshaper team has done a great job. It is flexible and simple in customization. With 13 widget areas on the theme a lot of options exist for the end user. The code is complex yet easy to work with when it comes to creating child themes.
• However, due to its complex nature there is a small learning curve which you can gather from the documentation and some helpful links such as Thematic FrameWork Structure.
• Although Design possibilities depends upon the web designer and neat code only helps in achieving these objectives I was could not find any drawbacks in the theme apart from the learning curve which really is a concern.
• By default thematic has inbuilt SEO parameters however it largely relies on plugins such as All in one SEO Pack and platinum SEO pack which they recommend. I would off course recommend using “Vibe SEO Pack”.

I searched for existing free wordpress themes on Thematic and all I found was blogging themes apart from the Gallery (a gallery theme) and Simple Cart (A WP eCommerce Theme) , so I decided to build a corprate theme with Thematic to test its power.

vThematic : A Free WordPress Theme based on Thematic

Download below (Membership is FREE ! Click top menu ->Join the Vibe to login or register):

 Preview vThematic
Corporate Thematic Theme
[emember_protected for=2-3]
Download vThematic
Free Thematic Child Theme
[/emember_protected]

OR

[subscription_form type=”zip”]
How to Setup vThematic:

1. Download Thematic and install.
2. Download Zip and Install
3. Install vSlider
4. Create a vSlider called homepage with width and height as 928x380px
5. Create a Page with page template “vThematic homepage” and enter this page id in exclude pages list.
6. Go to vThematic options in appearance and make changes in the home page text.
7. Change the Logo and Twitter account from Vthematic options page.
8. Click Save and you are ready to Go!!

Apart from vThematic, here are  top 5 shortlisted themes for thematic:

1.  Gallery : By Chris Wallace [ Preview | Download ]
2. Simple Cart: By Chris Wallace [ Preview | Download ]
3. Crystalline [ Preview | Download ]
4. Early Morning [ Preview | Download ]
5. Commune [Preview | Download ]

In case you face any issues with the installation or have more requests for such themes, create a topic on our Forums.