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iThemes Overview
iThemes is a world leader in the development and production of high quality premium WordPress themes. The company isn’t limited to designing premium WP themes for blog sites, though. They also create high quality WP themes for small business websites. They are an avid believer of the convenient, very affordable, and powerful WordPress technology in effectively designing your websites online.
iThemes Media LLC is based in Oklahoma City where they run iThemes, PluginBuddy (WordPress plugins), and WebDesigns.com (WordPress web design training site). They are working with a highly specialized team of web developers and designers with Corry Miller as the founder. Chris Jean is the company’s lead developer while Brad Ulrich is the company’s designer. iThemes also boasts of other talented individuals in the likes of Ronald Van Weerd as its support manager, Mat Daner as its WP developer, Sarah Sheldon as the company’s Video Guru, Skyler Moore works in support, Dustin Bolton is in charge of web codes and is also the developer in PluginBuddy.com, and last but not the least, Benjamin Bradley as the company’s instructor and trainer at Webdesign.com.
Theme Functionality
iThemes works primarily with WordPress technology in its WP themes’ core. On the backend, they have the most functional web codes in Cascading Style Sheets, with great XHTML and WordPress options. While other WP developers are more focused on their themes’ look and graphics like in the case of Alohathemes, iThemes is more focused on their WP themes’ functions. What’s great about the company’s WP themes is that they are so multi-functional that their themes are not only best used on blog sites, but in actual small businesses’ websites and photographers’ websites as well; as compared to other companies like Graphpaperpress which, with their minimalistic theme designs, are best suited for photography websites and the likes.
The functionality of iThemes’ themes is comparable to those of high-end, expensive and professional websites that would normally cost you around $2000 or more to custom build.
Theme Graphics
iThemes has over 80 different premium WP themes to choose from. That means over 80 different WP designs and graphic options so you’ll most definitely find one that will best suit your needs. The company’s theme graphics are all very edgy but, at the same time, elegant and exceptionally clean with great functionality and resolution; you know that this kind of quality is highly developed and well worth your money. You’ll be mesmerized by the different color schemes that their theme graphics have which are all very original and well thought out.
Theme Pricing- base on August 2010 data
We won’t sugar coat it. iThemes has one of the most expensive theme pricing in the market today as compared to its competitors. Each of the company’s individual WP theme costs about $79.95, almost double the price of those in the likes of Theme-junkie and others, not to mention a host of other free online WP theme providers like Templatelite.com.
You can get great savings on the company’s combo deals starting with their All Access Theme Pass which you can get for $297 for 6 months, or for $497 a year – still very expensive compared to most premium WP theme providers out there. If you are a professional web developer, you may find great value in the excellent quality themes that the company provides. Not only do you get over 85 professional WP themes, you also get the iThemes builder which normally costs $127 with their All Access Theme Pass (though some company offer this for free).
Theme Support
It is no secret that customers are a company’s life blood, especially for service providers like WP theme developers. And like most of them, iThemes provides an excellent support network which includes: bug fixes, how-to’s on basic theme features, basic WP help, and basic customization help. The company’s support hours are from 8 am – 5pm CST, Mondays through Fridays.
Their online support board hosts a public support domain where you will find help for pre-sales and other inquiries, their online theme showcase, and other related forums. Their theme support board consists of a “notepad” where you can write any problem you might have encountered with any of their premium WP themes, and where you can expect a prompt response within one business day.
Last but not the least is iThemes connect, where you will find help from other online customers within the iThemes community.
Theme License
100% GPL for CSS, XHTML, PHP, design and any other elements.
Author: ThemeGrade Editor
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Frustrating Support
Amazing theme functionality but not backed up by support. Unwieldy website, webinar chat and forum. I’ve just been clicking around the website for another thirty minutes, during which time I was repeatedly asked to login again. This is probably a great theme for someone who needs no support, but after buying builder and the developer course last year, I would not do so again.
Any theme that you get from the Ithemes range of products could already be perfect.
That is, it’s actually NOT in the way that you do have to be a paying customer to really get support on the theme of your choice. What if you run into some kind of roadblock in customizing your WordPress theme, what happens then?
I didn’t have enough money to get to the right kind of support and now, I’m just stuck. I think I’d have to go for another theme provider, one that caters to the masses.
“Professional Feel For The Non-Techy”
Great review on IThemes and I definitely agree that their themes have a very professional feel. I also like to point out that I love their easy to install plug-ins which is great for someone non-techy like me.
love the themes but hate having to wait 2-3 days for a response and then get hammered saying it is outside the scope of what they offer.
Ithemes focusing on WP technology for the themes they provide worked wonders. I’ve never experienced features like this with any kind of theme.
I never knew themes could be so multifunctional. They work great for my blog site. The colors encourage my viewers to keep on reading and browsing.
the people at ithemes really made sure that they cater to their customers every need and that goes on even after you’ve bought your theme. they’re the best at providing support for the themes that I bought. It’s easy to talk to someone about problems with bug fixes, customization etc.
“Looking more credible”
For a professional like me, there’s no other choice but iThemes. It truly reflects the image that I want to portray.
I congratulate Cory Miller for understanding what professional blogger needs. Now I look more credible to my subscribers.
I would have to agree the themes at iThemes are excellent and their lead designer Chris is at the top of his game.
Support is the single section that they appear to be deficient in. Folks ask for assistance and the comeback you would never envision seeing is that is outside the scope of our support. It would appear to me that a business that sells a product is in the support business and would go out of their way to provide support. Does not take place at i Themes. If and that is a very big if they get their support to be as good as the themes, then they would be a force to be reckoned with.
Themes that are provided by iThemes.com are a web designer’s dream.
Creating layouts and even assigning layouts to specific places is made easy for you. It’s so easy that even a beginner or newbie to WordPress can enjoy it.
One good benefit it entails is you can tweak and control the look of their theme of choice like a professional.
Probably if the themes from iThemes come with a style editor, it would be more of a snap to design and customize.
There’s still so much to improve on to reach perfection.
Keep up the good work Cory! I believe Mr. Miller was able to grasp the concept of what it means to be professional with their themes. I don’t mind paying for iThemes at all because I get what I deserve.
“I never regret going for iThemes!”
I have never seen a WP provider as technologically advanced as iThemes so I simply had to go with their Flexx theme. The first thing I noticed upon installation is the theme’s very functional navigational menu.
It really is very flexible as it allows you to easily checkmark a box next to a certain page name.
The next thing I noticed is the theme’s configuration menu which is great because it lets you decide on whether or not the default text widgets must have a default text to them.
I highly recommend this theme to anyone who is looking for great functionality and flexibility with their web design.
I especially like how the familiar tracking code is located at the foot of your theme for easier access.
Another notable feature is how this theme is highly search engine optimized ensuring traffic to your website.
“Too Expensive. Definitely not worth the money!”
Their online support system isn’t as responsive and prompt as they claim to be. I’m glad I didn’t sign up for one of their more expensive packages.
A single theme from the company will already cost you about $80, but it’s triple or more when you go with their all-access pass.
With this kind of money, you would demand for support when you need it, and have to wait for the weekdays to come, and to wait for regular business hours at that! I am trying to run a website, not a physical store!
“It just isn’t worth it…”
You’d think that with the kind of good money you are paying in a company as expensive as iTheme, you would expect everything to run as smoothly without any hassles; I couldn’t have been more wrong! I understand a few problems here and there but the kind of bugs I am experiencing in some of their WP themes makes me very upset, to say the least!
For whatever business you have on the internet where you need a kick-ass kind of WP theme like being a blogger, a business owner or a web designer, the themes that ithemes have on offer are the best!
Specifically with the Builder WordPress theme, you get to work with something that’s revolutionary in the sense that installation is easy and configuration is open to you. This is done through the My Theme widget and I don’t have to go looking for links to configure my WordPress.
“For a more professional me”
couldn’t have said it better! absolutely agree with everything that you said. i’m done with themes that make me look like an amateur and had switched to ithemes which made me look more professional to my readers.
“Whatever you need can be found in iThemes”
What I love about iThemes is their astonishingly big collections of themes where you’ll find all the designs you are looking for in one place. The quality of their WP themes is top notch and it’s hard to find a design that is not to my liking! As appealing as they are, all of which are highly customizable which even lets you design it to your own specification, how cool is that?
I was initially baffled at iTheme’s anonymity in the online market seeing how great their theme functionality is. Sampling a quick demo on some of their many themes led me to see their strong WordPress core with great CSS and XHTML options. Some of the technologies you will find in their many different WP themes are comparable to the quality of high-end websites.
Browsing through their extensive list of WP themes, I found that they have almost all of the basic and advanced features and graphics I would need.
I have also read a lot of great online reviews from customers themselves so I decided to give them a try. after all, what’s there to lose, right? Apparently a lot of money, that is. It is simply disappointing how expensive their WP themes are regardless of how good they are. If I had only known better, I would’ve gone with a lesser expensive provider who can offer me just as much.