I’ve said it before on this site, a good minimal WordPress theme is often more difficult to code than a complex, flashy one.  In looking at good minimal WordPress themes, I look for clean lines, mostly CSS instead of images, and grid-based or clear organization.  For example, a strong navigation system need not be overly dramatic or layered.  These are some excellent minimal WordPress themes from around the free and premium providers.

Currents

460×345

Wikeasi

460×345

Canvas

460×345

eList

Evolution

Check out these 46 excellent WordPress lightbox themes!

Lightbox is a powerful but simple script that overlays images on top of the current page.  It has become the standard for portfolio and gallery pages.  Protecting your WordPress site from “viewer fatigue” means preventing unnecessary clicks and back button usage.  Lightbox allows you to do this by preventing the user from leaving the page to get a closer look at your media.

Lightbox is free and works in all modern browsers*.  Because the script is lightweight and universal, it has been seamlessly integrated into tons of WordPress themes.  These WordPress lightbox themes are the top of the line, and allow you to show off your media efficiently.

*No version of Internet Explorer is considered “modern”.

WordPress started as a blogging platform, but quickly became a powerful tool to showcase your work. These WordPress showcase themes are the best of the best, available for instant purchase with no expensive subscription fees. They are made by professional designers that stand behind their work.

A good WordPress showcase theme is clean and minimalist, allowing the reader to move directly to the content being showcased, not the design. Another component of good WordPress showcase themes is easy user interface. This means the user can navigate the content easily and quickly. Quality WordPress showcase themes have a unique and tested user interface that uses AJAX, pure javascript or css menus to allow for easy browsing of content.

Click on any image to go directly to the theme page, and remember, there are more pieces like this all over Pingable. You might want to subscribe to our email newsletter to get updates. Don’t worry, we never spam or share your contact info.

Those amazing theme creators are at it again, producing some special new products. Always pushing the limits of what we thought WordPress could do, creating new ways to use this amazing content publishing platform. WordPress can no longer be considered just a blogging platform, it’s now a full fledged content management system. Check out these new themes from well known designers.

Teamster WordPress Theme for Multi-author blogs

Teamster is a theme created for blogs that are run by multiple authors. As content is key, more blogs are converting to this collaborative model because the time demands of creating competitive content are increasing. Teamster WordPress theme is designed to meet the unique needs of multi-author blogs.  Check out Teamster Theme.

Features:

• AJAX Powered author tabber
• Minimalist design
• Author content showcase
• Custom typography

Photocrati 4.2 Update

Pingable is a long time fan of the Photocrati WordPress theme. Why? Because it is 60 themes in one. When you buy Photocrati, you get 15 preset styles with tons of customization options. Although Photocrati has been around a while, they just released the latest version this month. What’s more, the sales of this theme go, in part, to the Photocrati fund which gives $5,000 scholarships to photographers working on environmental and humanitarian projects. Now that’s worth supporting.  Check out Photocrati Theme.

Features:

• IPad and iPhone compatible
• SEO optimized
• Powerful options panel
• Built in copyright protection
• 30 day satisfaction guarantee

Sky Whimsical WordPress Theme

Sky is truly whimsical. It floats your content in a nice sea of background texture. It is iPad compatible and utilizes a nice slider on the front page. Wow your clients with this professional theme.  Check out Sky theme.

Features:

• Four color schemes
• AJAX preloaded for fast page changes
• Built in gallery feature
• The famous ElegantThemes shortcode package
• Powerful control panel

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You’ll find some really incredible AJAX WordPress Themes out there.  AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XHTML.  If you’re not familiar with AJAX, you may be familiar with some of the features it is responsible for on WordPress sites.  For example, almost any feature that allows you to stay on the page while updating the content is using AJAX.  Search results are a common use of AJAX in WordPress themes.  When you search and the results automatically appear without clicking search or pressing “enter”, this is AJAX.

The following are 50 of the best AJAX powered WordPress Themes for Fall of 2011.  We sincerely hope you enjoy.  If you liked this post, we would love to share more with you with Facebook.

Minimalista (An Ajax WordPress Template)

Animated Under Construction – Twitter & Ajax forms

Hungarian (CSS3 + HTML5 + AJAX Navigation)

jSale – jQuery and Ajax For Sale template

Under Construction Page with AJAX, Twitter feed

PhotoGrid – One Page Ajax Photography WP Theme

Ajax Launch Page

Powerful Errors – PHP/Ajax error template

Under construction/maintenance – Twitter & AJAX

Under Construction Page w/ AJAX contact form

Ajax Portfolio

Grace powerful HTML CSS AJAX template

Divine – vCard/Portfolio – With AJAX Contact Form

AIDA AJAX Paper Landing Page

Minimalisto – Premium WordPress Theme

Multimedia – Music, Video, Picture, Blog HTML 5

LauncherX – Countdown Template

XYLON UNDERCONSTRUCTION PAGE

Revoltz – Premium WordPress Theme – 3 in 1

Ultra Sleek 3D Look Under Construction Page

Distinct – Portfolio and Business WordPress Theme

DynaX – Landing Page.

SlickApp – iPhone / Mobile App Website Theme

Stuff

Alabastros Studios WordPress Version

FreshServe – A Web App / SaaS Website Theme

COSoo COming Soon Page Template

Style and Fashion

Atheron – Under Construction Template + WP Theme

Photorific – Photography WordPress Theme

4elements – Multi Purpose Business Template

Rounded Biz – Professional Business Template

Feature List – a template designed to sell

DesiredFolio

Vendible – Site/Domain For Sale XHTML/CSS

Mobius Domain For Sale xHTML/CSS

Manilla WordPress Theme

DigitFlip, UnderConstruction with twitter

Minerva XHTML Theme

cleanTypo Website Template 6-1 for clean websites

web access Website Template web 2.0 look

RamInfo Clean Corporate Business Website Template

Atlas Magento Theme

Integrity Website Template web 2.0 style

Business Showcase – Corporate Layout (HTML)

Grunge Under Construction Pages

Premium Company Template

Stuff – template

Carta – Minimalistic Html Template

ONELAND Landing page

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WordPress is a simple tool used by millions of webmasters.  Did you know Google has a whole department dedicated to political adword accounts?  We didn’t either until recently.

There are many political candidates using WordPress to manage their online presence.  As the United States Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Howard Dean showed, the web is one of, if not the most important tool for political organizing.

Here are our picks for WordPress themes best suited for political applications.  The criteria we used to evaluate themes were:

• Layout – political WordPress themes need to grab visitors’ attention quickly and convert visitors to action-takers.
• Design – political WordPress themes send a message about an individual candidate.  They are not just a design, but a brand that must be sold.
• Function – themes should have lots of room for widgets and sidebar content.
• Integration – good political WordPress themes should integrate smoothly with social networking sites, social bookmarking, streaming media, Twitter and similar organizing tools.
• Customizable – no political candidate should use an out-of-the-box theme without customizing it to fit their campaign, their constituency and their message.

Update: Here are some new WordPress Political Themes for 2011.  Enjoy!

Politico

Politico is a straight WordPress theme that you can customize to add features common on political websites such as donation widgets and signup forms.

Victory Framework

The Victory Framework is essentially a theme, with tons of built-in features.  It is an out-of-the-box website for political campaigns that only needs basic information to go live.  Of course, any candidate would need to make it their own before launching officially.  But it includes all the basic functions of a political website.

Win With WordPress

This is also a highly-evolved WordPress Political Theme.  It has built in features underneath a political design.  It also boasts contact management features which is a plus for any campaign.  Rather than signing people up for email lists, you can turn them into advocates and constituents.

WooiTuts @ ThemeForest

Who’s Who @ Elegant Themes

MyStream @ WooThemes

Compositio @ Design Disease – FREE!

Probama Theme @ Category4

Landing pages are and often forgotten but incredibly vital component to any website launch.  They are not just used to park a domain name, but more importantly they are used to show the world you’re coming.  They are particularly important if you intend to:

• Build buzz around your concept before launching
• Convert casual visitors to subscribers
• Develop a list of potential customers or users prior to launch
• Show visitors you’re serious and professional
• Let people know your intentions with a domain name

Quite simply, WordPress landing page themes are used as a temporary design before your official site is up.  Check out these WordPress landing pages, in our humble opinion, the top five.

1. Premise Landing Page Theme

Easily the number one choice, the Premise system allows you to build custom landing pages so yours will actually be mostly unique!  It comes with 1,100 custom graphics to use and an amazing system for converting visitors to followers.

2. Placeholder (Free!)

This theme is simple but very elegant.  It has an optional countdown clock you can use to lure visitors to come back again.  It also showcases social media connections and conversion options which is very helpful.

3. Timelaph (Free!)

A clean and modern landing page that is dark and simple.  You can incorporate text as you see fit, so including social media or conversion links is simple but not graphically popping.  There’s a built-in email conversion.

4. Startup

Startup theme is actually a fully-functioning WordPress theme that happens to come with a “coming soon” page that matches the style of the main design.  It has a nifty flash powered countdown clock, an original under construction image and a nice big text block.

5. Under Construction WordPress Theme

Although is says HTML page, it actually comes bundled with a WordPress version.  Plus, there is a very nice full WordPress theme that goes along with this landing page.  The coolest part about this theme?  It has a pie graph and twitter integration that keeps visitors updated on your stage of development.  Very cool.

We’re almost 5 months into 2011, and theme designers have had a chance to create some stunning products.  We’ve scoured the web for 100 very high quality WordPress themes for 2011.  These aren’t your typical, boring themes.  These are high quality, some might say “super premium” themes.  They have clean code, smooth lines and creative layouts.  They also come with some of the most exciting WordPress theme innovations of 2011.  They include shortcodes, multiple design presets, and multimedia sliders.

Click any image to go right to the theme and check it out.  Disclosure: you get what you pay for.  Almost all of these themes are premium.

If you enjoyed this compilation of high quality WordPress themes for 2011, we would really appreciate if you shared it with friends.  Anyone who blogs knows how much time it takes to put something like this together.  Although, we love WordPress, so it’s not exactly “work” to look at WordPress themes all day.

Folioway is a new, amazing and unique WordPress theme for showcasing your work.  It is also a great option for a business wanting to display their products.  It features a smooth slider, unlimited built-in styles, shortcode support and stunning typography.

Slick Gallery Feature

The theme comes with a nice gallery component that lets you display your graphic work or products in a stylish way.  Great for artists or other creative folk, it will simplify the need to show lots of images on one page.

Custom Shortcodes

Custom shortcodes make styling your blog easy.  No CSS necessary, just frame something in a brief code snippet and voila!  Shortcodes can create styled boxes, dropcaps, buttons, anything.  This helps keep the style of your blog uniform and professional.

Custom Styles

The theme comes with built-in background styles as well as an infinite color option using the unlimited palette that exists in, umm, the world.  With a few clicks, you can customize the look of your design without having to actually customize the theme.

Professional Typography

WordPress themes often neglect quality typography.  Folioway comes with an impressive set of typography that lends credibility and professionalism to your site.  High quality typography communicates your message effectively.

Folioway is a professional, stunning and impressive theme for almost any use.  It is particularly equipped to be used as a portfolio or design showcase blog.  The designer has paid attention to every detail, producing a high quality product for only $35.  Check it out now.

We all know Themeforest, ElegantThemes, Woothemes and the other major theme designers.  But there are hundreds if not thousands of other theme designers out there that are either obscure, new or quietly producing some of the best WordPress themes out there.

These theme designers offer high quality designs for a comparable price.  However there is one huge benefit to using these little-known designers: their themes are largely unique.  For example, some major providers sell thousands of themes each month.  That means if you deploy that theme on your WordPress site, several thousands other sites are using the same design.  On the contrary, choosing one of these designs means your site looks unique to a lot more people.

Check out some of these designers.  We think you will be pleasantly surprised, and hopefully you learn of a couple new designers you never knew about.

YooTheme

If you’re looking for a jazzy, creative and completely original theme, check out YooTheme.  Pingable’s design is actually a modification of a YooTheme product.  They started by creating Joomla templates, then realized Joomla is dumb, bloated and a sinking ship.  Now they make both, porting all of their previous Joomla templates onto the WordPress theme framework.

Design Disease

You may have seen their work over at SmashingMagazine.com, but they don’t tend to churn out a great deal of themes, just the occasional, high quality, funky looking design.  They also do custom work starting at $1,500.

Organic Themes

I have to admit, the name caught my eye.  Obviously themes can’t be organic, but I appreciate the sentiment.  I also appreciate their designs.  I’m going to go ahead and make up a word now, simplism.  That’s what comes to mind when I browse Organic Themes’ work.

SoloStream

Although their themes aren’t drop-dead gorgeous, they may be the right foundation for your custom work.  Every vision needs a starting point.  Every painter needs a canvas.  And so on.

RocketTheme

They also started with Joomla and just recently launched their WordPress membership package.  Unlike most designers, you can’t buy these themes individually, you must join their “club”.  This is a much more common model in the Joomla community.  By joining the club, you get access to all their themes, but can only use them on a specific number of sites depending on which license you purchase.  Similar to Elegant Themes.  RocketTheme has always led the pack with Joomla designs, now they are bringing their expertise to WordPress.

Mojo Themes

Mojo Themes is one of the larger providers listed here.  They also produce Magento and Tumblr themes and have a really killer deal going on at press time to celebrate their anniversary: 14 premium items worth $442 for $25.  Similar to the themeforest bundles that occasionally come out.

Up Themes

I have seen their work elsewhere, but perhaps there has been a rebranding at some point.  EVO in particular is familiar looking.  Either way, there is some nice work and creativity displayed here.

Pagelines

If I hadn’t already invented the word “simplism”, I would invent it again to describe the work of Pagelines.  Their work is both elegant and minimal, which is a lot harder to pull off than one might think.  Kudos Pagelines.  They also feature a drag-n-drop feature which is really nice.  Although I haven’t personally tested it, it promises to be handy.

Graphpaper Press

I’ve always been a fan of graph paper.  The actual paper with the little squares on it.  So neat, confined, clear.  It really makes one feel secure.  Oh, and the design shop isn’t bad either.  Their stuff looks really classy.  You can never trust a design shop that uses someone else’s theme on their own site.  GraphpaperPress’ work is truly unique.

The WP Ninja

Your run of the mill, standard WordPress themes, with a little kick added in.  There is something for everyone over there, a good mix of functional, blog and professional themes.  Definitely worth checking out.