You should really look into WordPress, the simplest and most powerful blogging platform available today. Powering over 50% of all blogs, and more than a few other websites, WordPress makes the task of content-management easy for anyone.

Not sure where to get started, though? You should read Set Up Your Blog With WordPress: Your Ultimate Guide by author James Bruce. This manual outlines everything you need to know in order to set up a blog and turn it into a real success. They try to only outline tools they think are useful. MakeUseOf itself runs on WordPress, so you know it’s a tool they believe in. They’re sharing a few of their secrets in this manual, so it’s absolutely not one you want to miss.

Receive Your Complimentary Guide NOW!

Source: How To Set Up Your Blog With WordPress? | WordPress Theme FrameWork

While this is true, there are still many users that have some problems understanding how to use the platform, and with that in mind, here are two WordPress Guides that can help you better understand and use WordPress. These guides are free and only require a small registration process. Enjoy!

Build Your Own WordPress Site Guide

Everyone has a place on the web nowadays, whether you’re a construction professional, an auctioning vegan, or just someone who wants to be heard. And MakeUseOf’s not talking about Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles, but rather about fully-fledged websites. Tomorrow, you could have yours!

No matter for what purpose, WordPress has proven to be one of the most efficient, most diverse, and most accessible platforms. Creating your own website, even using WordPress, is not something that should be taken too lightly. Inside this guide you’ll find everything you need to know to get your first, second, or tenth website successfully off the ground, ranging from finding a suitable web host and setting up your blog or website, to using an offline blogging client and even designing a simple website banner! Want to learn from the pros, and make your mark on the internet? Then you’re in the right place! It doesn’t matter if you’re an internet newbie or a nerd on steroids, this guide will get you to where you need to go.

Download Build Your Own WordPress Site here!

Set Up Your Blog With WordPress: Your Ultimate Guide

Want to start your own blog, but don’t know where to start?

You should really look into WordPress, the simplest and most powerful blogging platform available today. Powering over 50% of all blogs, and more than a few other websites, WordPress makes the task of content-management easy for anyone.

Not sure where to get started, though? You should read Set Up Your Blog With WordPress: Your Ultimate Guide by author James Bruce. This manual outlines everything you need to know in order to set up a blog and turn it into a real success. They try to only outline tools they think are useful. MakeUseOf itself runs on WordPress, so you know it’s a tool they believe in. They’re sharing a few of their secrets in this manual, so it’s absolutely not one you want to miss.

Download Setup Your Blog With WordPress here!

Source: How To Build or Setup Your WordPress Blog | WordPress Theme FrameWork

Following below are handpicked themes that I think are not only visually interesting but also are responsive and best of all, free.

I hope you find one that suits your needs.

Free WordPress Pinterest Look Alike Themes

Portfolio Press – Demo | Download Here

Portfolio Press is a responsive theme for showcasing your photography, art, web sites, or other projects. It also works nicely as a regular blog site. An options panel is included for uploading logos and and changing the layout. There’s also support for the image, gallery and quote post formats.

Suburbia – Demo | Download Here

Suburbia is a free premium WordPress theme for magazines. The layout is very clean and flexible and designed in a modest and minimalistic style. Magazine is not the only purpose, so Suburbia suits for blogs and various project either. The theme was made in cooperation with Demian Peeters (aka Moodyguy). Some unique features of Suburbia give you an extra flexibility in every single step you make.

Shaken & Stirred – Demo | Download Here

Shaken Grid uses jQuery Masonry which “arranges elements vertically then horizontally according to a grid.” The result is a gap-less layout even if you have varying post heights.

Pronto – Demo | Download Here

Pronto is a very clean and minimal jQuery Masonry WordPress theme that’s perfect for showcasing your posts in a grid like fashion, that will re-adjust depending on your visitors browser size. Everything is set to work right out of the box, simply install, add your posts and you are set. The theme includes an awesome notification region at the top for displaying important notices, a custom logo upload field, a custom flickr widget, threaded comments, light-box built-in…and some other sweet features.

gRID – Demo | Download Here

Very elegant, clean and fast loading WordPress theme with minimalistic approach. Super design with premium functions.

Snapshot – Demo | Download Here

Snapshot is one of our original themes, made completely free for you to use. It’s flexible enough to be used for either a photo showcase, portfolio or design gallery.

That’s it! Do you know of any other Pinterest Like WordPress theme that should have been featured here. Let me know.

Source: Free Pinterest Like WordPress Themes | WordPress Theme FrameWork

Gone are the days where building websites was only restricted to those who had some technical knowledge or those that have coding skills. Thanks to awesome web developers, this is no longer true. While this is the case, there are still some WordPress templates that despite claiming that coding skills is not required, is not really totally true. Take Thesis, I love the theme and use it on more than one website. Nonetheless, tweaking the design can be a real nightmare, specially if you have zero coding skills.

This is where the Dynamik Website Builder comes into play. It is exactly as the name implies, not merely a child theme to style your website using Genesis but a ground breaking website builder with WordPress.  You have full control of your website design (aka your website’s appearance, colors, fonts etc) with the Dynamik Website Builder.  It is amazing what you can do with Dynamik, on the fly.

Over 800 No-Coding Design Options

Regardless if you are a total beginner who just wants to be able to customize your sites design or someone who is looking to start a business by offering website building services, the Dynamik Website Builder delivers and will most likely fit your needs. Just imagine, over 800 no-coding design options. If you can’t find a unique theme, this may certainly help.

Watch this video:

There is so much more? Your control over your entire website:

• Put a widget anywhere you desire
• Build out your home page the way you want, without learning php code thanks to Over 49 1-Click EZ-Home Page configurations!
• The Dynamik Cheat Sheet (over 250 pages!)

Want to see how the EZ Home buttons work?

What else does Dynamik website builder have?

• It is responsive (responsive themes are those that adjust itself automatically, depending on the screen size. this means that it is compatible with tablets, mobile phones, etc)
• It only works with Genesis Framework, one of the most trusted and reliable WordPress theme framework ever developed.
• It comes with 125 web fonts included
• You pay only a one time license fee and use it anytime, anywhere.
• and the list goes on…

Just head over to Dynamik Website builder’s website, find out more, to make a well informed decision. This is totally worth the investment. Remember though that this only works with Genesis., which btw is a killer framework because you buy it once, and get lifetime updates (products life span), no additional licenses to install on other sites or your clients, etc. This is waht I call the Dynamik Duo …

Source: Dynamik Site Builder: Best Child Theme For Genesis | WordPress Theme FrameWork

With that said, I have compiled 6 of the most beautifully designed free Tumblr themes, so you won’t have to. Obviously, these themes are my choices, due to its ease of use, and being quite unique in their own way. Hope you like  the slection.

Best Free Tumblr Themes For Photo Blogs

Museum Grid Tumblr Theme

The Museum Tumblt theme is a dark grid theme that features a grid of the latest posts, with each image overlayed by its caption. Sadly, it can not be customized in any way. But it is not to say that it is good as it is, so why bother.

FranklinStreet Theme

Interesting theme that has some few features that might be appealing. The front page includes a grid of your most recent posts with captions. Individual images can then be displayed using a lightbox feature, overlaying the rest of the images on that page.

PhotoBoard Tumblr Theme

Similar to FranklinStreet, Photoboard is also a grid portfolio theme, with a niece looking background. Clicking on the information button on an image will flip the photo, and display its tags, post date, and how many notes the image has.

Themapolooza

This is quite an interesting theme as it can be used for a variety of ways. The demo image below shows a photoblog of a fashion related topic and as you can see, it looks very nice.

That’s it! If you are looking for something different, try these other high quality free Tumblr themes. Do you know of any other free photography tumblr themes, that you think should be on this list?

Source: 4 Free Tumblr Themes For Photography Blogs | WordPress Theme FrameWork

With that said, WordPressThemeFramework will, from now on, publish every month, suggested WordPress plugins, based on user ratings, number of downloads, etc.

The following plugins are either new or newly updated, with solid ratings in the WordPress Plugins Directory. Enjoy!

Recommended WP Plugins May 2012

• Super RSS – Super RSS Reader is an awesome RSS widget plugin, which has features like news ticker effect, tabbed RSS feeds, customizable color modes and more.
• True Google 404 – Transform a 404 to a list of related links with descriptions & view 404 logs. Don’t irritate readers with dumb 404s, keep’em with you
• AuthorSure – Show your face and build your brand in Google search results. Or in SEO-speak, make sure your AuthorRank is contributing to your PageRank.
• Easy Digital Downloads – Sell digital downloads through WordPress with this complete digital downloads management plugin
• Websimon Tables – A plugin to create, manage and design tables within wordpress. Choose between readymade skins or make your own custom table CSS design.
• WP SEO by Yoast (updated 20/05/2012) – Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site using the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast.

That’s it! Enjoy and until the next one.

Source: WordPress Plugins Of The Month May 2012 | WordPress Theme FrameWork

Some fast facts about the importance of having your site mobile compatible:

• In August 2011, mobile browsing represented 7% of worldwide browsing activity, and counting.
• Research suggest that on average, website visitors are 51% more likely to do business with a company with a mobile compatible site (U.S)
• In the U.S., 25% of mobile web users, browse only on their phones, never using a laptop, tablet, or desktop, to access the internet.
• 79% of mobile web consumers use their phones for shopping

More research about the subject matter can be seen on Why Mobile Optimization Matters and Instant America.

What are responsive themes?

Responsive themes are nothing more than themes that adjust itself based on the screen that a user is viewing your site. Considering that mobile web users are growing at an astounding rate, and will continue to do so, it might be worthwhile to consider using a responsive theme for your site. Obviously, you need to assess if it is something you really need. Your site right now may be mobile compatible, so go test it using the GoMometer and see how it plays out.

Should you feel that your site will benefit from using a responsive theme, check out the responsive themes listed on iBlogzone. As with everything WordPress, there are free and premium themes. Some free ones are as follows.

WordPress Free Responsive Themes

Orion

Responsive

Prosume

Business Lite

Other alternatives you can look at are iFeature and  Oxygen.

That’s it! Do you know of any other free WordPress Responsive Theme?

Source: Free WordPress Responsive Themes | WordPress Theme FrameWork

With that said, there are some plugins, free and paid, that deliver the functionality of making your WordPress site mobile friendly. However, the free ones are really not that responsive and paid options can be expensive, especially if you are just getting started. Getting started is actually the key of this post, as I will be introducing you to a free WordPress theme that is responsive, clean and has tons of added functionality that will blow you away.

Introducing WordPress Responsive Theme

Just as the name suggest, the Responsive theme, fresh out of the box, is a free WordPress theme that can suit many. Just take a look at its features and decide for yourself. Here’s a nice demo, if you are interested in seeing how it looks and feels. Simple, but very powerful.

Responsive features:

• Responsive: Crafted with fluid proportion-based grid system of our own to adapt the design to the viewing environment
• 9 widget areas
• Theme Options to control the content, webmaster tools, logo management and social icons

The one thing I like best about this theme is that it comes with 9 Page Templates, something that is not common with free themes. These include:

• Blog (full posts)
• Blog Summaries
• Content/Sidebar
• Sidebar/Content
• Content/Sidebar Half
• Sidebar/Content Half
• Full Width Page
• Landing Page (in case that you don’t want anything else but the clean white design and your logo)
• Sitemap Template

And it does not stop there. Like menus? This one, again, exceeds the norm. It has not one, two, but four navigation menus. Need support? Yep, they got that too. Just register on their forum and you are good to go. So many free stuff, that it makes you wonder why it is free, right?

Anyway, if you are looking for a real cool and simple theme, that automagically adapts itself in accordance with the viewing environment, look no further. This is it! Try it and let me know if you like it.

Download or install the free WordPress Responsive theme and make your website go mobile.

Source: Free WordPress Theme For Mobile Devices | WordPress Theme FrameWork

Well, look no further. Me being a WarriorForum enthusiast and an addict for WSOs (Warrior Special Offers), recently purchased OptinSkin, a plugin that I was waiting for for quite a while. Optin Skin lets you simply, create gorgeous optin forms like a pro without the required knowledge of coding. Plus it allows you to add social share buttons and select over 18 pre-designed optin forms. Perfect recipe.

Here’s a small presentation.

Cool! Anyway, here some reasons why this plugin rocks.

1) OptinSkin enables you to fully-test all elements of your opt-in form. Change button colours, form text, eBook covers, box colours…you name it. Then, OptinSkin will tell you which one is convincing more of your visitors to give out their email address!

2) Every single element of the default form designs can be customised with the simple editor provided. Change box gradients, the fonts you use, the color of your opt-in buttons and the text you use to talk to your visitors.

3) Though Optinskin is focused heavily on making opt-in forms that come with OptinSkin highly attractive, the ‘Fade’ feature allows your form to, simply, fade into your content to catch visitor attention

4) Never again are you going to have to rummage through theme files or learn HTML just to put an attractive opt-in form on your site. With the one-click placement feature means you can be up and running in minutes.

5) All opt-in forms in work with the main email marketing services like Google Feedburner, Aweber, MailChimp, iContact and InfusionSoft. Just one option in the backend allows you to select which service you use.

And much more… Simply awesome and an easy way to create your optin forms, build your list and start making some decent money online.

The investment is only $47 and it is worth every penny. There are some other alternatives that most certainly will charge you more and offer you half of the features this plugin does. Plus, it is backed by a solid 60 day money back guarantee. Grab your OptinSkin Plugin now. Never know how much this will cost tomorrow

Source: How To Create Custom and Beautiful Optin Forms | WordPress Theme FrameWork

Want to learn from the pros, and make your mark on the internet? Then you’re in the right place! It doesn’t matter if you’re an internet newbie or a nerd on steroids, this guide will get you to where you need to go.

Receive Your Complimentary Guide NOW!

Source: Build Your Own WordPress Site | WordPress Theme FrameWork