Purchasing Themes

I need to buy a few themes, but some don’t offer a trial, so I can’t tell if they will work as I want. I don’t want to buy something just to test it. What can I do?

Bruce,

This is a perennial issue: a really good comparative site that shows us everything that’s available is a must!

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Mark,

Yes, that site is a good resource. My problem is I need to have a demo of a theme to see if it does what I want. I was looking at this one, but I don’t know if the translucent circle can be replaced or turned off. I don’t want to spend money to find that out. I wrote the developer, and have not heard back yet.

http://www.rapidweaverthemes.net/rapidweaver-theme-intelligible/

Also, on the Realmac Community Addons page I see there is a Download A Demo button for every theme, but no theme I looked at has any link to that button. No demo. Demos would be helpful.

Bruce,

Most developers’ sites carry Previews. But what is needed is a comprehensive database of all the features.

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www.themeflood.com offers fully working demo versions of all its themes. I would have thought you’d get close to the ‘look’ you’re after with one of Flood, Solstice or Boutique.

Rob

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Hi,

That big ugly looking circle can be turned off with:-

#headerBox {
    display: none !important;
}

But, I would recommend:-

a) Buy and learn one of the open theme frameworks such as FreeStack Responsive or Foundation. There are others but those two are most popular. Then you can, pretty much, just make whatever you need from project to project.

b) For individual themes study the styling options which are usually listed on the dev site prior to purchase. I get a lot out of their own demos. I do not agree that a database with every theme option is needed, I rather enjoy the process of theme selection / design consideration and find the process useful.

c) Personally I believe there are enormous differences in the quality of themes on the RW market. Themes from devs like ThemeFlood, Elixir, Nick Cates, Michael David Design and some others are very richly textured and exceedingly well designed - even if you don’t much care for the look itself, beneath the surface a lot of though has gone into making the theme work cohesively. So I buy from them.

d) Learn more HTML/CSS and JS. Don’t be afraid to experiment either to get the effects and aesthetic you seek in your designs.

Just my $00.02 of course.

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Hi Bruce,

You can download free trial versions of my themes here:
http://www.henkvrieselaar.com/rapidweaver/themes/
Henk

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As it happens, we’ve been considering ways in which we can help developers offer themes as demos. While it’s something that might take a little while to set up, we’re very keen to help developers showcase their creations :smile:

—N

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Thanks, Nik! Great :smile:
The essence of what’s needed, though, remains a way to select a theme against specific criteria: Responsive, side nav, four levels, ability to turn off footer, which fonts in the sidebar etc - IMHO.

Dan has commented on this in other threads :slight_smile:

Thanks, Nik. Yes. Certainly don’t want to clutter or duplicate.

But it seems such a major issue: I suspect that all three parties (RealMac, Theme vendors, users) would all stand to gain if there were a really good site setting out everything that every theme does… up to date, comprehensive and with Previews?

Thanks for considering it.

I would second the suggestion for trying ThemeFlood themes, you can download demos and @willwood is brilliant with support

I agree with the suggestion regarding Themeflood themes. I’d also like to suggest trying themes from Henk. He only offers top-notch, well designed themes and his customer support is second to none. Henk is a really nice guy who’s been developing themes for Rapidweaver for many years - and truly seems to relish helping folks make the best sites possible. And, no - I don’t know him personally…but I have bought many themes from him over the years. :slight_smile:

I’ve been testing trial versions available from Themeflood and Henk. They are invaluable for helping me find a theme that does what I want. Thanks to both of them. I’ve asked a few other developers if they offer trial versions, and I got replies saying no for various reasons including one saying; “RapidWeaver does not have any way to provide demos of themes.” OK, but others offer them, and if this is true, then I ask the RW folks to improve this. It’s really hard to justify plunking down some cash just to test a theme.

Bruce,

I don’t think it’s up to RealMac.

As you found out, some of the better developers do indeed offer trial/demo versions.

Of course it’s possible.

And one hopes that those who are more customer-friendly will do better.

Good luck!

I hit upon seydesign.com. They offer trial versions too. Their themes look nice.

Seydesign is now owned by Nimblehost and they are in the process of moving the themes and stacks over to nimblehost.com. Just thought I would give you a heads up, @nimblehost has done a great job taking over Seydesign.

And Seydesign/Nimblehost would be counted in the top five such developers in most people’s books.

Be sure, when you do start customizing a Theme to Duplicate it first from within RW.

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