It’s Thursday yet again, and that means it’s time for #ThemeThursday! Carrying on from the last three weeks, we will look at a premium WordPress theme provider and attempt to assess its good (and bad) points.
Today, the theme provider in question is Okay Themes. Run by Mike McAlister, Okay Themes came into existence as a full-fledged theme shop back in 2011 (although Mike has been selling his WordPress themes via ThemeForest since 2008-09). Most of the themes currently offered by Okay Themes are sold on ThemeForest.
Theme Features
Okay Themes currently offers 24 themes in total. Of these, 10 are free to download. However, the free themes weren’t always free—they are retired premium themes. Okay Themes decided to offer the retired themes as freebies, rather than discard them altogether. While you can download these impressive WordPress themes at no cost, you will not get any support or updates for them.
Moving on to theme features. A good number of themes in the collection are minimal and clean, and most of them are responsive. The themes cater to a wide variety of audiences—writers, photographers, creative artists, and so on. There are not many magazine themes, though you will find a generous sprinkling of tumblog and business themes.
Overall, you will find it hard not to be impressed when it comes to theme features. As Okay Themes has explained:
Okay Themes is an attempt to get back to the basics. Our job is to produce eclectic combinations of solid design, robust features and elegant code.
Pricing
Oddly enough, Okay Themes does not have a separate page regarding its pricing structure. This may be because most of Okay Themes sales occur at ThemeForest rather than on their main website. In any case, I would have preferred a detailed page about pricing and plans.
Okay Themes does not offer a package or theme bundle. There used to be a mini bundle called Theme Stack—a collection of six themes for $99. While support is still offered to those who already purchased it, Theme Stack is no longer being sold to new buyers. Similarly, Okay Themes have stayed away from the club membership model.
Okay Themes relies primarily on individual pricing for WordPress themes. Theme prices range from $35 to $75. There is a “no refunds” policy unless a theme is malfunctioning or corrupt.
Support
When it comes to premium WordPress themes, support is often the difference between good and bad sellers.
The documentation offered by Okay Themes, though acceptable, is not something that will set the world on fire. There are step by step guides for each theme, mentioning details such as basic customization and installation. Some of the themes also have separate installation and setup videos or screencasts, like this one.
The guides and theme docs, however, leave a little to be desired. There are no screenshots for example—just plain bullet lists with directions. Also, some of the themes employ additional plugins (such as Contact Form 7) and for these I would have preferred more elaborate documentation for the end user.
Support is offered to buyers via forums, and a distinction is made between “theme support” and “theme customization.” As such, if you have discovered a bug or something wrong with the theme, you are entitled to support. If, on the other hand, you need help customizing or tweaking your theme, Okay Themes will refer you to WerkPress for a paid customization job.
Verdict
So how does Okay Themes perform overall?
Pros
• Clean, minimal design
• Competitive pricing
Cons
• Documentation can be suboptimal
• No theme bundle or club membership
Okay Themes is a good theme shop if you are looking to buy a few WordPress themes. Its offerings are impressive, and even its least impressive theme has a healthy set of features. Okay Themes has managed to sell over 13,000 items, which is impressive.
On the downside, those looking for a bundled pricing model will be disappointed.
Once again, the documentation is tolerable, but there is room for improvement. If you know your way around WordPress, this may not cause you any problems.
With that, we come to the end of another installment in the #ThemeThursday series. Just in case you missed the previous articles, be sure to check them out: ThemeFurnace, ColorLabs & Company and DevPress.
If you are a customer of Okay Themes, do share your experiences with us in the comments section below! Also, make sure you tune in next Thursday when I take a look at another premium WordPress theme provider.
Sufyan bin Uzayr is a freelance writer and Linux enthusiast. He writes for several print magazines as well as technology blogs, and has also authored a book named Sufism: A Brief History. His primary areas of interest include open source, mobile development and web CMS. He is also the Editor of an e-journal named Brave New World. You can visit his website, follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook and Google+.
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