Artisteer Review: Wordpress themes free and easy!
If you have a Wordpress blog or website, you'll know how useful themes are, but also how hard it can be to find exactly the right theme. Don't you wish there was a program which would let you design your own theme without knowing a word of code? Well, there is - Artisteer!
Artisteer is Wordpress theme creator software. The full version of the software will also create Joomla templates, Drupal themes and DotNetNuke skins - but for a Wordpress or Blogger theme, the Home & Academic edition is all you'll need. At $49, it's about half the price of one typical Premium Wordpress theme - and for that investment, you can make as many themes for as many sites as you like!
So what's the catch?
No Catch?
If there is a serious catch, I haven't found it yet.
Artisteer is easy to use - I jumped straight in without even looking at the documentation and had no trouble finding my way around. When you're happy with your theme, all you have to do is cilck "Export", save the zip file to your PC, then upload it to your Wordpress site exactly like you would upload any other theme. The themes are all widget-ready, too.
Blogger themes are even easier - once you're done, you just tell Artisteer to upload the theme to Blogger, and there it is!
Instant Themes
Artisteer has a wide range of preset color schemes, which is great if you're not that good at working out which color goes with what. However by far the coolest feature, for me, is that you can upload a header image or background image, then click a button - and Artisteer will create a whole color scheme for your site, based on that image!
You can even ask Artisteer to suggest whole themes for you - just click on the "Ideas" button and it will present you with themes in different combinations of layout, colours, header, fonts etc. When you see one you like, you can edit it to add the finishing touches yourself - for instance, you might change it from a two column to a three column, or upload your own header image, make it wider or narrower, or change the background pattern - all by just picking from a menu!
Well, maybe one little catch...
To be strictly accurate, there is a catch - no software is that perfect!
The catch is that the design options on Artisteer are limited. There are endless options for colours, images, backgrounds, etc (especially as you can easily upload your own), but there are no grid or magazine-style options. You can use Flash, but you won't find fancy headers with rakishly angled RSS feed symbols, or little blue Twitter birds that poke their beaks over the top of your sidebar. You won't see rotating header images or graphics that trail over the edge.
To show you what I mean, take a look at some of the sites I've designed for flamenco dress, pointe shoes, bellydance, Tribal bellydance and men's dancewear, all using Artisteer themes.
Artisteer - Slow Load Times?
One criticism that's been levelled at Artisteer themes is that they're slow to load. That's important these days, when Google takes site load time into account. But is it true?
I recently decided to update my Tribal bellydance DVD review site to a theme specially designed for video clips, so I went searching for something suitable - and was shocked to discover that many whiz-bang, professionally-designed themes were just as slow, if not slower, than my existing Artisteer theme! In fact, I found one gorgeous theme which Firebug rated in the low 70's.
The bottom line is - if you want a fast loading site, you need to go for minimalism. If you're happy with a bare-bones site, that's fine - but many of us want our site to look good, so it's a case of treading a fine line between speed and looks.
You can certainly make your site look beautiful with Artisteer - itt offers so many opportunities to add images and effects at the touch of a button. But every single one of those fancy extras means more code has to be added to your site template. The more complicated your theme is, the slower your site will load. So if your background, menu bar and sidebars are full of graduated colors, pretty textures and graphics, your site load times can slow to glacial speed.
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Why Bother with Theme Design Anyway?
As I said, there's a school of thought that says you should use a completely plain Wordpress theme. It will be fast to load, and so boring your visitors will click on an ad to escape!
If that's your philosophy, Artisteer may not be worth the money. There are lots of plain themes out there and it should be easy to pick one you can stick with for a long time.
Even if you're in the market for a more sophisticated theme, you may ask, "Why bother making your own themes, when there are so many free ready-made Wordpress themes out there?'
The biggest reason, for me, is time. Google "free Wordpress Themes" and you'll find hundreds of sites. Trawling through them is tedious, and you'll find many sites rehashing the same few options. And time and again, I've found a great-looking theme only to discover the download link is broken, or it downloaded but the theme is broken, or it only works on some browsers, or it doesn't have some of the advertised features, or - in one case - it breaks my site (another three hours wasted getting it back on air). At that point, luckily, I stumbled on the Artisteer site and grabbed it with both hands!
I can create my own custom-designed site on Artisteer in a fraction of the time it takes me to scour the internet for one. I do search occasionally, in case there's another exceptional design out there like the one I used for my flamenco site - but I don't waste hours searching down obscure alleys any more.
My Criteria
For those who can't understand why I found it so hard to find a theme - I guess I'm just fussy! In fact until I found the Artisteer site, I was considering buying a premium theme - only I couldn't find one of those I liked either! The problem is, I have some quite specific requirements.
First, graphics. My blogs are mainly about dance - try finding a dance-based theme other than hip-hop! I do know how to change an existing header, but they're usually wide and shallow these days - it's very difficult to fit photos of dancers into that shape, and often you can't change the depth of the header without breaking other aspects of the theme (or at least, I can't)!
Next, layout. Apparently, professional bloggers like two-column themes, so not many designers are making three-column themes. I have an eBay affiliate shop on each of my sites, so I always need the extra sidebar for the shop.
Third, colours. The current fashion is for strong, dark coloured backgrounds with white or light text. I find that my eBay affiliate software (phpBay) doesn't display the listings well that way - so I need a theme with a light-colored main column and black text.
Put all three together and perhaps you can see why I've struggled. But not any more!
If you'd like to know more, visit the Artisteer website.
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All text copyright Marisa Wright. Photo by Peregrino on Flickr.
Comments
I wish! I used to start by searching for "fast" or "lightweight" themes, because I got caught out with a couple of very complex, slow-loading themes in the early days. However most themes like that are very plain nowadays.
If you have some idea of your requirements (e.g. 2 column, customizable header, widget ready etc), it's worth including those in your Google search terms. But as I found, some careless (or unscrupulous?) designers don't describe their themes accurately. I've downloaded a few which claimed to be 2 column OR 3 column but couldn't find anywhere to change the options. Likewise I've found a few that claim to be widget ready and aren't.
Don't waste your time with themes that aren't widget-ready, by the way - you'll lose too much functionality.
Its very hard to find a theme that is exactly what you want , If you don't have the money to spend on a custom design I guess the next best choice is to download the theme you like and modify it to your requirement. You need some PHP knowledge to do this.
Exactly Rumbling, and that's always been my problem - I don't know any php. That's why Artisteer is so great, because I can modify their suggested themes just be choosing from a menu.
Love your Belly Dance Oz design. Great contrast with the Artiseer theme.
I was looking at themes recently as well, and finally just decided to write my own. I am very fussy as well :) GUI custom themes are hard to find, and most of the theme generators produce very generic looking stuff.
Learning CSS is the key- once you have that you can do a lot even without PHP.
I agree, Shiba, even Artisteer produces a design that looks "very generic", but at least it's easy and I can achieve some nice colour effects.
I am really into WP theme programming lately, so let me know if you want some help on editing themes. After reading your article, I am thinking of writing something up on adding columns to a theme :)
Both of your sites have nice themes, but I think I really like the ballet wear one best - very functional and in good taste. It looks very professional and clean. Good job there!
I have recently downloaded Artisteer but not had time to use it yet - your review was excellent and very heartening. I have tried quite a few template makers lately and not happy with any of them yet. Thanks for sharing!
@Shibashake - a Hub on adding columns to a theme would be a great idea - that would have solved a lot of my problems!
@MagicStarER - funny you should like the ballet wear theme (i.e the Artisteer theme) best. Thanks!
good information. I am considering a wordpress theme and will check this out
I'm a fan of Aristeer - I've recently paid for themes for my blog but Aristeer is perfect for specific niche sites cause you really just need a photo. BTW you should change the footer links to include you own affiliate ID rather than give them the free link - I think its in export options ...
I like your ballet wear site, it is really easy to navigate and colorful as well as informative, good work!
@Lissie, thanks for the tip, you're right about the affiliate ID! I'm not sure what you mean by "just needing a photo" - or rather I do, because it was the header that I wanted most - but I'm not clear what else a paid theme would give me, really.
I love your Belly Dance Oz design! It seems you've already gotten this comment. It's hot! I want to read more about the subject, too, I have bookmarked it for later. I love belly dance, all dance, but belly dance particularly, and flamenco! Maybe also step dance. I've always wanted to learn that. Don't know much about ballet, but it's beautiful! Very girly.
It's a shame Artisteer isn't free, I love customization, but I just don't have the money for extra things right now. I guess that's why I'm into HubPages now. I have Panic Disorder, so I'm working up the courage to get a real job outside of the home. But enough about me!
Good review!
Dawn, as you've seen from my bellydance site (which isn't an Artisteer design), it's possible to create a great looking site without Artisteer - there's a lot of free templates out there.
It is possible to make a living online at home, if you really work hard at it, but in your case that would mean giving in to your Panic Disorder, which would affect other aspects of your life too. So I wish you success in finding a real "outside" job.
Great information! Thanks for sharing for those of us who are looking for this info.
@Marisa Wright - when you create themes using artisteer,you will have full ownership of the final theme.? (In case I am planning to sell these themes) I noticed on your site at the very buttom with the words "Powered by WordPress and WordPress Theme created with Artisteer." Can we removed that or we must keep that for copyright purposes?
@Johnuy168, yes you have full ownership of the scheme, if you purchased the full version of the program. The only restriction is that you can't use any of their header photos - but you can easily replace the header image with one of your own, if you want one.
I leave the acknowledgment there because it's my site, and if someone signs up for Artisteer through the link, I get a commission.
I downloaded a trial version of Artisteer after reading this. It doesnt allow me to generate implementable themes though, but I found this current verison quite effective. They have also included support for blogspot and even allow me to create templates for nearly every thing/platform. It is a great app.
Nice review. I am working with Artisteer a couple of months now and there are many new features in it (like Flash).
Thanks for the tip, Andreas. I haven't updated my version recently - sounds like I need to!
Hi, i like the Artisteer tool so much. May i know that, if i buy the subscription, can the footer theme name would remove?
The footer itself doesn't contain any reference to Artisteer. There is another line under the footer which contains the link to Artisteer and Wordpress - it would make more sense to add your affiliate code to the Artisteer link rather than deleting it.
well I've had wordpress application on my computer for some time and was afraid it would be too difficult to design.This looks promising and I may take the plunge! ;)
I used Artisteer to create some Blogger themes, and you can create some pretty awesome themes if you play around with the features. I like that you can save the themes and use them like templates.
Artisteer is a nice program for non-graphic designers, and you are right, you can see it's limitations. It does give more flexibility to the self-made website owner and it is one step in between using a highly customizeable theme and a completely custom design.
looking into artisteer right now. I'm the 13 year old creator or stinkyfeetgurlz and I need to find my mom something to help me with. I just want to make sure we can upload our special font. Anyone know of that?
Very Interesting. Thanks for the tips. Good reading.
It's interesting to read your views on artisteer. I've been using it for some time now and I've found I can do most things I want with it. I'm basically a photography so obviously I can supply my own material. I think the price is reasonable but if anyone wants to try some typical artisteer themes I've got several on my site that anyone can download it they want.
Thanks John. All my sites are now using Artisteer themes - I think once you get used to having them exactly as you want them, accepting other's designs doesn't quite work!
You have some nice clean themes on offer though, for those who aren't confident to DIY.
Hi great article
I use this program and it is slow
better to buy theme
Nice hub, and nice software.
They say something like "Ask your child to do the web designing using artisteer if you don't have time"
And really, you can just do that :-)
Extremely easy to use. You can improve the performance and load speed by tweaking the CSS, so that the extra useless stuff is removed.
I'm bit curious about copy right issues with templates available on artisteer sites. Are there any limitations?
Greencap, not quite sure what you mean. If someone creates a design using Artisteer, they own the copyright to that particular design. So you shouldn't use it without their permission.
there are many good templates available on aritsteer site, and the terms and conditions state:
You can modify the template and can use it for personal/commercial use.
You can't upload it on any other site for downloading
Oh I see what you mean, Greencap. What that means is, you can use the templates for your own websites. However, you can't sell them to others or offer them on your own site for others to download.
Reference
- Artisteer - joomla template generator and wordpress theme generator
Visual designer of wordpress themes, generator of wordpress themes, instant creation of fantastic looking wordpress themes. - WordPress › Blog Tool and Publishing Platform
- Professional Wordpress Themes - Free and Quality Wordpress Templates
E. A. Wright 2 years ago
For those of us doing the hunt for free and functional themes, any tips, other than be prepared to waste many hours looking?