The personal site and rant archive of Brad Leclerc

A couple days ago a good friend of mine released a premium wordpress theme called “WPUnlimited“. Here’s the description directly from the site…

If you’re looking for the ultimate WordPress Theme – you’ve come to the right place! WPUnlimited is a theme like no other. With advanced features like Easy SEO optimization, AdSense integration, and complete theme Customization there is no other theme out there quite like WP Unlimited.

That’s a pretty serious claim, but after playing with it for a while now, I have to agree.

For starters, it’s packed with an insane amount of features built in. Including several that would normally require plugin’s, such as SEO tools and adsense integration as mentioned above, as well as others like social media buttons. It’s hard to say exactly how much faster the theme runs due to the integration of these features rather than relying on plugins for everything, but it does at least apear to me to load pages a bit quicker than most themes I’ve tested.

The actual install is pretty standard, and the only issue I came up against during the install was making sure all the plugins I had were turned off to start, since some of their functions were built into the theme and can clash with pre-installed plugins.

The default design of the theme is clean and easy on the eyes, and the functionality that’s been built in really makes it a very nice theme even without the customization options, but those customizations are where WPUnlimited really outshines any other theme I’ve tried. You can change just about every visual aspect of the theme, from how many sidebars to have and where you want them, to all of the colours for every part of the theme. For any idea of just how customizable the design is, and without touching a bit of code I might add, check out this video. Or go here to visit the site, and click on “demo” to see many more video previews of the theme.

WP Unlimited “Design” Tutorial from WPUnlimited on Vimeo.

Now, it is a premium theme, but considering the customization options, you could easily use it on a multitude of sites and have them look COMPLETELY different, without any knowledge of php or coding in general, assuming you go for the developer license, which (and this will of course sound like a line…and it IS, even though it’s true) is actually a pretty good deal if you’re looking to build multiple sites, or have multiple layout/theme options for a site. At $150 for the developer license, it’s not the cheapest around, nor the most expensive, but it is the best value I’ve seen in a premium WordPress theme. And actually, $59 for the single license is a pretty good way to allow for site updates and changes to the design via the massive customization options if you just have one site but don’t want to get stuck with a single design.

All in all a great premium theme, with massive customization potential (WITHOUT any coding needed), and a backed by a dedicated support team, some of whom I know personally and trust thoroughly.

This is really sounding like an ad more than anything now I suppose, but the point is, the theme is great, so if you’re looking for something that will last you a long time, and have the potential to change with you, rather than you getting a new theme every time you want a change, check out WPUnlimited. I’ve started using it on one my sites, and it will likely end up being my theme of choice for several more in the very near future.

Oh, and as an added bonus, they have an affiliate program setup with 40% commision, so if you link a few people to it that end up buying the theme, it pays for itself. Not a bad deal at all.

I recently moved back to Canada (from the US, where I had been for a while), and as I’m settling back in, I’m slowly returning to the world of blogging/podcasting/etc. I’m actually gearing up to start TWO brand-new podcasts in the next week or 2. One based around TVGawker.com related to television (of course…), and one for ZombieJesus.ca, which will be a skeptical/science sorta thing. I really enjoy podcasting, and figure it’s time to push myself into that world with both feet. So look for those in the next 2 weeks. I’ll be sure to post an update here once they are going.

The only issue with the podcast projects I’m having is trying to decide on a way to add a live recording session to allow listeners to chat and/or call-in during the recording. There are a few good services for that (talkshoe and blogtalkradio are the first that come to mind), but I just can’t decide. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly apreciated.

In added news, my good friend David Peralty has released a great new wordpress theme system packed with a nearly litteral ton of features, so check that out right over here, and you can find a demo of the theme right here (scroll down a bit to find some great walkthrough videos of some of the features). I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but from the demo and videos it looks pretty amazing. Once I’ve had a chance to really poke it around I’ll write a full review.