The Best Free Drupal Themes
Setting up your new content management system isn’t just a matter of slapping some content on it, changing a few administration options and then hoping for the best. It’s also important to ensure your website looks great, is easy on the eyes and entices your website visitors to stick around, read your content and explore further. Regardless of what content management system application you’re using, whether it be Drupal, Joomla, WordPress or one of the many others, you have the ability to just about completely customise the entire design to your liking.
Generally the practice of theming a website isn’t a simple task, at least for the majority of regular webmasters, due to the requirement for knowledge of a graphic design program such as Adobe Photoshop and, at the very least, minimal skills in HTML and CSS web programming languages. One of the best things about using open source applications is that they have such a large following of supporters, including web developers, who create and release a multitude of themes available for you to use on your website without having to learn the ins and outs of web design on your own. Drupal, being one of the most popular open source content management systems has many free themes available for your use.
The Best Free Drupal Themes
Drupal has a very close and dedicated fan base who provide a range of great services such as support, design and extension development for, the most part, free. This is great news for webmasters who desire a custom and great looking design without the need for lengthy development on their own.
The following is a list of some of the more popular and aesthetically please Drupal themes available for free to anyone wishing to use them.
1. Nexus Theme
The Nexus Theme is a popular Drupal theme that employs multiple elements of flat web design to create a clean browsing experience with a beautiful colour scheme. The Nexus theme can be used for just about any form of Drupal website including personal blogs, small business websites or creative portfolios. Nexus includes some of the following great features:
- Responsive/mobile friendly
- 1 and 2 column layout support
- Multi-level drop down menus
- Google font support
- Detailed CSS rules
- 12 block regions
To find out more about Nexus or download it for your website visit the official Nexus theme page on Drupal.
2. Corporate Clean
Corporate Clean, developed and maintained by “More than (just) themes” is a powerful and elegant solution for those looking to give their website a corporate style design that looks great and provides a great experience for their visitors. The Corporate Clean theme includes some of the following great features:
- Responsive/mobile support
- Colour module integration
- 1, 2 and 3 column layout support
- Drupal standard compliant
- Breadcrumb navigation display
- Multi-level drop-down menus
To find out more about Corporate Clean or download it for your website visit the official Corporate Clean page on Drupal.
3. Skeleton
Skeleton is a responsive and minimal theme that is based off of an original version of it created for the WordPress application. Skeleton includes a range of attractive features including:
- Responsive/Mobile support
- 1, 2 and 3 column layout support
- Multi-level CSS drop down navigation
- Cross browser support
- Many detailed CSS rules for items such as colours and typography
To find out more about Skeleton or download it for your website visit the official Skeleton page on Drupal.
Search The Official Drupal Theme Database
The official Drupal database currently house a little over 1,300 free themes available for download, released by a range of developers. If the above featured themes don’t particularly suit your requirements then it is certainly worth searching the database to find the one that works for you.
Visit the database here
Alternatively, many web developers have released many free themes at their own websites. By using a search engine you should be able to find numerous amounts of websites that offer Drupal themes for you to make use of.
It’s also worth noting that many developers also sell premium themes, so if you’ve got a little money to spend, generally between $20-$100, you will be able to pick up one of the many premium themes offered around the web. One of the more attractive elements of purchasing a theme is that it’s more likely that a much smaller number of other website owners are using the same theme which allows your website to be a little more unique than the rest.
Lastly, for those with large budgets, many developers are available for hire should you prefer to have a completely custom theme designed for your website. The bonus to doing this is that the theme will be unique to your site only and you’ll have the ability to provide your feedback to have the theme designed perfectly to your requirements.
