Revolution Theme Review
- Filed under: Reviews
From Brian Gardner, Revolution is a premium WordPress theme built for WordPress powered sites that aim to not look like blogs. I understand that might sounds strange, but the demands for non-blog style themes have been around for a long time.
Nowadays, clients want to use WordPress as a total CMS (content management system), not just a blogging platform. Theme authors need an answer for that demand. I believe Revolution is that answer.
Design Wise
Out of the box, Revolution is a well-built theme that doesn’t need any plugin to work. From the demo, apparently, she doesn’t need post-meta-data and a typical sidebar on the front page either. You might get the impression that Revolution is simply a typical blog theme stripped of its extra features, but to assert that first impression as a fact would be missing the point. You should think of her as a design that works with WordPress, not based on WordPress.
Although Revolution is far from a stunning-looker, which explains the $59.95 price tag, she is a stylish and flexible minimalist with nice logo curves. She is built for modification, but don’t mess with Revolution or you’ll miss her bold horizontal navigation. Beyond the style that attracts me to Revolution, I’m not totally in love with her double border and awkward looking magnifying glass near the search form.
The double border reminds me of the table cellspacing=1 days, which were times that I’ve gladly forgotten until now. (Why the double border Brian? Huh? Why did you do it?) Luckily, you can remove it. As for the magnifying glass, what else can I say other than it shouldn’t be there?
One last thing to critique is the left padding of the main column on single pages. The text for the column is aligned too far to the left. It needs more left padding.
Code Wise
Now that you’ve gotten tired of my little nag about the subtle details, let’s go beyond face value and under the hood. Under the hood, most of Revolution seems alright.
The use of H1 tags for titles other than the site’s name is good for SEO (search engine optimization), but that practice is questionable since every page of your website is a home page. And on each home page, you need to know where you are at before you need to know what it’s about. (If you’re using H1 for SEO reasons then don’t use it for the name of your site on every page.)
I’m a little bit disappointed to see B (bold) and BR (line break) tags. Instead of:
Revolution should use:
I believe the example above is a simpler solution which also opens up more room for easy customizations.
The inline styles (
) also make me cringe, but they might be a necessary evil to prevent overlapping floats in certain browsers. I don’t know for sure because I haven’t gotten the chance to test Revolution.
Pricing
For regular use, Revolution is $59.95. For developers, the permission to use it over and over again for your own client-projects costs $199.95. To remove Revolution’s credits and credit links, it’s $50 for each removal.
You might think those prices are expensive, but remember that Revolution was not built for you and me. She was built for small business site owners and full time developers that need a specific solution like this. And for them, those prices are very attractive.
Conclusion
Design wise, Revolution isn’t worth $59.95 for users that make decisions based on first impression yet, but the way she’s built makes up for the price by providing a specific solution for certain people looking to use WordPress as a CMS. Not to mention, she’s still in the early stages of development.
Code-wise, I’d like to see Revolution’s later versions include dynamic selectors. That would make customizing her much easier for regular users and especially for developers.
Beyond Revolution, it’s interesting to see its author, Brian Gardner, venture into the premium themes zone, which is something that I’m planning to do in September.
SP, thanks for the review - and I appreciate your honesty. I will say that some styling/css elements aren’t perfect, and I’ll explain that as me being a self-taught designer. I have never taken a coding class, much to many surprise. Everything I have ever done on the web with design has been trial and error, and all on my own.
I’m glad you pointed a few things out that I can do to improve the theme. Thanks again!!! Nice site redesign, by the way!
Trial and error. That’s the same way I learn Brian. Thanks for the compliment on the re-design. It’s a work in progress.
I hope my review wasn’t too harsh on Revolution’s design. It’s a good looking theme.
I didn’t go further into the codes because it would be unfair to do that without having the actual theme to test it.
One thing that I did forget to leave out is my suggestion to use h2 tags for the three titles at the bottom of the home page.
Feature Section #1
Feature Section #2
Feature Section #3
One of the most compelling reasons I like Brian’s work is it’s ease under the hood to work with. Sure all the code is not perfect, but who’s is? There’s more than one way to skin a cat, isn’t there?
What I think Revolution brings is an opening up of the can for the user who wants a little more than just a blog. Most themes are 2 column, 3 column or some derivative, but still look like blogs.
Revolution, out of the box, looks more like a mature presence, a website, not just a blog and many will flock to that, because it allows small business owners to create a business site that includes a blog at a pittance of what it costs to hire a developer or designer.
I think Brian has touched a nerve here and will have great success with Revolution. It’s not new, but it’s clear, clean and usable and I think Wordpress users can appreciate the flexibility of a theme like this (and be willing to pay for the opportunity to use it).
I agree. While the code isn’t gospel and “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”, I was suggesting improvements, not alternatives.
I understand, your coding does make much more sense, but to the rank and file user barely familiar with CSS or HTML, it’s all semantics.
You’re suggestions are certainly improvements, but Brian has done a bang up job at offering a “non-blog” theme to the masses and should be commended for his work.
I look forward to your premium themes as well.
I happened on this review just at the right time. A google miracle. Thanks! I think this is just the thing I need to launch a business blog next week.
of course, wordpress is a cms, but not only a blog.
many people did it, this revolution is not the first one, and also not the greatest one, but it will be the first one if he share it
Pfft I can make a theme just like that for myself, in fact looking at the theme gives me ideas. And as for $59.95? please thats expensive, now if it were $20 or even $10 I would have said ok, but I don’t agree $59.95 for a few PHP files, stylesheet and some images.
Steve how long do you think it would take you to make a theme like Revolution for yourself?
Brian; in regards to your question,I would say a week probably, but then again longer if I added extra components like graphics and borders, however if I was selling it, I would charge less than $59.95, however please don’t take it the wrong way, your theme is very pretty and creative.
It looks very good, but I doubt it’s the first one in its way as a non-blog-theme.
Steve, no worries, and no offense taken - my point is that if it takes you (possibly a seasoned designer) a week to make, would it be worth it to not spend 20 hours creating it, rather spending $59.95? For those who don’t know how to code, and want something more than a typical blog theme, this is money well spent. And for those who can’t code, or developers who want to us it for client work, this is a steal. After all, that is my target crowd. Just wanted to explain why I created it and why I am charging what I am.
This is a very well-done theme.
I would like to understand how the single-article pages appear as .htm pages instead of .php
Maybe it’s a mod-rewrite effect?
i have a web design and development firm.. but i do not know how to code or design.. but i really envy those talented designers and programmers who can do great pieces of work
brian’s revolution theme is very nice and neat. most importantly.. it does not look like a blog..
for small biz owners, USD$59.95 is very affordable.. getting a designer will cost more and it does not include site maintenance as well.. using wordpress will not have that problem..
i love wordpress so much that i am creating a web site for it..i have been telling everyone about wordpress..and i love it.. somemore it is free…
when my site is up, i will link to brian’s site and this web site since your web sites are also wordpress related…
brian, try to see if you can sell your themes on clickbank..set up an affiliate program for it.. then i can help you promote your works and services too
It’s a nice theme, but I wouldn’t pay that much for it. Even if I was running a semi-decent and successful site that needed something like that. It’s just too much in my opinion. But I do like it. And if I could design worth a damn I’d build my own. xD
Brian, nice theme and nice review, I’ve actually looked a long time for this theme, and If it was 2 years ago, I would have purchased it but now that I’m out of High School, I’m not the head of the School newspaper website division anymore. We did have plans to take our paper online but it was never done.
Again awesome theme!
Nice theme and Good review.
you can get something similar with Mimbo theme
http://www.darrenhoyt.com/…
I purchased Revolution without having a real need for it, and I did so for a few reasons. 1) I didn’t fully understand how the theme worked looking at the revolutiontheme.com page and the associated demo, so trying it for myself enabled me to see how it does all work. 2) I’ve been using a couple of Brian’s free themes on my blog and another couple of sites for a while and appreciate the fact he - and other designers - make these things for free and dedicate so much time not only to writing the initial designs, but in the support they give afterwards. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is sit down and answer email after email about how to do something online, yet these developers do - I feel they should be recognised and thanked for doing so. I happily pay developers of plugins if they are tools I would really make use of, and if someone is willing to dedicate their time to writing it and then allowing others to use it - then they should be rewarded. I just hope people who do use them make use of the ‘honour’ system where possible, with as much as they can afford to contribute.
As for the revolution design itself, I’m not sure if it is usable for any projects I have in mind. I really want to think of a web based project where I could make use of it. I do like it though, and I don’t regret buying it just to see how it all works.
As mentioned though, the fact I am making use of Brian’s free themes on several other blogs means I have no problem giving him $60 for something that works, and works well, and that would have taken him many hours to write.
Mxx
I bought Brian’s theme as soon as it was available. I am not a designer of any kind, but I am using it as a CMS along with several other great programs, vBulletin, PhotoPost, ReviewPost, PhotoPost Classifieds and a great links directory.
Revolution does everything Brian claimed it would do. Brian is a straight forward designer, who can deliver what he says he can. I like that. The $60 bucks to me is well worth it.
I am sure there are better themes out there. I just haven’t run across any. The other thing I like about Brian is that he responds to questions and isn’t a smart alec about anything. He will bend over backwards to help a customer, that alone is worth it’s weight in gold!
I don’t think Brian designed Revolution for other designers to purchase, I think he designed for people like me. It WORKS right out of the box, just like he said it would. Who can ask for anything more?
I have the feeling that Revolution is just the beginning of Brian’s work and look forward to seeing how far he can take the Revolution theme and the other themes I suspect he is thinking about.
Steve & Brian, I could make the page layout in a day, but to hook it into the database would be much longer. The reason I bought it, is the robustness and customization. I look forward to opening up Revolution this weekend and expect to have it up and running by next week.
I expect to have mine up soon as well. Thanks Brian! Very customizable indeed!
I really like the theme, and not just colourings but layouts as well, i think the three sections at the bottom work well, and could be used for individual category feeds etc.
As for those of you saying the price is too high, have you ever had a quote for a custom wordpress theme - think at least 10x what this theme costs.
and it isnt just a few php files etc, its the time it takes that is being paid for - which actually makes this very cheap.
Has this theme been used for a photoblog yet? Are there any examples?
Your Revolution is a Joke
This post is in response to amount of hype that is surrounding Brian Gardner’s Revolution News theme for Wordpress… And I must say straight up that the title is not intended to offend to Brian Gardner (since the work is great) - instead th…
[…] Potato over at WPDesigner has had very little to say about this theme in comparison to others he has reviewed, and that could […]
I found this site looking for something else and I have to say that we love Brian Gardners work because why??? why you ask? Well because unlike most of the crap out there it actually works and can be modified if you like. and I would pay double that price for something that works like it was supposed to. I have paid more for a designer and never worked like it was supposed to and there was always an excuse why. You go Brian
I think that $59.95 is not a fantastic price, everybody have to think about itself first.