Theme advice wanted
I have just posted over on the Clearskys.net blog a request for the best WordPress or CSS themes available for holiday / rental / hotel or vacation websites.
Why do I want this information?
- To build a resource of the better themes for those of us who don’t want to develop our own.
- To provide some ideas for those that do
- To get a small number (initially) of the better themes “StayPress ready”.
So I am looking for themes that will be suitable for a single property website (such as a villa or guest house), right the way up to a fully featured Hotel or Vacation property portal (and anywhere in-between).
If you are a theme designer and have some themes that may be suitable, or would like to develop some themes specifically for StayPress, then please get in touch. I’m also considering a “Premium theme” collection, so if you have (or are working on) that something special, then we need to talk.
Please leave any recommendations in the comments below. If you don’t want your comment or message posted then start it “PRIVATE” and I’ll keep it private.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I was getting ready to start working on 3 rental websites for a client, and I was planning on designing them in WordPress, so I’m very anxious to see what StayPress is like.
What are you looking for in themes developed for StayPress?
September 10th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Hi. I don’t have a solution yet, but would be very interested in assisting. I have used the Mandigo theme recently for a few installations and am really happy with it but it doesn’t have any of the features required for real estate. I also know enough about wpmu that I could probably do something for you, or work with a few here to develop one.
P.S. Whats in it for us?
Also, as a starting point, perhaps this list of premium providers could be a good start: http://www.mayurjobanputra.com/index.php/free-stuff/my-running-list-of-the-very-best-premium-wordpress-theme-providers/. I’m trying to keep it updated as I find new developers selling original work.
I am currently working with a local real estate agent to get their site off the ground: http://www.pannakaria.com so I have seen a few real estate themes and plugins that can probably get you going quickly but there is one plugin in particular I am itching to try: http://www.rogertheriault.com/agents/plugins/great-real-estate-plugin/
Good luck
September 10th, 2008 at 2:53 am
I may be interested in doing a theme.
I’m not really familiar with staypress anymore so I may have to get reacquainted.
Dustin
September 10th, 2008 at 4:30 am
I like simple and clean like Excel theme, although I haven’t implemented for rental portal. I’m holding back from going with Joomla until you get this up and running. However, I can’t wait forever!!!! Any chance it might be ready by Oct/ Nov? Thanks.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Hi all!
Probably this will be the most interesting chance for me. I really use Wordpress and i designed themes for many rental property. My themes are really Search Engine Optimized and Validated to get the best results on search engines (it’s really what rental owner want!!). I really would like to test Staypress and i would like to be in contact with you to have some technical requirements and to see staypress in action.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Off the top of my head, you’d probably be best off looking for themes that are essentially ‘photo blogging’ type themes where preference is given to image placement and management.
Also in terms of rollout, it would be hard for a theme to be developed/provided, without knowing what sort of functionality is being provided/allowed for.
Perhaps a feature list could be made available? Screenshots? With this kind of information, developers know what they’re dealing with and can design themes accordingly…
Just a thought
Stoked to beta test…
September 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
You are welcome to have a look at:
http://treeferns.co.za/
on how we have implemented the theme and bookings.
Cor
September 10th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
FOR THE MAIN SITE (if using StayPress with MU)
I use modified Mimbo theme + added some features of Open Book theme. So if you ask me (which is rarely… for a programmer to ask me something:)) you should use a theme that has a slide show somewhere bellow the header. Solution like: http://wpmu.org/plugin-submission-featplug/
Theme should also use Get The Image plugin which automatically pulls the cropped image into front page posts. You can also use your own Custom Fields values.
I’ll send You some cool looking USER SITE and MAIN STE themes (if using StayPress with MU) in my next comment.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
FOR THE MAIN BLOG
http://graphpaperpress.com/demo/monochrome/
http://www.darrenhoyt.com/demo/mimbo2/
http://www.wpelements.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/massivenews1.jpg
http://justintadlock.com/options/
http://www.wp-magazine.com/
USER BLOGS
http://clipthephotos.com/2007/08/the-dark-knight-photos/
That’s it… for now. I’ll show you my user-theme in a week or saw (when i finish it).
September 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
@Marko: Some nice ones there.
I also like the look of:
http://michaelhutagalung.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/arthemia-front.jpg
I was / am undecided (about spots - sorry old Coupling joke) about how to use the StayPress.com public front end. Whether to use it to showcase the properties added by the users (like a large rental property portal) or just as a marketing site for the hosted version.
Obviously (though it may not be as I only started setting it up yesterday) the StayPress.org site will hold and host the publicly downloadable version of the software.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
My only comment is that I’d like to avoid clutter. So many real estate-type websites are crap because they’re covered in advertising and superfluous navigation.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Guzel theme
October 28th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I’m in the process of designing a template for personal house rental ( 1 personnal property for vacation rent )
I am though deeply interested in your plugin dev.
As an exchange process I will release my theme, as you release your plugins freely.
Hope to get in touch as soon as staypress is released.
yours
November 18th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I am just in a process of setting up a holiday rental website for a rental agent in Lake Como, Italy area.
I am using http://themehybrid.com/demo/options/
I am also utilising your availability calendar and booking plugins.