Drupal

It was about a year ago that I wrote my first post on the best Drupal 7 themes. At the time, it was slim pickings coming up with a list of strong choices. Fortunately, a lot has changed. 

A couple quick points before we get to the themes. The criteria I used in putting this list together has changed a bit since last time. First of all, these are all free themes. Extra points were awarded if the theme uses responsive design or an installation profile, especially if it includes a WYSIWYG. These are things that I think show extra attention to user experience.

A while back I wrote a post on what I thought were the best Drupal 7 themes, but in that post I focused solely on those that were available for free. I decided it was finally time to write up a companion to that piece on the the best premium Drupal themes out there.

Most premium themes are very reasonably priced - under a $100. A fair number of them also include the layered PSD files so they can be easily modified by a designer, which may come in handy if you're working for an organization with a tight budget.

It's been said - with good cause - that Drupal lags competitors a bit with regard to the quality of the premium themes that are available. I'm happy to say that this gap is closing as more and more theme developers turn out high quality designs. Here, in no particular order, are five premium themes I think deserve some attention.

The most basic function of a content management system is the ability to create a page. However, this fundamental activity of website building is often an unexpected hassle for new Drupal users. Yeah, I'm talking about the lack of a built-in rich text editor.

I know there are some strong feelings in the Drupal community about this, but let me try to persuade you that whatever the philosophical or technical reasons for not including a default editor, they're hurting adoption of Drupal and needlessly creating a usability issue for those who are evaluating the platform.

Is Drupal really a viable option for a mobile website? As the percentage of mobile users skyrockets, it's a question a lot of people have started asking. With all the conflicting recommendations and buzzwords flying about, it's easy to see why some aren't quite sure. Let's cut through the noise and look at where things really stand.