I know about like this nice beautiful Online Word-press Themes making Website… Where all can make or customize your themes in few clicks..”wpthemebuilder Dot Com”

You’re absolutely right about all your comments. What I wrote is not a ‘how to’ recipe for working with a designer, but actually, what I did for that particular theme design.

The work came out good and the process was smooth and I wrote about it.

I realize other people do it differently. There’s no problem doing a theme test drive on a live server. For my own reasons, I can’t allow any development work done on our production server, so the designer had to demo it all on her site. Once she set it up, this made things easier for her because she could play with whatever she wanted without worrying about me.

This works for both an initial install, as well as a redesign.

This article describes the process once you have found one, but how to choose one that won’t burn you in the end?

I and most others have had bad experiences with freelancers starting out because we don’t know what to look for and what questions to ask.

An obvious one is to find out their past referrals, and actually call them to see what they thought of the freelancer. Be sure to ask for referrals that ARENT LISTED on the website as well.

It’s not true that a designer can’t theme test on a client’s site. I do it all the time. In fact, with every client I’ve ever had. And no one but the client and myself are even aware that it’s happening. Then once we’re done, we switch the theme live, and in seconds the project’s finished and I’m being paid.

Also, there’s no harm in working on a 50% deposit, 50% upon completion. No need for three or more “stops” along the way.

All of Amir’s design ideas are his own. Not every client I have WANTS a “drop down menu” in their top navigation, and assuming that’s what others want is a mistake. Some clients only want their main focus pages highlighted in the top nav bar, to which I then recommend they use a small, link only nav in the footer to display all their pages.

Not for nothing, but it just really bugs me when people try to lay out standards like these for web design projects. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and no two projects are ever the same. Yes, “core elements” tend to be the same, and every good designer who knows more than just how to lay out a site in photoshop should know about proper navigational structure, SEO, etc… but the beauty of wordpress design is that it’s structured in a way that allows for ultimate creativity. Limiting it or making strict rules is a bastardization of that creativity.

or vice versa i think wordpress is more forgiving when creating a theme or redesigning an exisiting which what i tend to do

The steps given seems effective and ease the starting phase of making a theme. However there’s more thing to consider, some of them are the tricky one such as CSS and etc, but I’m sure there are more steps to come.

Very helpful. Waiting for the update. Thanks =)

Because of my personal experience, I would add to your list that before you hire a designer, you determine their understanding of SEO and how to implement it if SEO is important to you.

I’m building a new web site myself based on a WP platform. That way I can get the look I want, make changes myself and make sure it is SEO optimized.

After reading posts and trying out experiments on the themes, I realised that your blogging theme would really affects the traffic and how sticky your blog can be.

It took me a while to find a theme that works for me best and I ended up paying some money for it. Feel free to take a look at http://nil2million.com
and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

While custom can be an expensive option, (compared to free or nearly free). Going custom is what i think can set you apart from the crowd. Yes you can heavily customize a theme, however they often still look like the original in many or at least some respects, and to make your individual mark you need something fresh, not just remade.