A Pledge To Make Better Drupal Themes
As an anti-trender (which has actually become quite trendy), I’ve made a personal pledge to dodge the norm even at the expense of dropping some of my favorite bands because they grew too popular. However, a trend I’ve noticed and can definitely get behind is building better looking themes for Drupal. Why is this important to the Drupal community? I have a number of friends who develop on WordPress and Joomla and it frustrates me that the only seemingly good argument they can make, is that WP and Joomla have much better themes. And I can’t really argue that.
Unfortunately, I feel this is an opinion shared by many non-developers, or worse, business stakeholders who ultimately write the checks. Like it or not, and all things considered equal (at least by those stakeholders who are not technically savvy) people make decisions based on what they know, or understand. The truth is, no matter how well you explain why Drupal should be used over Joomla, WordPress, or any other CMS, if the stakeholder can’t touch, see, hear or feel the difference, they will make a decision based on one of those senses. Don’t believe me. If you’re a design agency, take a good look at your web analytics.
What’s the most visited page on your website after the homepage? I’m putting my money on your portfolio page. With that being said, I’ve been very impressed and I’m very proud the Drupal community has made great strides toward improving and showcasing good design. Template Monster’s number of quality Drupal themes has significantly increased over the past two years. Other Drupal specific theming businesses like TopNotchThemes.com have made us very proud. And in speaking with other designers in the Drupal community, there will continue to be a drive towards much improved templating and overall design quality for years to come.
The following is a showcase of great Drupal designs I’ve found, or been a part of over the past year. Even though many are competitor sites, I’m very proud to display them on LevelTen’s site. Keep up to good work guys!
