WordPress vs ThemeForest: Spotting the Differences

With most business activities such as search queries, purchases, and payments happening online, there is a massive repository of the content registered daily. If not maintained properly, it will all go haywire. This is where content management systems or CMS came to light. WordPress, a globally renowned blogging site, goes way beyond.

Moreover, this a really good option when launching your site, even if you are configuring an ecommerce website design. Up to 4.5% of the internet runs via WordPress. More so, 50 to 60% of websites that use CMS have WordPress backing.

Get acquainted with ThemeForest

ThemeForest, on the other hand, is a marketplace designated for WordPress. ThemeForest is the lifeblood of WordPress as, without themes, WordPress is like any other ordinary system.

So what are these themes, and why are they important? For one, they help optimise your landing page. Second, it serves as a virtual meeting point for WordPress theme developers and buyers. These buyers could be individuals or corporations. 

ThemeForest is among the seven-property Envato Market family and includes CodeCanyon, the WordPress plugin marketplace. The portal is a holy grail for WordPress theme developers.

If you are contemplating buying a theme, you are at the right place. ThemeForest comprises a repository of over 12000 WordPress themes up for grabs. 

Also Read: How To Design A Fresh And Exciting Business Website?

Next Up: Finding the Perfect Theme

ThemeForest has several functions embedded for you to carve out the perfect theme. For starters, you punch in the initial keywords to find your template. WordPress splits its theme encyclopedia across categories such as corporate, blogging, eCommerce, and others. 

You can further narrow the list according to bestsellers, newest, best-rated, trending, and price. More so, you can avail a user-friendly system to filter the themes based on category, tags, price, sales, overall rating, date, software, and compatibility. 

Theme Reviews

WordPress and ThemeForest ensure quality. The quality aspect applies to coding structure, security, user experience, design, and other factors. Also, the review process helps in safeguarding the end-users.

These measures prevent mishaps such as shootouts between the theme plugins and unruly predators or hackers. Furthermore, sometimes the review process goes against the developers’ mindset, logical reasoning, and approach. Nonetheless, the review process is integral. 

WordPress theme review process

WordPress has appointed a designated Theme Review Team that releases changes and updates in the process in their weekly meetings. The open-source or public domain release enables theme developers to offer inputs. The process is user-driven and democratic, and everyone has a stake in the entire process.

Also, WordPress is a community-driven portal and is transparent in its approach. Anyone can access the ecosystem and see the discussion on requirements and the review process and even offer feedback.

This open and honest communication fosters a culture of collaborative pursuits and calls for healthy and continuous improvement. Of course, WordPress is not perfect, but the people who drive the community rest assured with aligned goals.

ThemeForest review process

ThemeForest, on the other hand, is less transparent about its review process. As a result, the updates are one-sided and less inclusive. Although they do allow theme developers to post their opinions and feedback, ThemeForest follows its unique procedure. 

Which one is better?

For WordPress, developers can take a breather as the themes will end up on WordPress.org upon following the requirements and guidelines. WordPress explicitly acknowledges that design recommendations are subjective; developers are less likely to get rejected for their design preferences. 

At ThemeForest, even if the developer conforms to all the guidelines, the theme can be rejected. The reason is that the reviewer has the autonomy to assess the proposed design. 

Things developers can do before submitting the themes

Irrespective of the site or portal used, the changes are rapid and quick. When reading or referring to third-party websites, articles or blogs, you should make sure to check the dates. In all likeliness, the information provided could be outdated and irrelevant. 

The ideal way to approach theme reviews is regularly to check the requirements of each site. Also, be prepared for multiple rejections. It is crucial to approach it with this mindset as the drawn-out process lasts for months and sometimes even over a year.

Finally, look for and study the different reasons for theme rejections to gain better clarity. 

Checking for rejections on WordPress

All theme submission tickets of developers are available to view in trac, WordPress.org tracking system is in the public domain. This list is inclusive and includes new submissions, updates, and resubmissions.

Therefore, the data on the portal can be deemed authentic and accurate. Also, the trac system has search and filter functions to enable a more profound analysis of the data. 

Another source is the review statistics shared by the Theme Review Team. This avenue should be taken at face value and not in its entirety, as the entire theme directory may or may not be reflected.

More so, this source comprises fewer data points and a shorter duration or period. The theme review team takes up to 7 days to respond before the closing of a ticket. This timeframe entails back and forth over themes and reopening tickets. 

Checking for rejections on ThemeForest

ThemeForest does not reveal data on theme review rejections. So, developers have to resort to third-party articles and external sources. Plus, the approval process is more cumbersome than WordPress.

Envato, however, releases the average waiting time for review timelines on its Review Turnaround page. 

Also Read: Criteria to Keep A New Home for Your Blog

Summary

WordPress is a renowned content management system or CMS that backs more websites than any other system. It goes beyond blogging. It is also a portal for developers to upload their theme designs. Another platform that developers can use to submit their themes is ThemeForest. 

WordPress is community-oriented and welcomes opinions and feedback from developers. ThemeForest is less transparent; it allows suggestions from developers but follows its unique procedures.

More so, if the theme conforms to the WordPress guidelines, then the design will appear on WordPress.org. However, with ThemeForest, the reviewer may reject the idea even after following the guidelines.