by These days, it seems like many WordPress themes aim to be everything to everyone. Still, if you dig a little deeper into WordPress themes, you’ll find some very cool, creative and powerful themes that cater to many specialized niches.
Let’s take a look at some themes that will help you build a site with a very specific purpose in mind. All themes listed here are responsive, meaning they are optimized to display properly on mobile devices.
Knowledge base with KnowHow
Need to create a detailed knowledge base for your customers? All you need is KnowHow. The theme provides a nifty “live search” feature that helps users quickly find what they are looking for. There’s also a template for a FAQ page that allows users to click on a question to reveal the answer with an expand/contract functionality.
Also included are a collection of shortcodes for tabbed content, columns, accordion menus, buttons and alert boxes. If you’re running a dedicated knowledgebase site, KnowHow is a great choice.
Forum with ForumEngine
Setting up and administering forums can be a real headache. Thankfully, ForumEngine is around to take some of the pain away. Install the theme and, viola, you have a forum. There is an easy-to-use settings panel inside the WordPress dashboard where you can perform basic tasks, including banning unruly users.
Separate sections for Threads and Replies allow you to administer forum contents, but you can also tend to these tasks on the front-end of the site while logged in as an administrator. The theme looks good, is easy to navigate and has a simplified interface.
Coupon & Promotional Site with Couponize
With the success of sites like Ebates and Slickdeals, coupon and promotional offer sites are now a very popular niche. If you want to get in on the action, Couponize is the theme for you. It features the ability to allow users to post deals (admins can approve them before they are posted).
There are lots of custom filtering options to help users find the types of coupons they are looking for. That may very well be the best feature of the theme as these type of sites could easily get overwhelmed with content. Happy deal hunting!
Travel with WPVoyager
Travel a lot? WPVoyager is an ultra-cool theme that will help you document your many journeys. The Google Maps API is integrated with the theme and allows you to easily create as many map markers as you need in a post. For example, perhaps you visited New York City. There could be markers for Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, Times Square and any other landmarks you visited.
You can also share photos of your trip with built-in photo galleries. That’s just scratching the surface of what WPVoyager can do. The author has created a video demonstrating some of the theme’s features. This theme allows you to create a pretty serious travel blog.
Petition with WeChange
If you have change on your mind, starting an online petition can inspire others to get involved. The brand new Petition WeChange theme is all about helping you do just that. You can set a target number of signatures you want to obtain, validate signatures via email and allow others to share your petition on social media.
It’s a one-page theme that promises a very simple setup. Just what you need to start a (peaceful) revolution.
Photo Sharing Community with Syncope
Syncope is a theme that turns your WordPress site into a mini Instagram. Users can register on your site, upload photos and even apply one of the 20 built-in photo filters to their images. Syncope works with BuddyPress, which allows for the social networking aspect of things.
It also features a drag-and-drop page layout builder to help you get the look and features desired. This could be a really cool way for organizations, friends and families to share photos in their own online community.
Sports Team with WP Soccer
Whether you’re a coach, player, owner or fan of a sports team, WP Soccer is a theme to help provide a top-notch web presence. You have the ability to publish schedules, stats, standings, player and club profiles, match details and videos.
While the theme is geared toward footballers, you can also adapt it for other sports as well. Game on!
Podcast with Podcaster
While podcasting has been around for quite a while, it seems to grow in popularity with each passing year. Podcaster is a theme to help you publish your own show. Built to handle both audio and video playlists, the theme is attractive and makes show content very easy to access.
There’s a nice archive using featured images that serves as your show’s episode guide.
Featured image: megastocker
