Some time ago I showed you some really cool customizations of the Thesis theme for WordPress and then reviewed a newer theme called Headway. Today let’s have a look to what Headway has to offer; not only you can customize it, but you can create your own layout within the theme so your blog will not look like something which already exists.
About Headway
For those who don’t know yet, Headway is a very advanced WordPress theme framework, which provide lots of cool features such as SEO optimization and dropdown menus, but it also embeds tools to edit your blog layout and colors without having to type a single line of code.If you’d like to know a bit more about this great WordPress theme, make sure to read the Headway Theme review I wrote a while ago.
If you’re interested in buying the Headway Theme, you can get a 20% discount here.
Time for showcase! Here are the 10 most awesome blog layouts created within Headway.
Headway
Parent by heart
Legal Practice Pro
http://www.legalpracticepro.com
Danny Brown
Thomas Schoenweitz
http://www.thomasschoenweitz.com
Headway Hacks
Remarkablogger
Homepage Construction Company
http://www.homepageconstructionco.com
Jim Conolly
Springfield Chiropractor
http://www.springfieldchiropractorblog.com
23 Comments
Some terrific work! It would be AWESOME if somebody could provide some tutorial-like-insight into how some of those customizations were executed.
Do you really think that these are “awesome ” ???
very good work, headway is going to beat thesis.
Some great inspirational layouts there. I’m a big fan of Headway themes ever since your last post on the subject, until then I never knew it existed.
Is this what you use on this site then?
Jon, Headway is crazy simple to customize. Adding background images and other ‘flair’ requires some simple CSS knowledge but if you can follow simple steps you can make a pretty site fast.
Great list of beautiful sites. Maybe there will be a top 11 list so my site will make it.
@Fox – Everything is easy when you know how. I am an old dog learning new tricks. Any great `simple steps`CSS resources to suggestÉ Thanks!
@Jon -w3schools.com, cssbasics.com are two. Check out headwayhacks.com for Headway specific changes. You’ll require very little CSS with Headway to make a nice blog/site. I only use it because I build the site on a local machine and upload a custom CSS file. Good luck.
Nice collection of different-looking themes, JB, and I think a good idea of how easy is it to customize Headway with or without CSS coding.
Thanks for including mine, very much appreciate it – it was done without any custom coding. Though I am dabbling with CSS at the minute, so who knows for any future updates
Cheers again!
I’m always more fashinated when someone pulls out a theme customization that doesn’t look at all like the default design or even a blog. With that said, all these blogs and designs are relatively “blog-like”.
But I’m sure we’ll see more awesome customizations in the future for this theme as well, as it looks like Headway is making progress into the blogosphere and it seems quite versatile too, and relatively easy from what I’ve heard.
@ Antti. Hi Antti – you may wish to check out the site I put together for my charity initiative:
12for12k.org
Or this mock-up for a client:
maritz.dannybrown.me (on original Headway 1.0).
And yes, Headway is a cinch to use. And with the new 1.6 beta now available for devs to play with (and a really cool custom CSS option), I think it’ll only grow.
Cheers,
Danny
The flexibility of Headway is absolutely awesome and still suprises me. I really don’t have time to faff around with code and as your Headway examples show there is no compromise involved.
thanks alot! I always love theme mods!
Hey thanks for including my site, parentbyheart.com in your review of Headway. As others have said, it’s crazy-simple to use and pretty flexible too. Not only that but Clay is a very hands-on support who has helped me many times in a timely and efficient manner. I’d love any tips on making my site less “blog-like” from you all.
Hakan: I’m on the same page. All of these websites are quite ugly. I want to see how powerful Headway can really be. Looks very intriguing though.
Hey there Logan,
I think it’s a bit harsh to call all these websites “ugly”. I’d be interested to hear what you define as beautiful.
Actually Hakan and Logan are right – all these sites are prety much just a simple business cards. Blog-like style, which is quiet annoying in these days. They look like a simple dreamwevar htm website. Although I’m a fan of headway theme and in my opinion headway is incredible tool in designers’ hands but so far I didn’t see a single site which can use the actual power of headway. Ofcourse that’s my personal opinion.
They are ugly. Really ugly.
@Designer: Your advice is welcome, but it would have been cool if you explained why you found those sites ugly.
When will designers realize that websites aren’t about just graphic design? They’re communication tools. The best websites communicate well and are pleasant to look at. The above sites are simple, yes, but not hard to look at.
Too many designers figure that if you aren’t going crazy with adobe illustrator making grunge backgrounds and flower arrangements, you aren’t making a website. I think most clients would take the simpler approach – at least if they want a site with a purpose.
First off I’m kinda drunk and on my iPhone so I hope this is readable.
Aaron: grunge? Are you kidding me. Yuck. I’m a huge fan of simplicitly. A well designed simple site is the best.
These site have missed “simple” completely. Color choices are off, spacing and formatting makes me cringe, icons are horrible. They are not bad for amateur sites, but they in no way show a products capabilities. I believe headway has potential, but these don’t show it.
No offense to the ones in the gallery. I bet you have great content, and good luck in your projects.
I’m getting back to my beer.
Logan
Logan – I like simplicity too. You might be in that small group of designers that thinks bigger picture. That’s good for you and your clients. Taking a look around though, grunge seems to be in vogue. I agree with your assessment.
I don’t think the sites pictured here are bad at all. But you bring up a good point – making a really good site with Headway site still requires good design skills. And, so far, I haven’t seen anything really outstanding made with Headway. The company really needs to get on with showcasing good designs built on their framework. Thesis has done that better.
I’m a novice to both design and coding. While I like using Headway, it’s certainly not painless to use.
Hope that beer was good.
I am such a Headway fan! I like that Danny Brown header idea. I’m gonna use it on one of mine.
Thought you might be interested, I’ve updated my design since this post.
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Top 10 Headway Theme customizations…
Some time ago I showed you some really cool customizations of the Thesis theme for WordPress and then reviewed a newer theme called Headway. Today let’s have a look to what Headway has to offer; not only you can customize it, but you can create your ow…