Favourite Xenforo Themes?

[Naiwen]

I personally prefer any dark and simple and easy on the eyes Xenforo theme.

 

[Tracy]

I pretty much lean to PixelExit for my styles.... my original one for the site was Blackened Pro (it's still available for users to select - I need to check to make sure all my prefixes are updated in it) and the current that I use which is Bolt.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

PixelExit for me, too. Has been for a number of years.

 

[Naiwen]

I pretty much lean to PixelExit for my styles.... my original one for the site was Blackened Pro (it's still available for users to select - I need to check to make sure all my prefixes are updated in it) and the current that I use which is Bolt.

What's that? Designed by whom?

 

[Tracy]

What's that? Designed by whom?

Both styles are from PixelExit, ran by Russ & company.
One of the better (and reliable) XF style developers. Their styles are fairly easy to work with (as evident by my site).

 

[Naiwen]

Both styles are from PixelExit, ran by Russ & company.
One of the better (and reliable) XF style developers. Their styles are fairly easy to work with (as evident by my site).

Free or paid?

 

[Tracy]

Free or paid?

I quit using free style years ago.... and have been using PixelExits paid styles.

 

[Naiwen]

I quit using free style years ago.... and have been using PixelExits paid styles.

I don't really mind personally.

 

[Tracy]

I don't really mind personally.

It's not that I "mind"... it's simply the fact that most paid styles/themes (in XF line) have abilities that the base XF modified styles you get "for free" do not.
It saves me having to go in and make numerous template edits or create an add-on to keep those template edits consistent across upgrades.

 

[Uncrowned]

Pixel Exit is really good as others have stated, but I also enjoy XenFocus.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

I think a lot of us use Pixel Exit so if they were to close down tomorrow, who'd be your next choice?

 

[secretprojects]

I've never paid for a theme. I generally use the default theme and customise it. For my current site (secretprojects.co.uk) I have the standard Xenforo theme with colour edits and CSS tweaks. I think it looks fine. I also added a free dark theme (Shades of Grey, again tweaked) and which I prefer, however my user base prefers the light theme as default.

My biggest issue is I'd want to try the theme before buying it. I also don't really see a big difference with paid themes.

 

[Tracy]

I also don't really see a big difference with paid themes.

Oh, they are there, and can be duplicated by lots of template edits if one has the knowledge and time.
I realize that some of the changes/differences below are subtle, but they are there when you look closely. These are a few simple ones.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

I've always found pixelexit themes to be way more functional than free themes. It usually has more options to edit on the back end. If you're good at coding, you can definitely make a free theme work as far as you want it to. But I don't want to spend too much time editing code, so I go with what gives me more controls even if I have to pay for it a little bit.