Time for some predictions for WordPress themes in 2011.

As we race towards Christmas eve we talk about the importance of having a process for making WordPress themes.

WPCandy has a very interesting post today about the future of premium themes. The post has some very valid points and certainly taps into many of the changes going on in this space at the moment. Go check it out. I posted my thoughts on future of premium themes in the post comments and also reproduce them below for your convenience in edited format.

Yes, the quality of free themes has sky rocketed.
Yes, users now have much more choice.
Yes, WordPress users now expect more for less.

But there’s a really big big difference between 2010 and 2007 – the size of the market. WordPress has grown exponentially in that timeframe. The percentage of users who buy themes …

A really common misconception that exists today amongst the general populus is that WordPress is a really cool publishing platform for blogs – and no more than that.
Those of us who build websites for a living using WordPress know that this is far from the truth and that WordPress has matured into a really powerful Content Management System in it’s own right. But those who love and work with other ‘pure’ LAMP open source CMS systems such as Drupal, Joomla, modx and Expression Engine seem to have this notion that WordPress is inferior for general website content management.
Well let me tell you that this is a big fat myth and could not be further from …

WooThemes have just launched an absolutely incredible WordPress theme called Listings.
Quite simply, this is the single most impressive WordPress theme I’ve ever seen.
The WooThemes guys have clearly invested a huge amount of time and effort to create a very special theme.
Actually, calling it a theme is a bit of an understatement.
In my opinion, Listings takes WordPress itself to a whole new level.
How?
Listings exploits more recently added WordPress features like no other theme has done to date; namely Custom Post Types and Taxonomies. I’ve been waiting for one of the big boys of theme development to release something like this and it’s no surprise that it’s WooThemes who have been the first to release a theme …

It’s time to start kicking off those “best of” lists for 2010. Today we bring you the first of our selection of the Best Free WordPress themes of 2010.

Ok today’s tip is not so much a technical WordPress theme reference but a life tip! If you’re just getting started with WordPress you’ve no doubt become aware of just how much you can achieve without having to spend a single cent. From tutorials to free themes to support, awesome plugins and countless thousands of hours of hard work which make it possible for you, me and everyone else to take advantage of the most powerful publishing platform on the planet to do whatever we want with it – with no strings attached.
What makes WordPress stand out from everything else is not just the software itself – far from it. Don’t get me wrong – …

Another chance to gaze into our crystal ball to predict one of the most game changers for 2011 – Mobile WordPress themes.

We’re looking forward to 2011 and the emergence of HTML5 and CSS3 as the backbone of modern WordPress themes.

Testing, Testing, Testing – We touch on that most important of topics – the WordPress Theme review guidelines.