Sometimes, you want to have an exuberant color palette for your site. That may be appropriate for certain artists and other industries. Other times, you want to keep the color palette as simple as possible. For those times, the Tyler theme might be a good choice.

This black and white them allows for multiple layouts, including the ability to upload and use custom headers, custom navigation menus, and more. The default layout features three columns with a large header area.

Naturally, both of the sidebars on Tyler are completely widget-ready, so it should be easy enough to customize with category listings, archive lists, custom advertising placements, blogroll links and so on. The clean lines and seemingly simple appearance appeal to minimalists.

More information can be found through the developer’s site. Download the theme for free from WordPress.org.

Dare to be a little different? WordPress is an incredibly robust and flexible platform, allowing for all kinds of different themes and layouts. One of the more interesting ones released recently is Nanoplex.

Rather than adhering to a more typical layout for a WordPress blog, Nanoplex offers a look that is perhaps closer in scope to certain smartphone or tablet applications. There are huge splashes of color for each post snippet and several elements are strategically placed asymmetrically for a special aesthetic effect.

For the most part, the theme is designed as a one-column look with navigation placed as a series of links toward the top of the page. Inside each post, you are given a dedicated box toward the bottom for the author’s image, an author-specific RSS, and a category listing.

Check out the live demo at WordPress.org, which is also where the free download link for Nanoplex can be found.

Are you a creative professional looking for a suitable WordPress theme for your website or blog? It can be challenging to find just the right one, but Graphite might prove to be a good option to consider.

Made available for free from MediaLoot, the theme has been made to allow for portfolio-style custom post types. There are two alternative home image slider templates, giving you more flexibility with custom admin settings as well.

The professional appearance features your highlighted post at the top of page, allowing older posts to filter through in traditional blog format below. The single sidebar, along with the header links, allow for easy navigation for your site visitors.

Check out the live preview of Graphite and then you can download it for free.

Given the increasingly short attention span of the average Internet user, it is more important than ever that your blog load as quickly as possible. If a site takes too long to load, a visitor may just click away and never come back.

You don’t want that. Instead, you might want to think about using the Swift Theme for WordPress. This theme has been designed from the ground-up to be one of the fastest loading, SEO-optimized, server-friendly themes on the web.

Going through the rest of the options, we find a clean magazine-style layout with large thumbnail images, six custom widgets, two featured post sliders, a tabbed interface, and a built-in import/export function.

The free download link, along with the live preview, can be found in the Free Themes Directory on WordPress.org.

There is a common misconception out there that WordPress can only be used for blogginig. Nothing could be further from the truth! The popular content management system can be used to power all kinds of websites, whether they be freelance writer sites or even e-commerce sites complete with shopping cart integration.

If the latter is what you want to have, the new Sanaa Theme might be up your alley. The theme is designed to provide a “retro look” so that you can sell a range of t-shirts, arts, crafts, and other handmade items. The online shop can easily be adapted to sell other products as well.

As you can see from the live demo, Sanaa Theme features a two-column layout with a widget-ready sidebar. It supports drop-down menus and WordPress 3.0 custom menus. To get Sanaa Theme to work, however, you need to install DukaPress on top of WordPress for your website. DukaPress is an e-commerce platform.

For more information on Sanaa, including the free download link, take a look at Dukapress.com. You’ll be selling your homemade trinkets and handicrafts in no time!

While there are certainly people out there who prefer their themes to be loaded up with as many animations, widgets, and customizations as possible, others would rather than a clean and simple layout for their websites.

Perhaps suitable to certain company blogs, the recently released Modern Blue Style offers a modern and simple style layout. You won’t find much in terms of bells and whistles, but the simplified layout is certainly easy on the eyes. If you run a water purification company, for example, a “pure” theme like this may be appropraite.

The menu is located in the left sidebar, while much of the main navigation can be found just below the header image. There is also a space already in place for taking on your website name and tagline. The blue and white color scheme is universally appealing too.

The live preview and free download link can be found at WordPress.org. The author’s page is located at webm.pl.