The internet has changed the world and has sent us into the era of online publications, making it easier than ever to reach a large audience. Nowadays, all the online magazines are Responsive and have a Mega Menu for easy navigation. What they tend to miss is the customizability needed in order to cater to different groups of people and the ease of use required to make them accessible to casual administrators.
This is where WordPress comes in. WordPress themes are usually built with a large number of options which allow administrators to change anything from the colors present on the site, to the way widgets are set up and the fonts used. Also, they can be installed with just a few clicks. With thousands of themes on the internet, finding the right one by simply browsing online is close to impossible. We have heard the call of all those who have grown tired of looking through endless repositories, and have taken it upon ourselves to create this best WordPress Magazine Themes of 2017 list, in which even the pickiest writers and editors will find something to their liking.
Newsmag
Newsmag is a mainstream, multipurpose WordPress theme, perfect for any kind of theme. It supports YouTube videos and has an integrated rating system. Newsmag also features support for all of the main advertising systems. As far as technical support is concerned, the creators continually offer help to anyone who needs it. Its look perfectly mimics that of a major online publication, featuring a multi-column menu and a beautiful layout which seamlessly balances text and images. Those who will want to fully customize their page, will find that the layout is easily modifiable in order to suit their needs.
It’s perfect for any kind of magazine: Scandal, Animals, Cars, Fashion, Tech, and many more. The general layout might seem crowded, but once taking into account the fact that literally every inch of every page has purpose, things change. A professionally designed theme which indiscriminately puts both headings and images right in front of readers. Newsmag offers ten demos that showcase its functionality in different formats and different situation.
SimpleMag
A great option for anyone trying to set up a magazine, SimpleMag is one of the most customizable magazine themes out there. While designed with this specific purpose in mind, it allows you to go off the beaten path and turn it into something that is perfect for them. This can be achieved with an easy to use drag & drop page composer, with which it comes packaged. The theme also features a configurable dropdown menu, a smart footer which can modify itself in order to accommodate different numbers of sidebars, and for those concerned by the functionality on mobile devices, an off canvas mobile menu. SimpleMag is also SEO optimized and WPML compatible.
Its creators have showcased the capabilities of their work with several demos which cover all the standard purposes, from fashion and, to news and magazines. It’s important to remember, though, the fact that SimpleMag’s strength resides in its customizability and its ease of use.
Click Mag
If you’re looking for an in-your-face, flexible theme which will appeal to younger crowds, then Click Mag is be perfect for you. As its name implies, the theme is designed around the idea that a click is all one needs in order to navigate through its content. Click Mag features several plugins perfect for a quick, on-the-go, powerful experience.
Thela Post Slider will allow you to set dynamic slideshows in your posts and on your pages, the Thela Sticky Sidebar will increase your sidebar’s visibility and the Reviewer Plugin will allow you to insert reviews and compare items in an easy manner. Another useful feature of the theme is the optional “Continue Reading” button, which will give you the option of tying an ad to it, which will show up once a visitor clicks it in order to read the rest of the article. Apart from these features, Click Mag features a custom Post Image Gallery and is SEO Optimized and Translation Ready.
ProMag
ProMag is truly one of the best ways to go in order to give a magazine a professional feel. From an aesthetic perspective, it is a minimalist, cold, clean theme, which keeps everything perfectly organized. It is ideal for both News and Magazine blogs and it makes setting up content extremely easy. Considering the fact that more and more people are choosing mobile terminals in order to browse the internet, the theme also has an integrated mobile friendly version.
From a technical standpoint, ProMag offers built-in contact form templates in order to facilitate the communication between readers and the owner and a customizable Featured Posts Slider. It also comes with Custom Widgets which allow you to display ads, to link your social media accounts and display content in the sidebar. The theme is optimized for WooCommerce, SEO and its code are highly organized. ProMag is also extremely easy to translate, so localization will not be a problem.
MagPress
With a more minimalist look, MagPress is a great theme for News or Magazine blogs. Visually relaxing, it has a less complicated feel than others, resembling the style of a down-to-earth academic magazine. The layout is clean, responsive and does not seem intrusive, giving one the possibility to easily categorize and organize content. It features a sidebar which allows you to link your social networks to it. Also, the theme as a whole is easily customizable.
MagPress features all the basic widgets and quality one has come to expect from a high-quality WordPress theme, such as: Custom Widgets, Page Templates, SEO Compatibility, WooCommerce Compatibility, a Featured Posts Slider and clean coding. It is constantly updated in order to keep it fully compatible with the latest WordPress versions and is localization ready. MagPress features a live demo in order to showcase its features and has both a free and a paid version available.
Flex Mag
For those who want a quality theme with an overwhelming number of features and great customer support. Flex Mag balances simplicity and power and delivers it in an easy-to-use format. Aesthetically pleasing, it manages to use every inch of screen real estate in order to deliver the maximum amount of content, while not giving the feeling that the layout is cramped. One does not require any coding knowledge in order to use or modify it. Flex Mag features four pre-set skins which will allow you to instantly customize it for Sports, Tech, Entertainment or Fashion.
As far as technical features go, it provides a Custom Fly-Out Navigation Menu, Auto-Loading Posts, Video and Audio Posts, a Custom Scoreboard and is Mobile-Ready. Flex Mag also provides nine featured posts layouts and eight article layouts to choose from. When it comes to truly making it your own, the homepage included in the theme can easily be modified through a drag-and-drop system.
The Voux
With a chip on its shoulder, The Voux is one of the best themes around. Created with an amazing attention to detail, is has an elegant design, Full Screen Galleries, many Premade Layouts, a Mega Menu which you can configure however you choose and an Infinite Loading option (which loads the next article as you scroll down). The social sharing aspect of the theme is perfect, allowing you to cache content to share and to choose which social networks to use.
The feature that makes The Voux unique, however, is the “Sidekick”. It is a set of real-time guided walkthroughs which will help the user set-up or modify the theme. Those who like to tinker will find that the theme also comes with an intuitive Drag & Drop interface for the Visual Composer, which will allow everyone to design custom layouts suited to their needs. No coding knowledge is required, only imagination.
SmartMag
One of the best retina-ready premium themes around. SmartMag is clean, responsive and simple to implement and use. It has an intuitive design, with regard to both frontend and backend usability. The theme features an integrated Review System, several post formats, right-to-left- writing support, mobile optimization and a uniquely simple and powerful Admin Panel. SmartMag also comes with a powerful slider plugin and mega menus. The ad support integrated in it is perfect, allowing you to place ads in headers, footers, sidebars, and on the homepage.
In terms of graphical design, the theme comes packed with dark and light skins, a great variety of listing and post layouts, as well as multiple page templates. You can set the colors which will be used in menu and category labels, background images for each of the categories and turn on Infinite Scroll in order to have the articles load as the reader scrolls down.
MagOne
Built using the Sneeit Framework, it perfect way to showcase any type of content. Featuring a huge variety of prebuilt layouts, animations and effects, it allows the administrator to truly highlight his content. The theme boasts a Rating System, multiple Comment Systems (which allow users to insert images, animations, video and emoticons), Social Network Counters and Expandable Mega Menus.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of MagOne is the 1-Click system that it uses in order to install and customize its various elements. It’s fast, efficient and simple. Anything from changing the style of a header, to changing colors can be done through the push of a button. The theme comes packed with types of article boxes, widgets, customizations and building tools. The aptly named Customizer Tool will allow you to use your own custom fonts, to make modifications to various aspects of the page elements and to change the color or image of the background. Building new layouts for a site is just as easy as modifying the existing ones, through a simple Drag & Drop system.
MH Magazine
A feature packed theme, MH Magazine has both a lite and a full version. Both boast an entire arsenal of customization options and are great to use when creating an online magazine. It is important to note, though, that while the lite version will get you 12 locations where you will be able to place widgets, several in-house custom developed widgets and support for any and every modern browser, the full version is where this theme truly shines.
The premium version features extended layout options, a second sidebar, more possible locations for widgets, a built-in Author Box, built-in social network buttons, built-in breadcrumb navigation, a related post feature, and the ability to change font style and size. The paid version also features customer support, continuous updates and advertising options. MH Magazine offers several demos in order to showcase the way in which their layouts work for different types of magazines.
MaxiMag
Optimized for the latest WordPress versions, MaxiMag offers a plethora of options. From an aesthetic point of view, the theme has a minimalistic, modern feel to it. Ideal for News and Magazine blogs, it gives the administrator the ability to easily change logos, the website icons and featured images. The theme also comes with several custom widgets, page templates, a built-in contact form and a featured posts slider.
MaxiMag has a built-in mobile version, which will allow it to use every inch of the screen of a mobile device and is easy to translate through the use of an included .po file. The theme does not require SEO Optimization, its code has been cleaned and has been made compatible with WooCommerce. If the provided layouts are not to your liking, you can easily create your own, by using the elements provided by the theme, with the help of the visual composer provided with it.
ABCMag
A professionally designed theme, for a professional Magazine. ABCMag is elegant, serious and organized, making it extremely easy to use for both the reader and the administrator. It features a few different page templates, in case you don’t want to spend time designing a personalized layout, an integrated contact template, a customizable post slider which will rotate featured posts and a multitude of tabs which you can use in order to organize your content.
From a technical standpoint, ABCMag is fully SEO Optimized, its code is organized and uncompressed (which makes it very easy to edit and play with), it has mobile support, it can be translated with ease and it is set up for WooCommerce. The theme also comes with a large number of easy to use widgets which will allow you to link the site to your social networks, integrate ads and display site content in the sidebar.
WorldStar
Clean, well-organized and easily customizable, WorldStar offers everything a WordPress theme should offer. Out of the box, the theme offers several custom page templates and many custom widgets, as well as a Theme Customizer which will help you build your own layouts. The underlying code is fully optimized for speed and search engine compatibility and insures the fact that the theme will work in any modern browser.
WorldStar comes in two flavors: Free and Premium. As one would expect, the Premium version boasts many more features than the Free one, such as the option to change various aspects of the header and footer (for example, the ability to insert a custom header image or custom background images), the ability to modify the theme’s colors and fonts. Both free and premium themes are fully localized and, as an added detail, the dimensions of the Featured Images used on blog posts are 840x480 and the main content column’s width is 840 pixels.
VMag
VMag has been designed with the sole purpose of becoming the best and most responsive WordPress Magazine theme possible and, it has managed to secure its place among the best. Fully build on the Customizer tool, it is also one of the most versatile theme out there. It features a modern design which will look great on any screen regardless of its size, a beautiful slider section and a carousel news widget. Also, it comes with more than 13 custom widgets to use, cross-browser compatibility and full localization.
The theme is built using clean code, and has received a lot of SEO optimization. This, coupled with the fact that VMag allows the use of bold typography, high resolution images and vibrant colors make it one of the best WordPress themes for Magazine and Newspapers out there. The theme offers a free version as well as a pro one and also has a demo version through which it showcases all its features.
SuperMag
Specifically designed for Magazine and News blogs, it features out-of-the-box advertisement support. The theme is highly customizable, allowing the administrator to change various elements of a page, such as the header, the footer and the inner sections. One of the best elements of SuperMag is the drag & drop system it uses in order to modify and existing page or to build an entirely new one. The theme also comes with a variety of advanced widgets and templates which are meant to be used with this system.
As far as customizability goes, the administrator has full control over all the elements present on a page. The theme features five different custom sidebar areas, a gorgeous features section, custom made widgets for the footers and custom copyright text boxes. Everything can be changed, including the colors, background images and logos. It even has settings which make the sidebars sticky, enable the display of breaking news in the header and enable or disable “Related Posts” per article.
ColorMag
Currently running on over 60.000 websites all over the world, ColorMag’s popularity is a testament to its usefulness. WooCommerce ready and SEO optimized, it is a must-have for anyone trying to set up a magazine blog. The theme is compatible with any of the major browsers, it is very responsive on both pc and mobile devices and comes in two versions: Free and Pro. It also offers a demo version for anyone who wants to see the potential it holds.
ColorMag has a beautiful magazine style design, with more than 15 widget areas and the option to choose between a Boxed or Wide Layout. The theme also features a Sticky Menu, a Footer Editor, a Unique Posts System and tools for changing the color of anything of the website’s elements. The Pro version also comes with more than 600 google fonts and is WPM compatible, allowing the easy creation of multilingual sites.
xMag
If you’re looking for flexibility, then xMag is perfect for you. With a solid framework, child theme support and full browser compatibility, it will work beautifully with any type of magazine. The theme allows for a huge amount of customization, such as: changing accent colors, inserting custom images for the header, modifying the style of the navigation bar, liking social networks to the website, and more. All of these can easily be done, with the help of the WordPress built-in Customizer and feature a live preview option.
xMag is fully localized and SEO Optimized. The theme is easy to set up, use and modify. It has been built with accessibility in mind, for both administrator and reader. For those who want even more customizability, there is also a Plus version of xMag, which offers new Layouts, the option to add a Custom Logo, a Featured Posts system, Google Fonts and much more.
Easymag
Just as the name suggests, Easymag is one of the easiest themes to setup and use. It’s extremely responsive, being able to adapt on any kind of screen, from iPhones and iPads to any other kind of mobile terminals. Its layout is clean, modern and highly organized, making it well suited for any kind of magazine. The theme also features a Live Customizer, which will allow you to view the changes that you make in real time, and round-the-clock customer support.
Easymag only contains clean, SEO Optimized code which allows it to be perfectly compatible with any of the main browsers currently in use and to load as fast as possible. The designers update the themes on a regular basis and offer very well documented instructions in order to help administrators perform step by step changes. A live demo is also available for anyone who wishes to see Easymag in action before committing.
SKT Magazine
Offering both a free and a pro version, SKT Magazine is one of the most versatile themes around. Quite useful for anyone looking for a premium WordPress theme. Both versions are coded with HTML5 and CSS3 and are compatible with different social media plugins, social sharing plugins and comment plugins. While each of them is beautifully designed and well optimized, the Pro version is where this theme truly shines
The paid version offers the administrator the ability to change colors, to use more than 600 google fonts (and to set the size of the characters), to modify various slider settings and to choose from several blog layouts. It also comes with a default gallery and contact form, and several more widgets which can be used in the header and footer. SKT Magazine is SEO Optimized and has been built using clean, semantically correct code, thus being compatible with all the major browsers.
Soledad
Soledad is a very light and powerful WordPress theme designed especially for Magazine type blogs. It has great aesthetics, and comes with a huge amount of easy-to-use customization options and tools. The theme uses WordPress Live Customizer in order to give the administrator a greater degree of visual input when setting up a site. As far as the actual setting up and building goes, Soledad comes with Visual Composer. A tool which will allow you to create new layouts by using a drag & drop mechanic.
Out of the box, the theme comes with Full Width or Boxed options for the body layout, two mega menu styles, nine styles for the Featured Slider, six different styles for the header, 5 article layouts and a Photo Gallery. It also boasts an impressive number of widgets, fonts and colors. Soledad is perfect for anyone who wants to play and tinker with a site until it reaches perfection.
Voice
The very definition of a professionally designed WordPress theme, Voice will call out to your readers and make them return time and time again. This is a highly customizable theme that comes with an unlimited variety of fonts and colors to choose from. The theme features a responsive design which will allow it to automatically scale itself in order to fit any type of screen as well as many customization options.
There are dozens of plugins packed into Voice, as well as many widgets. Also, you can add as many sidebars as you wish, set up Multipage posts and choose from four Pagination types, connect your social media networks to the website, and create more than 150 post listing combinations by mixing and matching any of the preset elements which come with the theme. The Voice is SEO Optimized, WooCommerce Compatible, receives dedicated support and has a live demo for any who want to test it before they buy it.
Engine
Engine is a more unusual theme as far as its design goes, but a great one nonetheless. The theme has been designed around the idea of creating layouts using a drag & drop mechanic, from the ground up. It also gives the option of creating Minisites within the website, each of them having different logos, backgrounds and layouts. Engine is built on Bootstrap 3 and was initially meant to be primarily accessed and viewed from mobile devices, though it works just as well on PCs.
As far as integrated systems go, the theme comes with Mega Menus, a Heat Index which will show trending topics), a fully-fledged Comparison System for products or posts, a Review System and Smart Sidebars. The administrator can also add Social Connect Widgets, Subscriber or Follower Counts from various sites and place ads in 50 ad slots. Engine has also been made compatible with BuddyPress, bbPress, and WooCommerce.
Venus
In the world of modern, professionally looking themes, Venus is king. The theme is designed to look gorgeous on both PC and mobile screens and features great support for retina devices. Also, integrated in Venus is an Instant Search feature which displays results as the user types, and an Off-Canvas Navigation Menu, perfect for mobile devices. There are many more options, though, such as: Breaking News Widget, Sticky Main Menu Navigation, Support for Social Media Profiles and a built-in Shortcode Generator plugin.
The creators offer many video tutorials in order to help administrators to install and fully customize their site, with the use of more than 300 Google Web Fonts and a built-in color picker. They also offer completely free theme updates and support and free lifetime updates. And as an added bonus, Venus also has Child Theme support which will not be affected by future theme updates.
WP Magazine themes are my favorite themes. These are most popular theme among web developers.
Hey guys, awesome roundup I really love the Gadgetry theme 🙂
May I suggest: https://theme-stop.com/themes/viral-mag/ which is a free popular magazine theme that I think would be of interest to your readers.
Let me know what you think?