Being in the “news” business, I love premium Wordpress themes that set up Wordpress to be used as a news web site.  The newspaper style  premium wordpress theme has always been an attractive way to utilize Wordpress as a content management system (CMS).

The Blog News Premium Wordpress Theme from Gabfire Premium Themes is a Wordpress Theme that is laid out just like you’d expect to see a news web site.

Some of the many features include:

• Translation template which makes it possible to translate into any language easily.
• Automatic image resizer, which is used to dynamically resize photos for main page thumbnail.
• Integrated comprehensive theme settings page (74 options) to tweak the layout through WordPress admin dashboard.
• Unique newspaper/magazine layout
• 6 different colors / 12 different style options
• A nice ajax slider for featured entries
• Built in Banner Management
• Ajax tabs
• Search engine optimized
• Fully widgetized mainpage, sidebar and footer (30 widgetized sections)
• Ad Optimized

So, what’s the bottom line?

Single-use License: $59
Developer License: $179

Demo & Live Preview | Purchase License

Committed to bringing you two new themes every month, WooThemes has done it again, bringing a smoothly designed, feature-packed theme good for anyone who wants to have the coolest looking site out there.

The Mortar Premium Wordpress Theme from WooTheme is a slick design with a multitude of customization options, including varying layouts from 1, 2, 3, or even 4 column layouts.  I love the design of this theme.  For years I’ve been following PSDTuts and the design style of Collis Ta’eed and have grown to love the simple use of gradients, shadows and borders.  The Mortar Premium Wordpress Theme gives me that same consistent feel of quality in simplistic, yet well thought out design.

Some of the many features include:

• Built on the popular JQuery layout plugin Masonry (Source code here), the home page arranges blog posts vertically then horizontally to make sure there is a neat grid of posts with no spacious gaps between them.
• The home page and archive page also have the option to arrange the posts in 1, 2, 3, or 4 columns giving you complete flexibility with your layout.
• A completely widgetized sidebar with 2 custom widgets included in the theme packaging. No third party widgets required.
• 8 amazing color schemes to choose from!
• Drop-down menus.
• Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, colour scheme etc. for the theme.
• Threaded Comments for WordPress 2.7+.
• Custom Page Templates for Archives & Sitemap.
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Comments.
• Integrated top banner ad space, which can accommodate both image banner ads or AdSense embeds.

So, what’s the bottom line?

Single-use License: $70
Multi-use License: $150

Demo & Live Preview | Purchase License

For all you celeb-bloggers out there who want to jump right into juicy celebrity gossip without the hassle of customizing a site, the stunning Celebrity Press Theme, will have you dishing the stars in no time. Rich with features, color variations and feedburner integration, the Celebrity Press Theme is as close to perfect for the journalistic genre as you’ll find. It’s sleek, clean, hi-tech and with just a few plugins you’ll be ready to publish all your stories to the most popular social network sites.

As you can see in the screenshot the theme puts a greater emphasis on the photo than the text, which is ideal for the genre. It’s layout is designed to be equal parts sexy and efficient allowing you to look like a professional while optimizing the readers experience. But subtlety, the Celebrity Press theme is perfectly advanced and ready to handle various ad sizes, has several image sliders and video rotator all one page and does automatic image resizing so you don’t have to do so much work.

The beauty of the theme is its versatility, as it encompasses both a magazine and a traditional blog style. It’s a nice touch to what is a beautiful theme.

Some of the many features include:

• New Article Slider Feature on Homepage.
• Upload your own logo Plugin.
• New Homepage layout selector (3 layouts).
• Build your Own Menu.
• Photo Gallery
• Drop Down Menu (Build your Own)
• Customized Error page with sitemap
• Ad your own Logo and Styles Easily
• Unique Post Randomizer
• Gravatar Support
• Main News Section
• Widget Ready
• Customized Archives and Search Pages
• Stylesheet switcher
• Feedburner Integration
• IE6, IE7, Firefox, Safari and Opera compatible
• XHTML and CSS Valid
• Extensive help and tutorial included
• 2 Colors (Black & White)
• 2 background samples
• Ad your Adsense or Image Link Code
• Turn all-or-individual banners on/off
• Quick Post – No need to put an image
• Image Auto Resizer
• Random Video Rotator (copy/paste code)
• Flickr Integration

So What Does It All Mean?

It should be noted that all Gorilla Theme customers get access to the forum, full supports plus tutorials, updates and even access to custom designs and plugins.

Ready for Advertising – If you don’t plan on selling your celebrity writing for free, this is a nice touch.  All you need to do is insert your advertising code, like Google Adsense, Azoogle Ads, Clicksor, or any others, into the advertising widgets and start collecting your advertising revenue.

Images, Images and Images – This is important for the genre and the site really does allow for a great us of photos. From article slider with built-in image resizers, to built in photo galleries that maximize click-thrus all the way down to full flickr integration. You get as much out of your images as possible. Not to mention everything is super easy to use requiring little to no html or css knowledge.

Widget-Ready – If you are looking for ease-of-use, widgets are the way to go. Without having to know how to code, you can simply drag-n-drop to create the look you desire for your blog.

So, what’s the bottom line?

Single-use License: $79.95
Multi-use License: $179.95

Demo & Live Preview | Purchase License

Note: features sourced from GorillaThemes.com

If you’re looking for a theme that can very easily double as a CMS, this is it.  The growing development team at One Theme are constantly innovating new uses for their dynamic theme choices and their support is quickly becoming known as one of the best in the industry.  The theme showcased here is actually the “Default” theme layout, but there are three other great looking themes to pick from.  In addition to creating a great looking, flexible theme, they’ve also created the “One Panel” which aids in intense customization that even those of the most novice can handle.  Everything is very easy and simple to do.

Some of the many features include:

• Complete customization, all of the theme-dependent images can be changed through the One Panel
• Comes with three layouts out of the box, Default, News, and Blog style
• Free upgrades forever
• Thumbnail generator
• Localization – change the language of your blog in seconds
• Comes with 5 completely different color layouts, red, black, blue, pink, and green
• Allows you to customize content display options on the home page
• Clean php and marked code for easy customization if you like to get geeky

So, what’s the bottom line?

Webmaster (Single License): $99
Webmaster Plus (Two Licenses): $149
Webmster Pro (Three Licenses):  $199

The way the license purchasing is structured is you actually purchase a license option for $60, $110, or $160, then you buy one of their four themes for $39.  Purchasing any of the themes permits you access to their support forums.

Demo & Live Preview | Purchase

Hit after the break for the demo video and a screen shot of One Panel.