Title: Theme Choice Issue
Last modified: September 23, 2018

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# Theme Choice Issue

 *  [mpg1002](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mpg1002/)
 * (@mpg1002)
 * [7 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-choice-issue/)
 * So I’m kind of desperate here. Trying to start a blog, been reading a lot, and
   I’ve been having an extremely hard time finding a theme that suits my needs, 
   which aren’t very complex. My goals are to have a blog with forum functionality
   and maps capability so people can connect. I thought the latter needs could be
   taken care of with plugins, but I’m finding it hard to get past the first step
   of having a functional theme.
 * I like to tweak things and know nothing about CSS, child themes, and quite frankly
   find the idea of having to modify code daunting and simply don’t have time for
   it. I’ve seen the fancy presentations of Divi and others that look extremely 
   user friendly, but I’ve heard bad stories about what may happen to your website
   if you want to leave their platform. I switched over to the evolve theme (from
   Publishable Mag) and have even tried some plugins (Elementor) but haven’t even
   got past the point of having my header picture look right, especially when you
   look at the tablet and mobile versions.
 * Any suggestions of free themes I could use, or free themes with customizing plugins
   that don’t have limited free versions? Or am I resigned to purchasing a highly
   modifiable (and probably with much more functionality than I need) theme like
   Divi and accept potential transfer issues down the road? I’m also curious how
   much the transfer issue is from a more typical theme to another (once you’ve 
   got a lot going on your site) – can’t imagine there are NO issues. Not interested
   in paying a yearly fee (which I see the upgraded versions of popular page builder
   plugins often have) – the one-time payment option from Divi is attractive. Thank
   you for your thoughts.
 * MPG
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Ftheme-choice-issue%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [stefsternyc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stefsternyc/)
 * (@stefsternyc)
 * [7 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-choice-issue/#post-10714488)
 * You will always need to CSS/Code something no matter free or paid. In 20 years
   I’ve never met a client that was okay with any theme. Always need to CSS this
   and Code that.
 * 1. Use a Membership plugin like BuddyPress or BBPress, there may be a Forum plugin
   now as well. All plugins will adapt to your theme’s stylesheet.
 * 2. Best map plugin is WP Google MAP with Snazzy Map
 *  [Amit Singh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apprimit/)
 * (@apprimit)
 * [7 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-choice-issue/#post-10714522)
 * You can try OceanWP, a free theme with lots of option. You can create anything
   with it.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Theme Choice Issue’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Amit Singh](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apprimit/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-choice-issue/#post-10714522)
 * Status: not resolved

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