lukegosHi, guys. Since this is my first post, I'd like to clarify in advance that I'm a total newbie to WordPress. Really, it was the cool name that drew me and maybe the snazzy look. I'm actually more at ease in my typical lean, semantic Strict DTD XHTML/CSS/PHP setup than in the WP editor right now but I'm after the neat look, cross-browser and handheld compatibility and decent SEO exposure WordPress provides. So here I am. Again, actually, because the first time I tried I gave up when I saw how difficult it was to position a picture in the page edit interface. ;) That was yesterday. But at night I saw what a handheld browser did to my lovely Japanese-style design with transparency, fixed positioning and whatnot and that made me want to cry (until 7 a.m.).
I'm not an active coder any more (I'm one of those kids that took a different major after all) and don't really have the amount of free time to learn how to make WP themes on my own just for one webbie or for my own enjoyment. That maybe later, I might even create themes for others for fun but not now, I just can't.
So, I'm looking for a nice theme for a professional/business webbie for me. For the record, I'm a legal translator. I need just a couple of pages/posts (not decided yet/clueless): bio, ToS, list of clients, a page for lawyers, explaining the benefits of hiring a translator who does actually understand what he writes, maybe a gallery of sample translations. And a contact page that allows my visitors to e-mail me from the website without engaging their e-mail clients.
I suppose most of my clients sit at a real screen but there's possibly quite a bunch and there's going to be more and more of them googling from inside a taxi in between cross-border phone calls or something along those lines. I know lawyers well enough to know that this is being the case and, besides, lawyers love gadgetry like that (trust me--if you ever do anything for non-government lawyers, it's gotta work from handhelds), so here you are.
Here's what I need and hope for the more experienced WP users to help me with:
– Neat. Professional looking. Better than something I could make on my own over one evening of trial and error and googling.
– Has a contact page or a contact page can be added easily, allowing e-mails to be sent from PHP mail without resorting to the visitor's e-mail client.
– Not much code tampering needed to fix or accomplish necessary details. As in, shouldn't be more complicated than putting together a webbie in notepad is. Shouldn't be too restrictive when I need to combine text with pictures nicely.
– Does indeed work in all significant browsers, including handhelds. Also in slightly outdated browser versions and doesn't rely on JavaScript or anything that may be turned off or not installed on standard corporate workstations.
– Not boring visually. This is not a blog with engaging content to draw the spark from, not even industry news. It's basically an extended static business card. It can't be too artsy but it has to be more inviting than a yellowed court file from 1950. Graphical design will probably change more often than the text.
– The price should include VAT or be under ~25 USD or free (this is due to formalities I'd need to go through if I made a non-VAT purchase above ~25 USD in this country).
Oh, and I know where the directories are. I'm asking for recommendations of individual themes.
As a bonus, if you happen to be able to comment on the benefits of either pages or posts, or some combination thereof (other than the basic standard opinions from Google), I'd bhttp://store.wordpress.com/premium-upgrades/pro-bundle/?ref=newdash-footere eager to listen.
Thank you.
