julius-solaris-informal

Hello folks! Today I take the pleasure to interview one of the most renowned name of WordPress themes industry Julius Solaris, CEO – ShowThemes. Julius also work in capacity of Editor at EventManagerBlog.com.

Could you tell me a little about yourself?

My name is Julius, I am Italian and I live in the UK. I have a passion for events and technology. I am a blogger for the event industry and also the CEO of Showthemes, a niche WordPress theme shop for conference andevent websites.

What’s your background with WordPress?

I am neither a developer nor a designer. I am a user since 2004. I know WP very well on the user side. I am confident with what it can do for events and handling complex information.

Could you tell us a little about ShowThemes and its history?

While blogging about events I though that WordPress would have beeen a great solution for event websites. At the time (2012) event WordPress themes were very limited in functionality and features. I decided to build my own based on the feedback of hunderds of event professionals. I worked with Bill Erickson (Genesis and Studiopress major contributor) on our first theme, Event Manager Theme. It’s been a learning experience but we are very happy of the results.

How many people are working with you at ShowThemes?

We are a team of 5 people who do the worload of 25 🙂

What is your business philosphy?

Traditionally event professionals spent thousands of dollars for crappy looking websites. We’ve given an alternative that looks great and cost peanuts in comparison. We also want to be able to offer clean code that performs well.

What are your plans for ShowThemes future?

We are working on making our themes more user friendly and that is not easy. We think 2015 will be a key year for us with 4 more themes released. Looking forward to that!

Where do you see WordPress Themes Club market in next one year?

It’s changing really fast. There is a lot of demand but competition is growing. My hope is that we see more of niche WordPress theme shops focussinf on creating strong vertical themes. The one size fits all days are over.

Any advice or suggestion you have for the newbie who are trying their hand in WordPress?

I think it is important to share the WordPress philosophy, embrace the community and really understand what WordPress is about. We pride ourselves of being 100% GPL, which is a big demand for a small shop, something not even leading providers are willing to do. It’s important to understand what this project is about and the mission of those contributing.

JustWP – Any words or opinions for JustWP? The way it is in the industry covering about WordPress.

Just WP is a great resource for those looking to learn more about WordPress themes but also tricks, tips and tutorials. JustWP does an awesome job and collecting the most valuable resources for WordPress in an easy to digest format.