The latest design craze sweeping through the world of WordPress is magazine/news style themes. While these themes may be useful to those using WordPress as a CMS I would argue they are not needed for the average blogger. The themes are bloated and probably most folk wouldn’t need or even know how to use most of the features they incorporate. But this post isn’t about magazine/news style themes.

While it is true WordPress is no longer merely a blogging tool but can be used as a full blown CMS, I’m constantly amazed at the new and wonderful uses people are finding for it. WordPress as a Forum? Yup. WP as a Directory? Yup. WP as a Contact Manager? Yup again.

WordPress as a Forum

Although the dev team at WordPress has created a new forum package called bbPress, The_dead_one has actually turned WP itself into a forum. Some of the features include:

• Lists Posts by date of last comment (instead of published date) (included as a page template)
• Unread topics are highlighted and can be used to filter posts list (included as a page template)
• A hierarchical Forum list (included as a page template)
• AJAX Comment Preview (can be turned off)
• Comment QuickTags (can be turned off)
• Forum-looking Layout
• Pages and Categories can be used as Tabs (configurable)
• RSS 2.0 Feed of forum posts (can optionally be included in the theme or replace the main post RSS feed link)

Take a look at the screenshot below. (click image to enlarge)

The theme needs a plugin to function properly called TDO Mini Forms. If you want to see it in action head over to the TDO Demo Forum. If you’re interested in running it on your own server you can get it from TDO’s blog here.

 

WordPress as a Membership Directory

Chris Cagle of Cagintranet Web Design has created a Membership Directory for Pittsburgh Designers, a website listing 100 of the best web designers in the Pittsburgh area. The theme allows for each designer to have his portfolio and detailed contact info displayed. You can see the Directory in action here.

WordPress as a Contact Manager

David Yeiser of Design Canopy has designed and released a theme that turns WordPress into a Contact Manager. The theme is fully searchable and taggable but needs some plugins to function properly. You can see it in action here. Below is a screenshot. (click image to enlarge)

 

Parked Domain

Here is a rather unique theme created by Ian Stewart of ThemeShaper called LauchPad. The idea is simple. You have just registered a new domain but you’re not quite ready to set up your blog yet. Rather than have potential visitors view some ugly landing page courtesy your host you can install LaunchPad. It is a simple theme letting your readers know you will be up and running soon and even offers your RSS feed to those who may want to subscribe. Screenshot below. (click image to enlarge)