*This post is old and some of the themes no longer exist.  Most were from the themeforest Portfolio themes section you can find here.

Listed below are 12 of the most popular portfolio wordpress themes out of 52 670+ listed over at themeforest. Some of these themes are as cheap as $20. The majority of them contain some pretty cool javascript effects. I'm still amazed at some of these themes. The quality of design is pretty outstanding compared to the price and what you get for your money elsewhere.

12 Popular Portfolio WordPress Themes

In a hurry? Click any of the thumbnails to jump to the theme and description below.

Sleekslide, Your Folio, Briefcase, Folio Theme, Design & Photography Theme, Blue Leather Theme, Design Showcase, SleekTabs, Sketchbook, Showcase Theme, Photo & Graphic Studio, Ambiguous, Leviathan

Why use wordpress to power your portfolio?

Same reasons why you should run any website on wordpress. It's easy to use, free, customizable, easily updatable content and search engines love wordpress.

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SleekSlide Portfolio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Sleekslide Portfolio is a Portfolio Theme with 4 different Skins (View Demo).

The theme comes with a sleek portfolio item slider to promote your latest workpieces.

The Mainpage also contains your latest blog entries as well as some personal information, a typical mash for portfolio themes.

Sleekslide features beside the Sleek Slider are:

• 4 different styles to choose from
• Admin Page to easily switch between styles
• Ajax improved contact form
• Jquery multilevel dropdown menu
• Psd Files included
• 3 different Widget areas for posts, pages and mainpage/portfolio page
• Unobtrusive Javascript, Fallback scenarios if Javascript is turned of by the user
• Works in all major browsers (notice:slightly different sliding animation in IE6 because of browser limitations

Purchased 388 times

(by 385 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price: $30.00

SleekSlide Portfolio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Your Folio

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Your Folio is a wordPress portfolio theme designed to be used as a personal online portfolio as well as personal blog. This theme has 5 different styles to choose from, allowing the user different color and font options. The homepage is a dynamic mashup of your recent blog posts as well as your recent portfolio work.

UPDATE – 4.10.09

Updated files, fixed a few bugs people reported. Fixed non looping issue, collapsing issue, added an auto-rotating feature to the featured items area, added extended basic formatting support, and a host of misc updates.

Your Folio Features Include:

• Rotating JavaScript Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• Integrated Flickr Showcasing
• 5 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 376 times

(by 375 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Your Folio <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Briefcase Portfolio WordPress Theme

Your WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 1, Widget Ready: No, Functionality: Blog

Briefcase is a fun, bold, portfolio theme for WordPress. This theme allows you to showcase your work, while adding subtle personal touches. With a large billboard featured area on the homepage, to large bold, list and post views on the interior pages this theme will enable you to showcase the best of your work.

This theme comes with 4 color options available through the theme settings in the admin section, as well as the ability to post a project and determine whether you want it to be feature in the homepage Javascript billboard area.

The comments are is nicely done making it easy for reader and users to read through comments left on your posts. The comments box itself floats down the page with the user when there are multiple comments on any given post.

Features Include

• JavaScript Based Featured Area on Homepage
• Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Homepage About Me Bio Section
• 4 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• Flickr Photos Integration
• Floating Comments Form
• And Much More…

Purchased 287 times WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 1 • Widget Ready No • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Briefcase Portfolio WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Folio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Folio is a theme designed with the intent of being platform for your personal portfolio showcase as well as working blog. The themes homepage highlights your most recent featured project as well as posts in an easy to navigate format.

This theme comes with 5 different color accent options.

Features Include

• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Gravatar ready
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Flickr Showcase
• Sidebar About You Bio Area
• Much More…

Purchased 285 times

(by 284 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Folio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Design & Photography WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

This is a cms premium wordpress theme optimized for gallery and portfolio websites (webdesign , photography ,3d design, or use your imagination)

Features:

• TWO theme formats :
• Thumbnail at the bottom with full content area at the top.
• Thumbnail on the right and content area on the left (optimized for photography 3:2 aspect ratio)
• Automatic image resizing and elegant lightbox effect(custom field) :
• Atomatic thumbnail creation
• Optional : atomatic resizing + lightbox effect for the gallery
• Automatic thumbnail resizing for the blog section
• Blog section :
• Optional : you can use a category as a blog section.( and enjoy all classic blog features ), this category will be automaticly excluded from the portfolio.
• Easy to manage options from the theme admin panel
• Choose the portfolio format
• Choose featured category
• You can select a category for ” the blog section”
• Excluse pages from page navigation
• Excluse categories from category navigation
• Order categories in the menu.
• Feedburner feed replacement
• Insert code in footer
• Featured section
• optional: choose a featured category to be displayed on homepage

• Flexibility and functions:
• you can use “different” widgets on home page and blog section
• The Slider – you change the slider options
• automatic sliding (on/off)
• animation speed
• type of movement
• More features:
• Full support threaded and paged comments .with elegant style (wp 2.7)
• Support for gravatar
• Widget ready ( prestyled widgets)
• Paging navigation instead of next and previous links
• And a lot of other style improvements

• 9 COLOR schemes
• red , blue ,light green , orange, yellow , pink ( feminine )., dark green , purple , and brown.
• very easy to customize the logo. It is on a white background just place your logo and you’r done
• Package Includes:
  • Theme files :Valid Code , seo freindly , support for all major browsers.
  • PSD file for the logo.
• Documentation:
  • Pdf Help File (with screenshots).

• Compatibility . wordpress 2.7.x (recommanded) , wordpress 2.6.x
• For the image resizer Be sure you have PHP 4 .3 with GD-library installed on your server. or just PHP 5 ( is better.)

Purchased 274 times

(by 273 customers) WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25.00

Design & Photography WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Blue Leather WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Blue Leather is a wordpress theme for anyone who wants to display photos, designs, projects along with other business info in a complete CMS theme.

• CMS functionality
• Widget ready
• JQuery Slider for featured projects
• Easy featured projects setup using custom fields
• Easy general setup

Purchased 195 times WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Blue Leather WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Design Showcase

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Design Showcae is a highly customizable WordPress Showcase Theme with a lot of Javascript goodies and administrative options.

 

The theme supports community building through the possibility of letting logged in users create a favorite post list of entries they like. It makes great use of space through sleek tooltips, automated sidebar tabs and dropdown menus.

Other features:

• Breadcrumb navigation with nested page/category support
• CSS Drowpdown Menu enhanced with jQuery
• Gravatar Support
• Comments of Post Author and admin are highlighted
• Seperation of comments and trackbacks
• PSD for logo and Buttons included: the text is made out of layer styles and fully editable so you can easly change the name of the site.
• Valid HTML /CSS works in every major browser (Firefox 2+3, IE6 , 7, Safari, Opera)
• All Javascript options a really unobtrusive: if javascript is turned off no dead anchor links or similar remainders will be displayed

Purchased 183 times

(by 181 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Design Showcase <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Sleek Tabs 3-in-1 WordPress Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Sleektabs is a jQuery enhanced, premium WordPress Theme that loads all contents dynamically via AJAX and displays this content with a smooth sliding transition.

Sleektabs comes with 3 different skins you can choose from: standard, grunge and coffee

Features:

• Sleek content sliding animation. Sleektabs does NOT limit you like other themes do: the content box adjusts its height automatically so you can load whatever you like. From static pages, to portfolio items to blog entries or categories, Sleektabs can handle everything
• Option of preloading content, linked in the main navigation, for smoother transitions
• 3 Skins to choose from (see Screenshots)
• Unobtrusive Javascript: unlike similar themes Sleektabs does work 100% without javascript, so you can reach people with javascrit turned off as well
• Ajax contact form
• Many more: Valid HTML & CSS , ajaxed comments, widget ready, works in all major browsers (IE6, IE7 , FF, Opera, Safari, Chrome) etc
• All PSDs included

Purchased 172 times

(by 170 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Sleek Tabs 3-in-1 WordPress Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Sketchbook Portfolio Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Sketchbook was created with the online professional in mind and is geared towards an online showcase of blog and portfolio for the creative individual.

This theme comes with a few custom options, such as you can select if you would like an overall light clean airy feel (view the screenshots), or if you would like a more bold dark impressive look and feel.

This theme also comes with the feature of 6 built in header color options to choose from by default.

The homepage is complimented with a billboard type javascript featured portfolio items area to showcase your latest work right away for your visitors. This feature will display the 10 most recent portfolio posts along with that portfolio items image.

The homepage will also display your 3 most recent blog posts below with the option to modify the number of posts you would like to have displayed in this area.

Features Include

• JavaScript Based Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• 6 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 168 times

(by 167 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $30.00

Sketchbook Portfolio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Showcase Theme

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: CMS

Showcase Theme Features:

• 125×125 sidebar adds, fully managed by a Custom Admin Panel in wordpress admin.
• Footer is widget ready, right and left side.
• Custom random image rotator in the middle of the footer.
• Browser compatible (IE6, IE7 , Firefox 2+3, Safari, Opera).
• Thumbnails and larger images are inputed using custom fields.

Purchased 125 times

(by 111 customers) • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality CMS • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes • Documentation Well Documented • Layout Fixed

Price $30.00

Showcase Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Photo and Graphic Studio Theme ( no longer available )

WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

This is a very unique and stylish wordpress theme suitable for photographers, graphic designers and web designers.

Features:

• Valid CSS /XHTML Files (1.0 Strict)
• Commented and clean CSS /XHTML, and theme files
• Full layered PSD Files
• All browser compatible
• Flash like, jquery based 2 type showcase (Easy setup with custom fields)
  • Fullscreen background for photography and graphics
  • Fixed size in content for web works
• Modern look WEB 2 .0 style layout
• Editable auto cycle and dotted pattern on background (showcase)

Includes:

• Main and detail PSD layouts
• Photo & Graphic Studio WordPress Theme Files
• Help Document

Purchased 93 times • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Price $25

Photo and Graphic Studio Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Ambiguous Theme (no longer available)

For WordPress Version: 2.7, Columns: 2, Widget Ready: Yes, Functionality: Blog

Ambiguous Portfolio WordPress theme was developed to showcase your work. Ambiguous has a large featured portfolio items area well placed on the homepage showcasing the best of your work. Also on the homepage are your most recent blog posts. In the sidebar there is a custom twitter feed feature, about widget displaying brief info about yourself, and a site search feature.

This theme comes with 6 selectable color settings built in. Buy today and have your own personal portfolio up and running in no time at all.

Features Include

• Rotating JavaScript Featured Area on Homepage
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Gravatar ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Seperate Portfolio Section
• Seperate Blogging Section
• Sidebar About Me Widget
• Custom Twitter Syndicator in Sidebar
• 6 Built In Selectable Color Settings
• And Much More…

Purchased 65 times • WordPress Version 2.7 • Columns 2 • Widget Ready Yes • Functionality Blog • Layout Fixed • Documentation Well Documented • IE6 Compatible Yes • IE7 Compatible Yes • FireFox 2 Compatible Yes • FireFox 3 Compatible Yes • Safari Compatible Yes

Ambiguous Theme <- click to learn more and view a live demo.

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Levitation Portfolio Theme

An outstanding wordpress portfolio theme… Levitation has a ton of features and has been super succesful so far. Levitation is a WordPress Theme (works with 2.8+), best suited for Business and Portfolio sites. It comes with 5 sleek skins and 2 different front page designs.

Some Features:

• Valid XHTM Strict1.0 and CSS 2 .1, (tableless Design)
• Multiple Page templates:
  • Index Page
  • Alternate Index Page
  • Static Page
  • Blog Overview Page
  • Blog/Portfolio Single Page
  • Portfolio Overview
  • Contact Page
  • Error pages, archives etc etc
• jQuery Support:
  • 2 different Portfolio/Item slider, supporting unlimited items
  • Dropdwon Menu, improved with jQuery
  • jQuery 100% unobtrusive wich degrades gracefully if javascript is turned off
  • Gallery Page with lightbox
  • Working ajax/php contact form
• Huge admin area to customize the theme from your WordPress backend. want to edit the image slider, need to add multiple portfolios or a different sidebar widget for each page? no problem at all
• Font Replacement for headlines with cufon
• All PSD files I used are included for easier modification
• Extensive Documentation Included

Check out the Demo.

View more portfolio themes over at Themeforest. find here

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