Flothemes User? Here’s What To Do Next

Introduction

Effective September 20th 2023, the Flothemes closed their online store and withdrew their products from sale, Flothemes have advised their customers to transition to other platforms.

If you are a Flothemes user, you are most likely worrying due to Flothemes’ acquisition and the subsequent discontinuation of features and support.

You’ve invested time, effort, and resources into building your WordPress website with a Flothemes theme, and naturally, you may be wondering what is the best way to proceed from here?

This is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your site to a more robust WordPress theme. Wedding Photographer Sites is here to help you transfer your site from the Flothemes to our Emerald theme, built on top of best-in-class Kadence WordPress theme.

Let us explain why sticking around with Flothemes, or transitioning to Pixiset are not recommended.

Why you shouldn’t stick around with Flothemes

Themes that are approaching their end of life should be avoided at all costs – doing so presents challenges with usability, security, support and compatibility.

🚫 Decreasing functionality

From September 2024, Flothemes has stated that users will no longer be able to install style kits or install pre-designed blocks. This is likely the first of many features that will be withdrawn.

Every feature that is withdrawn is likely to affect your site’s functionality and user experience.

🚫 Limited support window

Flothemes customers will only receive technical support until 30 September 2024, beyond that time all support will cease, and customers will be taking a risk if they continue to operate Flothemes-built websites.

If something goes wrong, you’ll be on your own, if bugs or issues are detected in the products, they won’t be addressed.

🚫Security and compatibility risks

As the Flothemes products go out of support, sites using Flothemes could become targets for hackers. This could lead to data breaches, loss of sensitive information, and damage to your reputation.

WordPress itself continues to grow and there are regularly new WordPress core releases. Themes that are not maintained are likely to have compatibility issues with WordPress core releases, putting sites in further jeopardy.

Pixieset is not recommended

Flothemes was acquired by Pixieset, who operate their own subscription platform – unfortunately, WordPress will not be a part of their offering.

Pixiest is a closed ecosystem for photographers to host and sell photographs. In many ways, it can be considered a photo-oriented version of Wix and Squarespace (with similar restrictions and pricing models).

However, in comparison with Wix and Squarespace, the Pixieset site builder is even more limited and not fit for purpose for modern photography business websites. There are other aspects to the Pixiest service which are known as being poor quality.

The best option for Flothemes users will be something that will allow them to continue using WordPress, and continue to own their own sites, whilst not being locked into a subscription model.

DIY or professional? The big question

WordPress, of course, comes packed with free photography themes, Flothemes users could try their hand at designing something themselves, however, this would involve a learning curve and significant time investment, such themes are also relatively limited in terms of out-of-the-box features. To get a site with a real wow factor, using a professional web design service is really the only way.

There’s no need to spend countless hours learning about the pros and cons of different themes, hosting providers, caching plugins, SEO strategies, or a hundred other things.

Instead, work with a partner who can provide experience and expert advice across all areas of web design and build your new site based on tried-and-test best practices. A web design service like Wedding Photographer Sites will also be able to develop your site in just 4-5 short weeks.

Flothemes alternative – premium solution

As we have seen, sticking with Flothemes is not advisable, nor is transitioning to Pixieset. For the Flothemes customers that want to have the best possible site, consider a site from Wedding Photographer Sites.

Our high-end sites are specialized for photographers, and made to be responsive, professional and reliable. Our packages include optional marketing services which will help you to stand out from the competition.

We aim to deliver sites in 4-5 weeks, exactly as you want, with unlimited revisions. We are confident this is the highest quality solution on the market for the price.