Matt (Creator of WordPress) has just announced his plans to set up a directory of paid themes on WordPress.com. The initial reaction has been both good and bad.

Before I give my thoughts on the ups and downs of this, here’s a quick run-through of the facts.

• Matt removed all sponsored themes from the free WordPress.org directory a few months ago.
• The new theme directory is only for WordPress.com (The free blog host).
• Automattic (Matt’s company) will take a 50% cut from all sales.
• All themes must be “original, link-free, not published before, and GPL-licensed.”

We are going to look at two, magazine-style, premium themes from Adii. The first is Block Magazine, and the second is Your Revolution. They’re both sold at Unique Blog Designs for $79.

And lastly, Adii paid me to review these themes, but that’s not going to influence my opinion (as you’ll see ).

There has been a fair bit of hype about magazine style themes for blogs lately, but are these two worth the cash? I’ll start off by looking at my favorite of the pair, Block Magazine.

What Has Been Done Well?

• Structured layout. The layout just fits. Everything has its place, and it doesn’t feel cramped. The regular, grid-like, columns give the sense of structure that is crucial to the newsletter feel.