Interviewing Reinar using Toivo theme
I noticed that Themefoundry have made nice interviews about people who have been using their themes, like this one from Kevin Skarritt. Could I get someone do the same for me?
I contacted Reinar who have just switched to Toivo theme in his site. He was really kind to answer similar questions. Before we start let me add that he’s been very kind and supportive all the way long. I’ll be forever thankful for that!
Tell us little about you and your site?
I’m Reinar and live in Denmark. I basically started at the same time as Justin Tadlock released some of his first WordPress themes in Themehybrid. At that time I was very much into Formula One and already had a few commercial contacts within the business and so I decided to make my own website (F1ezine.com).
As per 2013 I dropped Formula 1 as there were (and still is) way too many websites offering the same concept. So I decided to write about what I do. Leadership, social psychology, behavioural economics, NLP and philosophy. This is who I am and what I stick to today. Sharing knowledge and provoke in a healthy way. Turn things upside down sometimes.
Milo (milo317), Justin Tadlock, Ben Gilbanks and Darren Hoytt was among those who made me look a little deeper into WordPress as well as their fantastic themes. Let me quickly add to that, that I’m far from a developer and never will be.
Over the past years I’ve come to the conclusion that content is king and that the themes themselves must be robust, have a solid and reliable foundation (code wise) and have a strategy in which I feel comfortable with. Justin Tadlock has exactly that and quickly I sensed that Sami had all that too. A good healthy attitude of what end-users should and should be able to yet offering a huge playground.
It’s very much the relationship which matters too and indeed the reliability of the product. I want to feel “safe” when I pick a theme.
Why did you pick Toivo theme in your site?
Well, as already mentioned, Sami and Foxland simply offers well coded products and with great ideas of the design too. In addition, my preference to and experience with Hybrid Core means a lot. I simply feel the flexibility and ease of use with Foxland themes.
By coincidence, Sami let me know that Toivo was coming up, and when I saw the initial demo, I just saw my content fit. And again, I feel that I know exactly what I get when I pay. It’s all that and yet some including but not limited to a fantastic attention and service.
Toivo actually also challenged me to see my content in a different perspective. Ways of showing and managing my content. I simply love it!
How long did it take to finish the site when you switched the theme? How was the experience start using Toivo theme?
To be honest with you, I don’t remember. It all happened so fast. I was running Mina Olen and after previewing Toivo three or four times, I felt I had the right ideas and simply pressed the install button. I think perhaps I spent one day until I was where I wanted to be.
I’m the touch and feel kind of guy when it comes to these types of things, and it was only very small things that a had to do to get things the way I wanted them. This comes back to my belief about the foundation of Foxland themes, my preferences, the reliability and not least the quality of the work behind it all.