Less IS more !
We firmly believe a theme should be great at one thing instead of mediocre at ten. Therefore we do not support “infinite color schemes”, “20 different layouts”.
Simplicity
A theme should not be bloated ie. it shouldn’t be “packed with features” you will hardly ever use. It should focus its purpose rather than going all out.
Speed
Content is king, the user should be able to access the content as fast as possible, so the theme should be fast first, appealing later.
Accessibility
Users should be able to get the the meat of the matter at all times, no exceptions, no excuses. Sure all the hip kids use JS, but we do not want to assume everyone has it enabled like most do. HTML is the bedrock of a website, -as old fashioned as it sounds- we believe JS should be considered as an enhancement not a requirement. No “please enable javascript” warnings here.
Standardization
We want our themes to appear as similar as possible across all devices and platforms, even exact if possible. So we avoid using fancy stuff that works only in webkit browser or high end devices.