I have had a devil of a time trying to use post formats in themes that don’t have them automatically included. I have a number of uses for the formats in mind for one of my sites, but am committed to a theme that doesn’t include them.
As post formats have come and gone from the core of WordPress, they are now supposed to be included through plugins (or in the case of themes, written into the functions.php)
So if you would like to use post formats, one plugin to try is WCK which adds the post type and new taxonomies. I’m am working with that to solve my problem of getting the formats without hacking my theme’s functions (which is hard work for someone like me).
My Premium Themes
I have been using Elegant Themes for a number of years, and their newer themes have custom post types that are often included in only one theme. I hacked the functions to transfer my post-types and get them to show in another theme change. In the meantime they developed their Divi theme which, once you are used to it, is fantastic. I love its look, and feel I can finally have a theme that is truly customized to the needs of my site.
I think part of the challenge is the fact that WordPress has evolved so radically. It can do so much more, more easily, than in years (versions) past.
If you are wishing to include post types in your theme, and have little to no coding skill, get one of the post type plugins that are being developed. I expect to see more come online in the near future.
OR… you could go with a theme that has them built-in (like the native 2014 theme for WordPress).
There are times you need all the bells and whistles, and that is when to go for a premium theme. There are ‘lite’ versions of premium themes that are quite good which might be adequate for your needs; but they usually have limited support if you need custom solutions or are trying to troubleshoot something that has gone awry.
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