The introduction of powerful web site management systems like the WordPress CMS has effectively improved web design and web development for users.
This greatly benefits non-technical users thinking of building a web presence that they can easily manage by themselves.
Before blogging and the introduction of sophisticated content management systems, if you wanted to build a professional web site for your business, you normally had to wait until both the web development and web design processes were fully completed. This could mean waiting around for many weeks, even many months!
The introduction of WordPress themes changed all this. In this article, we will explore what themes are, how WP themes can help you save money on web development costs, and how themes allow you to easily customize your site.
Web Site Design Evolution
Businesses will benefit from a revolutionary change in website design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you are a business owner, you may want to know about this, because it can save your business thousands of dollars on website development and web design costs.
Let’s briefly review how things typically worked in “traditional” web development before WordPress came along:
First, you would discuss your requirements with a web site developer or web designer. After that, the actual “web design” itself would be decided upon. This meant time being spent with a professional website designer going over design elements of your web site such as the, colours, formats, graphic elements, content, etc.
Each page of your website then had to be hand-coded with the elements and scripts coded into your content. All pages were then assembled into a website using links and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file required to make your website work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything passed testing and was performing how it was intended to (and looking the way a client had imagined it to look), was the website considered to be completed and ready to go live.
Then, website “templates” were developed”. Web site templates allow the ”look and feel” of the website to be worked on separately from content on the page. The development of ready-made templates helped speed up the process of developing web sites and resulted in lowered costs of production. This also enabled web site developers and designers to service small business clients and clients with less money to spend on marketing …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more businesses began adopting “template-based” websites, templates were introduced that could provide a range of customization options, like the option to switch colours, styles, layouts
As websites and website building applications developed, website templates also started transforming into web template ”systems”, which permitted users to manage their site’s design aspects.
And then, a “blogging” application called WordPress was developed and helped to kick off a new digital publishing revolution …
(WordPress – A Content Publishing Revolution)
To learn more about content management systems and the benefits of the WordPress CMS, see the tutorial below:
WordPress Themes
A WordPress theme pushes web template systems even further.
The WordPress theme system controls and unifies every aspect of your web site design. It lets you add a “skin” over your entire site similarly to what a template system does but it provides you with complete control over the management, presentation and ability to customize all template options.
As per the official WordPress site …
A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Themes may include customized template files, image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).
(source: WordPress.org)
As the above quote states, a unique feature of the WP theme is that how your web site displays to visitors does not affect the management of your content.
In plain English terms, what this means is that you can change the appearance of your site as often as you want without touching your site’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if your site has been configured for e-commerce, changing the entire look of your site with a different theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your website. All e-commerce features, site settings and product information will remain unaffected, but the site will look completely different.
This is huge! Why?
Because when you use WordPress, you no longer have to wait until your site’s web design is done. You can get your business website built simply and get started with any WordPress theme you like, and then completely modify the look, feel and design of your site in a few seconds, whenever you want … and as often as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your site without needing any web design skills. Just pick a WordPress theme you want, install it on your site and activate it. WordPress lets you change your entire site’s web design and modify elements like headers, page layout, styling options and more in minutes …
Since WordPress is made available as open source software, professional website design companies can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WordPress templating system.
This means that thousands of high quality WP themes are made available to WP users. WordPress are generally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU License Definition, or sold as Premium (paid) WordPress themes.
The WordPress team keeps a FREE theme directory which gives WordPress users access thousands of excellent WordPress themes at $0 cost …
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress soars, more designers are now starting to create themes for a wider range of users.
Themes range from functional-looking, to designs that are simply impressive and would easily cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, most WordPress themes are really inexpensive to purchase.
You can see a number of WordPress theme galleries that include many examples of great WP themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Benefits & Advantages Of Using WordPress Themes
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of choosing WordPress themes over using tools that require traditional web design:
Very Easy To Install
Themes are quite easy to install on your site. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free WP theme repository at WordPress.org) directly inside your WordPress site’s admin area.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a growing online community of commercial website developers and development companies who make thousands of high quality WP Themes available to users. Thousands of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent “look and feel” across all of the blog’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, layout, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your digital content. This means you can swap WordPress themes as often as you like without disturbing your website’s information.
- Many themes provide additional functionality and settings that enable you to easily customize the theme’s layout, style and design elements to create a unique look to suit your taste.
- Many WordPress themes are built using a framework that lets users update the theme to a newer theme version without losing any customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically inside your admin panel.
- Themes allow WP users to save hundreds of dollars on website design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are typically quite affordable.
About Responsive WordPress Themes
Many theme developers are now creating WP themes that incorporate “responsive” design.
A responsive theme enables a website to automatically readjust screen size to display smoothly over different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for each device type. Users can navigate, read and display a site on various devices without having to resize anything, or requiring website owners to have installed additional themes.
Note: When selecting, WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your website displays well on all devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards and practices of web design and web coding.
I hope that this article has given you a better understanding of WP themes, what themes are, how they can help you and your business save money, and how WP themes make customizing web sites easy.
To learn where to find great WP themes for your website or blog, go here:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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