The development of web management applications like WordPress has effectively simplified web design and web development for business users.
This is a great thing for individuals or businesses thinking of starting an online presence that they can manage.
Prior to “blogging” and the development of powerful and simple CMS software, if you needed to build a professional website built for your business, you would have to wait until both the website development and website design processes were completely done. This could take weeks, sometimes even months!
WordPress themes changed all this. In this article, you will learn what WP themes are, how themes can help you and your business save money on web design costs, and how WP themes make it easy to customize your WP site.
A Revolution In Web Site Design
More businesses will benefit from a tremendous change in website design that started many years ago. If you are a small business owner, you will want to know more about this, because it can save your business thousands of dollars on website development or website design costs.
Let’s review how things typically worked in “traditional” website development before a CMS tool like WordPress came along:
First, you would discuss your project with a web development company or designer. After that, the actual “web design” itself would be discussed and agreed upon. This required time being spent with someone with web site design skills discussing areas of the web site like the layout, colors, formats, graphic elements, content, etc.
Every page of your website then had to be individually created with all of your elements and codes inserted into the content. All pages were then assembled together into a web site using hyperlinks and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file needed to make your site work – script libraries, graphic images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything passed testing and functioned how it was intended to (and looking the way a client had wanted it to look), was the site deemed to have been finished and ready to go live.
The next phase in the evolution of business web design was the introduction of “web templates”. A website template allows presentation elements of the web site to be created separately from the page content. The development of ready-made templates helped to speed up the web site development process and resulted in reduced production costs. This also allowed web development agencies to work with smaller businesses with smaller budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of website development agencies adopting “template-based” web design services increased, web templates were designed to provide clients with a number of customizable options, such as colour palettes, the ability to specify different content styles, formats, header, footer and navigation elements, page layouts, and so on.
As web sites and website building tools developed, web templates also began transforming into website templating ”systems”, letting users manage the design components of their web site.
Then, WordPress came along and helped to kick off a new web revolution …
(WordPress – A Content Publishing Revolution)
To learn more about content management systems and the benefits of the WordPress CMS, see the tutorial below:
The WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme expands web template systems much further.
A WordPress theme controls and integrates all of the design aspects of the website. It allows you to add a “skin” over your entire site similarly to what a template system does but also provides you with complete control over the management, appearance and ability to customize template features.
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, one of the unique features of WordPress is that the way your web site displays to visitors is managed independently of the management of your content.
In plain English terms, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you change the look and feel of your site as much and as often as you want without touching your website’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if your website has been set up for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your website. All e-commerce features, settings and product information will remain unaffected, but your site will look completely different.
This is important. Why?
Because with WordPress, you no longer have to wait until your website’s design is completed. You can get your business website built simply and start with any WP theme you like, and change the entire look, feel and design of your site in mere seconds, whenever you choose … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your site without needing any website code editing knowledge. Simply choose a theme you like, upload it to your website and activate it. WordPress lets you change your entire site’s web design and modify elements like headers, page layout, typography and more with just a few mouse clicks …
As WordPress is made available as open source software, commercial website designers anywhere in the world can design themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WordPress templating system.
This means that thousands of great WP themes are made available to WP users. Themes are normally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
The WordPress development team maintains a FREE theme directory which allows WordPress users to download, access and install thousands of excellent WordPress themes completely free of charge …
(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)
As WordPress becomes more popular, more designers are now focused on creating themes for a wider range of uses.
Themes range from bare-looking, to designs that are quite stunning and would normally cost many hundreds of dollars to design. Surprisingly, WordPress themes are quite inexpensive to buy.
You can see a number of WordPress theme galleries containing various examples of great WordPress themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits And Advantages
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over choosing tools that require traditional website design:
Ready To Use In Minutes
WordPress themes are quite easy to install on your site. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP admin account and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the WP theme directory at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP site’s admin area.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a large online community of professional web developers who make thousands of excellent WP Themes available to WordPress users. Thousands of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent look across all the blog’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, layout, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your website’s content. This makes it possible to replace the “look and feel” of your templates as often as you like without deleting the website’s underlying settings.
- Many WordPress themes provide built-in functionality and settings that enable you to customize your site’s layout and design elements to create a unique look to suit your business.
- Many WP themes are built using a framework that allows you to update the theme to newer versions without losing its unique customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress lets you search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically within the dashboard.
- WP themes lets you save thousands of dollars on web design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WP themes are typically quite affordable.
Responsive WordPress Themes
Many theme designers are now creating “responsive” themes.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically resize to display smoothly across different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different types of devices. Users can scroll, read and display your site on all device browsers without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring website owners to install additional browser tools.
Note: When selecting, WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that the content and layout of your site will display correctly across your visitors’ devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore complies with the latest standards of website design and web coding.
Hopefully, this post has given you a clearer understanding of themes, what WordPress themes are, how themes can help your business save money on web design costs, and how themes make it easy to customize a website.
To learn where to find great WordPress themes for your website or blog, see this page: Finding Great Premium And Free Responsive WordPress Themes On The Net.
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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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