The introduction of web management applications like the WordPress CMS has effectively improved web design and web development for non-technical business users.
This is great for non-technical users thinking about starting a website that is easy to manage.
Before blogging and the development of advanced CMS software, if you needed to build a web site built for your business, you normally would have to wait until both the website development and web design processes were completely done. This could take many weeks, sometimes even many months!
The introduction of WordPress themes have changed all this. In this article, we explore what themes are, how themes help you and your business save money on website design costs, and how WordPress themes make it easy to customize your WordPress site.
A New Development In Web Site Design
More businesses have benefited from a change in web design that started a number of years ago. If you are a business owner, you will want to learn more about this, because it can save you thousands of dollars on website development and website design costs.
Let’s briefly go over what happened before solution like WordPress came along:
First, you would discuss your project with a web developer or web site designer. After this, the actual design itself would be discussed and agreed upon. This meant spending time with someone with website design skills discussing things of your website like the, colors, formats, graphic elements, content, etc.
Every page of your site then had to be individually created with all of your design elements and codes written into the content. The pages were then assembled into a web site using hyperlinks and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with all other files needed to make your site work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and performed how it was supposed to (and looking the way a client had imagined it to look), was the site deemed to be completed and ready for delivery.
The next step in the evolution of business web design was the introduction of “website templating elements”. A web site template allows ”look and feel” elements of the web site to be created separately from content on the page. The development of ready-made templates helped make the process of website creation faster and resulted in reduced production costs. This also enabled web developers and designers to work with small businesses and clients with less money to spend on marketing …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of businesses using “template-based” websites increased, templates were created that provided clients with various customization features, like colour palettes, the ability to pick different menu styles, formats, header, footer and navigation elements, page layouts, etc …
As websites and web editor tools developed, website templates also started transforming into website templating ”systems”, letting users control their web site’s design aspects.
And then, WordPress came along and helped to kick off a new content management revolution …
(WordPress – A Content Publishing Revolution)
To learn more about content management systems and the benefits of the WordPress CMS, see the tutorial below:
About WordPress Themes
A WordPress theme pushes web template systems even further.
A WordPress theme controls and unifies every aspect of your site’s design. It allows you to add a “skin” over your site similarly to what a template system does but it gives you complete control over the management, presentation and customization of template options.
As the official WordPress site states …
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 states, one of the unique features of WordPress is that how your web site displays to site visitors externally in no way affects the way your website is configured internally to handle areas like content management and functionality.
In simple terms, what this means is that you can modify the design of your website as often as you like without touching your site’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if you have configured WordPress website for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the website. All e-commerce features, settings and product information will remain unaffected, but the site will look completely different.
This is important. Why?
Because when your website is built with WordPress, you no longer have to spend weeks or months waiting for your site to be done. You can get your website built quickly and get started with any theme you want, and change the entire 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 WP site with no web code programming skills necessary. Just pick a theme you like, install it on your website and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your web design and customize elements like header images, page layout, styling options and more in less than a few minutes …
As WordPress is made available as open source software, web designers anywhere in the world can design themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WP templating system.
This means that loads of great WordPress themes are made available to WordPress users. WP are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (paid) themes.
The WordPress team keeps a FREE WordPress Theme Directory which allows WordPress users to access thousands of great WP themes at no cost …
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
As more businesses turn to WordPress for publishing and managing their digital presence, more designers are now starting to develop themes for a wider audience of web users.
Themes vary from professional-looking, to creative designs that are simply breathtaking and would typically cost many hundreds of dollars to create. Surprisingly, most premium WordPress themes are quite inexpensive to purchase.
You can view several WordPress theme galleries containing stunning examples of great premium WP themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Benefits & Advantages Of Themes
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of choosing WordPress themes over choosing website development applications that require traditional web design:
Ready To Use In Minutes
WP themes are very easy to install on your site. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the themes repository at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP site’s admin area.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a thriving community of commercial theme developers who, collectively, contribute thousands of great-looking, high quality WordPress Themes available to users. And many of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent look across all of the site’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, menus, layout, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your site’s content. This makes it possible to swap WordPress themes as often as you need without affecting the settings.
- Many WordPress themes provide built-in features and options that let you easily customize your theme’s layout, style and design elements to create a unique look to suit your business.
- Many themes are built using a framework that lets users upgrade themes to newer theme versions without losing its unique customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress lets you search, upload, install and update WordPress Themes automatically within your dashboard.
- Themes allow WordPress users to save thousands of dollars on web design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WP themes are typically quite affordable.
Responsive Theme Design
Many theme developers are now creating “responsive” themes for WordPress.
A responsive theme enables a website to automatically reconfigure the layout to display smoothly across different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as different devices (e.g. computers, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) …
A responsive theme is also optimized for different platforms. Users can scroll, read and load your site on most if not all devices without having to resize anything, or requiring the website owner to install additional browser elements.
Note: When downloading WordPress themes, we strongly recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will the theme ensure that your web site will display correctly on your visitors’ 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.
I hope that the above overview has given you a better understanding about themes, what themes are, how themes help you save money on web design costs, and how themes make customizing websites easy.
In our next blog post in the article series for new WP users on basic WordPress features, we show you where to find great themes for your website or blog.
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