Advanced web site management technologies like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) have truly simplified web design and web development for non-technical users.
This greatly benefits business owners planning to start a website that is relatively simple, easy and inexpensive to manage.
Before blogging and the introduction of easy-to-use content management systems, if you wanted a professional website, you normally would have to wait until both the web development and web design processes were completely done. This process could mean waiting around for weeks, sometimes even many months!
The introduction of WordPress themes changed all this. In this article, you will learn what WP themes are, how WP themes help your business save money on website design costs, and how themes help you easily customize your WP site.
The Evolution Of Website Design
Website owners will benefit from a tremendous revolution in website design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you own a small business, you will want to learn more about this, because it could save your business thousands of dollars on website development or web design costs.
In a nutshell, this is how things typically worked in “traditional” web design before tools like WordPress were introduced:
First, you would discuss your requirements with a website development firm or website designer. After that, the actual “web design” would be decided upon. This meant time being spent with a professional web site designer discussing design elements of your site like the layout, colors, formats, page elements, content, etc.
Each page of your site then had to be hand-coded with all of the design elements and scripts coded into your page content. All of the pages were then assembled together 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 after everything had been tested and functioned how it was intended to (and looking how the client had imagined it to look), was the site deemed to have been finished and ready for sign off.
Then, website “templates” came along”. A web template allows the ”look and feel” of the web site to be worked on separately from content on the page. Having templates helped speed up the web site creation process and resulted in lowered costs of production. This also enabled website developers to expand their services to include businesses and clients with less money to spend on marketing …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of small businesses choosing “template-based” web design services increased, web templates were introduced to offer clients with expanding customizable options, like the ability to choose different colors, styles, layouts
As websites and website editing tools developed, web templates also began to transform into website template “systems” that allow website owners to customize the design elements of a website.
Then, a “blogging” software called WordPress came along and helped to kick off a new website 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
WordPress themes push web templating systems one step further.
The WP theme system controls the design areas of the website. It lets you add a “skin” over your site similarly to what a website template system does but also provides users with more control over the management and ability to customize your site’s template features.
As stated in 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 states, one of the unique features of the WordPress theme is that the way your web site displays to visitors externally is controlled independently of the management of your content.
In simple terms, what this means is that a WP theme lets you change the appearance of your site as much and as often as you like without touching your website’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have set up WP website for e-commerce, changing the entire look of your site with a different theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the site. All e-commerce features, settings and product information will remain unaffected, but your site will look completely different.
This is huge! Why?
Because when your site is built using WordPress, you no longer need to wait until your site’s web design is completed. You can get your business website built simply and start with any theme you want, and then completely customize the look, feel and design of your WordPress site in a few seconds, whenever you choose … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your WordPress site with no website code editing skills required. Just choose a WP theme you want, install it on your site and activate it. WordPress lets you change your web design and modify elements like headers, layout, style settings and more in less than a few minutes …
Because WordPress is distributed as open source software, web design companies anywhere in the world can design themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WP template system.
This means that thousands of high quality WordPress themes can be downloaded by WP users. WP are generally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or they can be purchased as Premium (paid) themes.
The WordPress development team maintains a FREE theme directory which gives WordPress users access thousands of great website templates for free …
(WordPress.org – Free WordPress Theme Directory)
As more businesses turn to WordPress for publishing and managing their content online, more designers are now starting to create themes for a wider audience of WordPress site owners.
Themes vary from simple-looking, to designs that are simply breathtaking and would normally cost thousands of dollars to design. Surprisingly, most premium themes can be bought quite inexpensively, especially when you compare the cost to what it would have cost you if a website designer had to create it from scratch.
You can view several WordPress theme galleries containing various examples of WordPress themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Benefits And Advantages Of Themes
Here are just a few of the benefits of choosing WordPress themes over using web development applications that require traditional web template design:
Ready To Start Using In Minutes
Themes are quite easy to install on your site. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator section and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the themes directory at WordPress.org) directly from your WordPress admin’s “Theme” section.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a large community of commercial website designers and design companies who make thousands of great-looking, high quality WP Themes available to WP users. And many of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent design across all of the site’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your web site’s content. This allows you change the “look and feel” of your website as often as you want without modifying your settings.
- Many WP themes come with additional built-in features and options that enable you to customize the theme’s layout and design properties and create a unique look to suit your taste.
- Many themes are built using a framework that enables users to update the theme to newer versions without losing its unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import, install and update WordPress Themes automatically within your admin panel.
- WP themes allow WP users to save thousands of dollars on website design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WordPress themes are normally very inexpensive.
About Responsive WordPress Theme Design
Many WP theme designers are now developing WP themes that incorporate “responsive” functionality.
A responsive theme enables a website to automatically resize to display smoothly across different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as across different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for each platform. Users can scroll, read and display the site on various devices without having to resize anything, or requiring the website owner to have installed 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 works across all of your visitors’ devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than most non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards, practices and techniques of website design coding.
I hope that this article has provided you with a good overview of themes, what themes are, how WordPress themes can help your business save money on website design costs, and how themes let you easily customize a WP site.
In our next blog post in the article WordPress beginners on basic features and functionality of WordPress, we show you where to find the best WordPress themes for your website or blog.
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