The introduction of flexible content publishing systems like WordPress has truly simplified web design and web development for users.
This greatly benefits businesses that want to own an online business presence that is simple, easy and inexpensive to manage.
Before blogging and the development of advanced CMS solutions, if you wanted a site, you typically would have to wait until both the web development and website design processes were completely done. This process could take weeks, even many months!
The development of WordPress themes changed all this. In this blog post, we take a look at what themes are, how they save you money on web development costs, and how themes let you easily customize your WordPress site.
Web Site Design Revolution
More businesses today will benefit from a change in website design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you own a small business, you will want to know more about this, because it could save you a lot of time and money on website development and website design costs.
Let’s take a look at what typically took place before CMS systems like WordPress were introduced:
The first step would be to discuss your project with a website developer or website designer. After that, the actual “web design” would be discussed and agreed upon. This meant time being spent with someone with website design skills going over elements of your website such as the, colors, formats, page elements, content, etc.
Every page of your website then had to be hand-coded with all your design elements and scripts coded into your page content. All pages were then assembled together into a web site using hyperlinks and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with all other files required to make your website work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and performed how it was supposed to (and looking how a client had imagined it to look), was the site deemed to have been completed and ready for delivery.
The next phase in the evolution of business web design was the introduction of “web templates”. A web template allows design elements of the web site to be created separately from the page content. The introduction of template elements helped to speed up the web development process and resulted in reduced costs of production. This also enabled web site developers and designers to service smaller business clients with less money to spend …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of web site development firms adopting “template-based” web design services increased, web templates were developed to provide different customizable options, like colour palettes, the ability to specify different styles and header, footer and navigation elements, and so on.
As web sites and web editor tools evolved, web templates also started evolving into web template “systems” that enable website owners to customize their website’s design aspects.
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:
The WordPress Theme
WordPress themes push the idea of a website templating system further.
A WordPress theme controls all of the design areas of a website. It allows you to add a “skin” over your site similarly to what a website template system does but also provides users with more control over the management, appearance and customization aspects of your site’s template features.
As WordPress puts it …
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 stated in the quote above, one of the unique and revolutionary features of the WP theme is that the way your website displays to visitors on the outside is controlled independently of how your content is managed.
Basically, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you modify the design of your site as much and as often as you like without modifying your site’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if your site has been set up for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your web site. All e-commerce features, site and plugin 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 completed. You can get your business website built quickly and get started with any theme you like, and then customize the entire look, feel and design of your website in minutes, whenever you want … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your WordPress site with no web code development skills required. Just choose any WP theme you want, upload it to your site and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your website design and modify elements like headers, page layout, styling options and more in minutes …
Because WordPress is open source software, commercial website designers can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WP template system.
This means that thousands of great WP themes are made available to WordPress users. WP are normally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be purchased as Premium (i.e. paid) WordPress themes.
The WordPress team maintains a FREE WordPress Theme Directory which gives WordPress users access thousands of excellent website templates at no cost …
(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)
As more users turn to WordPress for online publishing, more designers are now starting to develop themes for a wider audience of web users.
WordPress themes vary from professional-looking, to designs that are breathtaking and would normally cost thousands of dollars to create. Surprisingly, most premium themes are really inexpensive to purchase.
You can see several theme galleries that include stunning examples of themes in this article:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits And Advantages
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over choosing applications that require traditional web template design:
Ready To Go To Work In Minutes
Themes are very easy to install on your site. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free theme repository at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP site’s admin area.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a growing online community of professional website developers who contribute thousands of quality WordPress Themes available to WP users. Thousands of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent “look and feel” across all of the site’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, layout, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your website’s content. This means you can change the “look and feel” of your website as often as you need without affecting your website’s settings.
- Many themes provide additional built-in features and options that enable you to easily customize your site’s layout, style and design elements to create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many themes are built using a framework that enables you to upgrade the theme to newer theme versions without losing its unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import, install and update WordPress Themes automatically from the dashboard.
- WordPress themes helps you save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on website design costs. Free WordPress themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WordPress themes are normally quite affordable.
Responsive Theme Design
Many WP theme designers are now creating “responsive” themes for the WordPress platform.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically reconfigure the layout to display smoothly over different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
A responsive theme is also optimized for different types of devices. Users can navigate, read and display the site on most if not all device platforms without having to resize anything, or requiring website owners to have installed additional browser elements.
Note: When purchasing WordPress themes, we strongly recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that the content and layout of your site will work correctly across all devices, it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards, practices and techniques of website design coding.
I hope this overview has helped you gain a better understanding about themes, what WordPress themes are, how themes can help you and your business save money, and how WP themes make it easy to customize a site.
In the next article on helping you understand WP features, we show you where to find great WordPress themes for your website.
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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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