Powerful web site management technologies like WordPress have effectively simplified web design and web development for non-technical users.
This greatly benefits entrepreneurial-minded people wanting to start a web presence that is simple and easy to manage.
Prior to blogging and the development of easy-to-use content management systems, if you wanted a professional web site, you typically would have to wait until both the web development and website design processes were fully completed. This process could mean weeks, sometimes even months of waiting!
The development of WordPress themes have changed all this. In this blog post, we will explore what themes are, how WordPress themes help your business save money, and how themes help you easily customize your WP site.
The Evolution Of Web Site Design
Website owners have benefited from a great change in website design that has been going for many years now. If you are a small business owner, you may want to learn about this, because it could save your business a lot of time and money on web development and website design costs.
Let’s briefly review how things used to work in “traditional” website design before a CMS system like WordPress was developed:
First, you would discuss your requirements with a web site development agency or web site designer. Next, the “web design” would be decided upon. This meant time and money being spent with someone with web site design skills discussing elements of your web site such as the, colors, styles, page elements, content, etc.
Each page of your web site then had to be hand-coded with all your design elements and codes scripted into your content. All pages were then assembled together into a web site using links and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file required to make your site work – script libraries, graphic images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything passed testing and performed how it was intended to (and looking how the client had wanted it to look), was the site considered to be finished and ready to go live.
Then, web design “templates” were developed”. Web templates allow presentation elements of the website to be created separately from the page content. Having ready-made templates helped speed up the process of developing web sites and resulted in reduced costs of production. This also enabled web site developers and designers to work with businesses with smaller budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more small businesses began choosing “template-based” web design services, templates started being introduced to offer clients with expanding customizable settings, like colour palettes, the ability to specify different menu styles or header, footer and navigation elements, etc …
As web sites and web building tools developed, website templates also started to transform into website template “systems” that let website owners customize their website’s visual elements.
Then, a “blogging” tool called WordPress was developed and helped to start 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
WordPress themes drive the concept of a web templating system much further.
The WordPress theme system controls the design elements of the website. It lets you add a “skin” to your site much like a website template system does but also gives you complete control over the management and ability to customize template options.
As WordPress has described in its official website …
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 WordPress is that the way your web site looks to visitors in no way affects how your website is configured in the backend to handle areas like content management and functionality.
Basically, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you change the look and feel of your site as often as you want without modifying your site’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have set up WordPress site for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the web site. All e-commerce features, site settings and product information will remain unaffected, but the site will look completely different.
Why is this such a big deal?
Because when you use WordPress, you no longer need to spend weeks or months waiting for your website to be completed. You can get your website built quickly and get started with any theme you like, and completely edit the look, feel and design of your website in minutes, whenever you choose … and as often as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your WP site with no website coding knowledge necessary. Simply pick a WP theme you like, upload it to your site and activate it. WordPress lets you change your website design and modify elements like headers, page layout, style settings and more in a few seconds …
Since WordPress is made available as open source software, website design companies all around the world can create themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WP template system.
This means that loads of high quality WordPress themes can be downloaded by WP users. Themes are usually distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (paid) themes.
The WordPress team maintains a FREE WordPress Theme Directory which allows WordPress users to access thousands of excellent themes for free …
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
As WordPress becomes more popular, more designers are now focusing on creating themes for a wider audience of WordPress site owners.
WordPress themes range from functional-looking, to dynamic designs that are quite stunning and would easily cost many hundreds of dollars to design. Surprisingly, most premium themes can be bought quite inexpensively, especially when you compare the price to what you would have had to pay if a website designer had to code it from scratch.
You can view a number of WordPress theme galleries that include various examples of great WordPress themes in this article:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
WP Themes – Benefits And Advantages
Here are just a few of the benefits of using WordPress themes over choosing traditional website design:
Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time
WordPress themes are really easy to install on your site. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the WordPress theme repository at WordPress.org) directly from within your WordPress site’s admin area.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a growing community of professional web designers and design companies who make thousands of excellent WP Themes available to users. And many of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent look across all your blog’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, layout, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your site’s content. This makes it possible to change themes as often as you like without affecting your site’s information.
- Many WP themes provide additional built-in functionality and options that allow you to easily customize your site’s layout and design elements to create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many WP themes are built using a framework that enables users to upgrade themes to a newer theme version without losing any unique customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress lets you search, upload and install WordPress Themes automatically right inside your site’s administration interface.
- Themes helps you save hundreds of dollars on website design costs. Free WP themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WP themes are typically very affordable.
About Responsive WP Themes
Many WordPress theme developers are now developing WordPress themes that incorporate “responsive” design.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically readjust screen size to display smoothly over different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different platforms. Users can navigate, read and display a site on most if not all device browsers without having to resize anything, or requiring website owners to install additional browser elements.
Note: When searching for WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will the theme ensure that your website will display correctly on all devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than most non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards of website design coding.
We hope the above article has provided you with a clearer overview of themes, what WordPress themes are, how they can help you save money on web design costs, and how themes allow you to easily customize your website.
To learn where to find the best WordPress themes for your website, see this post: Finding Great Premium And Free WordPress Templates On The Web.
***
"I love the way your email series "Infinite Web Content Creation Training Series" is documented and presented. It is very absorbing and captivating. The links and tutorials are interesting and educational. This has motivated me to rewrite my content following the concepts I am learning from the email series." - Mani Raju, www.fortuneinewaste.com
***