The development of web publishing systems like WordPress has truly improved web design and web development for business users.
This is great for non-technical users that want a website that is relatively simple and easy to manage.
Before “blogging” and the development of easy-to-use content management systems, if you needed a professional website, you had to wait until both the website development and website design processes were fully completed. This process could take weeks, sometimes even many months!
The development of WordPress themes helped change all this. In this post, we look at what WordPress themes are, how themes save your business money on web design costs, and how WP themes let you easily customize your WP site.
A New Development In Web Site Design
Website owners will benefit from a great change in website design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you are a small business owner, you will want to know about this, because it can save you a lot of time and money on web development or website design costs.
In a nutshell, this is what typically took place before application like WordPress came along:
First, you would discuss your project with a web site development firm or designer. Next, the “web design” had to be decided upon. This meant time being spent with someone with website design skills going over things of the website such as the layout, colors, formats, page elements, content, etc.
Every page of your web site then had to be individually created with all of your elements and scripts coded into your page content. All pages were then assembled together into a website using links and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file needed to make your website work – script libraries, images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and worked how it was supposed to (and looking the way the client had wanted it to look), was the website considered to have been finished and ready for sign off.
Then, web design “templates” came along”. Website templates allow presentation elements of the website to be worked on separately from content on the page. Having template elements helped to speed up the process of developing websites and resulted in lowered production costs. This also enabled website designers to work with small businesses and clients with less money to spend on marketing …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more small businesses began using “template-based” websites, templates started being introduced that offered a number of customizable settings, such as the option to switch colors, styles, layouts
As websites and web editing software developed, web templates also began to transform into web templating ”systems”, letting users manage the visual aspects of their site.
Then, WordPress was introduced and helped to start 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:
The WordPress Theme
WordPress themes take the idea of a website template system further.
The WP theme system controls and integrates every aspect of your site’s design. It lets you add a “skin” over your entire site similarly to what a template system does but also gives you more control over the management, presentation and customization of template options.
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, a unique and revolutionary feature of a WP theme is that the way your website appears to visitors is managed separately from the way your content is managed.
In plain English terms, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you change the look and feel of your website as often as you like without modifying your website’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if WP site has been set up for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the website. All e-commerce features, site settings and product information will remain intact, but your site will look completely different.
Why is this such great for small business owners?
Because when your website is powered by WordPress, you no longer need to spend weeks or months waiting for your website design to be done. You can get your website built simply and start with any WP theme you want, and then completely edit the look, feel and design of your site in mere minutes, whenever you want … and as often as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your WordPress site without needing any website code editing knowledge. Just pick a theme you want, install it on your website and activate it. WordPress lets you change your site’s design and modify elements like headers, layout, styling options and more in a few seconds …
Because WordPress is distributed as open source software, website designers from all over the world can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WP templating system.
This means that loads of high quality WordPress themes can be downloaded by WP users. WordPress are generally distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be purchased as Premium (paid) themes.
The WordPress team maintains a FREE theme directory which allows WordPress users to download, access and install thousands of great WP themes at $0 cost …
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress increases, more designers are now focusing on developing themes for a wider audience of web users.
Themes vary from functional-looking, to designs that are stunning and would normally cost thousands of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, most themes can be purchased fairly cheaply, especially when compared to what you would have been charged if a web designer had to create it from scratch.
You can view a number of theme galleries that include many examples of great premium WordPress themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
WP Themes – Benefits & Advantages
Here are just some of the many benefits of choosing WordPress themes over choosing traditional website design:
Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time
Themes are quite easy to install on your site. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your admin user login and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the WP themes directory at WordPress.org) directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a growing community of commercial web designers and design companies who make thousands of excellent WP Themes available to users. Many of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent design across all of your blog’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, layouts, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your web site’s content. This means you can swap themes as often as you need without changing your website’s data.
- Many WP themes come with built-in features and settings that let you customize your site’s style and design properties and create a unique look to suit your needs.
- Many themes are built using a framework that allows users to upgrade the theme to newer versions without losing any unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress lets you search, upload, install and update WordPress Themes automatically inside your dashboard.
- WordPress themes allow 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 Themes
Many WordPress theme developers are now developing WordPress themes that incorporate “responsive” design.
A responsive theme allows a website to automatically reconfigure the layout to display smoothly over different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as across different devices (e.g. laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) …
A responsive theme is also optimized for different types of devices. Users can navigate, read and display a site on various device platforms without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring website owners to have installed additional browser tools.
Note: When selecting, WordPress themes, we strongly recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your website works across your visitors’ devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than most non-responsive themes and therefore complies with the latest standards, practices and techniques of website design.
Hopefully, the above overview has given you a clearer understanding of WordPress themes, what themes are, how WordPress themes can help you save money on web development costs, and how WordPress themes make it easy to customize a WP site.
In the next blog post on basic WP features, we show you where to search for great themes for your website or blog.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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