Advanced web publishing platforms like WordPress have effectively improved web design and web development for users.
This is fantastic news for individuals or businesses that want to own an online business presence that is easy to manage.
Before “blogging” and the introduction of sophisticated CMS software, if you wanted a business website, you typically had to wait until both the web development and web design processes were completely done. This could mean waiting around for many weeks, sometimes even many months!
The development of WordPress themes changed all this. In this post, we will explore what themes are, how they help you and your business save money, and how themes allow you to easily customize your WP site.
Evolution In Web Design
More businesses today will benefit from a change in website design that has been going for many years now. If you own a business, you will want to know more about this, because it could save you thousands of dollars on website development or web design costs.
In a nutshell, this is how things typically worked in “traditional” website design before WordPress came along:
First, you would meet with a website developer or designer for a brief. Then, the actual design itself would be discussed and agreed upon. This required spending time with a professional web site designer discussing elements of the web site such as the layout, colours, styles, page elements, content, etc.
Every page of your site then had to be hand-coded with all the elements and scripts coded into your content. The pages were then assembled into a web site using links and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with every other file 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 should (and looking the way the client had wanted it to look), was the web site considered as being finished and ready for delivery.
Then, web design “templates” came along”. Web templates allow design elements of the web site to be created separately from the page content. The development of template elements helped to make the process of developing websites faster and resulted in reduced production costs. This also allowed web designers to work with businesses and clients with smaller budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more businesses started adopting “template-based” websites, templates started being developed that could offer various customizable features, like color palettes, the ability to specify different content styles, formats, elements, page layouts, etc …
As web sites and web editing software evolved, website templates also began to transform into website template ”systems”, letting website owners control the visual components of their site.
Then, 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:
The WordPress Theme
WordPress themes improve website template systems even further.
The WordPress theme system controls every aspect of your site’s design. It allows you to add a “skin” over your entire site in a similar way that a template system does but it also also provides users with more control over the management and customization aspects of template settings.
As WordPress explains in its 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 stated above, one of the unique features of the WP theme is that how your site appears to site visitors externally is controlled separately from the management of your content.
Basically, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you modify the design of your website as much and as often as you want without touching your website’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have configured your website for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the web site. All e-commerce features, 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 start with any theme you like, and then edit the entire look, feel and design of your site in a few minutes, whenever you choose … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your site without requiring any web code programming skills. Just pick any theme you like, upload it to your website and activate it. WordPress lets you change your entire site’s web design and customize elements like headers, layout, typography and more with just a couple of mouse clicks …
Since WordPress is open source software, web design companies anywhere in the world can design themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WP templating system.
This means that loads of high quality WordPress themes are made available to WP users. Themes 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 team keeps a FREE WordPress Theme Directory which allows WordPress users to download, access and install thousands of great web templates completely free of charge …
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress soars, more designers are now starting to create themes for a wider audience of web users.
Themes range from functional-looking, to designs that are visually stunning and could typically cost hundreds to thousands of dollars to develop. Surprisingly, most WP themes are quite inexpensive to buy.
You can view several WordPress theme galleries containing many examples of great WP themes in this page:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits And Advantages
Here are just some of the many benefits of choosing WordPress themes over choosing applications that require traditional website design:
Easy And Fast To Install
Themes are very easy to install on your site. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin user area 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 thriving community of professional web developers and development companies who, collectively, make thousands of professional WordPress Themes available to users. And many of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent look across all your site’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your web site’s content. This means you can change themes as often as you need without changing the underlying content of your website.
- Many themes provide built-in features and settings that enable you to customize the theme’s layout and design properties and create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many WordPress themes are built using a framework that enables users to upgrade themes to newer theme versions without losing its unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress lets you search, import, install and update WordPress Themes automatically right inside the admin panel.
- Themes allow users to save hundreds of dollars on web design costs. Free WordPress themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WordPress themes are typically very inexpensive.
About Responsive Themes
Many WordPress theme designers are now developing “responsive” WordPress themes.
A responsive theme enables websites to automatically readjust screen size to display smoothly across different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as different devices (e.g. PCs, iPads, mobile phones, etc.) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for each platform. Users can scroll, read and load a site on most if not all device platforms without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring the website owner to install additional browser elements.
Note: When searching for WordPress themes, we strongly recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your web site displays well on your visitors’ devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore complies with the latest standards, practices and techniques of website design coding.
Hopefully, the above overview has given you a clearer understanding about WordPress themes, what WordPress themes are, how WordPress themes can help your business save money on web development costs, and how WP themes make it easy to customize a website.
To learn where to search for great themes for your website or blog, click here:
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya
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