Powerful web site publishing platforms like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) have truly simplified web design and web development for web users.
This greatly benefits non-technical users that want a website that they can easily manage themselves.
Prior to “blogging” and the introduction of powerful and effective CMS tools, if you needed a professional business site, you typically would have to wait until both the web development and web design processes were fully completed. This could mean waiting for weeks, even months!
WordPress themes changed all this. In this post, you will learn what WP themes are, how WP themes save you and your business money on website development costs, and how themes let you easily customize your site.
Web Site Design Evolution
More businesses are benefiting from a revolutionary change in web design that has been going for many years now. If you own a small business, you may want to learn more about this, because it could save your business thousands of dollars on web development or web design costs.
Let’s review how things worked in “traditional” web development before a CMS solution like WordPress came along:
The first step would be to discuss your requirements with a web developer or designer. Then, the design had to be discussed and agreed upon. This meant time being spent with a professional web site designer discussing elements of the web site like the layout, colors, formats, graphic elements, content, etc.
Each page of your web site then had to be hand-coded with all of the elements and scripts coded around the page content. All pages were then assembled together into a website using hyperlinks and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file required to make your website work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything had been tested and performed the way it was supposed to (and looking the way a client had wanted it to look), was the website deemed to be completed and ready to go live.
Then, website “templates” came along”. Web site templates allow the presentation of the web site to be created separately from content on the page. The development of ready-made templates helped to speed up the website development process and resulted in lowered production costs. This also enabled website designers to service business clients with smaller budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of businesses adopting “template-based” web design services increased, templates started being developed to provide a number of customization features, like the ability to switch colours, styles, layouts
As websites and website editor tools developed, website templates also started evolving into web templating “systems” that allow website owners and website developers to customize the design elements of a web site.
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
A WordPress theme expands website templating systems further.
A WP theme controls and integrates the design areas of a website. It lets you add a “skin” over your entire site similarly to what a template system does but it also also provides users with complete control over the management, appearance and ability to customize template features.
As the official WordPress site states …
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, a unique feature of WordPress is that how your web site appears to visitors is kept independent of the management of your content.
In simple terms, what this means is that a theme lets you modify the look and feel of your website as much and as often as you like without modifying your site’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have set up WP site for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the site. All e-commerce features, plugin settings and product information will remain unaffected, but your site will look completely different.
This is important. Why?
Because with WordPress, you no longer have to spend weeks or months waiting for your site to be done. You can get your website built quickly and get started with any WP theme you like, and then completely edit the look, feel and design of your WordPress site in seconds, whenever you choose … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your site without the need of web design skills. Simply pick any WordPress theme you want, install it on your website and activate it. WordPress lets you change your web design and modify elements like headers, layout, styling options and more in less than a few minutes …
Since WordPress is open source software, web designers can design themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WordPress template system.
This means that loads of great WordPress themes are made available to WordPress users. WP are generally distributed for FREE under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or sold as Premium (i.e. paid) WP themes.
The WordPress development team maintains a FREE directory of WordPress themes which gives WordPress users access thousands of excellent website templates at no cost …
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress soars, more designers are now focused on developing themes for a wider range of applications.
WP themes range from minimal-looking, to elegant designs that are quite beautiful and could typically cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to develop. Surprisingly, WordPress themes are very inexpensive to purchase.
You can see a number of WP theme galleries containing many examples of themes in this page:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of choosing WordPress themes over using website building applications that require traditional web template design:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
WordPress themes are very easy to install on your site. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your admin area and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free WP theme directory at WordPress.org) directly from within your WP dashboard.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a thriving community of commercial web developers who, collectively, contribute thousands of great WP Themes available to WP users. And many of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent “look and feel” across all the site’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your digital content. This means you can swap themes as often as you like without deleting your site’s underlying information.
- Many WordPress themes come with built-in features and options that allow you to easily customize your theme’s style and design elements to create a unique look to suit your needs.
- Many WordPress themes are built using a framework that enables you to update the theme to newer theme versions without losing any customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress lets you search, import, install and update WordPress Themes automatically inside your admin panel.
- Themes helps you save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on website design costs. Free WP themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are typically quite affordable.
Responsive Themes
Many WP theme designers are now creating WP themes that incorporate “responsive” design standards.
A responsive theme allows a website to automatically readjust the web layout to display smoothly over different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as across different platforms) …
A responsive theme is also optimized for different platforms. Users can navigate, read and load a site on various devices without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring website owners to install additional display elements.
Note: When purchasing WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your website works on your visitors’ devices, it also means that the theme is newer than most non-responsive themes and therefore should comply with the latest standards and practices of web design.
We hope the above overview has helped you gain a clearer understanding of themes, what themes are, how themes can help your business save money on web design costs, and how themes make customizing your web design easy.
To learn where to find great WordPress themes for your website or blog, visit this post: How To Find The Best Free And Paid Responsive WordPress Themes For Your Business Online.
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