The introduction of flexible content publishing systems like the WordPress CMS has effectively simplified web design and web development for website owners.
This is great for non-technical users planning to run a website that is easy to manage.
Before blogging and the introduction of advanced content management systems, if you needed to get a professional web site for your business, you normally would have to wait until both the website development and website design processes were completely done. This could take many weeks, even many months!
The introduction of WordPress themes have changed all this. In this blog post, we look at what WordPress themes are, how themes can help you save money on web design costs, and how themes let you easily customize your site.
The Evolution Of Web Design
More website owners today will benefit from a tremendous revolution in website design that has been going for a number of years now. If you own a small business, you will want to know about this, because it can save your business thousands of dollars on web development and web design costs.
Let’s take a look at what happened before CMS applications like WordPress were developed:
First, you would discuss your requirements with a web site developer or web site designer. Then, the actual “web design” itself had to be decided upon. This meant time being spent with someone with web site design skills going over design elements of the web site such as the, colours, formats, page elements, content, etc.
Every page of your web site then had to be individually created with the elements and codes written into the page content. All pages were then assembled together into a web site using links and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with all other files needed to make your site work – script libraries, graphic images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything passed testing and was performing how it was supposed to (and looking how a client had imagined it to look), was the site deemed to be completed and ready to go live.
Then, web design “templates” came along”. A web template allows design elements of the web site to be worked on separately from content on the page. Having template elements helped to speed up the web development process and resulted in reduced costs of production. This also allowed web development firms to work with smaller businesses with less money to spend …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of small businesses choosing “template-based” websites increased, templates were introduced to offer clients with various customization features and options, such as color palettes, the ability to select different styles, formats, elements, page layouts, and so on.
As web sites and website building tools developed, web templates also began to evolve into website template ”systems”, allowing users to manage their site’s visual aspects.
Then, a “blogging” software called WordPress was developed 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:
WordPress Themes
WordPress themes drive the concept of a web template system much further.
The WP theme system controls every aspect of your website design. It allows you to add a “skin” over your entire site much like a template system does but it provides you with more control over the management, presentation and customization aspects of template settings.
As the official WordPress site 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 above, one of the unique and revolutionary features of WordPress is that the way your website displays to visitors is controlled independently of the management of your content.
In simple terms, what this means is that you can modify the design of your site as much and as often as you like without touching your site’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if WP website has been configured 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 your site will look completely different.
This is huge! Why?
Because with WordPress, you no longer have to spend weeks or months waiting for your website design to be done. You can get your business website built simply and start with any WordPress theme you like, and completely customize the look, feel and design of your WordPress site in a few seconds, whenever you decide … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your WP site with no web code editing skills necessary. Simply choose any theme you want, install it on your site and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your web design and modify elements like header images, layout, styling options and more in less than a few minutes …
Because WordPress is distributed as open source software, web design companies can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WP templating system.
This means that loads of great WordPress themes are made available to WP users. Themes are usually distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or they can be purchased as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
The WordPress team maintains a FREE directory of WP themes which allows WordPress users to download and access, thousands of great web templates for free …
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress soars, more designers are now focusing on creating themes for a wider range of applications.
WP themes vary from functional-looking, to designs that are visually breathtaking and could normally cost many hundreds of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, themes can be bought very cheaply, especially when you compare the price to what you would have been charged if a web designer had to build it from scratch.
You can see a number of WP theme galleries that include stunning examples of great themes in this post:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over choosing applications that require traditional web design:
WP Theme Installation Is Easy
WordPress themes are very easy to install on your site. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your administrator login and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free theme repository at WordPress.org) directly from within your WP site’s admin area.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a large online community of professional web developers who, collectively, make thousands of great-looking, high quality WordPress Themes available to 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, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your web site’s content. This makes it possible to replace WP themes as often as you want without affecting your site’s content.
- Many WordPress themes provide additional features and settings that let you easily customize your theme’s layout, style and design properties to create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many WordPress themes are built using a framework that lets users upgrade themes to a newer theme version without losing its unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically right inside the dashboard.
- WP themes allow WordPress users to save thousands of dollars on website development costs. Free WP themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WP themes are typically quite affordable.
About Responsive WP Theme Design
Many theme developers are now developing “responsive” WordPress themes.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically readjust screen size to display smoothly over different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as across different devices (e.g. laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc.) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for each device type. Users can scroll, read and display a site on most if not all device browsers without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring the website owner to have installed additional browser tools.
Note: When selecting, WordPress themes, we recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your website will display correctly across your visitors’ devices, but it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore should comply with the latest standards of web design and coding.
I hope that the above article has provided you with a better understanding of themes, what WP themes are, how themes help your business save money, and how WP themes make it easy to customize your WP site.
To learn where to find the best themes for your website, visit this post: Where To Search For Great Premium And Free Responsive WordPress Web Templates For Your Business.
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