The introduction of content management systems like the WordPress CMS platform has effectively improved web design and web development for non-technical business users.
This is great for businesses thinking about starting a website that is simple, easy and inexpensive to manage.
Before blogging and the introduction of powerful CMS software, if you wanted to build a professional website built for your business, you had to wait until both the website development and web design processes were fully completed. This process could take weeks, sometimes even months!
The introduction of WordPress themes have changed all this. In this blog post, you will learn what WP themes are, how they can help your business save money, and how themes help you easily customize your website.
Website Design Evolution
Businesses will benefit from a revolution in website design that started many years ago. If you own a business, you may want to learn more about this, because it can save your business a lot of time and money on web development and web design costs.
Let’s go over what happened before solution like WordPress came along:
First, you would discuss your project with a web site developer or designer. After that, the actual ”look and feel” of your web site itself had to be decided upon. This meant spending time and money with a professional website designer going over things of your web site like the, colours, styles, graphic elements, content, etc.
Each page of your site then had to be hand-coded with all your design elements and scripts coded into your page content. All pages were then assembled into a web site using hyperlinks and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with all other files needed to make your site work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and performed how it should (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” were introduced”. A website template allows the presentation of the web site to be worked on separately from content on the page. Having ready-made templates helped speed up the process of developing web sites and resulted in lowered production costs. This also enabled website development agencies to expand their services to include small business clients and clients with less money to spend on marketing …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of businesses adopting “template-based” websites increased, templates started being designed to offer clients with expanding customizable settings, like the ability to choose different colours, styles, layouts
As web sites and web editor applications developed, website templates also began to evolve into web template “systems” that let website owners control their web site’s visual elements.
And then, a “blogging” tool called 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
A WordPress theme pushes the idea of a website templating system further.
A WordPress theme controls every aspect of your web design. It allows you to add a “skin” over your entire site in a similar way that a web template system does but it gives you complete control over the management, appearance and customization aspects of the site’s 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 above, one of the unique and revolutionary features of a WP theme is that how your site displays to visitors is managed independently of your site’s content management aspects.
In plain English terms, what this means is that a WordPress theme lets you change the design of your website as much and as often as you like without affecting your site’s content and all the work you’ve put 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 your website. All e-commerce features, site settings and product information will remain intact, but the site will look completely different.
Why is this such a big deal?
Because when you use WordPress, you no longer need to wait until your site’s web design is completed. You can get your business website built simply and get started with any WordPress theme you want, and completely customize the look, feel and design of your site in seconds, whenever you decide … and as often as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your site without requiring any website design skills. Just pick any WordPress theme you like, install it on your website and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your site’s design and modify elements like headers, page layout, typography and more in less than a few minutes …
As WordPress is open source software, web design companies can create themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WordPress templating system.
This means that loads of high quality WP themes are made available to WordPress users. WordPress are normally distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (i.e. paid) WordPress themes.
The WordPress team keeps a FREE directory of WP themes which allows WordPress users to download, access and install thousands of great website templates completely free of charge …
(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)
As WordPress becomes more popular, more designers are now focused on creating themes for a wider audience of web users.
WP themes range from bare-looking, to dynamic designs that are visually spectacular and could typically cost thousands of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, most WP themes are fairly inexpensive.
You can view a number of theme galleries that include many examples of themes in this article:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over using traditional web template design:
Fast Installation
WP themes are really easy to install on your site. Simply 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 themes repository at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP admin’s “Theme” section.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a growing community of commercial theme developers and development companies who, collectively, contribute thousands of great-looking, high quality WordPress Themes available to WordPress users. Thousands of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent look across all of the blog’s elements, like 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 want without affecting the site data.
- Many WP themes come with additional built-in functionality and settings that allow you to customize the site’s layout and design properties and create a unique look to suit your needs.
- Many themes are built using a framework that lets users update the theme to a newer theme version without losing any customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, upload, install and update WordPress Themes automatically right within the site’s administration interface.
- Themes allow users to save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on website development costs. Free WP themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are normally quite affordable.
Responsive WP Themes
Many WP theme developers are now creating themes that incorporate “responsive” design standards.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically readjust screen size to display smoothly over different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as across different devices (e.g. PCs, iPads, mobile phones, etc.) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different platforms. Users can scroll, read and display a site on various device browsers without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring website owners to have installed 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 works 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 and coding.
We hope the above overview has given you a better understanding of themes, what themes are, how they can help your business save money, and how WordPress themes make it easy to customize a web site.
To learn where to search for the best WordPress themes for your website, 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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