The introduction of advanced web publishing systems like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) has truly simplified web design and web development for anyone wanting a website.
This greatly benefits entrepreneurial-minded people planning to build a website that is simple and easy to manage.
Prior to blogging and the introduction of advanced CMS software, if you wanted to get a web site built for your business, you typically had to wait until both the web development and website design processes were fully completed. This could take many weeks, sometimes even many months!
The development of WordPress themes have changed all this. In this post, we take a look at what themes are, how themes help you and your business save money, and how WP themes make it easy to customize your WordPress site.
Evolution In Web Design
More businesses are benefiting from a great change in web design that started many years ago. If you are a small business owner, you may want to know more about this, because it could save your business a lot of time and money on website development and web design costs.
Very briefly, here’s how things worked in “traditional” website design before a CMS application like WordPress was introduced:
First, you would discuss your requirements with a web site development company or web site designer. After this, the actual “web design” had to be discussed and agreed upon. This meant spending time and money with a professional web site designer going over elements of your site like the, colours, formats, visual elements, content, etc.
Every page of your site then had to be hand-coded with all your elements and codes scripted into the content. All of the pages were then assembled into a website using links and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with every other file required to make your website work – script libraries, graphic images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only after everything had been tested and functioned the way it should (and looking the way the client had imagined it to look), was the website deemed to be finished and ready to go live.
The next step in the evolution of business web design was the introduction of “web templates”. Web site templates allow design elements of the website to be created separately from content on the page. Having templates helped to speed up the process of developing web sites and resulted in reduced production costs. This also enabled web development firms to work with smaller business clients and clients with smaller marketing budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more small businesses began adopting “template-based” websites, templates were introduced that provided clients with different customizable features, such as color palettes, the ability to specify different page layouts and styles, and so on.
As web sites and web building software evolved, web templates also started transforming into website templating “systems” that let users and website designers control their web site’s design elements.
Then, a “blogging” application called WordPress came along and helped to kick off a new digital publishing 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 one step further.
The WordPress theme system controls and integrates every aspect of your web site design. It allows you to add a “skin” over your entire site similarly to what a website template system does but it also also provides users with more control over the management, appearance and ability to customize all template settings.
As the official WordPress site explains …
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, one of the unique features of the WP theme is that the way your web site appears to visitors on the outside is an entirely different thing from how your website functions internally to handle areas like content management and functionality.
In simple terms, what this means is that a theme lets you modify the look and feel of your site 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 your site 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 important. Why?
Because with WordPress, you no longer have to wait until your website’s design is completed. You can get your business website built simply and get started with any theme you want, and then modify the entire look, feel and design of your website in seconds, whenever you choose … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your WP site without needing any website code editing skills. Simply pick a WP theme you want, upload it to your site and activate it. WordPress lets you change your web design and modify elements like header images, layout, typography and more in less than a few minutes …
Because WordPress is open source software, professional website designers can design themes specifically for the WordPress CMS platform using the WP templating system.
This means that thousands of great WordPress themes can be downloaded by WP users. Themes are normally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (i.e. paid) WordPress themes.
The WordPress development team maintains a FREE theme directory which gives WordPress users access thousands of great WP themes at $0 cost …
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress soars, more designers are now focused on creating themes for a wider range of applications.
WordPress themes range from minimal-looking, to jaw-dropping designs that are spectacular and would normally cost thousands of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, themes can be purchased fairly inexpensively, especially when compared to what it would have cost you if a website designer had to develop it from scratch.
You can see a number of theme galleries that include many examples of great premium WP themes in this page:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Benefits Of Using WP Themes
Here are just some of the many benefits of choosing WordPress themes over choosing tools that require traditional web design:
Really Easy To Install
WP themes are quite easy to install on your site. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your admin user section and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free WordPress theme directory at WordPress.org) directly from your WP admin’s “Theme” section.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a large online community of professional website designers and design companies who, collectively, contribute thousands of quality WP Themes available to users. Thousands of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent look across all of your blog’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your web site’s content. This means you can change the “look and feel” of your templates as often as you want without changing the site’s settings.
- Many themes come with additional features and options that let you customize the site’s style and design properties and create a unique look to suit your business.
- Many WordPress themes are built using a framework that lets users update the theme to newer versions without losing any customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import, install and update WordPress Themes automatically inside the site’s administration interface.
- Themes allow users to save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on website design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”WP themes are normally quite inexpensive.
About Responsive Themes
Many WP theme designers are now developing themes that incorporate “responsive” web design.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically reconfigure the layout to display smoothly across different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as across different devices (e.g. laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different platforms. Users can navigate, read and load the 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, we recommend choosing a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your web site will work correctly on all of your visitors’ devices, it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore complies with the latest standards of website design coding.
I hope this basic overview has given you a clearer understanding about WordPress themes, what WordPress themes are, how themes can help your business save money, and how WordPress themes make it easy to customize a web site.
In the next article on helping you understand WP features, we show you where to search for the best themes for your website.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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