The introduction of website management tools like the WordPress CMS platform has truly improved web design and web development for web users.
This is terrific news for non-technical users that want a website that is relatively simple and easy to manage.
Prior to “blogging” and the introduction of sophisticated CMS software, if you needed a site, you normally would have to wait until both the web development and website design processes were fully completed. This could mean waiting around for many weeks, even months!
WordPress themes changed all this. In this post, we explain what WordPress themes are, how themes save you money on website design costs, and how themes make it easy to customize your WordPress site.
Web Design Evolution
More businesses have been benefiting from a revolution in website design that has been going for a number of years now. If you are a business owner, you may want to learn more about this, because it can save you a lot of time and money on website development and web design costs.
Let’s take a look at what typically took place before software like WordPress was introduced:
The first step would be to meet with a website development agency or web designer for a brief. Then, the design would be discussed and agreed upon. This required spending time with someone with web site design skills going over things of your site like the, colours, formats, page elements, content, etc.
Every page of your website then had to be individually created with all of your design elements and scripts coded into your page content. The pages were then assembled into a website using hyperlinks and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along with all other files required to make your site work – script libraries, images, media, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything had been tested and worked how it was supposed to (and looking how the client had imagined it to look), was the web site considered as being finished and ready to go live.
Then, web design “templates” came along”. A web template allows the presentation of the web site to be worked on separately from content on the page. Having ready-made templates helped to speed up the process of developing websites and resulted in reduced costs of production. This also allowed website development firms to work with smaller businesses with smaller budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more small businesses started choosing “template-based” web design services, web templates started being created that could provide clients with expanding custom settings, such as colour palettes, the ability to select different menu styles, formats, header, footer and navigation elements, page layouts, etc …
As web sites and website building tools developed, website templates also began to transform into website template “systems” that allowed website owners to manage the visual elements of their web site.
Then, WordPress was introduced and helped to kick off 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:
WordPress Themes
WordPress themes expand the idea of a website templating system further.
The WordPress theme system controls and integrates all of the design aspects of a website. It lets you add a “skin” to your entire site in a similar way that a template system does but it provides you with complete control over the management and customization aspects of template options.
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 above, a unique and revolutionary feature of WordPress is that how your web site appears to site 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 website as much and as often as you want without modifying your website’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have set up WordPress website for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your website. All e-commerce features, site and plugin settings and product information will remain unaffected, but your 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 done. You can get your website built simply and get started with any WordPress theme you like, and completely modify the look, feel and design of your WordPress site in a few seconds, whenever you want … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your site with no website coding knowledge necessary. Just choose any WP theme you want, upload it to your website and activate it. WordPress lets you change your website design and customize elements like headers, layout, styling options and more with just a couple of mouse clicks …
Since WordPress is open source software, web design companies from all over the world can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WP templating system.
This means that thousands of great WordPress themes can be downloaded by WordPress users. Themes are usually distributed for FREE under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or they can be purchased as Premium (paid) themes.
The WordPress development team maintains a FREE directory of WordPress themes which gives WordPress users access thousands of great web templates for free …
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
As more businesses turn to WordPress for publishing and managing their content online, more designers are now focused on creating themes for a wider audience of WordPress users.
Themes range from bare-looking, to fancy designs that are simply impressive and could typically cost many hundreds of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, WP themes can be bought fairly cheaply, especially when you compare the cost to what you would have been charged if a website designer had to build it from scratch.
You can view several theme galleries that include many examples of great premium WordPress themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Themes – Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over using tools that require traditional web template design:
Ready To Use In Minutes
WordPress themes are quite easy to install on your site. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the theme repository at WordPress.org) directly from your WordPress admin’s “Theme” section.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a large community of professional website developers and development companies who, collectively, make thousands of great WordPress Themes available to WP users. Many of these themes are 100% free to use!
- Themes give sites a consistent look across all of your site’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your site’s content. This makes it possible to replace the “look and feel” of your web site or blog as often as you like without disturbing your content.
- Many themes provide additional built-in functionality and options that allow you to customize the theme’s style, layout and design elements and create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many WP themes are built using a framework that enables users 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 directly from your site’s administration interface.
- Themes helps you save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on website development costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are normally quite inexpensive.
About Responsive Themes
Many WordPress theme developers are now developing “responsive” themes for the WordPress platform.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically reconfigure the layout to display smoothly over different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different platforms. Users can navigate, read and load a site on most if not all devices without having to resize anything, or requiring the website owner to have installed additional browser tools.
Note: When downloading 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 all of your visitors’ devices, it also means that the theme is newer than most non-responsive themes and therefore complies with the latest standards of website design coding.
Hopefully, this post has provided you with a better understanding of themes, what themes are, how they can help you save money on web development costs, and how WordPress themes make customizing your web design easy.
To learn where to find great themes for your blog, visit this page: How To Find The Best Free And Premium Responsive WordPress Themes On The Net.
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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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