Advanced web site management platforms like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) have truly simplified web design and web development for business users.
This is great for non-technical users wanting a website that they can easily manage.
Prior to “blogging” and the introduction of powerful content management systems, if you wanted to get a professional site built for your business, you typically had to wait until both the web development and web design processes were completely done. This process could mean waiting around for many weeks, sometimes even many months!
WordPress themes have changed all this. In this post, we take a look at what WordPress themes are, how themes can help your business save money, and how themes allow you to easily customize your site.
Website Design Revolution
Website owners are benefiting from a change in web design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you are a small business owner, you will want to learn about this, because it could save you thousands of dollars on web development and web design costs.
In a nutshell, this is what used to happen before WordPress came along:
First, you would meet with a web developer or designer for a brief. After this, the actual “web design” itself would be decided upon. This involved spending time with a professional web designer going over elements of the website such as the layout, colors, formats, visual elements, content, etc.
Every page of your site then had to be individually created with the elements and codes written into your content. The pages were then assembled together into a website using hyperlinks and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with every other file required to make your site work – script libraries, graphic images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and functioned the way it should (and looking the way the client had imagined it to look), was the site deemed as being completed and ready to go live.
Then, web design “templates” came along”. Web templates allow presentation elements of the website to be worked on separately from content on the page. The development of templates helped make site development faster and resulted in reduced costs of production. This also allowed website developers to work with small businesses with smaller marketing budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As more small businesses started choosing “template-based” websites, templates started being created that offered clients with a number of customizable options, like the option to switch colors, styles, layouts
As websites and website building tools evolved, web templates also started transforming into web templating “systems” that let website owners and web developers customize the design elements of a web site.
And then, 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:
The WordPress Theme
WordPress themes expand the idea of a web templating system further.
The WP theme system controls and unifies the design elements of a web site. It allows you to add a “skin” to your site similarly to what a template system does but it also also gives you more control over the management and customization of your site’s template features.
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 feature of a WordPress theme is that how your site appears to site visitors on the outside is managed separately from how your content is managed.
In plain English terms, what this means is that a theme lets you change the look and feel of your site as much and as often as you like without modifying your site’s content and all the functionality you’ve built into it. For example, if you have configured your site for e-commerce, changing the entire look of your site with another theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your site. All e-commerce features, site settings and product information will remain unaffected, but the site will look completely different.
This is important. Why?
Because when you use WordPress, you no longer have to spend weeks or months waiting for your site to be done. You can get your business website built quickly and start with any WP theme you like, and then change the entire look, feel and design of your website in minutes, whenever you decide … and as many times as you like!
Even better, you can easily install a theme on your WP site without needing any web design skills. Just choose any WP theme you want, upload it to your website and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your entire site’s web design and customize elements like headers, layout, styling options and more in a few seconds …
Since WordPress is made available as open source software, thousands of website design companies anywhere in the world can create themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WordPress templating system.
This means that thousands of high quality WP themes can be downloaded by WordPress users. WordPress are usually distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
The WordPress team maintains a FREE directory of WP themes which allows WordPress users to download, access and install thousands of excellent themes at $0 cost …
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
As the popularity of WordPress increases, more designers are now focusing on developing themes for a wider audience of web users.
WordPress themes vary from minimal-looking, to designs that are simply stunning and could typically cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to develop. Surprisingly, WordPress themes are very inexpensive.
You can see several theme galleries that include many examples of great themes here:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
WordPress Themes – Benefits & Advantages
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over using traditional web design:
Be Up And Running In No Time
Themes are very easy to install on your site. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free theme repository at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP dashboard.
Additionally …
- WordPress has a large community of professional web developers and development companies who, collectively, contribute thousands of high quality WP Themes available to users. Thousands of these themes are completely free to use!
- Themes give sites a unified and consistent “look and feel” across all your site’s elements, like pages, headers, footers, layouts, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your blog’s content. This allows you change themes as often as you like without changing the content.
- Many themes provide additional functionality and options that enable you to customize your theme’s style, layout and design properties to create a unique look to suit your preferences.
- Many themes are built using a framework that enables users to upgrade themes to newer versions without losing any customizations (e.g. styles)
- WordPress lets you search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically right within the dashboard.
- WordPress themes allow users to save hundreds of dollars on website design costs. Free WP themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are typically very inexpensive.
Responsive Themes
Many theme designers are now developing “responsive” themes.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically readjust the web layout to display smoothly across different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as different platforms) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different types of devices. Users can scroll, read and load your site on different device platforms without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring the website owner to install additional browser tools.
Note: When searching for WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will a responsive theme ensure that your web site displays well 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 of web design and web coding.
We hope this article has given you a better understanding of themes, what WP themes are, how WordPress themes can help you save money on website design costs, and how WP themes allow you to easily customize a site.
To learn where to search for the best themes for your blog, visit this post: Finding Great Free And Paid Responsive WordPress Templates For Your Website Or Blog.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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