Flexible web site management platforms like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) have truly simplified web design and web development for users.
This is a great thing for business owners that want to own a web presence that is easy to manage.
Prior to “blogging” and the development of user-friendly CMS technologies, if you wanted a business site, you would have to wait until both the web development and website design processes were completely done. This could take many weeks, sometimes even many months!
The introduction of WordPress themes helped change all this. In this article, you will learn what WP themes are, how WordPress themes save your business money on website development costs, and how themes help you easily customize your website.
The Evolution Of Web Site Design
More website owners today will benefit from a revolution in website design that began shortly after websites were first introduced. If you own a business, you will want to learn about this, because it can save you thousands of dollars on web development or web design costs.
Let’s go over what normally happened before WordPress were developed:
First, you would discuss your project with a web developer or web designer. Next, the actual design would be decided upon. This involved time being spent with a professional website designer going over design elements of the web site like the, colours, styles, page elements, content, etc.
Each page of your web site then had to be hand-coded with all your elements and codes scripted into the page content. All pages were then assembled into a website using hyperlinks and custom coded navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with every other file needed to make your website work – script libraries, graphic images, media elements, etc.
(image source:adobe.com)
Only once everything passed testing and functioned how it was intended to (and looking the way the client had wanted it to look), was the website deemed as being finished and ready for delivery.
Then, website “templates” came along”. A web site template allows the design of the website to be worked on separately from content on the page. The development of templates helped to speed up the web development process and resulted in reduced production costs. This also enabled web site developers to service businesses with smaller marketing budgets …
(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)
As the number of businesses using “template-based” web design services increased, web templates were designed that could provide clients with a range of custom features and options, such as the option to switch colors, styles, layouts
As websites and web editor tools evolved, web templates also began transforming into web template “systems” that permitted website owners to control their site’s visual aspects.
Then, a “blogging” software called WordPress came along 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
A WordPress theme takes the concept of a web template system even further.
The WordPress theme system controls the design aspects of your website. It lets you add a “skin” over your site much like a website template system does but it provides users with complete control over the management and ability to customize all template options.
As the official WordPress site states …
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 the above quote states, a unique feature of WordPress is that the way your web site looks to visitors in no way affects your site’s functionality and content management.
Basically, what this means is that you can change the design 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 your website has been set up for e-commerce, changing the entire look of your site with a different theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of your site. All e-commerce features, site and plugin settings and product information will remain intact, but your site will look completely different.
Why is this important?
Because when you use WordPress, you no longer need to wait until your site’s web design is completed. You can get your website built quickly and start with any WordPress theme you want, and then completely customize the look, feel and design of your website in a few minutes, whenever you want … and as often as you like!
Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your WP site with no website design knowledge necessary. Just choose any theme you like, upload it to your website and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your website design and modify elements like header images, layout, style settings and more in minutes …
Because WordPress is open source software, thousands of web designers all around the world can design themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WordPress template system.
This means that loads of high quality WP themes can be downloaded by WordPress users. Themes are generally distributed for FREE under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (paid) WP themes.
The WordPress development team keeps a FREE directory of WordPress themes which gives WordPress users access thousands of great themes for free …
(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)
As WordPress becomes more popular, more designers are now starting to develop themes for a wider audience of web users.
WP themes vary from minimal-looking, to artsy designs that are quite spectacular and could easily cost many hundreds of dollars to commission. Surprisingly, WP themes are really inexpensive.
You can view a number of WP theme galleries that include many examples of WordPress themes in this post:
(Browse Thousands Of FREE WordPress Themes!)
Benefits Of WordPress Themes
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of choosing WordPress themes over using web building applications that require traditional web design:
Fast & Easy Installation
Themes are quite easy to install on your site. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the free theme directory at WordPress.org) directly inside your WP site’s admin area.
Additionally,
- WordPress has a large community of commercial web developers and development 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 design across all of the blog’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
- A “theme” works independently of your website’s content. This makes it possible to replace themes as often as you want without disturbing the settings.
- Many themes provide additional functionality and settings that enable you to customize the site’s style, layout and design elements to create a unique look to suit your needs.
- Many themes are built using a framework that allows you to upgrade the theme to newer theme versions without losing any customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
- WordPress allows you to search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically within the dashboard.
- Themes allow WordPress users to save thousands of dollars on web development costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are normally quite affordable.
Responsive WP Theme Design
Many WordPress theme designers are now developing “responsive” themes for the WordPress CMS platform.
A responsive theme allows websites to automatically readjust the web layout to display smoothly across different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as across different devices (e.g. PCs, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) …
Responsive themes are also optimized for different platforms. Users can navigate, read and load the site on different device browsers without having to resize anything, or requiring the website owner to install additional browser tools.
Note: When selecting, WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will the theme ensure that your website works on your visitors’ devices, it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards of website design and web coding.
We hope this basic overview has helped you gain a better understanding of themes, what WordPress themes are, how WordPress themes can help you and your business save money, and how themes make customizing websites easy.
In our next article on understanding basic WordPress features, we show you where to find the best themes for your blog.
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
***