WordPress is undeniably a top choice among content management systems. If you’re planning to join the ranks of millions of WordPress users building their websites with this platform, it’s important to familiarize yourself with WordPress themes.

In this article, we’ll discuss:

• what a WordPress theme is,
• where to find free and premium themes,
• how to select a theme,
• and how to install a theme on WordPress.

You’ll discover comprehensive instructions and clarifications. Hence, even if you’re a WordPress novice, you can pick the most appropriate method. 

What Is a WordPress Theme and Why Do You Need It?

A WordPress theme is a set of files that dictate the look and functionality of your website. These files incorporate coding, visuals, and style sheets. With a theme, there’s no need to develop page styling from the ground up. When selecting a theme, you can preview the overall style of components like typography, spacing, etc.

Additionally, a theme allows you to manage your website elements. For example, the presentation of products in an e-commerce store will differ from the display of posts on a blog or news site. Themes make it simpler to achieve the desired appearance.

Where Can You Get a WordPress Theme?

There are numerous resources where you can find both free and paid WordPress themes. The WordPress theme directory itself offers a massive assortment of free themes.

Besides WordPress, many companies provide free and premium themes. Themeforest, Themify, CreativeMarket, TemplateMonster are just to name a few. 

How to Select the Right Theme?

If you’re still undecided about a theme, consider these tips to assist you in making the best choice. 

Free or Premium Themes: Which Is Superior?

Free Themes by WordPress

The primary benefit of themes available at WordPress.org is their quality. To be listed in the WordPress directory, themes must undergo thorough vetting by developers. This ensures that you’ll receive a dependable theme. 

Additionally, you can read reviews and see feedback on each theme. Also, free themes by WordPress are guaranteed to be compatible with all free plugins available in the directory.

However, free themes by WordPress have limited design and support. Typically, these themes only include basic pages (homepage and blog post samples) that you can modify. Moreover, it can be challenging to receive quick support if needed. Similarly, free themes may not be updated as frequently as their paid counterparts. 

Third-party Sources: Free and Premium

Many companies offer both free and premium WordPress themes. For premium themes, you have the option of a one-time purchase or a subscription, which usually offers more frequent updates for optimal functionality.

Furthermore, premium themes often come with a larger selection of pre-designed pages for customization. In some cases, you might find similar pages with different colors or styles within the same theme.

Specialized Themes

If your business caters to a specific niche, you might want to consider a WordPress theme designed for that particular niche. These themes are crafted with the unique needs of various businesses in mind, tailoring their layout and functionality accordingly. 

For instance, there are themes designed for medical clinics, salons, restaurants, logistics firms, cleaning services, and more. As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to explore numerous designs within your field to achieve the desired website look.

In a similar vein, you might want to look into e-commerce themes tailored to different types of stores, including food, beauty products, clothing, and more. 

Unique Features

In addition to being niche-specific and responsive, WordPress themes are distinguished by several other features.

For starters, themes offer varying degrees of customization options. Generally, free themes provide a limited set of features that can be modified, whereas premium themes offer a broader range of variability.

Secondly, if your business involves transactions (not just limited to online stores but also booking services), it’s crucial to ensure that your chosen theme is compatible with WooCommerce.

Thirdly, WordPress themes may come with a variety of custom widgets. These widgets complement the overall theme style while offering additional customization options.

Moreover, features that facilitate social sharing can be crucial, especially for news sites and blogs where high user engagement is key to success. 

Trustworthy Sources

When hunting for the perfect WordPress theme, it’s important to consider the reliability of the sources. Some websites like Colorlib, provide WordPress themes developed by their own team. This means you can contact the team for support after purchasing or downloading a theme.

Other sites, such as TemplateMonster, function as marketplaces where various vendors sell their products. When choosing a theme from a marketplace, you should consider:

• The number of products offered by the vendor (usually, the more reliable a vendor, the more products they offer)
• The number of sales
• The support options available for the theme
• Customer ratings and reviews (to get an honest perspective on what customers think about the theme)

The image below displays educational WordPress themes available on the TemplateMonster website.

Typically, you can preview demo versions of themes before making a purchase or download to get a feel for what to expect. 

Mobile-Friendly Design

A responsive design ensures your website appears and operates optimally across all devices. Given the increasing number of people accessing websites through mobile phones, search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites in their search engine results pages. Therefore, it’s not just about aesthetics.

While most companies offer responsive themes, some do not regard responsive design as a priority. We strongly advise verifying this point before installing a WordPress theme. 

Theme Support

As previously mentioned, free themes typically do not offer comprehensive support at all times. However, even with premium themes, support can sometimes be limited. When selecting a theme from a marketplace, it’s important to understand the level of support the vendor offers.

Transitioning to a New Theme: Key Considerations

If you’re contemplating switching from your current custom theme to a new one, there are several steps to ensure a seamless transition.

1. Create a Backup of Your Existing Website

Prior to implementing a new theme, it’s wise to back up your existing website. This way, you preserve your posts, pages, databases, and media content.

2. Preserve Tracking Codes

If you’ve incorporated analytics or advertising codes into your theme files, ensure to duplicate them before the new theme installation.

3. Ensure Compatibility with Functions and Plugins

When migrating to a new theme, maintaining current functions is essential. Hence, verify that your new theme supports all necessary functions. Similarly, confirm compatibility with the plugins you intend to use. Also, remember to uninstall any unnecessary plugins. 

Steps to Install a WordPress Theme

Here are the primary techniques for installing a WordPress theme.

#1: Using the WordPress Admin Theme Search for Installation

If you aim to install a theme from the WordPress directory, the built-in theme search option is the easiest route.

Once you’ve logged in to your WordPress admin panel, navigate to the Themes submenu under the Appearance menu on your dashboard. Click the ‘Add new‘ button.

You’ll then be presented with available themes. You also have the option to organize the themes by:

• featured
• popular
• latest
• favorites

Additionally, you can locate a specific theme by name or apply feature filters.

Feature filters are an excellent tool to select the most fitting WordPress theme for your needs. These filters allow you to search by:

• subject (like e-commerce, education, news, etc.)
• required features
• theme layout (if you prefer a particular website layout, such as three columns or left sidebar)

Upon receiving your search results, you’ll find the themes that align with your search criteria. You can then preview these themes and learn more about them.

If you open the Details and Preview window, read the provided information, and decide to install that theme, simply click on the ‘Install’ button.

If you opt not to preview the theme, you can simply hover your mouse and click ‘Install’ directly from the search results page.

Upon successful installation, you’ll see an ‘Installed’ message on your Themes page. The final step is to click the ‘Activate’ button.

Some themes might necessitate further settings. You may receive a message suggesting the installation of additional plugins for simpler customization. Follow these instructions and add the suggested features.

You can then begin customizing your theme. To do this, either press the ‘Customize’ button or select the ‘Customize’ submenu in the Appearance menu on the dashboard. 

#2: Using the Upload Method from WordPress Admin to Install a Theme

The first method outlined above is only applicable for themes available in the WordPress repository. If you’ve downloaded a free or premium theme from elsewhere, you can install it via uploading. Here are the steps for this process.

Navigate to the Appearance – Themes submenu on the dashboard and click the ‘Add new‘ button (as previously discussed). On the following screen, click the ‘Upload Theme’ button.

Next, an instruction will appear prompting you to upload a theme file. This should be a .zip file stored on your computer. Once you’ve uploaded it, click on the ‘Install Now’ button.

Upon completion of WordPress’s installation process, a notification confirming its success will appear along with links to preview and activate the theme.

#3: Theme Installation via FTP

This technique is ideal for installing intricate themes with large files or bespoke themes. Apart from knowing how to incorporate a theme into WordPress, you’ll also need proficiency in handling FTP clients. Here are the steps to follow.

Firstly, download the theme onto your computer and extract the .zip file into a folder.

Secondly, access your website (or your hosting account) using an FTP client. If you lack an FTP client, download and install one onto your computer.

Thirdly, once connected to the site, navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder. This contains the folders of the themes already installed on your site.

The subsequent step is to locate the folder housing the theme files you wish to install (you’ve extracted the theme file into this folder on your computer).

Next, right-click on the relevant folder and select ‘Upload’. The FTP client will commence the uploading process.

Upon completion of the theme upload, navigate to the Appearance – Themes menu on your WordPress dashboard. Here, you’ll find a list of installed themes. Click on the new one you want to apply and select ‘Activate’. 

Free Theme vs. Premium Theme: Installation Differences

As previously mentioned, the theme installation process hinges on the source of the theme rather than whether it’s free or paid.

Free themes from the WordPress repository can be installed using the theme search method in the admin panel. However, both free and premium themes from alternative sources necessitate installation either by uploading or using an FTP client.

To Sum Up

Transitioning to a new WordPress theme requires careful preparation and purposeful steps. Firstly, it’s crucial to back up your existing website to avoid losing any content. Secondly, any tracking codes that have been incorporated need to be preserved before installation of the new theme. Compatibility with important functions and plugins should also be confirmed. 

Installation methods vary based on the source of your theme. Themes from the WordPress repository can be added via the admin theme search while themes from external sources require either uploading or FTP. 

Whether a theme is free or premium doesn’t affect the installation process; the source does. Understanding these intricacies will ensure a smooth and successful theme transition.

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Layout: HTML and CSS.

Let’s start with something simple. To be frank, it’s not yet programming. HTML is Hypertext Markup Language. It defines the structure of pages and the elements that make them up. These elements are defined by tags: headings, text, links, lists, etc. An important task of tags is to define the semantics of web documents. For example, the first level heading (h1) should be a single heading, and the correct layout of structural elements (header, footer, article etc.) will facilitate the reading of the code and its reading by search engine crawlers (and not only).

CSS language is needed to style HTML-writing. The name stands for Cascading Style Sheets. . Cascading Style Sheets is because the language uses inheritance from parent to descendant, going down through the elements. With CSS we can position elements, resize them, set rules for typography, create animations, and more.

HTML handles structure, CSS handles layout
The ability to layout will help you create a realistic and implementable design, communicate with developers, and make your work come to life. Moreover, this skill is already a market standard in Europe and the USA and will help you comply with its requirements.

JavaScript

This language was originally created to be executed in a browser, making web pages “live”. It can create and delete HTML tags, send requests to the server, fetch data without reloading the page, respond to user actions and much more.

SQL

If a lot of people have already heard about the necessity of the page makeup and JavaScript knowledge before my article, they might hear about the SQL for the first time. If you are doing UX research, you cannot do without data manipulation, and SQL will be exactly the help you need. SQL stands for Structured Query Language.

R

R is a programming language that was created about 20 years ago exclusively for academic research in data analysis. Since the language is closely related to statistics and applied data analysis, it can be a useful tool for the UX analyst. The language allows you to apply basic statistical analysis techniques: t-test, correlation, variance and regression analysis, etc.

Python

Python is a high-level programming language focused on code readability and developer productivity. The language adheres to its distinct philosophy, called “The Zen of Python”, which states (in a nutshell) that any program in the language (like the language itself) should be simple and not ambiguous. Because of its simplicity, Python is the first programming language that many students around the world learn.

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What is web-design?

The concept of “web-design” is the broadest term describing the professional skills of workers in this industry. Calling themselves “web-designers”, people often want to say that they have a fairly wide range of skills – one of which is visual design.

In this phrase particle “design” has to do with facing the client (or interface) of the web-site. In other words, web-designer is responsible for how the web-site will look like and how users will interact with it (so web-designers are sometimes called the user interface designers or UX-designers).

Good web-designers create websites to apply graphic design skills, so their work looks just fine. They also have a clear understanding of what is usability, and therefore create sites with which visitors enjoy working Their design calls for interactivity, because it’s so easy to intuitively understand. In short, designers don’t just create “beautiful sites.” They are laying the foundations of a user-friendly interface for web sites.

What is web-programming?

Web-programming is divided into two main areas: the development of the client part and development of the server part. Some of the skills required for these areas overlap, but the purpose of developers in each area are different.

The developer of the client side uses the graphical layout of the future web-site (created by him or received from a graphic designer) and translates it into programming code. The client-side developer uses HTML for website layout, CSS to control the visual styles and layout, and sometimes even Javascript. For some small, simple sites, the development of the client part is the only task facing web-programmers. More complex projects require development of the server side as well.

Good web developers must be able to program CGI and work with scripts such as PHP. They must also understand how web forms work and how different software packages and application program interfaces combine different types of software products to create solutions that can respond to specific customer requests.

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What his team wants from a web designer

Suppose the team consists of a manager, front end, back end, designer and tester. We asked what skills their dream designer has and if development is on that list.

Soft skills and standard design duties like designing static interfaces, creating clickable prototypes and mocaps scored the highest. JS and even HTML layout were not in the top five.

However, the question of programming knowledge for designers would have been solved a long time ago if it were that simple. From the comments we learned the reason – coding is not important for everyone involved in the process.

Manager
The manager’s goal is to meet the deadline, successfully roll out and close the client’s “want.” He cares little about the technical side of the issue, just like he cares little about how the designer works with the layout. The manager needs someone who understands Tilda, typeset newsletters, makes animated prototypes, and understands user flow. No mention of code.

Front/vertiser.
A layout designer or front-end developer renders the layout in the browser. The quality of this layout determines the speed of work, because it takes more time and effort to layout a sloppy design.

The designer sees a picture on the layout, and the layout designer sees a grid of squares. During rendering, the designer must keep this in mind to create a beautiful and customizable layout. For all titles, indents, texts layout designer sets a single style, if the design does not – unnecessary headache front and QA provided.

The designer has no contact with the backend developer in 90% of cases. The remaining 10% include cases of “crutch” layout because of low-quality design and other non-standard solutions.

To sum it up and get argument #1 – if a designer knows JS and Hypertext Markup Language, he draws a layout that is easy to layout. The frontender won’t waste time on indents, fonts, and headers. The backender will pull all this happiness onto the engine. The manager will meet the deadline, the client will get the product. Everyone is happy.

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1. Terms of Reference (TOR)
   Based on a clear understanding of the purpose for which the site is created, the volume of the site, its functionality, the main parameters of the visual presentation and structure of the site. The stage ends after the approval of terms of reference by the customer. Tasks the project manager.

2. Structuring information (usability).
   This includes the form and organization of the content of the site. Includes a wide range of issues from thinking about the logical structure of Web pages to choose the most convenient form of presentation of information. Takes care of the designer, project manager.
3. Graphic design
   In the graphic editor is composed of visual space for the site with graphic elements as a decoration or navigation. Actually design pages represent a graphic file. Performed by the designer.
4. Makeup
   At this stage, the graphic image is cut into individual elements and using HTML and CSS technology is transformed into code that can be viewed using a browser. Performed by the coder, the programmer.
5. Webmastering .
   At this stage, actions are carried out to facilitate the distribution and effective delivery of the site on the web. Includes hosting and search engine optimization. Performed by the administrator, webmaster.

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• layout (the placement of content on the site will affect both functionality and appearance)
• fonts (they should be easy to read);
• spacing (the interval between each element on the site should be properly selected);
• colors (the color of the site should match the style of your brand);
• shapes (use of graphic elements);
• videos (background videos will help to create the necessary atmosphere, present your product, etc;)
• images and icons (images should be of high quality, reflect the essence of your content, and be optimized).

The main functional elements that will contribute to the creation of a good web design are

• navigation (it should be convenient and easy to use);
• speed (the site should be optimized);
• animation (helps to keep the user on the site).

In general, web design combines a large number of components – graphic design, user interface design, content creation, and search engine optimization. A good web design should combine a pleasant interface, the right color scheme, user-friendly interface, and navigation.

When designing your website, avoid distracting backgrounds, inappropriate links and buttons, don’t play audio automatically, don’t underline text without built-in snares, and avoid pop-ups. And most importantly, your website should be mobile-friendly.

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Before you design a website, you need to prepare: set goals, choose its type and the platform for its creation.

Determine the purpose, for example:

The purpose of a portfolio site – applications for collaboration. It should demonstrate how the specialist is able to solve business problems.
The purpose of the store site is to maximize sales. It needs to show merchandise in a favorable way and encourage to buy.
The purpose of the site-blog – constant traffic. With its help, we encourage the reader to consume more content and do it regularly.

For the site design to work effectively for these purposes, we must first think about the users. For example, the buyer on the site of an online store wants to spend money profitably. Before he decides to buy, he collects all the information: look at the characteristics, photos and videos, read reviews, choose the size and equipment, study the warranty, compare products and set aside in Favorites. So, in the design of product cards you have to take into account all these actions.

Another example – a potential customer came to see your portfolio. He wants to see the solution to specific problems: a small number of the best works and their effectiveness for the business, customer feedback. He does not have time to flip through endless galleries of all your work and read the biography since school achievements.

When designing a site think about the people who will use it. They need to smoothly and comfortably walk through the site to your designated goal. Don’t forget that your goal should coincide with the needs of CA.

Choosing the type of site

When you’ve set your goals for yourself, you can choose the type of site you want to design for. The choice is small: a landing page or a multi-page site.

A landing or landing page is such a mono-site that is dedicated to one subject and has only one CTA. For example, a conference page with a “Register” button. The content would likely include a description of the conference, a list of speakers and papers, and the main talking points about why it’s worth coming.

A multipage is a site in the classic sense, with a hierarchical structure. There is a main page, sections, subsections, and so on. Multipage is useful in all other cases: a corporate site, an online store, a company site, a blog, a portfolio, a news portal.

Choice of platform for the site

Now it’s time to choose a platform for the site. Of course, you can order the development of a turnkey website or find a programmer, combine it with a designer, order a self-written platform and rent a hosting to place the site. Then the resource will be fully administered – will be able to realize any design ideas and make the site of any structure, which is sometimes impossible to do on ready-made CMS.

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