Themes in WordPress: What is It, Why and How?

Work on the site begins with the choice of the theme of the design. What is it, why is it necessary and how to choose it?

It is most convenient to consider the themes of the design of WordPress (they are also templates) on the example of a car. Imagine that you choose a car. So the topic of design is like a body. That is, the appearance and some amenities.

The car can be a sedan, or it can be a pickup. And despite the significant differences from the outside, they can be built on the same platform: on the same wheels, engine, gearbox, etc.

Thus, when choosing a topic, it is important to look primarily at what it is intended for and how it looks.

The purpose of the topic may be the most general: a store, a news site, a portfolio … We will tell you in more detail what to look and what to look for when choosing a theme.

How to choose the theme of WordPress?

Firstly, we look at the header, that is, the upper part of the site, the same on all pages. How is the logo located and what size is it? How is the menu located? If we want to bring contact information to the header, is there such an opportunity there? If it is important for us that the menu is “sticky”, that is, it remains in the upper part of the page when scrolling, then does the topic do this? Are there any pretty interesting things?

Secondly, we look at the footer, that is, the lower part of the site. Is there what we need, and if not, is it possible to insert it there.

And thirdly, we look at what is interesting in the content. If we make an online store, it will not be superfluous to see how one product and category of goods are presented in the topic. If we make a corporate business card site, we look at the pages about us and contacts.

What can be changed most often?

Colors and fonts. All the contents between the header and the footer. Page background, images, order of elements on the main and other pages. Icons, pictures, headings and texts.

The topic developer always makes a demonstration site on which he offers to see all the possibilities of the topic. Therefore, it makes sense to walk on all options for the Home page. If on one you liked the upper slider, the second is a gallery of images, and on the third – the section is our advantages, they can always be combined in your case on one page.

In addition, we must remember that you can remove something, hide, almost always. It can be more difficult to add or change.

Small clarification. Themes are most often balanced in relation to the color palette and other design elements. Sometimes after working with flowers and fonts, this balance is lost. It turns out what the customer asks for, he likes the result, but in our opinion the result looks worse than the original option. Templates are developed by professionals who can do this, and can do well. You should not change the beautiful and convenient site design without extreme need.

Let’s get back to the analogy with the body. Suppose we realized that we need a compact car for the city to carry the child to school. Then we choose from small cars without a huge trunk and a third row of seats. Parktronics and covers for seats we will charge separately.

That you can’t change most often?

First of all, this is the general purpose of the site. On the topic for the news portal you will get a bad site of the beauty salon.

Some elements are difficult to attach. If the menu is not sticky, it is hardly possible to fix it. If there is no place for contacts in the header, this is not treated.

In addition, there are things standard for all sites on WordPress. So, for example, the product page will iron as a large picture, to the right of which the price, a short description and the button to buy, and the tabs are located below with a full description and characteristics. If you do not like this option, you can look for a topic with a different arrangement of these elements, but you have to try.

By analogy with the car body, you can remake the sedan into the convertible. But this will be expensive, it will require the work of a high -level master, and the result will still be similar to what you see in the illustration.

Why is the topic half the site?

Installing and setting up the design topic takes a lot of time and effort. On an example, you can see the page of the settings of the theme of our site on which you read this article. Each non -destructive point hides its subparagraphs.

The topic can most often be changed. But this means re -make all the settings, and the materials of the portfolio and galleries have to be copied manually. In addition, in the themes of the design, most often there are elements that will not work with another topic – headlines, information, banners, etc.. Additionally, you have to make a localization file with the translation of all built -in inscriptions into Russian (and others) language.

Theme settings in WordPress

Why is it better to buy a theme?

As we already wrote, templates are made by professionals. In addition to the appearance, the topic should be compatible with the necessary plugins, that is, those parts of the site that provide the desired functionality.

Suppose a good professional makes a topic. He can sell it 300 times for $ 50 and get 15,000. He can sell it to you alone, but he will ask for the same 15,000 for it. Well, even if 10,000, ordinary sites should not cost so much. At the same time, 300 sites on one template are such a drop in the sea of ​​the Internet that your visitors are guaranteed to stumble upon it anywhere else.

Several times it was so that we ordered for sites the development of the template. But this has always been a specific need when the design was strictly dictated by a corporate designer, and the site’s functionality did not require the connection of third -party plugins. And still, the total cost turned out to be more expensive than the site of a higher level.

Where and how do we purchase themes?

Есть специализированные площадки. Одной из лучших явлется Themeforest. Там помимо 11 150 тем оформления представлены еще 7100 плагинов, расширяющих функциональность сайта. Все они гарантированно совместимы между собой, что очень важно.

1. 1. Having received the main ideas and thoughts from the customer about the future site, we set filters and watch the topics. Those that seemed to us are studied more carefully. Then we send links to five topics of the design with what to pay attention to.
   2. If no one is coming from the sent five, we find out what exactly does not like, what is superfluous, what is missing and send five more topics, taking into account the comments.
   3. If from these five it is not possible to choose, we give a link to the repository itself (the place where the topics are sold) with an explanation of how to look for, what to pay attention to and what is not so important that the customer himself finds a suitable solution. The fact is that the choice of topic is a completely matter of taste. You may not be able to describe your wishes to us, but it may happen that you accidentally stumble upon a template of the design that you have not even imagined, but which you will like it extremely.