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Seven Points To Consider When Choosing A New Wordpress Theme

This is part six of A Beginner’s Guide To Wordpress – in part five I touched on some of the different concepts that are associated with Wordpress sites – one of those was themes.

There is such a wide choice of themes around now that it can be difficult to make a decision about which is the best one to go for. In this post I cover seven things that you should consider when choosing a new theme for your site.

Free and Premium Themes

Before covering the main points, it’s worth providing some background information. There are typically two types of Wordpress themes – ones that are free and ones that you pay for (i.e. Premium themes). Premium themes are generally better designed, look nicer, and have a wider range of functions that you can make use of. However, there are also lots of good quality free themes that you can download and start using straight away.

It’s also worth noting that not all so-called “Premium” themes are truly that – you have to be careful and make sure you do your research before buying as you otherwise run the risk of wasting your hard-earned cash!

A relatively new addition to the Wordpress Admin panel is the ability to search for and install themes – this is great as you can quickly try out different themes all from inside the Admin area. However, only free themes will be returned when you perform a search, so if you’re after a premium template you’ll need to look elsewhere. Check out out some of the premium templates available here Voosh Themes.

Previewing A Wordpress Theme

Previewing a theme that you’ve found via the search facility in your Admin area is quite straightforward. You simply need to install it (via the link under the “Actions” column in your search results), navigate to the “Appearance” section of the Admin area, and then select the thumbnail of the theme you’ve installed.

This will result in a popup box being displayed where you can see how your site will look if you activate the theme. You can also click on links which allows you to see how different types of pages will be rendered by the theme. If you like what you see, then select the “Activate Theme” option in the top-right of the popup box.

Installing premium themes involves a similar process – first you need to download your theme from the author’s website and then upload it to your “/wp-content/themes/” folder (using your FTP software of choice). Once you’ve done this the process is essentially the same as with free themes – you log into your Admin area, navigate to the “Appearance” section, select the thumbnail of your new theme, and then activate it.

The ease with which you can change the whole appearance of your site like this really is one of the main selling points of Wordpress. If you had a static website the effort required in updating everything would be a nightmare. Wordpress, however, makes the whole process nice and simple!

Top Tips For Choosing Your Theme

OK, so now that we’ve covered some of the background in choosing and installing a template, I want to highlight seven things that are worth considering when you choose your new Wordpress theme.

1. Should You Go For A Free or Premium Theme?

It depends – if you find a nice free theme that you’re happy with and it has all the functions you need, then it makes sense to go for that. However, the only problem here is that lots of other people may also have the same theme (given that it’s free and the popluarity of Wordpress), so it’s not great if you want to set your site apart from others. If this isn’t a problem for you then go for the free theme – however, if you’re looking for a more unique design that requires some extra functions that aren’t typically provided by free themes, a premium template may be the way to go. You may also be able to get support thrown in with a premium theme (although this isn’t always the case), which can come in handy if you run into problems or want to change your theme further down the line.

2. Can You Easily Adapt The Theme To Your Needs?

Something you need to consider is how easily you can adapt a theme to meet your requirements. It’s rare to find a theme that’s a perfect match for what you need – it’s more likely that you’ll find something where you really like the look and feel, but that some aspect of it needs tweaking. So, consider how much work it’s going to be to tweak the theme – it’s much simpler to change things like color, font type, and font size than it is to change the structure and framework. If the changes you need to make are quite drastic, then it might be better to choose another theme. However, if you’re up for a challenge, and want to learn more about Wordpress themes, it might be perfect for you!

3. What Theme Options Are Provided?

Some themes will provide options that enable you to configure and change their appearance and functions via the Admin panel – normally through the use of dropdown boxes and textfields. It’s worth investigating the options that the theme makes available – what level of control do they provide in changing the look and functioning of the site? Are effects like image sliders easily configureable? Can you easily change to a different color scheme?

4. Would You Like To Use Widgets?

A widget-enabled theme allows you to easily alter and add functions to your site without having to get your hands dirty with code. If this is important to you, ensure that the theme you’re interested in is widget-enabled (not all of them are!). If it’s not, you may want to look at other options.

5. What Additional Features Are Provided?

Premium themes tend offer extra features – some of these are genuinely useful, whilst others just add bloat. Don’t be fooled into thinking a theme is good just because it offers lots of features – you need to think about the features you actually need and whether or not the theme provides them.

6. Do You Get The Source Files?

Another important point to consider is whether you get the source files – in particular, the source Photoshop files that contain all the images and design of the theme. This can come in very handy at future points in time if you want to adapt the look of your site’s template. Some theme developers often charge more if you want the source files – typically you’ll see them offering a standard license (without the source files) and a development license with the source files included (with the premium themes available here at Voosh Themes you always get the source Photoshop files included as standard).

7. Does The Theme Author Provide Support?

Something else that is worth checking out is whether the theme author provides support for the theme. This is less likely to be the case for free themes (although some authors do still provide help), but should be expected when purchasing a premium theme. It’s likely that you will need some help in configuring and setting up the template you’ve purchased, so ensuring that support is available is key.

Conclusion

OK – that’s it for this installment of A Beginner’s Guide To Wordpress. Hopefully you’re now aware of the types of things that you need to give some consideration to when choosing a new Wordpress theme – whether it’s a free or premium one. The next part of the guide is the final one and I’m going to touch on some of the best plugins that you’ll want to install when you create your new Wordpress site.

Table Of Contents

1. What Makes Wordpress So Great?
2. Understanding How Wordpress Works
3. Five Essential Things You Need For Building A Wordpress Blog
4. How To Complete A Fresh Wordpress Install
5. Wordpress Posts, Pages, And Other Concepts
6. Seven Points To Consider When Choosing A New Wordpress Theme
7. Ten Free Wordpress Plugins That You Should Install