WordPress Themes are a significant reason why the platform has dominated the internet for so long. There are thousands to choose from within WordPress and thousands more on third-party vendor sites. The result is a highly diverse range of designs and capabilities where little to no coding knowledge is required. When choosing a theme, there are important considerations that need to be accounted for before going all in on the first one that catches your eye.
Probably the primary criterion is what you intend to do with the site. There are themes that work great for something like a news site but would be horrible for an e-commerce store. Similarly, something that looks cool as a portfolio site probably isn’t the best fit for a text-heavy blog. Luckily, the good people at WordPress have implemented filters to narrow down the choices and provide a list that may be more in line with your needs.
A close second-place finisher is how much customization you need. There are plenty of “free” themes to choose from, and the previews look great. With the easy theme installation WordPress offers, that awesome hero video section is just a couple of clicks away. But when you load up your new site, it looks nothing like what you saw in the preview, you can’t change any fonts, and you only get to pick from three different colors. That’s because the preview you saw was actually the Pro version, and they don’t just give the good stuff away for free. Now you’re stuck with Josephine Slab in black or green, no pre-built widgets, and a terrible looking site.
WordPress Themes are varied and allow many different types of sites for photographers, businesses, and other types of organizations.
Even with some of the more customizable themes, there still may be some feature you just really have to have, but it may require a little bit of coding knowledge to get it just the way you want it. Maybe you saw something in another theme that you really want in the other theme you just installed. Maybe you just want to slow a couple of things down or make something look slightly different than what the theme provides. In that case, you will need a little bit of coding knowledge.
A final consideration is support. How often does the theme receive updates and new features? Lack of updates indicates a lack of support. It could also mean that there are now vulnerabilities in the theme that could potentially be exploited. That’s why it’s important to check the ratings and when the last update occurred. You could be walking into a mess that is no longer compatible three months down the line.
Wrapping Up
Now that you have a general idea about WordPress Themes and their benefits, it’s time to apply one to your site. If you’re having trouble picking between the thousands of choices available, check out this video from Hostinger Academy for their selection of the 10 Best WordPress Themes for 2023. Or you can read the latest news and updates on Themes and all things WordPress from WPTips on X.
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About Me
Jason is a graphic designer based in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area with experience in art direction, print design, web design, branding, journalism and photography. I served eight years in the United States Army as an electronics technician and a public affairs specialist. I hold degrees in Biological Business Management from N.C. State and Graphic Design from East Carolina University.
8 thoughts on “Considerations when selecting a WordPress Theme”
Hey John,
I can appreciate the time you put into writing this post. I like the minimalist feel of the theme you’ve worked on for this site as well, it is very clean and professional in appearance. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
Well written article! Your site looks great as well!
Thank you!
Hi Jason, your website looks great! For a second I thought I got redirected somehow to a random commercial / company website! That’s how well made it is… very professional, clean, bright and with formal stock photos, well done!
Thank you!
Hey Jason, I just wanted to say I love how simple but clean your webpage is. It’s super easy to navigate and the information on this post is super helpful!