Choosing a Theme
Themes
Choosing a WordPress theme can be tough, it is such an important factor in the overall form and appearance of your webpage. Also, and this is a great thing, there are so many different excellent themes to choose from. It can really be tedious to try and think about the current and future needs of your site as well as how you want to structure it while keeping in mind what the site is even about. Your content will dictate what kind of theme and what page structure makes the most sense for you, but then you are still left with a plethora of options that really just come down to what speaks to your style and taste. If you have a news site, you may want to search for and pick from more traditional news style layouts. If you plan to showcase a lot of art, you may want to go with a more simplistic theme that is mainly focuses on images and doesn’t have a lot of clutter to take away from the art.
My Experience
When I was choosing my first theme it was a bit overwhelming, there were tons of options that looked really good and I didn’t know where start. I noticed that some of the themes were designed with very specific uses in mind and with my site being more of a portfolio site it just did not make sense to use a lot of them. I ended up scrolling a while and installing quite a few that looked like they had potential. Then I decided to search for portfolio themes specifically and select more from there. During my selection process I viewed plenty of previews and kept an eye out for the sites that had color profiles that stood out to me. Also as a fan of dark themes on my apps and programs usually I selected quite a few that matched that criteria. Once I had a dozen or so installed, I went back and started narrowing them down from there. I ended up on this theme as I felt like it struck a good balance. It wasn’t too light for my taste, and wasn’t overly dark. It had primary colors and accent colors that looked really good as well as a very interactive and modern feel overall. The main picture when the site loads I thought was really cool, I knew that it was customizable but as a fan of nature I decided to keep that, at least for now. Most importantly the theme was a great fit for a personal or portfolio site and with some tweaks could be even more suitable.
See the video below for a strategic guide from an experienced professional on how to select the right theme for your site. He goes through a step by step process of what to keep in mind when you are searching for a theme to use and also talks about the benefits of paid themes vs free options. There are plenty of thought provoking tips included that are sure to help you narrow down what’s best for you.
View or join the conversation below where they discuss even more tips you can follow when choosing a theme for your WordPress site. Poster Mike Patch (Mikey118) shares his page where he outlines 10 additional helpful tips to follow. If you don’t see what you are looking for there, try searching reddit for specifically what you need. I often find useful information from active professionals posted and discussed. It may not always be the most reliable but reddit is another option for finding great WordPress and web development advice.
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Patrick Jeffers is a Charlotte, NC native and current student working on his second associates degree in Information Technology – Full Stack Programming. As a student of Central Piedmont Community College and Wake Tech, he aims to continue growing his skills for web and application development. As an Automotive Technician for nearly 15 years, he plans to use this new education as he transition careers into the tech industry.
It can be overwhelming to chose a theme. I like the one you selected.
Hey Patrick, great theme you have here, this site looks so sleek and professional
Thank You!
I love the theme you selected. It is very modern and cool looking.
Thank You!
This theme and post are so awesome, holy moly.
Thanks!