Learning about then WordPress Themes Builder’s Guide

WordPress Themes Builder’s Guide

The most relaible theme guide that make things for you to manage and customise. The straight forward guide helps you to learn quicker and saves time.

You will discover how themes can save you thousands of dollars in a year on web development or website design cost.

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Learn from the guide to save lots of time and money on website development or website design costs and make customising your website design easy.

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Themes provide website owners with professional yet really inexpensive website templates that are easy to customize and could save you and your business hundreds of dollars on website development costs.

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In this blog post series on helping you understand WordPress features, we look at what WP themes are, how it can help your business and how WP themes can help you easily customize your website.

Powerful web management platforms like the WordPress CMS have effectively simplified web design and web development for business owners. This is a great news for businesses and individuals planning to build their own website which they can also manage themselves.

Prior to “blogging” and the development of sophisticated content management systems, if you needed a site, you typically would have to wait until both the web development and website design processes were fully completed. This process could take many weeks, even many months!

The development of themes helped change all this. In this blog post, you will learn what themes are and how they can help you and your business save money on web development costs, and how WP themes let you easily customize your WordPress site.

A Revolution In Web Site Design

More businesses today have been benefiting from a tremendous change in web design that started several years ago. If you own a business, you may want to know more about this, because it could save you thousands of dollars on web development and web design costs.

In a nutshell, this is what typically took place before WordPress were introduced:

First, you would discuss your project with a website developer or designer. Next, the design itself would be discussed and agreed upon. This involved time and money being spent with a professional web designer discussing design elements of your site, such as the, colours, styles, graphic elements, content, etc.

Every page of your website then had to be individually created with the elements and codes written into the content. All the pages were then assembled together into a website using link and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, together with all other files needed to make your website work – script libraries, graphic images, media, etc.

(image source:adobe.com)

Only after everything had been tested and worked the way it was supposed to (and looking the way a client had wanted it to look), was the site deemed as being finished and ready to go live.

The next phase in the evolution of business web design was the introduction of “web templates”. A website template allows presentation elements of the website to be worked on separately from content on the page. The introduction of ready-made templates helped to speed up the process of developing web sites and resulted in reduced production costs. This also allowed web development companies to expand their services to include small businesses with smaller budgets …

(image source: www.dreamweaver-templates.org)

As more small businesses started using “template-based” web design services, templates started being created that offered various customizable features, such as the ability to switch colours, styles, layouts

As websites and website building tools developed, website templates also began to evolve into website template “systems”, which allowed users and web designers to customize their web site’s visual elements.

And then, a “blogging” software called WordPress was developed and helped to start a new online publishing revolution …

A WordPress theme pushes website template systems, even further.

The WordPress theme system controls and integrates every aspect of your web site design. It lets you add a “skin” over your site similarly to what a template system does, but also gives you more control over the management and customization aspects of all template features.

As explained in the official WordPress site …

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Themes may include customized template files, image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).

(source: WordPress.org)

As the above states, one of the unique features of the WordPress theme is that how your website looks to visitors externally in no way affects your site’s content management aspects.

Basically, what this means is that you can modify the design of your site as much and as often as you want without modifying your website’s content and all the work you’ve put into it. For example, if you have configured your site for e-commerce, replacing the theme won’t affect the content or the functionality of the site. All e-commerce features, settings, and product information will remain intact, but the site will look completely different.

This is huge! Why?

Because with WordPress, you no longer have to wait until your site’s web design is completed. You can get your website built quickly and get started with any theme you want, and change the entire look, feel and design of your site in a few minutes, whenever you choose as often as you like!

Even better, you can easily replace any theme on your site without needing web code development skills. Just pick a theme you want, upload it to your site and activate it. WordPress allows you to change your web design and customize elements like headers, layout, styling options and more in a few seconds …

Since WordPress is made available as open source software, commercial web design companies from all over the world can design themes specifically for the WP CMS platform using the WP template system.

This means that thousands of high quality WordPress themes are made available to WordPress users. WP are generally distributed for Free under the terms of the GNU General Public License Definition, or sold as Premium (paid) themes.

The WordPress team keeps a FREE directory of WordPress themes which gives WordPress users access thousands of great themes at no cost â€¦

(WordPress.org – Free WP Theme Directory)

As the popularity of WordPress increases, more designers are now focusing on creating themes for a wider range of applications.

Theme varies from minimal-looking, to stylish designs, that are quite spectacular and could typically cost thousands of dollars to design. Surprisingly, most premium WordPress themes can be bought quite inexpensively, especially when you compare the cost to what it would have cost you if a website designer had to build it from scratch.

Benefits And Advantages Of WP Themes

Here are just some of the benefits of using WordPress themes over using traditional web template design:

Ready To Start Using In Minutes

Theme are very easy to install on your site. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate. Even easier still, you can install any of the themes listed in the WordPress theme directory at WordPress.org) directly from your WP admin’s “Theme” section.

Additionally …

WordPress has a large online community of commercial theme designers who, collectively, make thousands of fantastic WordPress Themes available to WP users. Many of these themes are 100% free to use!
Themes give sites a consistent “look and feel” across all the blog’s elements, such as pages, headers, footers, menus, etc …
A “theme” works independently of your blog’s content. This makes it possible to change themes as often as you want without disturbing the underlying content.
Many themes provide additional built-in features and options that enable you to easily customize the theme’s style and design properties to create a unique look to suit your preferences.
Many themes are built using a framework that allows users to upgrade the theme to a newer theme version without losing any unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
WordPress lets you search, upload, install and update WordPress Themes automatically right within your site’s administration interface.
Themes helps you save thousands of dollars on website design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium”themes are normally very affordable.

Responsive WP Themes

Many theme developers are now creating themes that incorporate “responsive” functionality.

A responsive theme enables websites to automatically resize to display smoothly over different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as different devices (e.g. lap tops, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) …

A responsive theme is also optimized for different platforms. Users can scroll, read and load your site on different device browsers without having to readjust their browser settings, or requiring website owners to install additional display elements.

Note: When purchasing WordPress themes, it’s a good idea to choose a responsive WordPress theme. Not only will the theme ensure that your website will work correctly across all of your visitors’ devices, it also means that the theme is newer than non-responsive themes and therefore probably complies with the latest standards, practices and techniques of web design coding.

I hope this overview has helped you gain a better understanding about WP themes, what WordPress themes are, how themes can help your business save money on website development costs, and how themes make it easy to customize a website.

WordPress is huge and can sometimes be overwhelming about where to start. As you move on to the next Page, you will have a clearer picture of where to start and progress to building a professional WordPress Site.

WordPress Tutorials Index

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WordPress Features Explained – WordPress Themes

WordPress Themes – Powerful, Flexible & Cost-Effective Web Design

Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress has simplified the process of web design and web development.

This is great news for anyone wanting an online presence that they can fully manage themselves.

Prior to “blogging” and the introduction of easy-to-use content management systems, if you wanted a website, you had to wait until both the web development and web design processes were fully completed.

In a nutshell, here’s how things typically worked in “traditional” web design before WordPress Themes came along: The video below explains how to customise your WordPress.

First, you would discuss your project requirements with a web developer or web designer. Then, the “web design” itself had to be discussed and agreed upon. This meant time spent with someone with web design skills going over the layout, colors, styles, page elements, content, etc. of your web site .

Each page of your website then had to be individually created with all of the design elements and scripts coded around the content. All pages were then assembled together into a website using links and navigation menus and uploaded to your server, along will all other files required to make your site work – script libraries, images, media, etc.

Your website will be ready Once everything worked the way it should and looked the way you imagined it to look.

Then, web design “templates” came along. Web templates allow the content to be separated from the presentation in web design. Having ready-made templates helped to speed up the web development process and allowed for mass-production of web documents. This lowered production costs and suited the needs of clients with lower marketing budgets.

As more small businesses began choosing “template-based” websites, templates were developed that offered a number of customization features and options, such as the ability to switch colors, pick styles, rearrange layouts and so on.

As websites and web editor applications evolved, web templates also began evolving into web template “systems”, which controlled all of the visual aspects of a website, i.e. its web design.

Then, WordPress came along and helped to kick off a new web revolution.

About WordPress Themes

“Themes” take the concept of a web template “system” further.

The “theme” system controls the design aspects of a website and allows you to add a “skin” to your site much like a web template system does, but it also gives you more control over the “look and feel” and presentation of the material on your website.

According to the official WordPress site …

A Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. It modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. It may include customized template files, image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).

(source: WordPress.org)

Because WordPress is Open Source software, it allows professional web designers from all over the world to create themes specifically for the WordPress platform using the WordPress template system.

This means that thousands of high quality WordPress themes are available to users. They are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or sold as Premium (paid) themes.

The WordPress development team maintains a FREE WordPress Theme Directory which gives users access to thousands of great themes at no cost …

As more businesses turn to WordPress for publishing and managing their content online, more designers are now focusing on creating themes for a wider audience of site owners.

They range from simple, stylish and professional looking, to visually stunning and highly creative designs that would normally cost thousands of dollars to commission, but are surprisingly very inexpensive to buy.

You can view a number of WordPress theme galleries containing stunning examples of some that you can have immediate access to further down the page.

Benefits And Advantages Of Using WordPress Themes

Here are just some of the unique benefits and advantages of using WordPress themes over choosing traditional web design:

It has a large and thriving (and growing) community of professional web designers who, collectively, make thousands of great-looking, high quality WordPress Themes available to users. Many of these themes are 100% free to use!
It gives sites a unified and consistent “look and feel” across all of the site’s elements, i.e. pages, headers, footers, menus, layout, etc …
A “theme” works independently of your site’s content. This makes it possible to change themes as often as you like (and hence the “look and feel” of your site) without affecting the content.
Many provide various features and options that allow you to easily customize the theme’s layout and design properties to create a unique look and style to suit your preferences.
Many are are built using a framework that allows you to update your theme to a newer theme version without losing any of your unique customizations (e.g. CSS styles)
It allows you to search, import and install WordPress Themes automatically from your site’s administration interface.
Themes allow users to save thousands of dollars on web design costs. Free themes cost nothing and most “Premium” WordPress themes are typically very inexpensive.

You can easily install a theme on your site without any web design knowledge required. Simply choose a theme, upload it to your site and activate it. WordPress lets you change your entire site’s web design with just a couple of mouse clicks …

With WordPress, you no longer have to wait until your site’s web design is completed. You can get started with any theme you like, and then completely change the look, feel and design of your site in seconds, whenever you want … and as often as you like!

Responsive WordPress Themes

Many WordPress Theme developers are now creating “responsive” themes.

A responsive theme allows a website to automatically readjust itself to display smoothly across different monitor sizes and screen resolutions, as well as different platforms (e.g. computers, tablets, mobile devices) …

A responsive theme is also optimized for each platform. Users can navigate, read and load a site on different devices without having to resize anything, or requiring the website owner to install additional themes.

Now that you understand WordPress themes a little better, let’s show you where to find great themes for your website.

Choosing A WordPress Theme For Your Website

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Theme Directory, go here: http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

If you are looking for “mouth-watering” web design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and ongoing support, you can search through the theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Solo Stream

Solo Stream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality professional themes and the option of accessing all through a WordPress theme membership.

(click on the images above to browse more SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates stunning eye-catching themes and offer a membership option that allows you to access all themes in their growing theme collection.

(click on the images above to browse more WooThemes themes)

ThemeForest

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 7,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $1) …

(click on the images above to browse more ThemeForest themes)

Store Front

Store Front specializes in e-commerce themes for WordPress. Their themes integrate well with powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins.

(click on the images above to browse more StoreFront themes)

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional website that is highly search optimized, and provides auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

One low price entitles you to receive unlimited support and updates, and install your themes on unlimited domains. for more details, click here: StudioPress.

(click on the images above to browse more StudioPress themes)

A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your site, we recommend sticking to the ones listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A number of websites offering “Free” WordPress Themes have sprung up around the web and some of these have been found to be distributing themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites will even come up at the top of Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes”. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme directory, or well known and trusted sites.

If you have any doubts about whether a theme installed on your site may contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

Hopefully this information has given you a better understanding of themes and why many people choose WordPress when it comes to building their websites.