Choose WordPress Theme
How To Choose a WordPress Theme
What to Do and Not to Do During Your Search for a WordPress Theme
A reliable web design firm in Thailand can help you pick the perfect WordPress theme for you. With the tens and thousands of WordPress themes on the web, it would probably take you days to go through all of them on your own. How will you narrow down your search, then?
Needless to say, it is a must to choose the perfect theme, the right theme that will add pizzazz to your content, make it responsive across all devices, and loads in a snap of a finger. Before you invest your time in customizing a theme or buy one, here are a few dos and don’ts to remember when looking for a WordPress theme.
List the Features You Need in Advance
Before you choose a theme, it is of utmost importance to determine the essential features and the not-so-essential ones. WordPress Feature Filter can make it very easy and simple to customize your quest for free themes according to the specific features you need and want, such as allowing a flexible header and being translation ready. It is also best to already have a design in mind before you make a selection. For example, you must determine if you want one column or several columns for your site.
As far as WordPress themes are concerned, less is more. As you build from scratch, your chosen theme must have all the features to help you achieve your website’s goal and not those needless ones that can only make your theme look cluttered.
Don’t Go for a Bloated Theme
This one is important because you wouldn’t want to clutter your theme with features that might just hurt you down the road. It might be nice to have a theme rich in features but it can have negative effects on your website’s performance. Make sure you stop yourself from installing all features you find cool.
While it might be alluring to have gaming capabilities and fancy music players, these might only detract from website performance. Also, developers usually use code found online for such features that can create weak spots for security since they are not focused on website security but on performing a particular function.
Settle for a Responsive Theme
A responsive design means an ultra-easy and seamless use of the website not only on laptops but also on several devices. It means that it is mobile compatible and comes with menus as well as other easy-to-navigate widgets. Search for features such as flexible images and fluid site grid that can also translate to non-desktop devices. A good example of a responsive theme is one that easily translates on mobile devices with no hiccups. Don’t just pick a theme because you love it.
Make sure it is also responsive at the same time! 🙂
Pay Attention to Color
Take note that the majority of online marketing has been based on visual appearance, with these colors also increasing brand recognition. If you got a logo, you can try matching your color scheme of the logo. When you stick to neutrals, you can make things more interesting with some hints of color here and there. WordPress can make it extremely easy to change the appearance including the colors of the theme by entering in the custom CSS or going straight to the file.
When deciding between light and dark, note that statistics revealed that website visitors prefer sites with lighter colors. While you don’t have to say absolutely no to dark designs, if you go for the darker side, remember that you are also reducing readability and the chance to include more traditional design elements.
Buy a Premium Theme If Possible
Although free themes are perfect if you are on a tight budget, these might prevent a few problems. Apart from the possibility that the coding quality is not up to far, the use of free themes also comes with the risk of lack of regular updates and support and the author of the theme abandoning it altogether. On the other hand, premium themes are more dynamic and typically offer more features compared to free ones that will set you apart from the rest.
Avoid Themes with Hard to Read Fonts
It all boils down to being able to capture the attention of your visitors right away to prevent them from abandoning your site. Your goal here is to offer your audience easy navigation of your site. See to it that your fonts are simple, readable, and sophisticated.
If you have some familiarity with CSS, you wouldn’t have a hard time going in and adjusting the font even though there are several themes with limited customization, something you need to consider during the process of choosing your theme.
Perform a Thorough Test of Your Chosen Theme
One thing you should always do is to test a theme to determine its efficiency and check if it is up to all the existing WordPress standards.
After you are finished with the necessary tweaks and your content has all been uploaded, you need to review your website before you launch it for the rest of the world to see.
Read every piece of content once again, check how your website looks on mobile devices, and ensure that all images you use load properly.
Also, you might want to consider investing in a quality hosting solution that offers staging environments and installing a child theme plugin.
Some of the best places where you can buy some quality themes include Theme Forest, Elegant Themes, Studio Press, Woo Themes, and Theme Trust.
What’s Next?
Hopefully, the article was able to give you a few ideas that can help simplify and narrow down your theme selection process. The best thing about WordPress is that if you ever decide to change your theme in the future, you still have the flexibility of doing so. Take note of these dos and don’ts so you can be on your way to choosing the perfect theme for you.