Building Your Website With WordPress Themes: Dos And Don’ts

While developing websites with WordPress, you have the option to choose from thousands of paid and open source themes. Each WordPress theme allows you to design the user interface of the website without writing longer lines of code. You can take advantage of front-end layout components (page layout, font style, graphics, colors, and widget placement) to control how your website looks and displays content across multiple browsers. But you have to remember that WordPress has a much larger global market share than other content management systems. A single theme can be used by a large number of websites. Therefore, there are always chances that a theme can be seen on your website identical to several other websites. You need to focus on a number of do’s and don’ts when selecting and using WordPress themes.

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Choose the right theme

Compared to other content management systems, WordPress provided a larger number of free themes. Therefore, you can have the choice between many free and paid WordPress themes. But a single theme may not meet the requirements of all websites. When comparing themes, you should consider the look and feel of the website and the presentation of the content. It’s also a great idea to try out various themes to decide on the WordPress theme that accurately complements your website’s needs.

Decide the key features

You can easily choose the right theme for your website by defining its colors, width, columns, navigation option and other important features. Likewise, you must also decide the nature and purpose of the website. When the theme complements the precise needs of the website, it becomes easier for you to avoid customizations and modifications. Also, you can add specific features to the website without using additional plugins. However, you can always opt for themes that allow you to make changes to its key components like layout, width, and column spacing via the dashboard.

Opt for simple and light themes

The loading speed of your website will directly affect the user experience and search engine visibility. You should not affect the speed of your website by choosing WordPress themes that are feature-rich or use large files such as background images and videos. Similarly, you should opt for a theme that has been regularly updated to improve website speed based on its high-quality source code. You can easily check website loading speed with a specific theme using a number of online tools.

Consider using paid themes

Many developers opt for free WordPress themes to save money. But you can always get a number of benefits (reliable code base and technical support) by investing in a premium theme. Premium themes will make your website look different without additional customization. There are also certain premium themes that are designed as web design tools. You can use such themes to create custom page layouts and other components.

Implement responsive web design

When selecting a WordPress theme, you shouldn’t forget the fact that most people today access websites on their mobile devices. You need to implement responsive web design so that the website looks good on both computers and mobile devices. That is why; it becomes essential to opt for a WordPress theme that makes your website responsive and mobile friendly. You can always avoid the additional use of mobile plugins by using a theme that makes your website look good on different devices.

Explore options to customize themes

Paid WordPress themes will make it easy for you to make the website look and feel different. But you may need to use free themes to reduce project overhead. If you opt for a free theme, it becomes essential to customize it according to your specific needs. You can easily make changes to an existing WordPress theme if you are proficient in commonly used web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Also, you can use a number of tools to customize the WordPress theme without rewriting or modifying its source code.

Check compatibility with browsers and plugins

You must remember that users will access your website in various browsers. But there are chances that a single WordPress theme will not make your website look good in all browsers. Therefore, you should perform a basic browser compatibility test to check how the theme looks in all major web browsers. Similarly, you should also check if the theme is compatible with all the plugins required by your website. When the theme supports plugins required by your website, you can easily add functionality to the website through plugins.

not to do

Don’t focus on functionality

Unlike plugins, themes are not responsible for the functionality of the website. You can use themes just to make your website content look attractive on various devices. There are a number of premium themes that come with additional features like search engine optimization. But you can easily add functionality to the WordPress application using specific plugins. Therefore, you should opt for themes that support basic WordPress features.

Do not forget to evaluate each topic thoroughly

You have the option to choose from a large number of WordPress themes. Some of these themes are free while others are premium or paid. But the quality of the individual tracks differs. Therefore, you should not choose a theme based on the visually striking photography used by the WordPress web developer. It is always important to evaluate each theme thoroughly and make sure it meets all of your website needs. Evaluation will help you avoid making changes to the theme in the future.

Don’t forget to read user reviews and ratings

There are many cases where WordPress themes directly affected the security of websites. Therefore, you need to assess the quality and reliability of each WordPress theme by collecting information from various sources. It is always important to read the reviews and ratings posted by other users to accurately assess the quality of a theme.

Overall, you can significantly reduce your website development time by using WordPress themes. But the quality and reliability of the individual themes differ. Therefore, you need to create the website with the right WordPress theme and customize the theme to make your website look and feel different.