The WordPress user may have an excitement to customize the site as per the imagination of what the finished site would appear. If you are deprived of coding or designing part, then executing the vision of the imagined site may be a tedious work. Luckily, WordPress themes have come up as a boon to the users who do not have knowledge about coding and designing of websites.
The WordPress themes allow the user to customize the site as per requirement and even build in additional features. The selection of right theme can avail the customization of site as per the desired specifications without any technical knowledge.
What is a WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme is a combination of graphics, code, and sheets that enhances the appearance of the website. They are used to organize the entire site layout and even minute modifications like change of hyperlink color and more. People think of it just as a website skin, but it has much more features than that. It not only provides the desired look to the site but also avails the user to have complete control of the site presentation. The right theme selection of the website will help in the improvisation of the visual appearance, offer customization of design, and incorporate additional features as per the needs.
How does free WordPress Themes differ from Premium ones?
In contrast to the myth that premium theme is always better than a free theme, both of them have their own merits and de-merits and should be chosen depending on the requirements.
Free WordPress themes are ideal for the individuals or firms willing to try out multiple designs before executing a particular theme, and are the perfect solution for beginners. The users can experiment as they are cost-free, have approval by WordPress official directory, and have great compatibility with official WordPress plugins. But if the user has the preference of visual appearance and functionality, it may not meet up the needs. The free themes are not distinct as it is chosen by a number of users and the site won’t stand out having limited features, and do not have a dedicated support team to resolve the technical issues.
Best Premium WordPress themes will enable the extended options for site customization, provide regular updates, and have a dedicated support team for technical issues. The premium themes are not cost-effective and once purchased do not have the option to make alteration. They have extended features which may not be easy to fetch and requires more of learning to execute them. The premium themes are created by different creators and may not have assured quality and plugin compatibility as they have no official review by WordPress.
What are the effective ways to set up a WordPress theme?
There are three most effective ways to set up a WordPress theme:
Theme Installation through a Theme Directory
- The user can access the theme directory from the WordPress dashboard. Login to WordPress admin section for browsing the directory and move on to Appearance-Themes section and select the Add New button. You can select the themes from latest, favorites, or popular categories that appear on the next screen.
- If you are aware of the particular theme you are willing to use, then just type the name in the Search themes section. There is an option of Feature Filter that will provide the themes sorted as per different categories like layout, subject, and particular features. After selection of the theme to be installed, just click on the image of the theme, and further select the Install option.
- The theme will be installed successfully by WordPress and select the Activate button to initialize the use of particular theme. The theme will get activated and the site will appear in this new theme. There may be some additional settings in certain themes required for configuration and may as the user to install mandatory WordPress plugins as well. The themes can be customized as per the user specifications.
Theme Installation through Upload Technique
- If the user has a premium theme sourced from a 3rd party, then to upload the theme via WordPress dashboard is an easy task. The first step is to download .zip file of the premium theme.
- Login to WordPress admin account and select Appearance in the dashboard to select the theme. Choose the Add New option on the header of the page and click on Upload Theme.
- After choosing Upload theme option, select Choose File and and move on .zip folder that is already downloaded. Install the .zip file.
- Click on Install and after successful installation of the desired theme, select Activate to live the theme on the website.
Theme Installation through an FTP method
- If the user wants to try his skills on a complex theme installation, it can be done through FTP method. To initiate the process, download FTP client on the desktop which is a software tool that avails the user to add or delete files on the server of your website.
- The next step involves access of hosting provider account via FTP client. The setup of individual FTP user account is a tedious task which varies with different hosting provider. The host provider will provide a unique username and password that will be needed while setting up the FTP client account of the user.
- Download the .zip file and unzip the files by extracting them to the desired folder. Now, open the wp-content in WordPress directory and go to the themes folder where you will find the already installed WordPress themes. Upload the extracted folder here.
- After completing the upload via FTP client, go back to the themes section in the WordPress dashboard. The new uploaded theme will appear in the downloaded themes section. Select the particular theme and activate the new theme to live it on the website. There may be requirement of some plugins for better functionality of the site which will result in the site enhancement.
The article provides complete knowledge about the WordPress theme and the effective ways to set up a WordPress theme. The themes in website play an important role to depict the significance of the particular website.