No need to worry about choosing your WordPress theme. Here are some practical tips that will help you complete your quest.
In this article, we will discuss how we should choose our WordPress theme. WordPress, as a content management system, allows its user to create and personalize their own site. But its optimization will nevertheless depend on the choices and configurations adopted by the webmaster.
The outline of a successful WordPress theme
There are many themes, which are free or paid, that we can find and use easily in WordPress. This is already a basic notion on which we should hardly be mistaken. We should not judge that a free WordPress theme, according to the stereotypes that some will be used to think, is systematically mediocre. Or that a paid theme is necessarily better too.
The choice of a WordPress theme depends on the needs of the site:
- For what purpose was the site created? So, if it’s to explain how to install any application or present your photos for example. For example, we would choose an appearance with more multimedia (photos, videos, etc.).
- Who are the target visitors for this site? To illustrate, we would opt for an advanced sophistication of the menus and options present on the site. This in order to retain the attention of technicians who will offer themselves the pleasure and satisfaction of judging at a glance.
- What kind of content is the site supposed to contain? We would focus mainly on a theme with background images, with enhanced brightness or pages with several writing ranges in order to spread a strongly “textual” content.
However, we believe that no pre-established theme, free or not, will be up to the personalization of each user. This does not prevent the webmaster from starting with a theme offered in WordPress and then improving it afterwards. Moreover, it is conventional that a novice user chooses to opt for a ready-to-use theme in order to gain further experience. The main advantage of a custom design is to have a unique appearance for your website.
Mistakes to avoid when choosing a WordPress theme
Naturally, many newbies make the same mistakes when choosing a WordPress theme:
- By literally adapting to the options presented in the theme. We must comply with the principle that it is our needs that define the choice of our theme and not the other way around. The developer is invited to view several themes beforehand before deciding on the choice of his site. We also recommend that beginners never hesitate to change the theme in case of the wrong choice. Or to change the project following the subsequent existence of a better proposal.
- By indulging in excessive use of expansion modules. These are innovations, options that the WordPress CMS does not have by default. However, the installation of unofficial plugins can constitute incidents for the security of the site. Placing plugins in bulk will significantly decrease page loading speed. Because some plugins do not work well together and would then require the intervention of an experienced developer.
- By choosing a theme whose design language is not that of the site to be created and especially if you do not practice this language. Some themes, even with an attractive appearance, are often presented in English, which is common. But this constraint should not disturb a purely French-speaking user, you can use it if you feel comfortable using them.
- And finally, using too many shortcodes in the design of the site. Shortcodes allow you to set up interactive elements and dynamic content. But the fact that a site depends a lot on shortcodes keeps its designer from having recourse to them whenever a modification is required. Several updates proposed by WordPress would therefore not be applicable in the interest of the conservation of information on the site.
Practical advice for choosing an optimized WordPress theme
WordPress is known to be easy and easy to use for both experts and beginners. However, the choice of theme is very important for the quality of the website. To do this, we suggest that you refer to well-known sites including obviously that of WordPress for the acquisition of your themes. It is less risky and more likely to find a good theme adapted to your needs in terms of design alone, an element that we should not neglect especially since it constitutes the first approach to attracting visitors.
In addition, for an optimum quality/price ratio, we advise you to opt for free themes if you are new to development in order to familiarize yourself with WordPress. But also if you think you want to start a personal blog or want to get something simple without advanced features. Otherwise, acquiring a paid theme would be more appropriate.
In any case, we strongly recommend the overlap between the needs of your site and the features offered by the theme to choose.
- Check if there is compatibility with essential plugins for your site
- Check the possibility of translation into other languages if necessary
- Analyze the shortcodes contained in the theme since they influence the performance and attributes of the site itself. The lack of shortcodes would limit the functionality of the site, while the abundance could cause unpleasant latency, etc.
And finally, technically, we advise you to choose a theme that does not necessarily require the installation of a third-party plug-in, a theme whose contents are generally managed by the theme rather than by plugins, a theme without repetitive links for the same target address, a theme with a correct loading time.
To conclude
Of course, the choice of an optimized WordPress theme depends largely on the user, the varieties are wide such as paid and free, simple and sophisticated. We hope this article has helped you in one way or another with your choice of WordPress theme.