WordPress is known to be a highly customizable and flexible. The fact that there are more than 8,600 with generic or niche-specific designs in the official directory plays a big part in that.
Installing a suitable WordPress theme is a great way to maximize the potential of your website. In addition to creating a visually appealing design, it helps reinforce your brand and improve the visitor experience.
In this article, you will learn all about WordPress themes: what they are, what to consider before installing one, three different methods to install one on your site, and how to switch themes.
What is a WordPress theme?
A WordPress theme is a set of modifiable template files that, once installed, help establish a consistent design throughout your site without altering its core features. It does not normally affect the content, but instead alters the way it is displayed to website visitors.
WordPress themes adapt to all kinds of user preferences and needs. Each one comes with customizable layouts, with the option to modify your code, insert or add plugins.
There are WordPress themes for all kinds of pages, from to food blogs. There are also generic themes if you prefer them to niche-specific options.
Find themes on the or third-party theme marketplaces like and .
Things to consider before installing a WordPress theme
Finding the perfect theme for your website is essential due to a number of factors, in addition to the appearance of the site. It can also affect the overall user experience of the page and the way people perceive your brand:
- set a good impression. You only have a few seconds to convince people to stay on your website. A beautiful and eye-catching theme is crucial to do so.
- Strengthen credibility. Having a great appearance on your website makes you look professional, trustworthy, and thoughtful.
- Improve user experience. An attractive and well-organized website helps visitors easily find the information they are looking for.
- Increase dwell time. If your website is easy to navigate and attractive, visitors are more likely to stick around and explore more of the content.
However, to achieve these results, there are some factors that must be taken into account before installing WordPress themes.
How to choose the perfect theme for your website
There are countless themes for WordPress, whether official or third-party, such as and .
Finding and choosing the right one can be tricky. However, there are certain criteria you should keep in mind to narrow down your options.
The official WordPress theme directory has a feature filter that will help you discover your new theme. Simply select the filters according to your needs and press the button Apply filters.
Some themes are made for specific niches, like , and podcast themes. Others are more generic and multifunctional.
Therefore, the first thing to decide is the approach of your website. We suggest you choose something that better defines the objective.
Another aspect to take into account is the designsince it is about elements such as colors, layout, fonts and ease of navigation.
Check compatibility
As beautiful as it is, a theme should be compatible with your website so that you don’t run into technical issues later on. Consider these factors:
- Flexible. Choose a theme that you can easily improve or modify.
- . Themes can affect SEO in many ways. The two most important factors are fast loading time and proper HTML formatting.
- Plugin friendly. Make sure your theme is compatible with the ones you plan to use on the site.
- Multi platform. The theme must work and display correctly in different browsers and be . After all, most people use more than one device to find the information they need.
Free and Premium WordPress Themes
Contrary to popular belief, a premium theme is not always better than a free one. Each has its own pros and cons.
Free WordPress themes are a great solution for users who want to experiment with different layouts before committing to a theme. Also, they are ideal for small or personal websites with limited resources. Other advantages are:
- Economic. If you don’t like one, just switch to another. There is no need to pay a single penny.
- Compatible with official WordPress plugins. Free themes found in the official WordPress theme repository work perfectly with official WordPress plugins.
- WordPress Approved. Free themes listed in the official WordPress directory have gone through a rigorous review process.
Depending on the look and functionality you have in mind for the website, free WordPress themes may not fully meet your needs:
- they are not unique. Free themes are used by a lot of people, making it difficult for your site to stand out.
- limited features. Theme features are usually very basic and significantly less extensive than those found in paid themes.
- No custom support. When you have problems with the theme, you can usually only turn to the documentation and user forums, instead of getting help from a dedicated support team.
If you have the budget for a theme premium of WordPress, you will have access to:
- Extensive customization options. A premium theme usually offers more features to customize the website to your liking.
- Frequent updates. The theme developer will constantly update the theme with various improvements and bug fixes.
- Dedicated support. The theme development team will answer your questions and help you fix various technical issues as part of their service.
Using premium WordPress themes also has some disadvantages, such as:
- higher costs. If you decide that the theme you have purchased is not suitable, you cannot get your money back. Also, you may have to pay for extensions and integrations with other services.
- There is no guarantee of quality. Premium themes from different creators can vary in quality and plugin compatibility, especially since they are not officially reviewed by WordPress.
- Steeper learning curve. Learning how to properly install and configure a premium theme can take longer than a free one as there are more features to explore.
We recommend using free themes on sites where the content covers a wide range of topics, such as blogs, personal and business websites.
For sites whose content is limited to a specific niche, we recommend using premium themes that you can fully customize to represent the uniqueness of your content and brand.
3 Methods of Installing a WordPress Theme
After evaluating your options and choosing a WordPress theme, the next step is installation.
In this tutorial, we’ll cover three different ways to help you install a WordPress theme: using the WordPress directory, manually, and using an FTP client.
1. Through the WordPress theme directory
Note that this method is only limited to the free options in the official WordPress theme directory. If you are going to use a theme gratuitousfollow these steps:
- In your WordPress dashboard, hover over Appearance and click Topics. Then click the button Add new at the top of the page.
- Click the button Filter by features to help sort the options. Users can also use the search box to search for specific topics.
- After specifying your criteria, tap apply filters.
- Hover over the chosen topic. Press the button Install to begin the installation process.
- You can preview the theme on your website by pressing the button Preview. If you want to use the theme immediately, click Activate.
- You will see a notification that the new WordPress theme has been activated. click on visit the site to check how everything looks.
2. Manual upload in WordPress
This method will teach you how to upload themes to WordPress manually. First you will need to download the theme as a file .zip from external sources. Then follow these steps:
- Follow the first step of the above method, but click the button upload theme after reaching the page add themes. Then click Select File.
- Locate the file .zip of your theme. For this tutorial, we are going to use ThemeIsle. click on Install Now and wait for the installation process to complete.
- click on Preview to see what your website will look like once the theme is activated. click on Activate if you want to use the theme immediately.
- Some third-party themes require additional settings to work as advertised. You can visit the theme provider’s website to check their documentation or get technical support.
3. Installing a WordPress theme via an FTP client
A (FTP, for its acronym in English) is a protocol that facilitates the exchange of files between computers and servers on a network.
This tutorial will teach you how to install a theme with . Make sure first.
This option can be especially useful if the upload limit set by your hosting provider is not large enough to upload your theme.
If you’re using one of the , keep in mind that the PHP upload limit varies by service. The default limit on our plan is 128 MB, which should be more than enough to cover most WordPress themes.
Once the FTP client is installed, perform the following steps:
Step 1. Connect an FTP client
For the transfer to work, first establish a connection by following these steps:
- In your , look for the FTP accounts and click on them.
- You will see your FTP credentials on the page. find your ftp hostnameyour FTP username and you ftp password. To generate or change the password for your FTP account, click the button Change FTP password.
- Open FileZilla, go to File, Archive -> site manager. You can also access it by pressing Ctrl+S on your keyboard for Windows and CMD+S for Mac.
- Choose new site in the pop-up window to make a new connection. Fill in the fields with the information you have collected in the second step. Leave the settings as they are and press Connect.
Step 2. Upload the WordPress theme via FTP
Wait until the server returns a positive response and continue with the following steps:
- Locate wp-content inside your WordPress directory, and open it.
- Look for the folder topics. Inside the folder, you will see all your installed WordPress themes listed.
- For this demo, we will use de . The theme will be downloaded as a file .zip, so make sure first. On your computer, locate the template files…
Facebook Comments
Disqus