1. Tips for picking a WordPress Template
Choosing the right WordPress template / theme for your website is tough. Often people
choose a theme that they 'feel', will work well for their website content. Unfortunately this is
usually chosen without any prior research to truly assess what is required. Not forgetting
that a theme should be robust enough to use for today as well as the short-term future as
the website expands and probably will be modified over time.
Rows
The amount of rows is actually incredibly important. If you have or are creating a brand,
then your website probably will require a logo. This probably means you will require a
header area at the top, plus a header is a great location for a few static menus, phone
number and slogan.
For many user a top navigation is required below a header. There are many website
themes that actually have a small static menu in the header aligned to the left or right, but
a main dynamic menu stretching the width of the main container.
Obviously the content will require its own row, which will no-doubt will be large. Then
perhaps a row for the footer, with the all-important copyright notice, plus perhaps some
more page links and a telephone number.
Columns
The amount of columns and size of the columns, can vary widely depending on your
needs. For instance if you plan to provide advertisement, the type of adverts and how
many you place will make a dramatic difference, to the amount of columns you require.
For instance if you wish to have a large Google AdSense square advert in a sidebar
column, this means you should seriously consider only using two columns, i.e. one for
content and another for the sidebar.
However not everyone needs more than one column, but others require a few. So before
you choose your theme, you need to make sure you know what type of content you wish to
place on the website, and where.
Branding
We've already mentioned the logo and slogan in this article, but branding isn't just about
those two elements, but also colours, fonts, styles and more. Your branding and
presentational style should influence your website theme.
Your website needs to firmly fit into your branding and be recognisable, especially if you
have a strong branding elsewhere such as brochures, leaflets, adverts and so on. Make
sure you create a house style surrounding your branding, which can be used by a web
designer and content contributors alike on your website.
If you use an off the shelf theme, the theme should be easily modifiable to suit your brand
and house style.
Accessibility & Disability Friendly
It is no good having a website theme that displays perfectly in Internet Explorer, but you
have visitors using the web browsers Chrome, Firefox and Safari also, not forgetting the
mobile browsers as well. The website theme needs to be designed to work in many
2. different popular browsers. It isn't just a case of making sure the website code is compliant,
but also you should under going a testing programme to iron out any issues.
Also you need to make sure your website theme is disability friendly, including putting your
website design through testing aimed at making sure the theme is disability friendly.
Conclusion
Website design isn't just a case of picking a website theme you think looks right. The
above advice is only the tip of the ice-berg. Instead of using a stock design, why not have
a skilled web designer put together your theme?
Hire a WordPress Template Designer. Hire Neogain.