A beginners guide to choosing a WordPress theme. Learn about factors that matter in choosing a theme. Get recommendations for different themes for different purposes taking into account your skills and background.

1. WORDPRESS
THEMES
HOW DO I CHOOSE?
Judi Knight
New Tricks

2. THEMES

3. EASY? KIND OF. . .

4. DEFINITION
WordPress Theme:
A collection of structure and
design files needed, in
addition to the core
WordPress files, to make a
WordPress website work.

5. STRUCTURE
Themes have files to display:
• Headers / Navigation Menus
• Page Templates
• Blog Templates
• Sidebars
• Footers
• And others. . .

6. OUT OF THE BOX
WordPress comes with
default themes:
Twenty-Thirteen
Twenty-Fourteen

7. THERE ARE
Thousands of
Free WordPress Themes
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes

8. THERE ARE
Hundreds of
Premium
WordPress Themes
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial

9. OMG!
How Do I Choose?

10. OPEN SOURCE
WordPress is: Open Source
• WordPress, WordPress themes
and WordPress plugins all have a
General Public License.
• No one can actually own them.
Anything made from the code
inherits the license.

11. FREE OR PREMIUM
Free is free and there are some good
free theme from reputable theme
developers that have been around for
a while.
But if you have the money, a premium
theme from a reputable theme
developer may be more reliable over
time

12. FREE THEMES
2. Look for Free Themes in
the WordPress Repository
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

13. FREE THEME
You can choose a free
theme from within your
WordPress Dashboard.
Go to “Appearance” then
select “Theme” then “Add
New”.

14. PREMIUM THEME
Premium Themes are best!
Find one with active support &
community.
Answer questions, Updates the
theme, Fixes bugs, Keeps it
viable over time.

15. PREMIUM THEME
To find a reputable Premium
Theme Vender:
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

16. CUSTOM THEMES?
Usually not as good as a site
customized from a really good
Premium theme framework,
unless you have very specific
needs for your site’s functionality
and resources to pay the
developer to code upgrades.

17. THEME?
Favorite Premium Companies:
-Studio Press Genesis Themes
-Woo Themes & Woo Commerce
-Organic Themes

18. CHOOSE A THEME?
Premium Theme with Lots of Options
Canvas by Woo Themes
Has two templates:
• Magazine style template
• Business style with full slider
Has Easy User defined options

19. THEME STYLES
Choose the layout that you need.
• Blog Style
• Magazine Style
• Business w/ Static Home
• Portfolio
• One Page Scrolling
• Etc. . .

20. BLOG STYLE
Focus Pro Theme by StudioPress.
Blog entries on home page.
New Tricks uses this blog style
theme with a customized
sticky post as first blog entry.

21. MAGAZINE STYLE
Magazine Pro Theme
by StudioPress
Home page features
content from different
post categories.

22. BUSINESS STYLE
Executive Pro Theme
by StudioPress
Home page features
Slider hero area and
three service areas.

23. PORTFOLIO STYLE
Portfolio Pro Theme
by StudioPress
Home page features
portfolio images.

24. ONE PAGE SCROLL
Be careful with this style these since
search engines see it as one page.
Your about section, services, portfolio
and such do not come up as separate
Google search terms since they are
sections on one page.

25. THEME STYLES
Choose a theme with similar styling as what you want.
• Corporate look with hero image
• Artsy look and special fonts
• Sidebar elements with backgrounds or
headings a certain way
• Posts displaying a certain way
• Minimalist, clean with great typography

26. CUSTOMIZING IS HARD
Caveat:
If you are not technical
customizing a theme is tricky.

27. USE CHILD THEME
Whether free or premium theme,
if you are customizing, use a child
theme or have a custom CSS file
for your customizations.
This keeps your changes from
being overwritten when your
theme gets upgraded.

28. USER-DEFINED OPTIONS
Beginners:
Built-in User
Defined
Options,
LikeThis
are helpful.

29. Otherwise,
to change
design you
must know
css code.
CUSTOMIZED THEME
Like this.

30. CUSTOMIZED THEME
Woo Canvas: Plain Theme with User Options.
Canvas out of the box Customized Canvas

31. StudioPress’s Going Green
Theme, out of the Box
Going Green customized
http://cabbagetownchronicles.com
CUSTOMIZED THEME

32. Elegant Grunge Blog Style
- free theme
Customized
http://baybottomnews.com
CUSTOMIZED THEMES

33. CUSTOMIZED THEME
Big Feature Theme demo http://urbaneats.net

34. CUSTOMIZED THEME
Photocrati Theme
Photocrati Customized
http://alicefranklinstudion.com

35. NEED HELP?
WordPress Web Design,
Branding and Marketing
Contact: Judi Knight
http://newtricks.com
“It’s never too late!”