selecting the perfect wordpress theme

Selecting the Perfect WordPress Theme

By Brandon Himpfen

Follow Me

Website: http://himpfen.com/

Twitter: @brandonhimpfen

Six (6) Components of Themes

1. Design;2. Usability;3. Features;4. Support;5. Security; and6. Licensing.

Design

Appeal. Responsive. Customization.

Appeal

Does the theme follow the four (4) principles of design?1. Proximity: grouping related items together;2. Alignment: aligning of related items and aligning related items

with other related items; 3. Repetition: repeating of elements, like typefaces (fonts), colour,

etc…; and4. Contrast: creating visual interest by creating two different

elements.

Appeal (cont’d…)

Does the theme look beautiful?Does it fit with your industry and what your target audience would

expect?

Responsive Design

Does the theme work in different browsers?Does the theme work in different devices, i.e. desktop,

smartphones, tablets, etc…How does the theme achieve its responsive design? Through a

plugin, CSS media queries?

Customization

Is the theme lean or bloated – in terms of features? How can you customize the theme’s appearance? You can’t,

through the WordPress dashboard or manually.What widgets are available?What options are available for the content layout? Full width, left

side bar, right side bar, other?

Customization (Cont’d…)

Can you extend the appearance through plugins? Which ones?Does the theme work well with plugins that allow your site to have

multiple languages?

Usability

How well can your website be used?

Theme Usability

What features are available for your guests or clients? Search box, drop down menu, etc…

Content layout – full width, left side bar, right side bar, other.Text size.How does the website flow? Does it make sense?

Features

What can your theme do?

Theme Features

Is your theme bloated? Features you don’t need or want.Bloated themes may decrease website performance or use up

disk space unnecessarily. Is your theme lean? Giving you the ability to customize it the way

you want.What widgets are available?

Theme Features (Cont’d…)

Does the features help with usability?Does the features help you manage your website more effectively or

efficiently?

Support

Developer support and theme support.

Developer Support

Is support provided? If support is provided, at what cost?Free themes most likely won’t provide support.Free themes may provide support through certain mediums like

discussion boards and other users may only provide support, not the developer.

When is support provided? 24x7, between A and B in C time zone, etc…

What methods is support provided? Live chat, email, discussion boards, phone, etc…

Theme Support

How often is the theme being updated?How quickly are security flaws patched?Are new enhancements being added regularly? How often?Free, open source themes may have community support.

New features, bugs and security flaws are addressed by multiple developers.

Make sure the theme is updated to work with the latest version of WordPress.

Security

Quality code. Knowledgeable Coder(s).

Security is Critical

Make sure the develop addresses security concerns quickly.Make sure the theme developer(s) have experience.Make sure the theme developer(s) produce quality code.Free themes does not necessarily mean insecure code and paid

themes does not necessarily mean secure code. Don’t be fooled.

Licensing

Free or Paid? Terms and Conditions. Open Source.

Free? Paid? Open Source?

Is the theme free or paid? Is the theme under a freemium model – meaning it’s free but more

or better features may have a cost. Is it open source? Can you see and edit the code? Is the theme licensed under a open source license like GNU GPL 2+

or MIT?What terms and conditions come with using the theme? Do you

have to link back to the developer’s website? Can you redistribute or resell the theme?

Final Thoughts

My opinions and recommendations.

What else…

Make sure the theme follows the six (6) key components I discussed.

Paid themes does not necessarily mean better.Free themes does not necessarily mean worse. It’s better to have a lean theme you can extend through plugins.Know what you want and your limitations (you needing support).

The End

I hope you enjoyed this presentation!

Follow Me

Website: http://himpfen.com/

Twitter: @brandonhimpfen