What is WordPress Theme?

Since you’re wondering about what is a WordPress theme, it indicates that you are new to this field. However, a WordPress theme is an instrument/tool on the WordPress platform that gives you the ability to build, customize or redesign your website to look as unique as you desire. The theme is responsible to display or present your content in a specific way. Also, a theme is responsible to communicate with the database such as inserting & displaying data, checking for proper authentications & user permissions, security, etc.

I am sure, in all your time on the internet, you must have stumbled upon a beautifully designed WordPress website that makes you wish that you were the owner. That is the power of a theme. Themes come in a folder that contains different templates and features that allow you to change the entire typography of your website, blog, or online store such as:

• Overall layout
• Font style
• Font size
• Colors
• Post style, etc.

Types of Themes in WordPress

There are two main types of WordPress themes. The niche and the multipurpose WordPress themes.

As much as the niche themes are equally customizable, they are designed to serve specific purposes or business types at a given time, because they have limited customization options.

For example – A niche theme is only designed for a specific type of business/website and will not work for another type of business or website (mostly). Such as a blog-specific theme will not work for an eCommerce website properly. Likewise, vice versa.

But a multipurpose theme is designed with cutting-edge technology that provides smooth functionality for different types of websites and niches. It comes with multiple templates and tools that allow you to customize your website to suit any business at any time.

Below is an example of both multipurpose and niche themes –

What Is the Best WordPress Theme?

I have noticed that the question of what is WordPress theme? is usually not the only concern when people get started, they equally want to know what the best WordPress theme is. It is difficult to tell which theme is the best to choose when you are building your website. It is just a matter of knowing the purpose of your website and choosing what will serve you the best.

It wouldn’t make sense to choose a multipurpose theme when your website is built to serve a specific functionality. But if you are working on a website that serves multiple purposes, then you will need a multipurpose theme and sometimes, you will need a premium theme over a free theme.

Premium vs Free WordPress Themes

When building a website, there is a set of pre-installed free WordPress themes which you can install and activate to start building your website. You can equally download free WordPress themes from other sources outside the WordPress platform, but they come with limitations.

The first limitation is technical support

For all the time I have been in this industry, most developers offer support in a forum. And this forum is only accessible by those who purchased a theme. Like ThemeForest.

Now, because you are not a premium client, you don’t have access to this forum, hence no support is available for you. Therefore, whatever your technical issue is, you must find a way to fix it yourself. Though this is not always the case.

And the next limitation is updates

Most developers normally do their best to provide updates for all their themes, whether free or premium. But other developers have priorities. They are more focused on providing updates for premium themes over free themes, which is dangerous for your website. I have seen people lose their websites because of a lack of updates for the theme they were using.

Meanwhile, premium themes are the complete opposite, though they are developed the same way as free themes. You have access to technical support any time and you get notified whenever an update is available. Some premium themes have recurring payments, while others are one-time purchase themes.

So, for someone running a serious business, it is advisable to get a premium theme to make sure that your business is safe and secure and have the opportunity to customize your website to suit your unique needs.

Here are some options you can choose from:

WordPress Themes Are Found Where?

There are unlimited places where you can download a WordPress theme, premium or free. The first place we will look at is the WordPress developers themselves.

WordPress Developers

The general idea is that WordPress themes are available on the WordPress platform, free and premium. But most people are not aware that some developers market their themes themselves. But buying from them directly has a caveat. You must carry out a proper check on the theme by yourself.

Here are some developers from whom you can buy WordPress themes directly.

• Theme Hybrid– This is a subscription platform where the prices are based on your chosen plan.
• Studio Press –Studio Press is also a membership platform with free and premium themes. But to get a free theme with them, you will have to host your website with them. They also have a forum for members.
• Theme Forest – Theme Forest is a platform with a variety of themes with different prices not based on any membership plan. They also have a forum for clients to get technical support and answers to their questions.

WordPress Theme Directory

This is a WordPress storehouse for all sorts of free and premium WordPress themes. You can access the WordPress theme directory through a simple Google search, or through the WordPress dashboard. As I mentioned above, when you first create a website, there is a pre-installed set of themes to choose from and customize your site. These themes are very budget-friendly and since they are offered by WordPress, updates are always available. The themes have also been properly checked by experts before being integrated into the WordPress theme directory.

In addition, when you chose a theme from the theme directory and somewhere down the road you feel unsatisfied with perhaps the features or the functionality of the theme, you can go back to the directory and change the theme. So, if you are on a budget and just getting started, I advise you to start here.

WordPress Themes Detector

Like I earlier mentioned that sometimes you may see a website and wish that you were the owner. You may also wish to know what theme the owner of the website is using, but you just don’t know how to go about finding out. Well, just like the name sounds, the WordPress theme detector is the tool that is used to find out which theme is installed on a website that makes the design so beautiful. It is a free tool that scans the source code of any website and brings you every piece of information about the theme of the website with 100% accuracy.

Also, you can find the theme name by inspecting elements on the browser. If you are using Google Chrome, hit “Ctrl + Shift + I” and click the “Sources” tab (for Mac users hit “Cmd + Shift + I”). Here you will find the website files & folders. Now navigate to “wp-content – themes”, here you’ll find the theme name.

The Best Approach of Getting Your Theme

Aside from free & premium themes, there is a much more efficient way to get your theme. It’s a custom theme and only designed & developed for you. There are lots of web design & development agencies (including us), who can write code to build a custom theme only for your business.

Why this is important: It’s just because of its uniqueness and quality. Regarding the free & premium themes on the marketplace, they have been developed for thousands of people, and even it’s a similar niche. For example- if a blog-specific niche theme is used on 10,000 websites, then all those ten thousand blogs/websites will look very similar in appearance & functionalities.

Also, you really don’t need all the features & functionality they build for all the users. So a custom theme can minimize those unnecessary files, features & functionalities. Also, it will help your website to load faster.

A custom theme is very flexible to include your desired functionalities in the future. It not only makes your website unique in design but also for features & functionalities. It will make your website more professional and help you to stand out. And this is the reason, most reputable businesses use their custom theme or custom way of developing their websites.

But don’t worry! If you can’t afford it right now, you can definitely use a free or premium theme from the marketplace and change it later. The good news is- there is also a lot of small & medium-size business who became successful using premade themes (both free & premium).