What Is a WordPress Theme: Different Types and How to Choose One
If you use WordPress as your content management system (CMS), you’ve probably encountered the term “WordPress theme” before. Themes play a crucial role in an overall website’s appearance and help you create a good-looking site without having to code.
With the right theme, WordPress users can personalize their web design elements, including color and typography, to reflect their brand personality.
This in-depth tutorial will explain everything you need to know about WordPress themes, including:
- What a WordPress theme is
- What a theme can do
- The difference between a theme and a template
- Types of WordPress themes
- How to choose the best theme for your needs
By the end, you’ll have a complete understanding of themes so you can pick the perfect one to design your ideal WordPress site.
What Is a WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme is a collection of files that determine how your website looks, functions and is structured. It controls the overall design, layout, and style of your website.
With thousands of customizable themes available, both free and premium, you can easily change the visual appearance and feel of your site without altering the underlying WordPress platform or content.
Themes allow you to customize things like:
- Colors
- Fonts
- Layouts
- Navigation menus
- Widget locations
- Background images
- Post formats
- Custom headers
And more, all without needing to code.
What Can a WordPress Theme Do?
WordPress themes empower site owners to build professional websites without coding them from scratch.
You can simply activate a theme from the official WordPress theme directory or purchase a premium theme from a third-party marketplace. Then upload and activate the theme file in your WordPress admin dashboard.
Installing a new theme can drastically change the entire look, feel and structure of your WordPress site.
Some key things a good theme can do for you:
- Structure your content into a professional layout
- Allow customization of design elements
- Provide navigation menus, sidebars, footer areas
- Display posts, pages and other content types attractively
- Support features like social sharing buttons, comment sections
- Ensure responsiveness on mobile devices
- Help build trust and credibility with good design
When you first install WordPress, it comes with a simple default theme. You can choose to use that default theme or install any number of free or premium theme options instead.
Many web hosts even include popular free WordPress themes in their hosting plans to help you easily create a good-looking site.
The key point about changing themes is that it primarily changes the design and presentation of your content. Switching themes does not typically impact the underlying content or core functions of your site.
This makes experimenting with different themes risk-free. You can activate and deactivate themes to preview different looks until you find the perfect design.
What’s the Difference Between a WordPress Theme and Template?
The main difference between WordPress themes and templates comes down to scope and coverage.
A theme controls the visual design and structure across your entire site. A template controls the design of an individual page.
Every WordPress theme includes a few key template files such as:
- index.php – The main template in WordPress. It displays your latest blog posts.
- header.php – Code for the header section.
- footer.php – Code for the footer section.
- page.php – Template for displaying pages.
In addition to these core templates, a theme may also include template files for posts, archives, search pages, 404 pages, sidebars and more.
The point is these template files work together to make up an entire theme.
By comparison, some themes offer additional page templates that modify the design of specific pages.
For example, a portfolio theme may provide templates like:
- Full Width Portfolio Page
- Grid Portfolio Page
- Masonry Portfolio Page
These templates give you design options for displaying your portfolio within the wider theme.
So remember:
- Themes control the look and feel site-wide
- Templates control the look and feel of individual pages
Now let’s dig into the different types of WordPress themes available…
Types of WordPress Themes
There are over 9,000 free WordPress themes in the official theme directory. And thousands more premium themes for sale through various marketplaces.
With so much choice figuring out the type of theme you need can be confusing.
The WordPress theme directory helps by categorizing themes into:
- Layout – Classifies themes based on page structure and formats like 1 column, grid, magazine and more.
- Features – Highlights themes offering specific features like accessibility, RTL support, BuddyPress and WooCommerce integration.
- Subject – Groups themes according to niche and purpose like blogs, portfolios, business sites, magazines.
Understanding these categories is a good starting point. Beyond that, some other ways to classify the core types of WordPress themes include:
Free vs Premium Themes
One of the top considerations is whether you want to use a free open source theme or buy a premium theme.
Free WordPress themes are usually created by freelance developers or startups wanting to build a user base. They are free to download from places like:
- The WordPress theme directory
- Individual developers’ websites
The pros are that these themes are free and easy to access right within your WordPress dashboard. Quality can be hit or miss but themes in the theme directory must pass a review process.
The main downsides are limited customization options, generic designs that many sites use, lack of support and potential security concerns with some developers.
Premium WordPress themes are sold by professional theme shops and developers for prices typically ranging from $30 up to a few hundred dollars. Some popular sources include:
- ThemeForest
- TemplateMonster
- Elegant Themes
- ThemeIsle
- And many more…
The advantages of premium themes are much more advanced designs, ample customization options, reliable support and frequent updates.
The tradeoffs are the cost investment plus needing to renew access annually in some cases. Premium themes can also cause bloat if stuffed with unnecessary features.
Multipurpose vs Niche-Specific Themes
Another way to categorize WordPress themes is by their intended purpose:
Multipurpose themes – Designed to work well for a variety of sites and niches. Tend to be full-featured to handle many use cases. Popular options like Astra and OceanWP fall into this category.
Niche themes – Tailored for specific site types like blogs, restaurants, photographers, churches and so on. sacrifice some flexibility for designs and features targeted to their niche. A recipe theme like Bistro Recipe is very niche-focused.
Most businesses are best served by a multipurpose theme that still aligns well with their industry and branding. Niche themes can work well for blogs and simple sites highly aligned to the theme’s vertical.
Parent vs Child Themes
These two terms describe how themes extend other themes.
A parent theme is a fully functioning, stand-alone theme. It contains all the template files and functionality needed to operate on its own.
A child theme inherits functionality and design from a parent theme while allowing customization. Child themes provide a safe way to modify parent themes without altering core code.
For example, GeneratePress is a popular parent theme. GP Child is an official child theme for it.
The benefit of using child themes is you get to tap into the well-coded foundation of the parent while customizing the child theme to your needs.
Bespoke Custom WordPress Themes
For ultimate design control and customization, a custom WordPress theme may be the answer. These are built from scratch tailored to your brand.
Hiring a developer to create a custom theme allows for total creative freedom but carries more cost than off-the-shelf themes.
The level of investment depends on the complexity but expect to invest at minimum a few thousand dollars. For intricate ecommerce stores or web apps with advanced functionality, costs for custom themes can exceed five figures.
The tradeoff for the premium investment is a truly tailored theme matching your precise wants. This option only makes sense for well-funded businesses not served by existing themes.
How to Choose the Best WordPress Theme
Finding the perfect theme from thousands of options can feel overwhelming. Keep these top tips in mind while evaluating themes:
1. Understand Your Needs
Get clear on the purpose of your site and specific must-have features before theme hunting.
- What type of site are you building – blog, business, portfolio, directory?
- Will it use WooCommerce or member plugins?
- What design elements matter most to you?
The site purpose and key functionality needs should guide your theme choice. Shopping without clarity often leads to buyer’s remorse or an unsuitable theme.
2. Compare Customization Options
Customizing your design beyond the out-of-box theme is key for standing out.
Top themes offer site editors and theme customizers to tailor colors, fonts, layouts and more. Comparing what’s customizable matters more than theme demos alone.
For example, the popular Astra theme promotes over “100+ starter templates and +80 ready-to-use pre-built websites” to customize from.
Such customization ranges separate great from good themes.
3. Prioritize Page Speed
Site speed impacts visitor experience, conversions and SEO rankings. Bulky themes choke performance.
Run theme demos through Google PageSpeed, GTMetrix or WebPageTest before activating one.
Or test speed directly on your staging site with a theme live preview. Page bloat under 1MB is ideal while 100 requests or less is preferable.
Also scan for unnecessary features adding bulk without benefit. The most polished themes balance depth of options with lean code and assets.
4. Evaluate Design Aesthetics
Themes control visual presentation so aesthetics matter for showcasing your brand.
Assess overall theme design quality through demo experiences and customer site examples.
Study how sample sites display and adapt across:
- Home pages – Make strong first impressions that align to brand style
- Interior pages – Maintain visual consistency
- Photography – Gallery-centric niches like creative agencies need robust imaging
- Responsiveness – Review mobile vs desktop presentation
5. Check Developer Reputation & Support
An elite theme means little without the team behind it. The most successful commercial themes come from trusted elite developers like:
Study who makes a theme before activating it site-wide. Theme support quality, update regularity and community size indicators lend confidence in a theme’s stability.
6. Compare Pricing Models
Theme pricing falls into three buckets:
1. Free themes – $0 investment outside potential customization costs
2. One-time purchase themes – Typically $30 to $100 for lifetime usage
Examples: Astra, OceanWP, GeneratePress
3. Subscription themes – Pay annual recurring fee for access, updates and support
Examples: Divi, Flatsome, Themify
Weigh value versus cost carefully across these models when budgeting for a premium theme. A $100 one-time theme beats spending $200 yearly for a marginal gain in features.
Key Takeaways and Next Steps
Congratulations, you now know more about WordPress themes than most people ever learn. Let’s wrap up with some key takeaways:
- Themes control the design – They customize looks and presentation without altering underlying WordPress platform.
- Templates dictate page layouts – Template files build up full theme design across pages
- Many theme types exist – Free, premium, multipurpose, niche, parent, child, custom and more
- Choose based on needs and research – Consider use case, features, customization depth, speed, support and pricing to select the best fit
Now you have a firm grasp on:
- What WordPress themes are
- Their capabilities
- How to select the best one for your site
The next step is to browse themes shortlisted to favorites and preview them live across pages to experience options hands-on.
Pair functional testing with the evaluation tips covered here to confidently determine an optimal theme match.
Then sit back and enjoy a website that exactly matches your preferences thanks to unlocking the power of WordPress themes.
What aspect of themes or theme selection stands out most or surprises you the most? Share your thoughts and reactions in the comments section below!
