How To Choose a WordPress Theme?

Are you having trouble deciding which WordPress theme to choose out of the thousands available? Choosing a needle in a haystack might be difficult with so many options.

Because design is subjective, only WPFond can assist you in selecting a theme that suits your aesthetic, and only WPFond will ensure that whichever theme you select will help your WordPress website succeed.

Because not all WordPress themes are made equal, there are several boxes you’ll want the theme to tick so you don’t have any problems down the way.

We’ll give 8 ideas to help you select a WordPress theme that will build a strong foundation for your website to assist you in making your decision.

1. Choose a WordPress Theme That Is Lightweight

Because your theme is such an important component of your site’s foundation, it will have a significant impact on its performance and page load times.

I once did a test where I moved from an “ordinary” WordPress theme to a performance-optimized one and saw a 42 percent reduction in page load times. That’s enormous!

Everything from user experience to SEO to conversion rates is affected by how quickly your site loads, so it’s not something you should overlook.

So, how can you identify whether or not a theme is light? To begin, we’ve gathered some of the greatest lightweight themes in this collection. However, using a performance testing program like GTmetrix, you may do your tests.

 

Install a free theme on a test site if you’re seeking one (you can use a throwaway sandbox-like Jurassic Ninja). Then test it with GTmetrix to see how it performs.

You may do the same with the public theme demo if you’re using a paid theme. This approach isn’t ideal because the theme developer may be loading their tracking scripts that aren’t part of your site, but it should give you a good notion of how well the theme is optimized. With WPFond, you can get themes according to your preferences.

2. Go for something that you can customize (Via the Customizer)

If you’re lucky, you’ll come across a theme that’s pixel-perfect straight out of the box.

However, the chances of that happening are minimal, and you’ll most likely want the opportunity to customize things to make them uniquely yours.

If that describes you, you’ll want a theme that allows you to make such adjustments quickly and easily without having any additional technical knowledge.

You’ll want a theme that takes advantage of the WordPress Customizer in particular. This is a WordPress tool that allows you to adjust different parts of the appearance of your theme using a user-friendly interface and a live preview of your site.

With the Sydney theme, for example, you may use a simple interface to adjust your site’s colors, appearances, layouts, and more.

Some themes have more customization possibilities than others, so you’ll want to see what you can do. Furthermore, many themes provide certain customization possibilities for free but need you to upgrade to the Pro edition to unlock all of the capabilities, which is something to think about.

 

3. Keep in mind that WordPress themes are for design while plugins Are for Functionality

It’s tempting to go for a WordPress theme that accomplishes everything you want right out of the box when you’re looking for one.

If you want to make an events website, for example, you may opt for a theme with an events calendar built-in.

we’re going to advise you not to do that, as tempting as it may seem. The distinction between themes and plugins in WordPress is meant to be apparent. You choose a theme based on its appearance and add functionality using plugins. A theme should not be able to govern both the look and the functioning of your website.

But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of an off-the-shelf solution. Rather than looking for a theme that does everything, seek one that is intended to work with a plugin that provides the features you want.

You might not want to select a theme with a built-in builder if you want drag-and-drop design capabilities, for example, because it will lock you in. Instead, you might go for a theme that’s built to work with a third-party page builder like Elementor. The Sydney theme, for example, is officially recommended by the Elementor team as a suitable option for pairing with Elementor.

Similarly, if you want to establish an online store, you may choose a theme like Airi, which is designed to work with the WooCommerce plugin.

If you wish to start an online course, the Astra theme comes with built-in connectors for LifterLMS and LearnDash, two popular WordPress course plugins.

Many themes came with a collection of suggested plugins in 2019, which was a fantastic approach to get the best of both worlds. You’ll still receive the features you desire out of the box, but you’ll also be able to modify your theme in the future if necessary.

4. Check Responsive Design For WordPress Theme

Mobile traffic currently accounts for roughly half of all Internet traffic, and it’s just going up.

The principle behind responsive design is that your website adapts to the user’s device automatically. As a result, whether someone goes on a laptop or an iPhone, they should have a positive experience.

At this point, every WordPress theme you find will be responsive, so checking for “Responsive” in the feature list is sort of worthless for me to recommend.

However, just because a theme is responsive doesn’t imply it uses responsive design well.

So, when we recommend that you should test a theme’s responsive design, we mean that you should open the sample site on your smartphone and play around with it.

How’s it doing with the navigation? On mobile, some themes offer smooth navigation menus, while others are clumsy and difficult to use.

What does a blog article resemble? Some themes are weird, and they don’t even display the title of a blog post above the fold (on a mobile device). Visitors have to scroll down to see what a post is about, which is a strange experience for them.

These are crucial considerations since you want your mobile visitors to have a fantastic, not just a good, experience.

The Airi theme, for example, has a user-friendly hamburger menu (simple to tap!) and shows the entire title of the blog post above the fold.

If you use the Chrome browser, you can use its developer tools to imitate a variety of mobile devices without having to take out your phone, which is what I did in the picture above.

5. Consider the Developer’s Support Policy

Regardless of the theme you pick, you may want assistance at some point.

When that happens, you’ll want to be able to get help, therefore it’s a good idea to look into a host’s support policy before deciding.

Most premium themes include 6-12 months of support and updates with your purchase, with the option to renew if you want to keep getting updates. However, you should double-check this — the developer’s policy should be available on their website.

It might be hit or miss with free themes. Some theme developers give help through the WordPress.org forums, while others do not provide support to free clients.

The support forum for a theme may be found on the WordPress.org listing page.

You’ll want to think about the extent of the assistance you get in addition to whether or not a developer gives it and how long it lasts.

Many developers are happy to assist you with the theme, but this assistance does not always include making the theme compatible with third-party plugins.

6. Check the Reviews

Reviews, like any other purchase, are a terrific way to tap into the knowledge of the masses to help you make the best selection possible.

 

Thankfully, most WordPress themes that you might be considering have a lot of reviews available.

 

You may see ratings on the theme listing page at WordPress.org if you’re looking for a free theme. You can also see the real text reviews by clicking the “See All” link.

In the same way, you can discover the rating in the sidebar of a premium WordPress theme purchased from WPFond. Check out the comments as well, since they might give you some insight into the theme’s quality.

7. Check the Last Update Date

The date of a theme’s most recent update is another concrete data point to consider. Because the fundamental WordPress software is always evolving, you’ll want to pick a WordPress theme from a developer that maintains it current.

There’s no hard and fast rule here, but the most recent update date should be within the last six months or so.

Most theme directories make this information available to the public.

The last update date is likewise displayed by WPFond. On their website, it’s just underneath the rating.

8. Don’t get caught up in the debate about free vs. premium WordPress Themes

Many websites have this odd thing where they claim that premium WordPress themes are fundamentally superior to free WordPress themes.

Among other reasons, “premium themes have cleaner code than free themes,” “paid themes are updated more frequently than free themes,” and “premium themes are more secure than free themes.”

These assertions are completely nonsensical.

Themes that are available for free are codes. Premium themes are also codes.

You may choose between free themes with flawless code and paid themes with sloppy code.

You may have both routinely updated free themes and paid themes that haven’t been updated in a long time.

Of course, the inverse is also possible.

Furthermore, many themes are available in both a free and a paid edition, with the same basic code in both.

So, if you discover a free theme that you like (and it meets the rest of this post’s requirements), go ahead and use it!

Choose a WordPress Theme That Will Help You Succeed

If you follow the advice on this list, you should be able to select a WordPress theme that will help your site succeed today and in the future.

 

However, if you want to bypass the search and go right to some amazing WordPress themes, you might want to look at some of our theme lists.