Original Concept
My original concept for my website design was that the content would be mostly static pages with an occasion article. As I worked through the class assignments, writing posts around the various lessons, I realized my site could easily be identified as a blog, based on local events I host, and other events and information useful to the senior pickleball community.
Don’t just throw a dart.
Identifying and selecting a theme for my site was more daunting than I imagined it would be. How does one select “a theme” from the thousands of themes available, and what source or sources are available to select from.
I decided to take the author’s advice. “The first place you should always go to when looking for a theme is the official WordPress Theme Directory”. (Krõl, 2019) Other sources cited included: (Krõl, 2019)
- Theme Isle: https://themeisle.com
- Elegant Themes: https://www.elegant themes.com
- ThemeForest: https://themeforest.ney/category/wordpress
What to consider.
File structure.
Typically, a WordPress theme requires two files: (Krõl, 2019)
- Style.css which contains the basic theme information.
- Index.php which is the main template file.
Additionally, others may be:
- Screenshot.png, a thumbnail of theme image
- Images directory
- A number of others are used for various purposes.
Purpose
As identified my site is a combination of a number of static pages and a blog similar to a small business site. To that end, other factors include customization and responsive structure. I also shied away from themes that have their own page builders for fear of being “locked in’ to a specific theme.
Quantifying a selection.
As a neophyte to WordPress, the process, for me, was very subjective. Creating a weighted decision matrix while helpful, was challenging What elements are truly important and how to quantify the weight. The items I chose in my matrix were:
- Set up difficulty – how hard would it be to get up and running.
- Functionality – does it meet my need.
- Speed – how quickly does it load.
- Updates – how current is the theme.
- Performance – what have other users said.
- Site builder – I stayed away from themes containing a site builder.
The winner?
Based on the weighted decision matrix process the OceanWP theme was number one with the Sydney theme very close behind. A number of things helped influence this decision, such as:
- The OceanWP webpage description and content. https://oceanwp.org/
- Availability of different templates. https://oceanwp.org/oceanwp-starter-wordpress-website-templates/
- User testimonials. https://oceanwp.org/testimonials/
With my select made I installed the theme using the wp-admin panel with little trouble choosing not to have the theme delete my current content. Now I am in the process of reviewing the functionality of the theme and all the customization available.
Time will tell if I’m happy with my selection, and if not, I’ll test the Sydney theme, or change course on the design. After all if Jamie WP can recreate the Apple website without a template, perhaps there is enough power out of the box, along with some selected plugins, to build a robust website.
References
Krõl, K. (2019). WordPress 5 Complete . Packt Publishing.