Ask the most prudent WordPress theme developers out there and they will tell you that finding that perfect balance between creating something highly functional for mass distribution and a feature-rich media-laden product solely for the client has been an eternal challenge for them.
Creating WordPress Themes: The Developers’ Struggle
Now, as far as creating WordPress themes for the general public is concerned, the developer has absolutely no control on ways in which a particular theme thus created is going to be customized or used. Striking the perfect balance between design and functionality remains a struggle for them as such. The conflict between “design” and “performance” is a long standing one. On the whole, performance requires the developer to create simple designs, add the minimum possible page templates and features for a particular theme to perform its function efficiently. The number of HTTP requests should also be minimized because with every request the developer is required to take a trip of the server- which, of course- goes on to impact your web performance adversely.
There are a few features that clearly need more resources and processing power. Similarly the addition of fewer templates would require fewer resources as well.
Just like the developers, even the ones choosing a particular theme are confounded. It doesn’t matter whether you’re downloading WordPress themes for free or paying up a small price for the same, there are always a few considerations that you have to make before choosing one.
Choosing one of them: The Users’ Struggle
Just as the theme developers, the users also find it difficult to select themes offering them the perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality. Web experts opine that design is crucial to your site. Showcasing your product or service against a suitable and attractive layout is of utmost importance. A glittery bright theme might work well for an ecommerce store selling clothes and accessories but not for a company selling research chemicals.
Is it responsive?
At the heart of the performance of the theme is its responsiveness. Most of the WordPress themes perform well on all types of devices including computer screens, smartphones and tabs.
It has clearly been pointed out that themes are for visual appeal and plugins are for functionality. Themes that offer users the ability to add social media buttons easily, contact forms, a multitude of SEO features and price tables are bound to be associated with a string of drawbacks. The feature-rich themes are backed by highly functional plugins. For instance, a particular plugin may be solely built to render the required functionality to a single WordPress theme.
Maintaining a Theme
The necessity of maintenance of a particular theme becomes important when you take reader engagement into account. We all understand that the addition of a comments section renders more flexibility to the site. However, in this case you need to ensure that the theme you have chosen is updated on a regular basis to comply with the changing digital landscape. Make sure that the bugs are removed so that more and more people don’t start quitting your website instead of joining the same. After all, it will not be possible for you to keep the same theme forever. However, you can make sure that the layout you are using lasts for the longest possible time – complete with the latest updates and bug-free properties.
How customizable are the themes considered by you at present? Remember WordPress is known for its customizable features. The options include the changing of fonts, color scheme and selecting layouts and widgets. It would be great if you are aware of a bit of coding yourself since there are times when even a perfect theme may not be backed by the appropriate customization features.
