Sometimes navigating through the templates available for WordPress can be confusing. Here are some good, bad and ugly
ideas to help you select, customize, and construct your WordPress template:
The Good
Simplicity Works
It’s a good idea not to be too ambitious in your WordPress template. This goes for everything from trying to fit too much on your main page to using showy “features” the likes of which dominated dialup-era websites.
Test Drives
Inviting a handful of colleagues to testdrive your site before you go live isn’t a bad idea. Can they find everything they’re looking for? Is the theme attractive? Get some feedback, adjust, and perfect your site’s visual presentation.
The Bad
Free Templates
What’s wrong with free templates? Nothing, really. The issue is that it’s a bit like using Times New Roman for everything. The issue is just that the free templates make your website look like you went with a free template.
Way Too Subtle
Some designers love to make things visually streamlined. Remember Ello? Making a website visually simple isn’t the point. Streamlining the experience of reading and navigating a website is what counts. Making it easy on the eyes is great, but form needs to follow function.
The Ugly
Flashy Templates and Gimmicky Themes
If free templates are the Times New Roman of WordPress, then flashy, complicated themes are the Comics Sans. Your template is there to call attention to the template, not to itself. Likewise, you don’t need to have a medieval sword embedded at the top of every page. Again, let your content, not your theme, take the spotlight.
Creating a website that looks good without taking the attention away from the content doesn’t have to be a pain. A good premium theme or a custom template can make your website easy to navigate, easy to read, and easy on the eyes.
