There’s no scarcity of web site builders in 2023 for these wanting for a sturdy and highly effective CMS. But by some means, PhrasePress.org, an open-source content material administration system inbuilt 2003, nonetheless takes the cake with regards to customizability.
There’s a easy motive for this: Community.
PhrasePress has managed to faucet into the worldwide internet design and growth neighborhood at a scale that no different platform comes near.
Over the final twenty years, this neighborhood has contributed tens of 1000’s of themes, plugins, and different belongings to the platform, giving it new methods to customise the look, really feel, and performance of your web site or weblog.
Customization is a necessary a part of the PhrasePress expertise, with themes enjoying an enormous position. So let’s check out some high ideas and methods that can assist you select the excellent theme for PhrasePress.
Table of Contents
- How to Install a WordPress Theme
- #1 What Is Your Website’s Purpose?
- #2 Prioritize Performance and Speed
- #3 Look through Competitor Website
- #4 Check for SEO Friendliness
- #5 Ascertain Ease of Use
- #6 Confirm Relevant Plugin Support
- #7 Look for Customization Options
- #8 Analyze Reviews and Ratings
- #9 Confirm Regular Developer Support
- #10 Check for Multilingual Functionality
- #11 Prioritize Accessible Design Practices
- #12 Search for Ecommerce Support
- #13 Check Pre-Built Template Variety
- #14 Stick to Reputable Sources
- #15 Evaluate Affordability and Pricing
- #16 Double-Check the Refund Policy
- #17 Take a Mobile-First Approach
- #18 Ensure Modern Browser Compatibility
- Why Is it So Important to Choose the Best WordPress Theme?
How to Install a PhrasePress Theme
Once you could have your web site up and operating on PhrasePress — full with its personal area and internet hosting — putting in a theme is definitely quite simple.
Just entry your PhrasePress dashboard and navigate to the Theme > Appearance tab. Once there, choose the Add New button at the high of the web page.
PhrasePress will then can help you add the .zip file that you just acquired after buying your theme or obtain whichever WP theme from the that you just selected. When the theme is in place, all you must do is go to the Themes tab and hit the Activate button, and your new theme is able to go.
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#1 What Is Your Website’s Purpose?
“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”
Tyrion Lannister was clearly on to one thing right here. While he wasn’t speaking about PhrasePress web sites particularly, it’s clear that aligning your self on the function and motive behind your web site will be simply as essential.
Just ask your self these two essential questions earlier than you do the rest:
- What’s the level of my web site? (Example: Personal weblog, ecommerce retailer, bragging rights, small enterprise, or instructional nonprofit.)
- Who is my supposed viewers? (Example: Accounting professionals, classic toy collectors, or kombucha fanatics.)
#2 Prioritize Performance and Speed
If there’s one factor individuals hate, it’s a gradual web site. There are lots of elements that may have an effect on your web site’s pace, however the theme you decide will play a big position. Some themes are higher optimized than others, so that they are typically quicker throughout the board.
It will be arduous to gauge a theme’s degree of optimization with out taking it for a take a look at drive, however you may take a look at current evaluations and run a pace take a look at (through WebPageTest or GTmetrix) on the theme’s demo web site to get a fast concept.
#3 Look by Competitor Websites
In many industries, you’ll discover that web sites are likely to share very comparable kinds. If your viewers expects a particular aesthetic, you’ll want to contemplate whether or not you wish to present what they’re wanting for or attempt to give them one thing sudden.
If you’re all out of inspiration, take a look at Awwwards and Lapa.Ninja for some award-winning web sites particular to your trade and house.
But it’s not sufficient simply to take a look at these web sites. Examine their design aesthetic and look for patterns of their visible model. For instance, listed below are some issues to be on the lookout for:
- Color schemes
- Typography selection
- Graphic design
- Visual hierarchy
- Important performance
#4 Check for Website positioning Friendliness
Search Engine Optimization (Website positioning) is vital to your web site performing nicely in search outcomes. The high quality and consistency of your content material and the optimization of your metadata have an effect on your web page rating.
DreamHost Glossary
Metadata
Metadata refers to ‘data about other data’. It is data inside information that explains what kind of file you’re coping with. Common examples of metadata embody file measurement, modification dates, who created the file, and extra.
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Why does rank matter? Well, the increased your web site falls on the search engine outcomes web page, the extra individuals will go to your web site.
And you guessed it: your theme issues with regards to Website positioning. PhrasePress websites that carry out rapidly, are responsive (see above), and are constructed with clear code are nice for Website positioning.
#5 Ascertain Ease of Use
A user-friendly backend permits you to handle and replace your web site content material extra effectively. This saves time and allows you to deal with different points of your corporation or undertaking.
While it’s possible you’ll wish to purchase that fancy-looking multipurpose PhrasePress theme with a reside customizer inbuilt, it’s a lot better to look for one thing easy and purposeful if you’re new to PhrasePress. Keep it easy, smarty! Make positive that your theme is complimentary to your degree of experience and luxury with PhrasePress.
#6 Confirm Relevant Plugin Support
Plugin compatibility points can manifest in some ways. If you’re choosy about the theme and plugins you employ, these issues needs to be few and much between. That being mentioned, you probably have particular plugins in thoughts for powering key performance in your web site, it’s value checking to make sure your high theme choices are appropriate.
For instance, WooCommerce is the primary plugin for implementing ecommerce performance. As such, WooCommerce theme integration is a key consideration if you wish to begin an internet retailer.
Just a few different in style PhrasePress plugins and options that you just may wish to contemplate embody:
- Elementor
- MemberPress
- BuddyPress
- LifterLMS
#7 Look for Customization Options
Usually, the very first thing you’ll discover a few theme is what it seems to be like — if it suits your concept of what you need for your web site. In most instances, you’ll must make some modifications to any theme you select to be able to get it wanting excellent.
Let’s say you’ve accomplished your analysis and located a theme that’s 90 p.c excellent. For occasion, you want the format of the pages, how the menus operate, and the general theme design, however the fonts aren’t fairly what you had in thoughts.
Fear not, it nonetheless is likely to be a good selection for your web site. One of the nice issues about PhrasePress websites is that they’re extremely customizable, particularly if you use plugins. Check out our information to customizing a PhrasePress theme to get began!
#8 Analyze Reviews and Ratings
A theme’s evaluations and rankings are a worthwhile indicator of what to anticipate. When it involves in style themes, you’d be shocked at what number of consumer rankings you’ll find.
All themes in PhrasePress.org’s Theme Directory are ranked from one to 5 stars and have buyer evaluations. Look for themes that talk to your web site’s function and aesthetic ideally suited, then learn the evaluations to see what persons are saying.
#9 Confirm Regular Developer Support
If you run into any points along with your theme, it’s all the time good to know you could flip to its builders for recommendation on find out how to resolve it. Ideally, your theme’s builders ought to offer you a number of assist channels, actively attempting to assist their consumer base.
But assist isn’t restricted to customer support. PhrasePress is a platform that undergoes common updates, a few of which massively change the performance of the core platform. Themes must be up to date regularly to maintain up with these modifications (issues like the new web page builder and block editor!)
#10 Check for Multilingual Functionality
There are lots of instruments you need to use to translate your PhrasePress pages and create a multilingual web site. However, for this to work, you’ll wish to use a theme that’s translation prepared. Try and look for compatibility with the following plugins to get began:
- TranslatePress
- Polylang
- WPML
- Weglot
- MultilingualPress
Given that English is utilized by solely 26% of global internet users, multilingual assist is a characteristic that’s value investing in.
#11 Prioritize Accessible Design Practices
PhrasePress web sites that prioritize accessibility are a win-win for everybody concerned. Look for themes constructed to create a user-friendly expertise for individuals with disabilities, maintaining in thoughts issues like coloration distinction, typography selection, and visible hierarchy.
DreamHost Glossary
Typography
Typography is a means of arranging a typeface in variations of font, measurement, and spacing. This includes making textual content’s look, model, and association readable and visually pleasing.
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Lots of this stuff will be adjusted when customizing your theme, however it nonetheless helps to have a great start line. Also bear in mind to check your chosen theme for compatibility with display readers and keyboard navigation, since integrating these options right into a theme that doesn’t already assist it could actually require lots of effort.
#12 Search for Ecommerce Support
WooCommerce is the most feature-complete WP plugin for ecommerce web sites. Looking for themes that particularly assist WooCommerce is an efficient means to make sure ecommerce compatibility for your web site.
You needs to be wanting for devoted internal pages and templates to seamlessly showcase your merchandise. Even in case your theme doesn’t point out WooCommerce particularly, examine to make sure that the theme’s demo web site comprises ample examples of ecommerce content material like a procuring cart and checkout web page.
#13 Check Pre-Built Template Variety
Pre-built templates and block patterns present ready-to-use designs for varied web page layouts, resembling the house web page, touchdown pages, weblog pages, or contact pages. This can prevent vital effort and time when establishing your web site, as you received’t must create these format choices from scratch.
When evaluating a brand new theme for your web site, look for the variety of pre-built templates and block patterns out there inside the demo content material. Then, prioritize themes with a great assortment of templates that match each the format and the aesthetic you’re wanting for.
#14 Stick to Reputable Sources
Themes from respected sources are much less prone to comprise malicious code, safety vulnerabilities, or hidden backdoors that would compromise your web site’s security. Reputable theme builders additionally make investments extra effort and time into creating high-quality themes that adhere to design and coding finest practices.
Here are a couple of examples of reputed web sites for buying and downloading themes for your PhrasePress:
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- PhrasePress Theme Directory: The PhrasePress.org repository affords a wide array of free PhrasePress themes that adhere to strict high quality and safety tips.
- StudioPress: Known for their drag-and-drop Genesis Framework, StudioPress affords a spread of Website positioning-friendly themes with skilled designs and nice customizability.
- Elegant Themes: The creators of the in style Divi theme, Elegant Themes offers a group of well-designed and feature-rich themes backed by wonderful buyer assist professionals and a strong refund coverage.
#15 Evaluate Affordability and Pricing
When it involves PhrasePress themes, one in every of the most crucial selections you must make is whether or not to go together with a free or a premium possibility.
Premium themes are likely to pack in much more performance to justify their worth tags. But, PhrasePress.org actually does supply a plethora of nice themes in its listing. PhrasePress volunteers do a superb job of vetting these themes, that are submitted by third-party builders, to guarantee that the code is as much as, nicely, code.
To get began, do a search to seek out free themes that match your web site’s standards after which take a look at their demos to get a way of how the theme would look along with your content material.
But if you’re going to put money into a paid theme, marketplaces like StudioPress and Elegant Themes supply wonderful choices. Just make sure to learn by the developer’s refund coverage and know what degree of assist you may anticipate earlier than you go and make your buy determination. On that observe…
#16 Double-Check the Refund Policy
If you’re going to put money into a premium theme, it’s essential to examine the refund coverage of buy to make sure that you could have enough time to resolve on its high quality. Lots of themes supply a 30-day no questions requested refund coverage — so that you’ve got loads of time to check issues and call assist must you encounter points.
The identical goes for theme builders, too. Many of them supply a free trial or have a return coverage in place for dealing with dissatisfied clients. Just be on the lookout for this when studying by their options and phrases.
#17 Take a Mobile-First Approach
Responsive design is a must have characteristic for most bloggers and web site homeowners, however the mobile-first method takes it one step additional. By designing your PhrasePress theme for cell gadgets first, you may be certain that the gadgets with the trickiest design necessities, with an enormous number of display selections and {hardware} choices, get the most consideration out of your design group.
While not all industries necessitate a mobile-first method, it’s nonetheless a terrific characteristic to be on the lookout for to make sure that cell customers have the finest consumer expertise attainable when accessing your web site.
#18 Ensure Modern Browser Compatibility
Although most individuals use the identical in style browsers — resembling Chrome, Firefox, and Safari — they’re removed from the solely choices. There are dozens of browsers you may select from, and never all of them render content material and pictures in the identical means.
Good builders know this, and be certain that their themes play properly with most browsers by following established finest practices for coding and design.
Why Is it So Important to Choose the Best PhrasePress Theme?
If you could have any pals who use PhrasePress (the numbers say you in all probability do), ask them how lengthy they’ve been utilizing their present theme. In most instances, the reply will quantity in years.
Changing your PhrasePress theme will be tough, as it would radically alter the look and even the performance of your web site. That’s why it’s higher to make a terrific selection the first time round and keep it up so long as attainable.
Themes are one in every of the key options that make PhrasePress a tremendous platform. You have actually 1000’s of themes you could select from. Neve, OceanWP, and Astra are some nice examples to look into, if you happen to don’t know the place to start out.
This will not be a call to be taken calmly. Your selection of PhrasePress theme will impression your web site’s Website positioning, customer expertise, conversion charges, and rather more.
Are you prepared to start out utilizing your new theme? You’ll first want to select a PhrasePress internet hosting service that performs nicely with the platform’s distinctive necessities. Fortunately, we’ve loads of plans for PhrasePress customers to select from!
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