Do you cover your eyes, use the vertical scroll on your mouse and just click something randomly? How about skim through www.wordpress.org until a color scheme jumps out at you? Or scour the internet to find the perfect theme, and hope and pray it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? Whether you use method A, B, or C, or are looking for a new theme selection process, please heed this warning:
Check the theme author’s reputation first!! You are downloading this piece of software to your server, so treat it like it is a piece of foreign software.
Here is selection method D:
Look for these:
We are looking for function in this phase, as that is very difficult to change without php & html knowledge.
- good ad placement opportunities (under featured section, top sidebar, possibly in header)
- supported featured slideshow on front page – we can add this ourselves, but there is a chance that the plugin will conflict the theme we’ve chosen. This way, we know it will work.
- single nav bar – this is my personal preference for readability
- enough sections for my content, but not so many that it is difficult to find things
- width of template – it is a bit of a hassle to change the width of the container that holds everything, so I generally try to find something that is the right width right off the bat
Disregard these:
We can live without these features as they can easily be configured through the stylesheet.
- search placement & style
- subscribe /rss buttons placement and design
- colors
- typography
- logo images/ sidebar backgrounds / posts background/ blog background / decorative details
- outlines – rounded or square
- nav bar placement – above or below header
- size of header
Check under the hood for the following:
How the theme is written is actually more important than any of the outside stuff. This is why, for the professional design services, I usually select the template we’re working with, not the client.
- CSS File: there are 2 ways most of us write CSS files. Here is the method used less often (and I find it really hard to read):
- And this is my preferred style: I only look for this in a theme as a “good to have” not a make-or-break it item.
- drop-down navigation bars
- favicon and stylesheet links, & the wordpress version link is removed. If these things are done, it tells you that the author was current and thorough in his work.
- each multi-post page should have an if-then-else statement for the headers – this tells you that the author was up on his SEO practices
- a legendary comments template – this tells you that the theme is not only backwards compatible but also the author didn’t skip corners and it is likely to be forward compatible too
- look for all the text to be wrapped in tags like this: <?php … ?> This means that the site is likely to be compatible with browsers for the sight-impaired
By this time you should have a very nice, easy to edit, theme.
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Did I miss something that you must have in your theme? Let me know in the comments!
My preferred themes? Without a doubt, StudioPress themes.
