There is an abundance of WordPress themes available to peruse online and trying to narrow down to”the one” that will match one’s business needs can be tricky.
There are number of things to consider when choosing a WordPress theme, other than determining whether to go with a free, or premium theme.
Here are some key metrics to consider for committing to a WordPress theme:
Determine Feature Needs
As a time saver it’s best to narrow the search based on themes that have most of the desired features already included, rather than spending the time to customize everything from scratch.
Some of the features to consider include how many columns are needed, color customization abilities, menu layout and navigation options.
Speed of Theme
While the speed of a website is often determined by the web host server, a fully loaded WordPress theme with multiple plug-ins, or a disorganized design theme can really bog down usability.Test themes by running a speed test on the demo at webpagetest.org.
With an emphasis on enhancing e-commerce consumer experiences, speed has to be an important factor when determining suitability in choosing a WordPress theme.
Responsive Themes
Responsiveness is an essential component of any modern website nowadays. Selecting a responsive theme will ensure the display of content will adjust automatically on smaller devices such as smart phones and tablets.
Ensuring browser compatibility is another consideration to keep in mind, as some countries and older populations may still use older browser versions.
Support
Although there are many WordPress themes available at no cost, careful consideration should be taken as to whether or not a business can afford to gamble with the possibility of not having the support needed to fix bugs or address updates.
WordPress is updated a number of times throughout the year and often free themes are not updated by their authors, resulting in instability or incompatibility issues. Premium themes are more likely to provide ongoing support.
Themes should always be picked with quality in mind. Take the time to try theme demos and experience what your online users would. As for choosing a WordPress theme 2015, the above-mentioned metrics should be of help in narrowing down which themes are best suited to a business’ needs.
