WordPress Theme vs. Template – Which One Is An Iconic Choice for Your WordPress Site?
WordPress theme vs. template? It’s always been a hot topic of discussion among beginners, developers, and consumers from all backgrounds. Both are fantastic at polishing a WordPress site from its appearance to user interactions, functionality to features, and, of course, advantages to the ins and outs. Beyond all, one question frequently arises in people’s minds is which one is more iconic for a website to produce its most excellent output. WordPress themes or templates?
Is it making an impression on you as well? If this is the case, don’t be concerned. We’ll explain all you need to know about wordpress templates and themes for websites in this article so you can pick the finest one. Before we go any further, let’s review the highlights that will be discussed in this article.
WordPress Themes Vs. Template: Let’s Understand Analogy
The WordPress themes vs template analogy will make you understand this concept from your daily life.
WordPress has thousands of themes and templates to help developers carry out their website development projects smoothly and hassle-free. In fact, both are considered as the building blocks of designing a wordpress site with robust features, functionality, and dynamic look and feel. If we understand the concept of both wordpress themes and templates, then it’s similar to building a house, where to speed the construction, you choose the structure of the house first, limited to some dimensions, so you don’t have to change it over and over again to create chunks. Next, you buy furniture and other valuable assets to finish the construction and give your home a nice look.
The same will happen when you are about to design a website where you can relate WordPress templates to the room of the house (style part would be the design part of your room) and WordPress themes to the design of the whole house (website) from structure to the layout. And relate extensions to the furniture and other valuable assets to add functionality to your website. To sum it up. The theme is the design of your wordpress website, and it contains several predefined chunks of code that help you make your own version in a similar style. However, WordPress website templates define the part of the webpage (house) generated by wordpress themes.
WordPress Themes Vs. Template – Beyond to Infinity
This section covers 360-degree aspects of WordPress Themes vs templates take your imagination to where you can use these themes.
WordPress Themes: Introduction
WordPress theme is accountable for the complete design in your wordpress website. WordPress design website theme does an excellent job, from colours to backgrounds, the footer to the header, and other sections. In short, themes customize the overall look of your wordpress site, including the layout, typography, and other design elements. If we go deeper into the concept, we can state that a wordpress theme is a zipped folder containing a collection of files, including a set of page templates written in the PHP programming language and some CSS stylesheets. When you initially create a WordPress site, it will be pre-installed with a default theme.
You can adjust the theme to meet your website’s needs while adhering to industry standards. It’s better to choose the correct theme to make your website more appealing and user-friendly so that it can help you attract more visitors, improve visitor engagement, and raise revenue. Most WordPress themes have some default templates with code to generate HTML output for particular website sections.
- Main – index.php.
It displays the main page of a website.
- Header – header.php.
It displays the header section.
- Sidebar – sidebar.php.
It generates HTML output for the sidebar section.
- Footer – footer.php.
It displays the footer section.
- Comments – comments.php.
It displays comments and comments forms.
- Theme Functions – functions.php.
It contains code and functions to be used in a theme.
- Single Post – single.php.
It displays the single post page.
Blank themes
Many of you may be curious about this new term in the world of WordPress website development. Are you? Blank WordPress themes are a new concept from WordPress that provides a beautiful approach for users who don’t have time to choose wordpress themes while creating a customized design. These themes are also known as starter, base, or naked themes in technical terms. You may be familiar that there are numerous themes grouped into simple, responsive, portfolio, and business themes available in the WordPress repository for representing a business on the web.
Let us explain to you that Blank WordPress themes vary from the rest because they can be customized. For you, to know more about blank themes, we have curated a list of the best blank wordpress themes. Let’s have a look below.
- HTML5 Blank WordPress Theme
- Underscores
- Bones
- Joints WP
- Responsive
- Sage
- Naked
- Bootstrap Four
- CyberChimps
- Gantry
You might be wondering how many additional themes you can utilize for your WordPress site besides these blank themes. Right? So, let’s get started and find out the solution to this lovely question right here. You can choose from 8,722 free themes to personalize your WordPress site. It includes some of the most popular as well as the latest themes.
List of Some of the Most Popular WordPress Themes
- Twenty Twenty-One
- Twenty Twenty
- Astra
- Hello Elementor
- Twenty Seventeen
- OceanWP
- Twenty Nineteen
- PopularFX
- Neve
- Kadence
- GeneratePress
- Go
List of Some of the Latest WordPress Themes
- Scapeshot Music
- Patricia Lite
- Oldschool
- Omkara
- Viralike
- CorpoNotch Law
- Digi Restaurant
- Simentor
- CloudPress Dark
- Avadanta Agency
- GridHot
- Fondness
List of Some of the Best Themes for Fast Website Loading
- Astra
- Tusant
- Sydney
- Zakra
- Travel Way
- Foodie Pro
These WordPress themes are available in a variety of business categories. Some are ideal for music websites, others are fantastic for food-related websites, and others are ideal for travel wordpress sites.
What Can WordPress Themes Do?
Themes display the material and data that WordPress has stored in the browser. When you choose a wordpress theme, you have complete control over how your website’s content appears and is displayed. When it comes to selecting a theme for your website, you have a lot of alternatives. For instance, your web design WordPress theme can have many layouts, such as fixed width or responsive, one or two columns, and so on. Your theme can show content differently on different sized devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Your themes may provide you with options for where and how you want it to appear. CSS can be used to create custom fonts and design elements in your theme. Also, your web design WordPress theme may provide a dedicated section for other design components such as videos and images.
What Are WordPress Themes Made Of?
WordPress themes are, at their most basic level, collections of different files that work together to create what you see and how your site functions.
- The user’s browser sends a request to the web server’s WordPress.
- PHP instructions in WordPress identify the theme template file to use.
- After that, PHP instructions in the template fetch the text out of the database.
- It also fetches the images from the uploads folder.
- The content is combined with the HTML.
- And the style sheet.
- And Javascript, which is a special kind of programming language that makes elements on a page interactive.
- All these pieces are combined into the formatted page.
- Which is then sent back to the user’s browser.
Can a WordPress Theme Be Changed?
WordPress makes it very easy for users to change a theme, but every theme has its own unique set of features and options, so it can take some time to change a specific theme.
Here is the list of some easy things that you can change hassle-free.
1. Navigation menu
- WordPress comes with an in-built navigation menu system.
- Each wordpress theme defines the theme location where menus are displayed. That’s why when you switch your wordpress theme, there will be new menu locations that make it easy for you to change the theme.
2. Widgets
Widgets make it simple to add different elements to the sidebars of your WordPress theme. When you change your WordPress theme, your active widgets may be deactivated. The nice part is that some themes will display default WordPress widgets by default. Plus, there’s more. Customizable widgets will be stored in the inactive widgets section and can be re-added to your new theme’s sidebar.
3. What are the things that are difficult to change?
You may already be familiar that your themes determine what content appears on various types of pages such as list pages, blog pages, and homepages and where that content appears on those pages. So, if a WordPress theme doesn’t have a page type, it can be changed, but you’ll need to hire a dedicated WordPress developer or learn some technicality or coding skills to do so.
What’s the difference between WordPress paid vs. free themes?
Let’s understand the difference by observing some crucial parameters.
Important Factors You Must Consider While Choosing WordPress Theme
Choosing a single wordpress theme for your business can be overwhelming. There are tons of options there, and it can be challenging to understand where to start. If you are struggling to find out the best WordPress theme for website design, then look into the complete picture. In simple words, understand the factors that you must consider while choosing a theme. Though there are free or paid wordpress themes and you would undoubtedly be juggling between choosing one of them, you must understand that both themes are ideal to choose. However, both hold different features, functionalities, and of course, advantages. So apart from cost, there are so many things that make a more significant difference. If you would love to know everything about paid and free themes, then we suggest you go to https://wordpress.org./
However, you can keep reading the other vital factors that you must consider while making an appropriate theme selection.
1. Theme functionality
If you want to grow your business, you must consider theme functionality. Consider whether or not you require social media symbols that link to brand accounts. Remember to include a comment area or a forum. What about the e-commerce aspect of things, such as an online store? To put it another way, you must carefully consider the features you require. The good news is that WordPress plugins can add many things at any time, but it’s still important to look into the functionality of a theme before you buy it.
For example, specific themes may be coded so that adding a forum is problematic. If you enjoy a particular theme, be sure you’ve done your homework first.
2. Website responsiveness
Consider the site’s responsiveness; the theme you’ve picked should look great on any device. No matter which theme you use, make sure mobile readers have the same experience as desktop users. Keep in mind that Google has made mobile responsiveness a requirement for websites, which can significantly impact your rankings. Also, as mobile traffic is increasing every year, a responsive WordPress theme is essential. Although most WordPress themes come with this standard, not all do, and free themes frequently do not. As a result, take this into account when conducting your theme research.
3. Page builder
Another crucial aspect to consider is the page builder. You can easily create pages with a good page builder by dragging and dropping. Although most WordPress themes include page builders, not all of them do. Some themes may even employ a custom page builder, which might cause a website’s performance to suffer due to unnecessary code. So, you should have a WordPress theme optimized to work with the best page builders if you have a preference. You should find a WordPress theme that provides almost everything you want, only to find it’s incompatible with your favorite builder.
4. Browser support
Finally, the most crucial factor to consider when selecting a theme is browser compatibility. It’s OK to go if your chosen theme runs nicely in your browser. You must, however, ensure that your theme functions appropriately in the customer’s browser. You must frequently test to achieve this. You can typically find browser compatibility information in the details section of a WordPress theme, but the developers don’t always include it. So it’s up to you to put yourself to the test. Download a few of the most popular browsers, load up your website with the new theme, and examine what works and what doesn’t.
WordPress Templates: Introduction
WordPress templates and WordPress themes are not the same things. The first difference is that WordPress templates only apply to specific website pages, not a complete website. In simple terms, a WordPress template is a single-page layout included in a WordPress theme. Some WordPress themes include their own WordPress website templates, which include multiple variations of the same sort of page.
For example, a theme might have a template for a blog post page, but that template will be available in two sizes: full-width and narrow-width. WordPress templates are utilized by applying them to specific pages in the WordPress page editor. Unique website templates WordPress are frequently used for specific page types, such as an archive page or a homepage.
A “template” in Elementor refers to a specific section of your theme. For instance, you might have different WordPress templates for your website:
- Header
- Design of a blog post
- Design of a blog list
- Footer
- Etc.
You may then assemble these WordPress templates into a complete website, similar to legos. To save time, Elementor has a tool called Template Kits, which provides you with pre-built sets of all the templates you’ll need to put together a coherent design.
1. Templates Kits
The most delicate illustration of how templates are utilized for specific pages on a WordPress website is Template Kits. Elementor Template Kits are sets of page templates centered around a particular theme or website type. To put it another way, template Kits are a collection of unique WordPress templates designed to work together on a single website. Template kits are interesting because they are created with a specific business goal or user persona in mind. You can select the website templates WordPress kit based on your business goals and persona. It will bring an audience of sophisticated internet users who are interested in your business to your website.
2. Is WordPress Website Templates Kits Different From Templates?
It may sound synonymous to true because both WordPress templates and Template Kits contain pre-determined design elements that can be used on a page-by-page or component-based basis. However, there are significant differences between them. Template Kits are, by nature, a collection of templates that are not just theme-based but also a “complete package deal,” containing all of the pages and design elements that a web designer will need to create a site in a particular category. On the other hand, template kits are easier to update and create, whereas templates are more hard-coded.
3. Are Template Kits Different from Themes?
Template kits are similar to WordPress themes in some instances. In many situations, template kits, for example, have the same color palette, typography, spacing guidelines, and essentially the same brand assets and motifs as WordPress themes. On the other hand, Template kits differ from themes in some scenarios when you need to make more adjustments. So, if you thought template kits are purely similar to WordPress themes, you were growing a big misconception in your mind.
List of Some of The Most Popular WordPress Templates Included In WordPress Themes
Twenty Eleven (Theme)
- Default Template
- Showcase Template
- Sidebar Template
Weaver II (Theme)
- Default Template
- 2 Col Content (split w/ <!–more–>)
- Blank
- HTML Source
- Page With Posts
- Sitemap
- Raw
- iframe — full content width
Twenty Ten (Theme)
- Default Template
- One Column, No Sidebar
Panoramic (Theme)
- Default Template
- No Sidebar
Flexible Lite (Theme)
- Default Template
- Full-Width Page
- Full-Width Page No title
- Page with No title
New Blog Lite (Theme)
There are no page templates in this theme; however, you can change the sidebars on or off when editing a page.
Can WordPress Templates be changed?
Templates are page layouts explicitly created for use with a WordPress theme. Because WordPress does not work that way, it is not possible to install a single template. You must install a new theme to change WordPress website templates. You can, however, make your own custom WordPress site templates if you have a decent understanding of web design (CSS, HTML, and PHP) and deep knowledge of the WordPress template hierarchy.
WordPress Themes Vs. Templates: What’s the difference?
In its most basic form, the distinction between WordPress themes and WordPress templates is the number of pages each one relates to. If we delve a little deeper, themes affect the overall style of your WordPress website, whereas WordPress templates for websites change the layout of a single page. The quantity of themes and templates is another area where they differ. You can only have one WordPress theme active at a time on your website, but you can have many WordPress site templates. Not only that, but you can use a different template for your blog and your portfolio. In fact, a single page on your website can have multiple templates. For example, you can have a Header template on one page and a different Footer template on the same page.
Wrapping Remarks
Now, when you have got a fair understanding of WordPress themes vs. templates, it’s time to make a quick decision about which you’re going to choose for your next wordpress website. Different WordPress templates and themes will provide you with additional features and pros, so select the one which meets your needs thoroughly. If you want to know more about wordpress themes vs. templates, then you can leave a comment below, or else you can contact us and talk to our WordPress specialists.
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