There are hundreds of professional designed themes available for WordPress, with some of these created specifically for Photographers. Using a theme you can get a professional looking website easily, and typically have enough flexibility to make it unique using functionality provided by the theme.
However, if you are not careful you could end up with a theme that is not fit for you purpose, is never updated, and doesn’t quite do what it’s supposed too. So what should be considered when looking for a new WordPress theme?
What to look for when choosing a WordPress theme:
- Be sure that the theme supports the current version of WordPress. You can check the latest version of WordPress by clicking here.
- Look at the update history of the theme to see if it is updated frequently for new releases of WordPress or bug fixes. If the theme is new, then you may not see it updated yet. A theme which is well supported will last longer than a “one off” theme.
- Check any comments made if possible to see what other users have said and what the general feedback is. Remember, most people only comment when things go wrong rather than right, so do not read into this too much.
- Check ratings and number of sales of a theme if provided. Typically a good theme has a high rating and many sales.
- Assess if the theme allows you to customize colors and other layout features easily. Typically you can view an online demo of the theme. The online demo normally showcases the themes capabilities.
- Check that the theme has a good selection of fonts and shortcodes. Shortcodes give the flexibility of controlling layout, adding feature images, or changing fonts and lists style, ultimately giving you more control of how your website will look.
- Check the theme supports Galleries and/or Portfolios. It is not essential as you can use plugins to extend functionality, however, themes with this functionality built in tend to be easier to use.
If you find a theme and are not quite sure, please contact us and we will perform the assessment for you.
We frequently recommend and use themes from three main sources:
Of course there are many other website offering WordPress themes which are equally as good. Any WordPress theme from any website will be compatible.