A website is the face of a brand on the Internet – a confusing or outdated website can damage a brand, while a beautifully designed, user-friendly site can contribute to its success. Do you want to create a website for your brand or improve an existing website, but have been put off by the cost? Theme-based web design allows even small businesses with a limited budget to create a website that best represents their brand. The open source CMS WordPress offers a wide range of themes that are relatively inexpensive or even free. With the necessary know-how and customization using plugins, even this cheaper option can create functional and attractive websites.
What is theme-based web design?
If you want to have a professional website, you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money. You can use ready-made design templates – called themes – to create websites, in addition to custom solutions. With theme-based web design, you are tied to the functionality of a specific theme and “limited” to a certain extent, but this is perfectly adequate for the requirements of most websites.
In contrast to custom solutions, for theme-based websites we use existing WordPress themes such as Enfold or Elementor and build the site on top of them, without having to program the structure and technology from scratch. However, theme-based websites still allow for custom design and are best suited to the client’s needs.
Theme-based web design: Why WordPress?
WordPress stands out for its ease of use, extensive extensibility, and versioning compatibility. The proven CMS has made web development more accessible by allowing users without programming skills to create, design and manage professional websites without writing code.
Multipurpose WordPress themes like Enfold or page builder plugins like Elementor offer a user-friendly interface and a variety of pre-built elements (building blocks) that can be dragged and dropped into place. This makes it easy to add columns, text blocks, images, sliders, call-to-action buttons, and more, and then make detailed adjustments (color, fonts, layouts, and other design elements).
When is Theme-Based Web Design the Right Choice?
The big advantage of theme-based websites is that they are significantly less expensive than custom web design projects. Theme-based solutions are especially attractive for smaller businesses with a limited budget and manageable requirements. If you don’t need highly complex, customized features, a premium theme will give you a beautiful, professional website that can be expanded and customized.
Theme-based websites also provide a quick solution when quick results are needed. What’s more, you can easily manage or expand theme solutions yourself or outsource the task to another agency.
We recommend theme-based web design for small to medium sized projects that do not require special features. For example, an online store can be easily integrated into a theme-based website using a WooCommerce plugin. However, as soon as things get more complex, such as integrating an enterprise resource planning system, a custom solution is recommended. At a certain point, it is no longer economical to convert an existing theme and it makes more sense to program the site from scratch.
The choice between a theme solution and a custom solution depends on the client’s individual needs, circumstances, and available budget.
The advantages of theme-based websites are obvious:
- Theme solutions are less expensive than custom themes.
- They are quick to implement.
- They are inherently responsive.
- For most use cases, the standard features included in premium themes are more than sufficient.
