wordpress themes
- Thread starter ryan4444
- Start date
Probably easier to get one built. The colours are easy to do but making it magical and enchanted isn't something theme builders do. Mainly because everybody's idea of enchanted is different.
Have you got an enchanted picture you like that summarises the sort of thing you want?
As an aside - who is your target? The children or the parents?
Have you got an enchanted picture you like that summarises the sort of thing you want?
As an aside - who is your target? The children or the parents?
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Most themes on Themeforest are clunky and bloated. They were designed to make it easy for people to build a site but in doing so they got filled up with stuff you don't need.
I used to use off the shelf themes but it often took longer to modify them than it did to build a theme myself.
I used to use off the shelf themes but it often took longer to modify them than it did to build a theme myself.
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I agree, but Ryan wants something very specific - which is why getting a custom theme will probably be cheaper than buying a theme and getting someone to create a child-theme and then do a whole loads of mods to make it work.
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Ryan, I think you will find that a theme like 'X' would suit you incredibly well. I recommend it to all my friends and clients, it is extremely powerful, fast and easy to customise but not intimidating at all, since you can use their 'Cornerstone' drag & drop editor.
I have worked with several other themes and so far, nothing has come close to the value you can get from X in my opinion.
I have zero affiliations to the product, but I do have loyalty towards it - because it is such a good product. You must purchase X from Themeforest (it is sold exclusively there).
Let us know what you end up going for and why, I'm sure everyone will benefit from your process.
Alistair
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PS
I disagree!!
@ryan4444 needs to get started! He has said that he wants brown and green colours .... this does not amount to a custom theme!! It's a 'tweaked' theme that he needs to begin with. Any wordpress theme worth its salt will have the ability for Ryan to adjust colours, fonts etc to get the outcome he described (Green and Brown!)
Ryan - my advice to you is threefold:
Do the above, and your website will get the job done without sucking you in to an endless process of improvements and overhauls!
I disagree!!
@ryan4444 needs to get started! He has said that he wants brown and green colours .... this does not amount to a custom theme!! It's a 'tweaked' theme that he needs to begin with. Any wordpress theme worth its salt will have the ability for Ryan to adjust colours, fonts etc to get the outcome he described (Green and Brown!)
Ryan - my advice to you is threefold:
- Get something live, don't wait for perfection
- Keep your layout incredibly simple
- Lead with media - I would urge you to consider using Wistia (wistia com) for your video embeds. It is clean and easy to use. You also will benefit from a good photo gallery.
Do the above, and your website will get the job done without sucking you in to an endless process of improvements and overhauls!
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But Ryan said:
And I said:
I agree that you could launch with a simple theme that has greens and browns but enchanted isn't something you can normally get off the shelf.
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I concur with bot my right honourable gentleman.
However, I would add, don't waste time, going for any fancy web designs. If it's just for e-commerce. Keep it simple, keep it white and let just the odd colours here and there.
Your customers really aren't going to be bothered either way. They'll want a site to be clear, easy and fast. As a yardstick look at the major e-tailers, amazon, not on the high street, Argos etc.
No fluff, simple, clear designs. Literally your customers care less about how good your site looks, but rather what they can get from it
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Oops:
The colours aren't the issue, you can make any theme green and brown. It's the enchanted bit that is the problem. Like @threenine I don't think it's necessary but if that's what Ryan wants then a custom theme is the way to go.
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Oh yes, I was trying to look through some options to see which themes exist having brown and green mix, so I liked this one, it is a pity that it doesn't work anymore..
And yes, good point about just applying green and brown themes to any themes there
I was thinking about it, but then decided to see what is made already with such colours.
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F
Faevilangel
preb-built themes are great if you're looking for something "good" which is "cheap" and isn't fancy........
If you want something more unique then be prepared to pay for it......... Custom themes give you a unique design to your website to make your business stand out....... rather than fit in with the pre-built themes.
I build probably 70/30 (custom / pre-built) and the most common reasons for pre-built are down to budget and time ...... The majority go on to buy custom themes later on when their business is at the stage to want something more unique.
If you want something more unique then be prepared to pay for it......... Custom themes give you a unique design to your website to make your business stand out....... rather than fit in with the pre-built themes.
I build probably 70/30 (custom / pre-built) and the most common reasons for pre-built are down to budget and time ...... The majority go on to buy custom themes later on when their business is at the stage to want something more unique.
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Both are bloated, overly complex and have a poor responsive UX.
The theme makes no difference. It's the content that is optimised.
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I didn't say they aren't responsive, I said the UX is poor. By this I mean they are responsive to the device being used but they don't do it very well. One very simple example is how they display the hamburger icon instead of the main navigation on small screens. Usability testing has shown that this is the least intuitive method of doing things.
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That's just one thing to think about.
Consider also how close people are to the screen. An average line of text should contain 10-12 words (slightly more for academical papers). This means the font size should change as the screen size reduces in order to keep the same number of words per line. And then you have to consider the target size of actionable elements. They need to be big enough with sufficient margins so that people with fat fingers don't touch the wrong link/button. BUt they also need to be small enough so they don't fill up the whole width of the screen.
Making a responsive theme isn't just about making it fit on the screen. Avada does that but in doing so the resulting UX is very poor.
Consider also how close people are to the screen. An average line of text should contain 10-12 words (slightly more for academical papers). This means the font size should change as the screen size reduces in order to keep the same number of words per line. And then you have to consider the target size of actionable elements. They need to be big enough with sufficient margins so that people with fat fingers don't touch the wrong link/button. BUt they also need to be small enough so they don't fill up the whole width of the screen.
Making a responsive theme isn't just about making it fit on the screen. Avada does that but in doing so the resulting UX is very poor.
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Try 24hsites.com. You can get quick WordPress website with you brand customisation for few hundred pounds and get your website next day. The biggest advantage is that you don't have to deal with technicalities of setting up hosting, plugins, emails, domain etc.
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Which you realise 6 months down the line when you want more control, or to move provider, is the Biggest Disadvantage.
Half hour setting up your own hosting, emails, domains, etc. in your own name makes far more sense than being potentially held to ransom at a later date.
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Genesis was developed for desktop and adapted for mobile devices. Things are rapidly changing and the predominance of mobile browsing now means themes should be developed for mobiles and adapted for desktops.
One example is the sidebar. It's been a mainstay of sites for many years but has no place on a small screen (it gets pushed down to the bottom of the page). This means sites should consider creating pages with the sidebar information incorporated into main content. Another responsive design feature Genesis uses is the hamburger menu. This is use to hide the main menu on small screens. But the UX is poor and (you don't know what's in there until you click). But if you build a menu system with fewer links it would fit on the screen and be more usable.
It's not longer enough to just make a site responsive. This is why Genesis is falling behind the site design drag curve. It's not the only one, Avada, Divi and many others all fall into the same trap.
One example is the sidebar. It's been a mainstay of sites for many years but has no place on a small screen (it gets pushed down to the bottom of the page). This means sites should consider creating pages with the sidebar information incorporated into main content. Another responsive design feature Genesis uses is the hamburger menu. This is use to hide the main menu on small screens. But the UX is poor and (you don't know what's in there until you click). But if you build a menu system with fewer links it would fit on the screen and be more usable.
It's not longer enough to just make a site responsive. This is why Genesis is falling behind the site design drag curve. It's not the only one, Avada, Divi and many others all fall into the same trap.
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Once you delve into the whole responsive v UX arena all sorts of things raise their heads.
Another example is the ubiquitous homepage slider. It's never been very usable (as well as being totally ineffective) but on a small screen they just becomes pointless. Image sliders are fine but only if they incorporate swipe gestures.
This is why I'm developing a theme for touchscreens but also works well on a larger screen. If you want to have a play here it is: http://onepage.aerin.co.uk/ It's not perfect but it does demonstrate how a theme can work well on all devices.
Another example is the ubiquitous homepage slider. It's never been very usable (as well as being totally ineffective) but on a small screen they just becomes pointless. Image sliders are fine but only if they incorporate swipe gestures.
This is why I'm developing a theme for touchscreens but also works well on a larger screen. If you want to have a play here it is: http://onepage.aerin.co.uk/ It's not perfect but it does demonstrate how a theme can work well on all devices.
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