It is important to remember that all themes listed are displayed in the default WordPress setting of a home page with a blog roll. It is also important to remember that what you are seeing is what the theme will look like once content is added.
WHAT DEMO AND DETAILS ARE FOR
Keeping in mind what I said at the top of this page, using the Demo and Details features will greatly help you decide on a theme. During my selection process I first click on Demo to get a preview of the home page in the default blog roll setting.
As seen in the above image, it shows a general view of how the home page will look with limited content. This gives me an idea of how the default home page will look as I begin to build out my content. But it's the Details feature that really helps me decide.
When you click on Details it will take you to the WordPress website, as seen in the below image, and give you all of the available details of your selected theme. It is here where you will learn what the theme can do and how well it is rated.
The image above is for the MesoColumn theme I selected for my WA promotional website. This was my third website and I now had a better idea of how all themes though similar had different features.
I selected this theme because it is very versatile and had a high rating. As you can see it list several great features including being responsive, supports WooCommerce plugin, offers many color options, as well as different fonts.
Have you ever had a theme where you didn't like the font type? Seeing how the type of font is controlled by the theme many people opt for a font plugin. But with MesoColumn you don't have to because you have plenty of font types to choose from.
I feel that it is very important to not just look at what the theme looks like on the selection screen, but to also read the Details page to see the creation options available. Don't just go just by ratings because the majority of new themes will not have many if at all.
NEXT UP = How with some simple customizations I changed the look of my theme
Reply
But the customization of a website theme is one of the many reasons why WordPress is the most used website platform in the world. They allow you to personalize your website through their many custom settings.
It is a learning curve, but one that is highly worth it because you can find new ways to get things to happen on your website that you may have thought you needed a plugin for.
Ken
The one thing I would add is checking the compatibility of the theme with the current Wordpress version. If someone isn't updating their theme to keep pace with Wordpress changes you may have glitches or problems with WP operations and possible plug-in conflicts.
Thanks for the info!
JeanLouis87
Hi Robert: Very interesting. I bow to your themes expertise.
I just changed my website theme to one that looked good, then discovered (as I had with the one I just dumped) that the large mountain scene I thought was an integral part of it, was not included! So all I got was a band of one colour across the top!!
Decided I would later add images. I then found that they shoved all
my menu scattered across the top...looks ghastly! I cannot find in
the menu customization how to get it all out of there and do it down the right hand side. Any ideas you could give me, please?
One other question...Since every one of my 16 posts will be listed in my menu, do I need to spread them across 3 or 4 pages? Makes no difference to the reader as far as I can see, right?
John aka JeanLouis87
This is the main reason why I highly recommend members create a test website, so they can see how making theme changes will look before they make them to their live websites.
As I stated in this tutorial, it is important to remember that the themes you see on the selection screen are what they could look like with images that you will add.
To see an example of what your website will look like when first starting out, make sure to click the Demo link under the theme. The majority of themes do not come with the images you see.
To add your own images you will have to go into the theme's customization section and look for how to add/edit the Header Image. Most themes are different so you will have to experiment with changes.
Again, themes are different in how they display pages and posts. Personally I am not sure by what you mean by having your posts in your menu. There is no right or wrong. It's all personal choice.
