So Many Choices, So Little Time – Which Theme is the Best?
Whether it’s from clients, or attendees of my workshops, I often get asked, “What theme do you think is the best?” Wow, now that’s a loaded question!
Why do I get asked that so often? And is there really an answer? To be honest, no.
What is happening is there are a lot of WordPress “so-called experts” out there who have found one particular theme they like, or a series of them from a certain theme developer. Why the “experts” decide on pushing it could be several different reasons:
- They have learned a particular theme inside and out, and have decided it’s too much work to explore other themes.
- They have a vested interest in it, which may be financial.
- They bought the developer’s licence and fso it costs the nothing to offer the “free premium theme” as an incentive to hire them to create your blog or website.
- They feel the theme has worked miracles for them, and believe it will do the same for you.
- They are just simply biased and too stubborn to budge an inch.
Now I’m not saying this is bad, or that the themes they recommend won’t do the job. It’s just the limitations set upon the client. And although they may think that their “selected” theme is the greatest, it’s only their opinion, and doesn’t necessarily mean that they understand your needs.
So back to my question and my answer. I use and recommend a large variety of themes for my clients. The commission I get on an affilate ad, or the hype that may come from big name bloggers, don’t play into my decision. Why? Because finding a theme that will work for you is very important to me.
When searching for a theme, think of everything you want it to do, plus all those forseeable needs down the road. Talk to you developer and ask the hard questions. Ask around. See who else is using that theme and find out what they were able to do. If you find a theme that has been highly customized, be prepared to either dig in yourself or have someone do it for you. And if you don’t find a theme that will do it all for you, make sure what you settle on will still make you happy.
Remember, no one theme does it all. At least, not yet…
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Headway Video Site by John Haydon
Lately I have been sending people to get hooked up with the Headway theme. It’s latest version has an incredible visual editor. No more knowing CSS or code!
John Hayden has just come out with Headway Video site. A perfect resource for tutorial videos on Headway. Check it out here.
And if you decide you would like to purchase Headway, please consider our affiliate link on the right side of this page.
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8 Recent Thoughts on WordPress
Hey, you may already know this, but WordPress is my life. Yes, I work with it on a daily basis. And no, I don’t know everything. But I enjoy finding those solutions to problems I have yet to conquer. So, just for the heck of it, here are eight thoughts I am having right now on WordPress as I sit here.
- Themes are a constant challenge. Their coding and CSS isn’t always obvious. Still convinced it’s worth paying for one.
- Permalinks are great. But if you move a site, and you suddenly start getting 404 errors on all of your pages, except your homepage, it can be a permalink problem. Simply go in and reset to default, save, then reset your custom permalink. That may just solve the problem.
- Bluehost is still my favorite hosting site. Three issues this week, all resolved within 15 minutes via the 24/7 chat.
- Nothing more gratifying then helping someone on Twitter solve a WordPress issue by sending them to a blog post I did.
- Looking forward to the WordPress workshop I’ll be presenting tomorrow, WordPress and the 3 Bears – Themes, Plugins and Widgets.
- Blogging is not dead.
- Cringe when other so-called WordPress developers and “experts” say you can create yourself an awesome online presence in just a few hours.
- Still don’t like the over-used cliches rockstar or sucks in any kind of reference to WordPress, or as a matter of fact, anything in life.
So, a bit of meandering, but just imagine what all my thoughts are in a day’s time!
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WordPress 2.9 – Update Success
This is the second day since WordPress 2.9 has officially been released. Normally, I wait a couple of weeks to upgrade. But this time I took the dive and the update went through seamlessly. In fact, I have seen a lot of the same results via Twitter. Sounds like a lot of the bugs were worked out in beta. Way to go WordPress!
Of course, I did backup all my files and database just in case!
I will come back and post any plugin or widget conflicts as I hear them.
And how did your experience go?
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New Image Widget
I have in the past given you steps to create an image in your sidebar using the text widget.
Well, today WordPress just came out with a new Image Widget, that solves that problem. Now it’s easy to add an image to your sidebar
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Excluding categories in the sub-navigation bar
Just a quick tip this AM.
If you have a theme that has a sub-navigation bar for categories, often they have a theme setting on which categories you can include or not in the bar. But if they don’t, here is a few steps to ensure certain one’s won’t appear…
First, you need to find out the number ID for each category you want to exclude. An easy way of doing this it to go to your category list page under “posts”, then run your cursor over the page to identify the number. Look at the bottom of your browser page and you will see a url with the number at the end.
Now go into your appearance menu, and choose the editor. On the left hand find your file “header (header.php) and open it.
Look for this code:
<?php wp_list_categories(‘orderby=name&title_li=&depth=2′); ?>
Replace it with this
<?php wp_list_categories(‘orderby=name&title_li=&depth=2&exclude=1,2,3‘); ?>
or you can use this to select only the categories you want to appear
<?php wp_list_categories(‘orderby=name&title_li=&depth=2&include=1,2,3‘); ?>
Just remember, if you aren’t comfortable with coding, make sure you have everything exact, no extra spaces and no “,” after the last category number. To be safe, copy the whole files text into a text window as a backup. Good luck!
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Will the new theme Headway take the place of Thesis?
Just a quick post, as the talk on Twitter, and elsewhere, is the new theme Headway. I’ve yet to really take the time to go through it, but at first glance it’s pretty impressive.
So instead of rehashing what has been said, check out the Headway site and John Haydon, social media marketer, on why he made the switch from Thesis to Headway.
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404 Error – Page Not Found (#@!*#)
We’ve all be there. You click on a link and bam, you end up on a page with the dreaded 404 error – Page Not Found!
Why does this happen? Well, let’s look at when you have changed or redesigned your site in WordPress. Realize, these new pages have new url’s. For example:
Your old site had a page for links:
http://yoursite.com/links
Now on your WordPress site you called your link page, “great links”. So now your url has changed to:
http://yoursite.com/great-links
So how do people find your old link? Well, it may still show up in a search. Or it might have been linked to from another site. Whatever the case, if someone clicks on the old link they end up on a Error 404 Page Not Found.
What to do about this? Well, most WordPress themes have their own 404 page. The beauty of it is you can go in and edit that page to make it more user-friendly if someone lands on it. Of course, you may need to understand a bit of coding, but to access it you will need to go to “Apperance” > “Editor” and click on 404 template. If you are able to do this, a few pointers:
- Replace the “404 Page Not Found” with something a little more friendly, like “Sorry this page has moved” or something like that.
- Include a link that will take them to your home page.
- Use humor if you want to.
- If you want to know how they landed on that page, you can go as far as to put a contact form on it asking for more information.
- Add an image to lighten up the experience.
Here is what viewers find when they land on our 404 page.
If you have a 404 page you would like to share with us, show us the way!
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Ending the Confusion: WordPress.com or WordPress.org?
It’s time to choose which WordPress option you’ll use for your blog or website. The only problem is, well, you’re kind of confused—and afraid you’ll make the wrong choice.
One of the most frequently asked questions from my clients is, “What the heck is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? And should I even care?” I always answer: “Put simply, yes.”
WordPress.com and WordPress.org come from the same place, and are run by the same open source software. But there are distinct differences, and understanding what they are will make a huge difference in which one you decide to use.
Let’s break it down in a side-by-side comparison of some of the basic features of WordPress.
The Cost
WordPress software is free in both cases.
Ease of Installation
WordPress.com – It’s free and easy to set up a simple blog or website. No installation necessary.
WordPress.org – The software is free. But you need to either host it on your own server or pay a monthly hosting fee to a third party provider, as you do with a website. Some hosting services, such as Bluehost.com, have one-click installations. If your host doesn’t, you will need some understanding of FTP (file transfer protocol) and database setup.
Updates, Back-ups and Security Features
WordPress.com – Everything is automatic: backups including your posts, updates, security and spam filtering.
WordPress.org – You need to back up your post and files, install spam filtering, and do your own updates. But there are plugins for most of these functions. For example, WordPress DB backup lets you schedule your backups and will email you the files. And WordPress versions 2.7 and above have one click updates on your dashboard. But before updating, I suggest you find a good resource to walk you through the process.
Choice of Themes
WordPress is based on Themes, or what you might consider templates.
WordPress.com – You are limited on choices of themes. There are about 70+ themes to choose from and more are added from time to time. You can search the available themes by characteristics through your dashboard.
WordPress.org – You have access to thousands of themes, both free and paid. With so many choices, you are more likely to find a theme that fits your needs, style and personal brand. And with the 2.8 version, you can upload the theme directly to your dashboard and even search themes by features.
A note on themes: There are several great, free themes out there, but understand that with paid themes you are likely to get more stable features, updates as new WordPress versions come out, and much better support.
Plugin and Widget Options
Plugins are tools to help you expand the functionality of your WordPress blog or website. Widgets are like plugins, but give you a simpler way to arrange the various elements of your sidebar content—without having to change the code.
WordPress.com – Comes with a limited number of widgets and plugins. The one widget you will find more useful is the text widget. It lets you insert html code to create a widget that otherwise is not available. For example, see this blog post I wrote on inserting a graphic image on your sidebar/widget with a link.
WordPress.org – As with themes, there are a ton of widgets and plugins available on the Web and on WordPress.org. And unlike WordPress.com, you are able to upload them to your site. A note: Research plugins and widgets on the Web to find reputable and stable ones. For instance, find out if they will still work when you upgrade to a newer version of WordPress. Also keep in mind that the more widgets and plugins you have on your site, the more it takes to run your site.
Ability to Customize
The beauty of WordPress is the ability to customize your blog or website to convey your unique brand. In both cases, your theme has its own features to customize (for example, custom headers and colors, etc.)
WordPress.com – You are limited to which customization options each available theme has (custom headers, font size, etc.) WordPress.com does have an advanced feature: for $15 a year, per theme, you can customize the CSS (cascade style sheet). This will allow much more customization options, but you must understand CSS editing.
WordPress.org – There are two parts to this. First, you can now upload so many more themes, including paid premium themes. Many of them have a wide array of custom options that don’t require CSS or html knowledge. The Thesis theme is a good example of this. The second part: If you do know CSS or html, you have complete control to change code, if you are technically minded.
There are additional differences between .com and .org, but this gives you a starting point as you decide which to use. Just remember to figure out your goals and needs and then find which option will best fit them. For simple blogs and some websites, WordPress.com will probably serve your purpose. But for more customized blogs and websites, consider putting WordPress on your own server, especially if you want the flexibility you’ll need to grow your site down the road.
A final word of caution. WordPress and other open source software has made it incredibly easy for anyone to put up a website in a short amount of time. You can make it look pretty, and feel you have created a “killer” website.
But what some developers and designers do not understand is that your website must be more than just a pretty face. Creating a site that attracts and engages your visitors involves much more. Getting traffic to your site means nothing if you do not keep visitors there, engaging them with compelling copy that gets them to click deeper and make a purchase or respond to your other calls to action. It is the combination of good development, superior design, effective SEO and warm, persuasive copywriting that will make your website capture customers and sales a in the end.
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I Survived My 2.8 Update!
Just had to do a quick post as I finally made the move to update to version 2.8. From past experience, I have found it useful not to jump on the bandwagon and update the minute the new version comes out. It’s pretty much my practice across the board with most hardware and software.
I did take the time to read other horror stories via Twitter and LinkedIn, took note of all the disappointments and frustrations, and basically, sat back and waited. Nearly 30 days later, with some of the bugs worked out, on the day after the 4th of July, I decided to take the plunge.
I anticipated similar fireworks and explosions that had been a constant for the past two days.
Fortunately, it didn’t happen.
Like a good WordPress neurotic, I:
- backed up my files (although I do use WP-Dbmanager plugin for auto updates)
- turned off all of my plugins and updated them — several had updated versions for 2.8, lucky me (and yes all 14 plugins)
- clicked my auto install update
- activated plugins again
- and presto, my site worked like a charm, and 2.8 was active
I must note that we do use a premium theme from StudioPress that survived the update without a glitch.
(Heavy sigh). Now it’s off to update client sites. So far 3 updated, and things are good.
If you updated recently, let me know how it went for you!
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