WordPress Theme Selection Field Guide

WordCamp Milwaukee June 2013
@GloriaAntonelli #wcmke
WordPress
Theme Selection
Field Guide
by Gloria Antonelli
Thursday, June 6, 13

about me
artist
designer
technologist
trainer
consultant
web strategist
wordpress developer

stuff i know
html
css
php
wordpress
web standards
ux
ui
seo
graphic design
content strategy
usability testing
information architecture

session overview
ux standards
before theme selection
WordPress skill set
theme selection options
theme qualities
theme trends

How WordPress Works
Plugin
.
ThemeWordPress
Core
Plugin
Plugin

development
design
documentation
WP GOLD STANDARDS

WordPress Theme
EXPECTATIONS
Code Standards
HTML5, CSS3
& Responsive
Design
Typography &
Minimalist layouts
Documentation
User instructions

“Don’t Make me Think”
www.sensible.com/
Do-It-Yourself Guide to
Finding and Fixing
Usability Problems
A Common
Sense Approach
to Web Usability
Steve Krug

Before Theme Selection

• Plan Website Goals & Objectives

• Content Strategy Development

• Forecast Future Needs

• Features & Customization

• Features & Customization
• Evaluate Your Ability & Time

Content Strategy
what content buckets do you need?

Content Strategy
• Define the Project

Content Strategy
Evaluate current content

Content Strategy
Outline new content

Content Strategy
Outline new content
• Design Layout

Content Strategy
Outline new content
• Design Layout
Simple mockup or Wireframes

Content Strategy
Outline new content
• Design Layout
Simple mockup or Wireframes
• Develop Content

Multiple Learning Layers
Essential Advanced
WordPress Admin UI HTML5
Theme Functionality CSS3
Theme Options PHP
Theme Widgets JQUERY
“Learn” image Aaron Schmidt
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronschmidt/

Users Process
Plugin
Selection
Set up
Theme
Modify
Theme> > >
read docs
search web
view videos
view tutorials
Theme
Selection
review on web
select & hope
for the best
read docs
search web
view videos
view tutorials
search web
read reviews
read docs
search web
repeatasneeded
>

Team of Developers
many hats, jobs & skills
CODE DESIGN UI UX IA
One person
wears all
the hats.
Who makes Themes?
“Hat man” Andrew Warren
flickr.com/photos/27273053@N05/4507100640/

Theme Selection Paths
Free
From WordPress.org
Randomly on the Web (danger)
Buy
Commercial list on WordPress.org
Commercial Theme Shops
Theme Marketplace Sites
Build
Hire Developer/Designer
Do It Yourself

Random Themes from Web
Not Recommend
“Free WordPress Themes”
Google results may not be safe
or reputable.
May have malicious code and
hidden spam links.
Little support or documentation.
You’ve been warned!

WordPress.org 1,763 Free Themes
WordPress
Theme
Review
Process
Theme
Unit Test
Ratings
& Stats
Updates
Support
Forum

Theme Stats
Reflects how
many times
downloaded not
how many are in
use.
May be a good
indicator for a
quality theme.

Commercial Theme on WordPress.org
65Shops
Listed

Commercial Theme Companies
also called “Premium”
• Membership-Based
• Renewal (monthly/annually ) for
updates, support & new releases
• All Theme Packages - Lifetime Support
• Startup Fee
• Niche themes (Hermes Themes $200)
• Pay-What-You-Want
Generally commercial themes offer good
customization, quality and support.

Theme MarketPlace
• Market for developers/designers selling
their themes.
• Support directly from the developer not
the marketplace.
• Choose carefully - some ignore WP
Standards & best practices.
• Read user feedback on authors & themes

Theme Marketplace Issues
“Many of us are tired of fixing issues
with or coming up with workarounds
for ThemeForest themes.”Justin Tadlock
“…QUIT GLOBALLY REPLACING
CONTENT OUTPUT AND BREAKING
OTHER PEOPLES CODE…”
@carlhancock tweet started that discussion.
Carl Hancock

“Theme Arms Race” Problem
Theme authors are
marketing to make
more money. They
are packing as much
into themes as they
can to make a sale.
• Feature Bloat
• Baked in Shortcodes & Features
• Kitchen Sink Option Pages
wordpress.tv/2011/09/29/brandon-ryan-jones-the-anarchist-and-the-patriot/

When You Can’t Do It Yourself
Growing developer community -
choose wisely.
Pick a theme/framework that
has an eco system supporting it.
e.g. Many pitch themselves as a
Genesis theme developer.

Building a Theme
http://evansolomon.me/notes/premium-themes-are-a-lie/
In my experience, most themes are not of high quality anyway. The only true way to have
high quality website code is to hand build it. By high quality I mean standards and
accessible compliant, page speed optimized, SEO optimized, minified, free of divitis, and
many other aspects that make website code a high standard. I have rarely seen any
theme available online that is of such high standards, I get the impression people just
want to build themes quick and sell cheap. That’s why we hand build all our websites and
stay away from any free or “premium”.
Laurence Cope
August 16, 2012

types of themes
out of the box
one size fits all
drag & drop interface
parent/child
frameworks
starter themes
custom themes

One Size Fits All Option Page

Packed Full of Features
● custom layout templates ● advanced support for custom
post types ● customizable drop-down menus ● featured
sliders ● tabbed sidebars ● magazine layout ● enhanced
widgets for Twitter, Flickr, Google ● translations in many
languages ● RTL language support ● WP 3.0 Menus ●
Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies integration ● 19
widget areas ● one-column, two-column and three-column
fixed-width & flexible-width layouts ● 8 pre-defined templates
● 19 pre-defined color schemes ● Suffusion
Theme Bloat!

Child Themes
/*
Theme Name: My Twenty Twelve Child
Theme URI:
Description: My Child theme
Author: Your Name
Author URI:
Template: twentytwelve
Version: 1
*/

Framework
“A stand-alone base/starter Theme that
is intended either to be forked into
another Theme, or else to be used as a
Parent Theme template.”
Built-in functions and jQuery/AJAX scripts to
allow you to create Child Themes with the
minimal amount of coding.
May include…
• Custom functions in the Theme
• Custom action hooks and filter hooks
• Theme options page integration
wordpress.org

judging theme quality
not just on visual appeal
does it fit my site needs
can it be extended or customized
avoid “theme lock in”
html structure for seo
reviews from developers
(not from affilliate link sites)

support & documentation
most are behind a walled garden
forum
help desk - ticketed system
user documents
theme updates

the buy in
don’t know what to expect
everyone is different
your cost is time
before ・during ・after

theme trends
adaptive web design
mobile first
user centric design
web standardization
design simplicity
specialty themes
custom post types
customizer
less built-ins · more plugins
less shortcodes

Join the
WordPress Global
Community

thank you!
Gloria Antonelli
@GloriaAntonelli
google +
linkedin
facebook
Web Strategist
WordPress Developer
Consultant & Trainer
gloria@gloriaantonelli.com

WordPress Theme Selection Field Guide

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