Website/Wordpress Themes?

[RCoots]

I am attempting to get a site up and running and possibly a landing page as well, and I'm drowning in theme options here. I don't blog regularly, but I do post art and will have the occasional notice up. Many of the themes I'm seeing are very busy or blog oriented. My googling is coming up with a few options. I was wondering. What do you guys use?

[RPatton]

Look at Elementor. It's a builder, but with Ocean (a free theme), you can do some amazing things. And with Pro, you can build templates so it's really easy to maintain.

[Tom Wood]

If you are just starting out with the build-a-website thing, then I'll assume you don't want to delve too deep into programming. If that assumption is right, then the best start-point (IMO) is a Wordpress dot com site. If you do go with a Wordpress dot com site (not self-hosted) and buy the Premium plan ($96/year) you get access to custom CSS. With that, you can take a plain theme and make it look like whatever you want. That's a great introduction to the workings of a website that is easily mastered. With the Premium plan, you also get access to more themes than with the lower-tier plans.

[Ghost5]

I took Joanna Penn's advice on her Creative Penn site and use Author Pro Theme. I'm happy with it.

[NathanBurrows]

I’m using Impose, which is very clean and tidy. I’ve also used HitMag in the past and was happy with that. Impose was about $60, but HitMag (the basic version) is free.


Not got it in my sig yet, but my author website (built with Impose) is at www.nathanburrows.com

[NathanBurrows]

If you are just starting out with the build-a-website thing, then I'll assume you don't want to delve too deep into programming. If that assumption is right, then the best start-point (IMO) is a Wordpress dot com site. If you do go with a Wordpress dot com site (not self-hosted) and buy the Premium plan ($96/year) you get access to custom CSS. With that, you can take a plain theme and make it look like whatever you want. That's a great introduction to the workings of a website that is easily mastered. With the Premium plan, you also get access to more themes than with the lower-tier plans.

Not convinced about fiddling with custom css for someone who is starting out! I built my first websites with notepad back in the good old days, and have been coding apps for years, but I hate messing about with css. You can use custom css with Wordpress.org sites, but you have to get under the hood.

[Tom Wood]

>My post about Wordpress and CSS<

Not convinced about fiddling with custom css for someone who is starting out! I built my first websites with notepad back in the good old days, and have been coding apps for years, but I hate messing about with css. You can use custom css with Wordpress.org sites, but you have to get under the hood.

You're probably right. The drag-and-drop website builder tools do look handy if they build attractive sites. It's just that with a little knowledge of HTML and CSS, a whole new world of creative expression opens up. (I never got this far, but adding the ability to use a Javascript library would expand that even further.) Using developer tools (Firebug, etc) to inspect websites also opens a new view. It's not that mysterious how it all works!

[Bill Hiatt]

I'm not a big fan of having to edit the CSS to get what I want.

I am a fan of self-hosted because it opens up more options for customization. Of course, that's just me, but with a plethora of plugins available in the Wordpress ecosystem, I'd rather have the freedom to take advantage of one that does exactly what I want instead of settling for an approximation of what I want.

My site is an underused resource, but if I want to do something unconventional, I can. I use BeTheme, which is about as flexible as it comes. In most cases, it probably has more options than most people would need, but I'd rather have the ability to do things I don't need than lack the ability to do things I do.

[Denise]

I use The Ark.

If you want a lot of customization, a theme with a builder is helpful. All the best-selling themes on Theme Forest include some kind of builder, so you don't have to tinker with CSS if you don't want to.

If you want to have lots of options, Divi (not in themeforest and a bit more expensive), The Ark, and Avada are good options.

I've used the X, but when I did, the blog options were limited (and header as well).

My suggestion is to go through the demos until you find something that pleases the eye. Even with all the customization options, if the theme already looks the way you'd like it to look, it will save you a lot of itme. If you know what you want beforehand, it can be really helpful as well.

Edit: my site looks (in my not humble opinion) good but it's bare bones right now.

Good luck!

[Ghost5]

I use The Ark.

If you want a lot of customization, a theme with a builder is helpful. All the best-selling themes on Theme Forest include some kind of builder, so you don't have to tinker with CSS if you don't want to.

If you want to have lots of options, Divi (not in themeforest and a bit more expensive), The Ark, and Avada are good options.

I've used the X, but when I did, the blog options were limited (and header as well).

My suggestion is to go through the demos until you find something that pleases the eye. Even with all the customization options, if the theme already looks the way you'd like it to look, it will save you a lot of itme. If you know what you want beforehand, it can be really helpful as well.

Edit: my site looks (in my not humble opinion) good but it's bare bones right now.

Good luck!

Your site is gorgeous (as are your book covers).

[Lex]

Look at Elementor. It's a builder, but with Ocean (a free theme), you can do some amazing things. And with Pro, you can build templates so it's really easy to maintain.

I second Elementor as an add-on editor. I would estimate it saved me hundreds of hours on my last site redesign.

I'm using the Sydney theme (the free version from Athemes).

I often try to pick themes and plug-ins based on the number of installations. If it's popular, it's generally going to have better support/updates.

[Astrid Torquay]

Another rec for Elementor.

I got the pro version ($49 pa). No regrets. I was especially excited yesterday when I successfully integrated the forms with MailChimp.

I used it with Generate Press Theme, because it was recommended to me as being light weight and, like you, I had decision fatigue so went with it. It seemed to have all the widgets and whatnot that I could ever possibly need.

The thing about Elementor is that, once you figure it out, you can do heaps with it, and override the theme to make it look how you want.

Not sure of your skill level. For me, I know nothing about coding, except very basic HTML. I had used Wordpress before, but in a job where there was a dedicated web team, so I did a couple of Udemy courses first, because I got them on special -- Wordpress for Beginners by Andrew Williams and an Elementor one. These helped orient me, although I didn't finish the Elementor course. (I mention these because I think Udemy has a sale on now too, so the courses will be about US$10.) Once I started using Elementor, I figured it out. Ok, so there was a bit of swearing, but I ended up with an acceptable site and now the skills to make changes quickly and easily.

[RPatton]

I know I am necroing an old thread, but I thought it was better than starting a new one...

So, while updating my PHP on my site (and for the record, just pay to have someone else do it, I spent way too much time trying to figure the snafu up hat someone else could have fixed in less than hour) I hit a problem and went on a deep dive to find the solution. In my travels, I stumbled (or restrumbled) across a set of Elementor tutorials that are amazing (great resource if you use Elementor).

But one in particular stood out.

(check out his entire channel, there are some great elementor tutorials available).

Now, he does use Elementor Pro in the above series, but that's because of the saving theme templates aspect of building a quick site. It makes it easier, but following his tutorial, you should still be able to build a new website completely for free and only have to pay for the domain registration and hosting (and there are some very affordable hosting plans out there. Lithium is based in Iowa, small, and incredibly affordable, plus it's easy to grow with them. They have no issue starting you out small and helping you move up. https://lithiumhosting.com/hosting).

I just figured I'd share in case anyone was trying to navigate the whole "what do I do about a website and I don't want to spend a lot of money" field. Lithium + a domain comes down to about 60 dollars a year or 5 dollars a month. Using Elementor + a free theme + some amazing free plugins, any author can have a website up and going in about an hour.