WordPress Ottawa Meetup Talk - Finding themes for your WordPress site - Sept 11/2019

1. r3df.com
Rick Radko
Finding themes for your
WordPress site
Ottawa WordPress Meetup
September 11th, 2019
Slides: slideshare.net/r3df

2. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
A little bit about me
Rick Radko
 Software, website and app designer/developer and
trainer at R-Cubed Design Forge, r3df.com
 Creating custom web sites/applications since 1996
 WordPress sites since 2008
 Founding organizer of:
 WordCamp Ottawa 2013, 2014
 The Ottawa WordPress Group
1
Slides at: slideshare.net/r3df

3. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
What is a WordPress theme?
A theme provides the front-end stylingfor your site:
 Overall layout/style of your site
 Font choices
 All colors (or at least it should)
 Widget locations
 Alternate page layouts (templates)
In short: anything visual on the site
2

4. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Demo site with: Twenty Fifteen
3

5. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Demo sitewith: Twenty Sixteen
4

6. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Demo sitewith: Travel Blogger (no longer available)
5
The site looks
different, BUT
the content and
widgets are the
same.

7. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Paid/Premium/Commercial vs Free
 Pros/Cons to all themes– not
necessarily an issue of price
 Issues are generalizations
 Good or bad is not directly
correlated to cost
6

8. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Beware of Searching for Free Themes
7

9. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Where Can You GetFree Themes?
Best place: wordpress.org/themes/
 1000’s of themes
 Code reviewed
 Some freemium/premium themes
 Twenty______ series
Other places? - Not entirely risk free
 Recommendations from friends/colleagues
 Reviews on sites like: wpbeginner
 Github
8

10. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
WordPress Twenty______ Series
 Started in 2010 with
“Twenty Ten”
 Replace the 5 year
old “Kubrick” theme.
9

11. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Kubrick
10

12. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
WordPress Twenty______ Series
Official WordPress themes
 Long lifetime
 Twenty Ten still updated
(Not responsive - don’t use)
 Use Twenty Eleven+
 No Twenty Eighteen theme
– Gutenberg delays.
 Kinda dull…
11

13. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
3rd Party Themes on wordpress.org
12

14. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Theme Lock-in
 Will changing the theme “trash” the site?
 Becoming less of an issue except for page builders
Avoiding/minimizing theme lock-in
 Theme should manage visual aspects of site
 Not always clear cut:
 Plugins should not drive visuals– but need CSS (calendar)
 Plugin customizing may need CSS– spacing vs color
 Use plugins for functionality– sliders, testimonials etc.
 Plugin will still work the same after theme change
13

15. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
$$$ WordPress Themes
Paid (commercial) themes
 Beaver Builder
 Divi (Elegant themes)
 Genesis (Studiopress)
 SiteOrigin
 Themeisle
 Theme Forest
 Independent Freelance themes
 Plus many, many more… 14

16. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Loading Paid Themes
Need to upload the theme (at least the first install)
15

17. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Page builders?
16
Allow you to create complex layouts
- fully responsive
- drag & drop UI's
- some enable theme header & footer changes
More advanced than the new “Block Editor” aka
Gutenberg

18. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
There are many page builders to choose from…
17
+ Many, many more!
Elementor Page Builder
Visual Composer & WPBakery
ThemeForest

19. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Child Theme
A childtheme:
 Inherits all features of a parent theme
 Allows you change functionality without editing the
parent theme files – parent theme can be updated
 Default child theme will look the same as the parent
 No grandchildren
Recommend: using a child theme right from the start
 Add child later -> loose settings
 WordPress sees it as a new/different theme
18

20. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Creating a Child Theme
Build your own from
scratch
 developer.wordpress.org/
themes/advanced-
topics/child-themes/
 Also a good resource for
how to get started
changing modifying
your theme
19

21. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Creating a Child Theme
Use a plugin
 There are several on
wordpress.org - recommend
the one below
 Creates the 2 needed files
 Remove plugin after use
Plugin: ChildThemeGenerator
wordpress.org/plugins/child-theme-
generator
20

22. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Customizing Your Theme
The more extensive the customization, the more
WordPress knowledge that is required.
 Many free online resources to help, including:
 developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/
 Some low cost resources:
 WordPress meet-ups.
 WordCamps.
 Books.
 More costly: Hiring a WordPress expert.
21

23. © 2019 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Contact
Rick Radko
 email: wpinfo@r3df.com
 twitter: @r3designforge
Website:
 r3df.com
Slides at:
 www.slideshare.net/r3df
22