What is a website theme?

The term theme refers to the website ‘look and feel’.  The following aspects combine to make up your theme:

  • Colour scheme.
  • Text size and font for standard text.
  • Text size and font for headings (H1-H6).
  • Screen resolution.
  • Button styles.
  • Background images.
  • Panel layouts.
  • Image styles.

There are lots of sites around that offer to sell you a theme for your own website.  These vary in price from a few pounds/dollars to many hundreds.

There are also free website templates available but, if you are thinking of using one of these, always read the terms and conditions; you will usually find there are strings attached such as you are obliged to show a link to the provider’s site or you are forbidden to use for commercial purposes without permission (usually means a fee).  Many are free for a good reason – they aren’t that good.

If you are thinking about buying a website theme or website template then here are some things to bear in mind:

  • Is the template unique for you or has it been sold to lots of other clients?  You can expect to pay considerably more for single user rights to a template.
  • How easy is it customise the template?  It may look good as an example on their site but what if you don’t need all of the info boxes or twiddly bits in their example?  Is it relatively easy to change the layout to match your own requirements?
  • Your theme should by sympathetic to the site’s subject matter and should appeal to your target audience.  For example, if your y0ur site contains a lot of legal of financial information then a formal, business like style is appropriate.   On the other hand, if your audience is mainly younger people or students then a more frivolous theme is probably what is required.