WordPress Theme Vs Template

32 min read

What Are WordPress Themes?

A WordPress theme is the whole look and feel of a website. A WordPress theme has all of the problems that you might associate with site design. From the color scheme to the headers, footers, and sidebar placement, everything is important. A WordPress theme’s CSS stylesheet governs everything related to typography, including font face, font model, margins and indentation, and line spacing.

Themes can be found in the official WordPress theme directory or from any number of WordPress theme designers. When you install a theme in the WordPress admin area, the theme files are automatically downloaded to your web server. If you download a theme for your PC, it will come in a single zip file. When you open the zip file, you’ll see a folder full of files (and even more folders!). The heart of your WordPress theme is that jumble of files and directories. WordPress templates are included in some of these files.

When you visit any WordPress website, you’ll notice that it has a theme installed, whether it’s the default WordPress starter theme, a free theme, a premium theme, or a bespoke theme created by a design firm specifically for a client. The bottom layer of all designs on a WordPress website is the theme, which affects the final look and performance.

This is accomplished through modifiable modules and a design aesthetic that includes shade palettes, photo/graphics regions, and web page builder layouts. Themes may include pre-selected groups of plugins and features that are tailored to specific website purposes. Photographers, single-product eCommerce operations, fashion designers, authors, media shops, real estate, local storefront businesses, and many others, for example, are all attracted to certain themes.

Themes are found in the WordPress admin interface, where you may explore by specific functionality, look, add date, and more, as well as see a live version of a website produced with a specific theme. There are also numerous third-party markets for finding WordPress themes, which are typically more vetted and include more extensive descriptions of each theme’s features.

Once you’ve decided on a theme, all you have to do now is download and install it through your WordPress admin panel. The dashboard will look essentially the same (the WordPress platform manages this format), but the new theme will change the general design of your website, switching from the default layout of a new WP website or switching out of your current theme.

Any current material or plugins may be broken or covered by this upgrade, so ensure you understand how the new theme will affect your website and content before confirming. Once a theme is installed, the developer’s placeholder content material can be replaced with your own content and media.

Depending on the theme’s customization options, the color palette and numerous aesthetic choices will be updated. Additional plugins can be applied to an active theme to personalize the website’s appearance and functionality further.

Free Themes

Free themes may have fewer customization options and receive less support for new WordPress updates and individual plugin updates, leaving the site vulnerable to hacker attacks and spam. They will also most likely appear ‘cheaper’ or ‘antiquated’ and will fail to properly apply the most recent web design model improvements.

A free theme is only useful if your company doesn’t do business online, doesn’t need to appear professional online, or has a possibility to attract new customers through web searches. The number of businesses with business models that fit this definition is definitely limited. In almost all circumstances, it is recommended to choose a premium theme.

Premium Themes

A developer has developed and updated premium WordPress themes that can be bought. The pricing varies significantly, from as low as the price of a lunch to over $1,000 for high-end products. If you need additional advanced features such as eCommerce functionality, media galleries or comprehensive visual customization options— or interfaces dealing with buyers — expect higher costs associated with them.

Typically, investing more funds in a premium theme results in an increase of features and customization options. Although pricier themes tend to exude the latest styles straight away, it’s important to note that bespoke adjustments may still be essential for even elite designs suited to your specific preferences and specifications. Consistent assistance is available with most themes; therefore evaluating developer credentials like reviews and their catalogue size should factor into purchasing deliberations.

So, What is a WordPress template?

This is the place issues get a bit complicated. Some different web design methods consult with the overall website design as a template. In WordPress terminology, a template is a web page format that’s obtainable inside a theme. In different phrases, the template is only a single-page format, not the entire website design.

With WordPress, there’s no restriction to the variety of templates a theme can include. Some commonplace WordPress templates are widespread to nearly all themes. For instance, the archive.php template displays a list of all posts (inside a class, tag, or date range). And the only.php template is used to display single weblog posts. Consult the template hierarchy to determine which template WordPress uses on any given web page of your website.

WordPress Theme Vs Template Select an alternate template within the Page Attributes field.

Besides the usual templates, some themes have particular templates designed to deliver particular design features. For instance, your theme could have a particular template for a contact web page or a full-width template with no sidebar. You apply templates to particular person pages within the WordPress web page editor. Just remember the fact that not all WordPress themes have particular templates. If yours does, you’ll discover them listed within the Page Editor.

Look for the Page Attributes field simply to the precise of your web page content material. To summarize the difference between a theme and a template: A theme controls the design of your whole website. A template defines the format of a single web page. Themes embrace several completely different templates.

Changing WordPress Templates

Templates are web page layouts designed to work inside a WordPress theme. It’s not possible to put in a single template. WordPress doesn’t work that approach. To change templates, you put in a brand new theme. However, it’s possible to create your personal customized templates — I’ll save the small print for a future post. You might want to have a good understanding of web design (CSS, HTML, and PHP). Strong data of the WordPress template hierarchy helps too. In the tip, each theme and template is manufactured from the identical elements that make up any web page — HTML and CSS. Still, have questions on WordPress themes and templates? Leave a remark below, and we’ll enable you to type issues out.

Plenty of the time, the difference between a theme and a template depends upon who you ask or (more often than not) what platform/expertise it’s for.

With WordPress, a theme is the whole feel and look of the website. You allow or change themes to alter how the website seems to be. Each theme has “page templates” inside is equivalent to:

  • index.php is your default template when WordPress doesn’t discover a choice to make use of.
  • class.php is on your weblog or post classes.
  • Web page.php is for pages, whereas single.php is for posts.
  • The default file that handles the types and colors is model.css. However, many change this and enqueue others.
  • And many others

You can create customized web page templates, and there are many other ways to take action.

When speaking a couple of static HTML websites, most will name it an “HTML template” numerous times. To, in all probability, confuse you some extra on the subject, in years previous, I’ve turned an HTML template right into a WordPress theme earlier than.

So actually, a theme might be described as the appearance and feel or the overall elements of a website. A template might be described because of the format or “nuts and bolts” of the theme. This might additionally change by what platform or expertise/CMS you’re utilizing for the website. The widespread floor right here is the way it seems to be and features.

Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has evolved from a simple and easy-to-use blogging platform into one of the most well-known and widely used open-source website builders and CMS (content material administration system). WordPress’s WYSIWYG builder and templated modular design contribute to its ease of use. What you see is what you get is referred to as WYSIWYG. This web development format includes a familiar editor system that pays homage to Microsoft Word and other popular word processing applications.

This website design style is more prevalent nowadays, but it marked significant democratization of web development when it was created. WordPress now powers 34% of all websites and has a 60% market share in content management systems (CMS). Every WordPress website is powered by a theme, which can be one of three types: custom WordPress themes, premium WordPress themes, or free WordPress themes. This white paper will look at the differences between the two main theme types from a business standpoint.

Template Themes

Many folks and companies are happy to buy a $30-$100 premium WordPress theme from certainly one of several very respected and fantastic resources. Templates have their make use of particularly if you simply beginning out. So what are the goods and dangers of template themes? Template Themes – The Good.

  • Quick and Easy. Your website may be put in and configured inside every week in case your content material is prepared.
  • Code. Some templates have clear code, which means the HTML and CSS are compliant and up-to-date. It depends upon the theme you select although. Stay away from free themes.
  • Budget pleasant. Oftentimes, you may have a theme put in at no cost if you’re doing and are assured sufficient to grasp a few of the fundamental necessities. Or, for a couple of hundred {dollars}, you may have an expert set up and configure the website (add your brand, change out colors, set up the widgets).
  • Clean, Modern Designs. There are some very nice themes on the market now. It just doesn’t prefer it was. I bear in mind the outdated HTML themes with bloated code and heavy graphics. You can discover some actually nice themes on the market.

For themes that might be designed well, have nice help, and a few good choices, we advocate StudioPress, Elegant Themes, and Woothemes. Template Themes – The Bad.

  • Locked. With a template, you’re sometimes locked right into a design and configuration. If you select a theme, be certain that it has web page choices like sidebars, full-page width, and header configurations on your brand and/or slogan.
  • Code. A template may be bloated with code and heavy plugins to make it work as you see the demo work. Your website must be lean and cargo quick.
  • Support. Support for the themes may be restricted. Suppose a theme conflicts with a plugin, your theme developer is probably not responsive. Choose premium themes with good help to forestall points in a while down the street. Send and ask a query to observe their response time, then verify their help boards for exercise.
  • Security dangers. Some themes, particularly free themes, have ‘dirty’ code, which means the template comprises dangerous or malicious coding (safety holes) positioned there by the writer or a hacker. Hidden or lacking code can wreak havoc on your WordPress website, and when a hacker gets in… you’re in massive bother. Be certain to purchase a premium theme from a good company.

Custom WordPress Themes

So say that your company has particular necessities for features and branding. That your model is simply too essential to go away to a predesigned theme and that you’ve features that can not be discovered without performing some customized work. Don’t be confused by a design that’s merely a modification of a present premium WordPress theme. Truly customized WordPress themes are coded particularly for the company and its complexity. But, as with templates, customized designs have their positives and their drawbacks.

Custom Themes – The Good:

  • Versatility. Starting from scratch and getting all of the features you want and want permits for higher flexibility. We begin with wireframing, then we pull out Photoshop and ship your designs that we collaborate on. Your creativeness only restricts designs.
  • Branding. A customized design is particularly branded to your company and your colors, goal market, and objectives.
  • Specific Needs. Arrange widgets and performance throughout the theme whereas nonetheless utilizing a novel format and format.
  • Uniqueness. A customized design will set you other than the remainder and stand out from the rivals as with any company. With a predesigned theme, you run the danger of wanting like the remainder.
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Custom – The Bad:

  • Investment. A customized WordPress theme may be price prohibitive if you’re simply beginning out. I generally advocate for my shoppers that they perceive their budget as they might want to do extra advertising and marketing after the location is live. Can they afford the money and time? A customized web design is funding, and I remind them.
  • Time. It can take a while to build a customized theme, from 4 – 10 weeks, relying on how sophisticated the location is.
  • Bugs and Maintenance. The last drawback of a customized theme is maintaining the brand new features that WordPress comes out with. Templates, premium templates, are inclined to have builders that routinely come out with bug or safety fixes. You’ll have to partner with your developer or discover one other to repair any bugs.

So there you’ve got it. In a nutshell, your choice of a WordPress theme depends on many issues like budget, time, model, and help. However, there is no proper reply to contemplate how essential your website is to your advertising and marketing efforts and technique. Either approach, WordPress has a strong framework from a good WordPress improvement core with nice help, updatability, group, and many others. And also, you’ll additionally get the customized components you’re after too.

Building with WordPress: Plugins and Modules

Rather than requiring in-depth knowledge of HTML, CSS, or other coding languages, someone using WordPress could construct a professional-looking displaying website if they understood how to use a word processor and navigate the streamlined WordPress interface.

To further customize a website, users could stack modules for various web page components (ex: Header, Body, Image Gallery) and further customize the look of their website by selecting one of many available pre-made themes to meet their website’s needs and preferred aesthetic. Because of its ease of use and high level of streamlined customization, WordPress has grown from a website builder popular amongst amateur content material makers to at least one that can be used in a more professional capacity for businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Plugins work on WordPress in much the same way that applications do on a smartphone. The development of companion WordPress plugins such as WooCommerce for eCommerce, Yoast for website optimization, Akismet for spam filtering, and Jetpack for security and website analytics has further improved WordPress’ enterprise performance. And, while the platform has gotten a lot of attention for being simple enough for a layperson to build a website, it still includes a robust back end that allows expert web designers to customize code, add features, and modify performance to create truly unique websites.

With so many features to choose from, figuring out the best way to design a WordPress website can be tough. At getsocialguide, we’re frequently approached by businesses that have heard about WordPress and its many advantages as a platform but are stumped by one of the most common website design questions: should we find and purchase a Premium WordPress Theme or have a web design agency create a Custom WordPress Theme tailored to our business?

In the sections below, you’ll find a description of the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy, as well as examples of how these variations affect the construction and operation of commercial websites. If you’re not sure whether your company’s website should be Premium or Custom, we hope the following information will help you better understand each choice and make a more informed decision.

WordPress Theme vs. Premium Theme

Premium and Custom WordPress Themes Explained

 

Drawbacks of Using a Premium Theme

  • Higher Learning Curve – Because a premium theme is self-managed, the enterprise proprietor or somebody on employees can manage and update plugins, WordPress updates, and safety.
  • Reliance on Updates from Third Parties – To maintain all features operating easily long-term, the premium theme and the location’s plugins should be commonly up to date and maintained by their builders to maintain up with WordPress updates and repair errors. This means your web presence relies on a 3rd occasion that you simply usually do not need a direct relationship with.
  • Excessive code and overlap – Using a rising variety of plugins to add performance to a WordPress website can improve the quantity of code on the backend and gradually the location. More code from plugins and theme choices means extra opportunity for conflicts within the HTML and possible errors within the operation of the location. Additionally, extra code and WordPress plugins can lead to slower overall site speeds, which along with annoying website guests, is a large ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm.
  • Design and magnificence are restricted – Your website won’t be distinctive. The design can be restricted to a WordPress theme built to attract more viewers reasonably than one designed on your particular person enterprise. Default shade palettes and lack of customization sometimes restrict branding alternatives to match your model.
  • Unique enterprise wants are probably not served by theme choices/performance. Features like responsive maps, CRM integration, lead generation types, media portfolios, eCommerce, visible animations, customized website navigation, gated useful resource middle content material, and buyer/person dashboards could also be tough to search out and/or customize in a premium theme. Integrating inside enterprise methods or databases with the website may be difficult.
  • Limits future modifications and migration – If you need to transfer to a distinct web page builder or customized theme, you can’t simply migrate your pages/ content material; it’s a must to begin from scratch. This is because of using pre-applied shortcodes within the theme, which can turn out to be damaged with migration.

What is a Custom WordPress Theme?

A customized WordPress theme has been designed from the ground up for a specific website or has had code from an existing template tweaked. It was made for a new customer by a WordPress site developer. The majority of this modification is completed to match the design to a company’s branding, integrate desired functionality, streamline backend code, and create features that benefit the customer base.

This type of design work can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars ($1,000 to $100,000+), with eCommerce and high-traffic websites costing more.

Advantages of a Custom Theme

  • Full Customization – By utilizing customized modules and instantly editing the code of the location, a WordPress developer can unlock the total potential of WordPress. The backend may be custom-made to combine plugins with present enterprise methods and resources like stock administration methods, CRMs, factors of sale, name facilities, customer support departments, social media administration, and extra.
  • Speed – A customized WordPress website will typically have higher web page speed and efficiency; only the performance wanted is included. This streamlining reduces the number of plugins used to function the website. A premium theme often attracts a broad range of potential customers and may run ‘bloated’ with features.
  • Unique Design for Branding – When searching for high finish design components that intently match model requirements, a customized WordPress theme is best in a position to deliver a cohesive outcome. This is especially true when growing the look of an internet site around present graphics and content material. Unique layouts, closely featured media, refined animations, overlapping components, and customized illustrations are a few of the fashionable design components which might be extra simply utilized on-brand with a customized design.
  • Unique Design for Business Needs – A good web designer will design an internet site that prioritizes conversion rate optimization. What a conversion seems to be like is exclusive for every enterprise and group. It would imply submitting a request for proposal; it is perhaps a social media observation for a media outlet. For a single product eCommerce website, it is perhaps signing up for a month-to-month subscription field. A customized website permits give attention to enhancing conversion charges and personal expertise for selected viewers.
  • Maintained by an Expert – With the duty of website upkeep being exterior, there’s much less want to fret about holding the theme and plugins updated. If a battle is present in a WordPress replace, or a safety vulnerability is found, a crew can unravel the problem and edit the code instantly if wanted. Plugins may be added as needed without the battle and streamlined to scale back WordPress bloat. A good WordPress web design crew can streamline the consumer’s back-end interface, which means any self-management of the location or updating of content material is intuitive and entails much less navigating to completely different control panels.
  • Website positioning and Digital Marketing – With the correct implementation of a digital advertising and marketing technique and website positioning, a designer can enhance how audiences discover the location online and enhance conversion charges onsite. This is achieved by using researched key phrases to website metadata, figuring out the best website structure, recommending content material, hyperlink building, and correctly itemizing all enterprise information onsite, the latter of which is especially essential for storefront companies and Local SEO.

Drawbacks of a Custom WordPress Theme

  • Cost vs. Premium Theme – Having a crew work to customize a WordPress theme on your particular enterprise or group is clearly going to be costlier than selecting a premium theme built off a template and offered at scale. If your website budget is within the low 1000’s, it might be wiser to steer clear of turning into a WordPress design company consumer. If your budget permits customized improvement, it might be clever to pick out a designer with a transparent contract concerning price overages and provides an in-depth proposal with line objects for everything with a breakdown of prices. Additionally, as you aren’t studying to handle the website’s upkeep, you should plan for a month-to-month website help price.
  • Development Time – Rather than counting on a web page builder tool to stack content material in pre-designed modules, customized websites depend on content material editing tools like Advanced Custom Fields. Building the customized structure of the location may be a concerned course. The coding improvement course entails high-quality assurance to make sure the completely different components of the location are purposeful, resulting in a collection of suggestions and testing periods between consumer and developer. Integration of offsite enterprise information with the operation and features of the location will also be time-consuming.
  • Client Involvement – Involvement and input from the consumer are crucial to verify the right functioning of website components and be certain that the tip product aligns with the consumer’s objectives for the website. If an enterprise or group doesn’t have the time, resources, or folks to be actively concerned in growing the website technique, giving suggestions on information structure, or enjoying a task within the design course then, it might be clever to attend till these turn out to be obtainable earlier than working instantly with a web design company.

What is WordPress Option Right for My Business?

Every enterprise is exclusive, and so is how every enterprise approaches website improvement. We’ve put together a couple of instance situations to illustrate how enterprise factors may affect the choice-making technique of deciding between a Premium Theme or a Custom Theme.

Example 1 – SaaS Product Launch

WordPress Theme Vs Template   Jorge is launching a brand new website to advertise and handle his new interest software program as a service (SaaS) venture administration utility for occasion planners. Overall, the company is fairly new, with most of its small crew targeted software program improvement. Their present website is essentially only a placeholder, and the precise utility will function on a subdomain.  With that recent beginning comes a chance to build from the bottom up. Jorge has decided his new website wants the next features:

  • Case Studies and Client Portfolio – To promote extra established shoppers on the reliability of his SaaS, Jorge might want to showcase present prospects and the advantages they’ve seen since signing up. Because the list of shoppers is overly long or spectacular, a high finish presentation with dynamic graphics is essential.  Advantage: Custom Many premium themes supply portfolios; however, there’s a want for a better finish presentation.
  • Gated Content for Lead Generation – To extend leads, the company will rent an author to create in-depth content material and report on venture administration subjects. This content material can be gated with a person needing to offer fundamental contact information to enter.  Advantage: Custom.
  • Resource Center – It’s been decided {that a} collection of coaching movies would reduce the workforce wanted for onboarding shoppers and cut back questions from potential leads.  Advantage: Custom & Premium A premium theme can present a purposeful media gallery; however, later additions of extra varieties/classes of content material (and organizing them successfully) can be higher dealt with by a WordPress developer.
  • Customer Support Portal – Existing prospects will largely work together with the application itself on the subdomain. However, Jorge needs a purchaser approach to get assistance shortly. This entails each chat performance and a customized person dashboard as soon as a consumer is logged in and the technical integration of buyer account information.  Advantage: Custom This is successful with a premium theme. However, to repeatedly perform updates, each with WordPress and SaaS, it might be higher for this to be maintained by a developer.
  • Top End Speed – Because he’s promoting a largely accessed service online, Jorge needs his website to be performed as quickly and seamlessly as possible.  Advantage: Custom Streamlining of plugins and graphics can be a serious factor in holding the location speedy.
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Example 2 – Construction Supply Company

WordPress Theme Vs Template

Steve manages a third-generation family business that distributes gravel, sand, and other substrates to local contractors. He needs to upgrade from his current website, which is seldom updated by anyone on his tiny team due to its difficult backend.

Using a legacy tool that his father paid a developer to install ten years ago, his company’s inventory system is instantaneously connected to the current website. According to Steve, WordPress is easier to utilize for those who have little data on their websites. Here’s what he knows he’ll get from the brand-new website:

  • Straightforward Design – Steve is no-nonsense, and so are his B2B prospects. Most of the time, they simply need to know the value and availability of a product. He doesn’t care a lot about branding or being concerned within the design course.  Advantage: Premium
  • Easy to Manage – No one on employees are skilled in handling an internet site, and he’s reluctant to rent for the place. Steve needs a particularly streamlined backend.  Advantage: Custom, A developer, can cut back the variety of plugins used onsite and simplify the WordPress admin dashboard
  • Better Browsing – The present website is tough to navigate and takes too many clicks to search out products. Steve needs streamlined navigation and catalog looking for purchasers. The much fewer clicks, the higher.  Advantage: Custom Finding the precise premium theme to supply the specified navigation and catalog administration can be a tough activity and could also be exhausting to maintain present.
  • Migrate Existing Website Content – Steve’s father wrote some articles concerning the business, which get few site visitors due to their exhausting searching out on the present website. Steve needs extra folks to see these.  Advantage: Custom and Premium Most all WordPress themes supply a purposeful weblog setup. However, to showcase and replace these articles on the location with much less admin administration and preserve website positioning, web developer help is preferable.
  • Up to Date Inventory – While prospects nonetheless have to name in to position an order, Steve is aware that it’s essential to have his stock updated online and combine instantly with his offline stock (on the workplace computer).  Advantage: Custom Matching information to the legacy stock system would require customized coding and integration tables.
  • Attractive Project Portfolio – While not his top precedence, Steve needs to create a portfolio that exhibits off his extra notable tasks and collaborations.  Advantage: Custom

Example 3 – Wedding Photographer

WordPress Theme Vs Template Samantha is an impartial photographer whose enterprise has grown primarily around marriage ceremony pictures. She needs a brand new WordPress website to showcase her pictures, stand out amongst her friends, and appeal to new prospects.  Here are some issues she should remember when building the brand new website:

  • Limited Budget – With a budget of $2,500 to spend on website improvement and promotion, Samantha should contemplate the place best to spend her {dollars}.  Advantage: Premium To keep away from potential price overages, month-to-month upkeep prices, and developer hourly prices, it might be clever to decide on a Premium theme at a set price.
  • DIY Site Management – As an entrepreneur who’s obsessed with her enterprise, Samantha is prepared to be taught the ins and outs of the WordPress admin backend. She understands that if a piece of her website breaks or a plug-in is outdated, it will be on her to repair it. However, she doesn’t see such an error (website problem) as critically adversarial to her overall enterprise.  Advantage: Premium If she is diligent, Samantha can maintain a premium theme functioning correctly for fairly a while.
  • Transferring from Facebook Business Page to Full Website – Currently, the enterprise largely operates off a Facebook enterprise web page. Content and enterprise particulars can be pulled from right here and positioned onto the brand new website by Samantha.  Advantage: Premium Because Samantha is pulling fundamental content material and pictures from a Facebook website, reasonably than a present website, there’s much less want for help with migration. There are additionally no website positioning issues to fret about within the switch.
  • Social Media Showcase/Integration – Having a robust social media presence is important to the pictures enterprise. Showcasing fashionable posts from social media and inspiring interplay/engagement from guests can be very helpful. Additionally, an updating social media feed would scale back the necessity for brand new content material to be commonly uploaded on the website.
    Advantage: Custom While Samantha might use a plugin or collection of plugins to combine her social media on the brand new WordPress website, a customized integration would give an extra skilled look and be extra simply manageable.
  • Local website positioning – Samantha finally needs to rank close to the top of Google search ends in her native space for ‘wedding photographer’ and associated key phrase phrases.  Advantage: Custom A WordPress web company with data of Local website positioning and Google developments can advocate website content material, meta information, and overall website structure to accelerate search site visitors.

A WordPress web company with data of Local website positioning and Google developments can advocate website content material, meta information, and overall website structure to accelerate search site visitors.

What Are WordPress Templates?

WordPress templates differ from WordPress themes in that they only apply to specific pages of a website rather than the entire site. In other words, a template is a single-page layout that can be found within a WordPress theme. Some WordPress themes have their own templates, which may feature multiple variations of the same web page.

For example, a theme might have a template for a blog post web page, but that template will be accessible in two sizes: full-width and narrow-width. WordPress templates are used because they are applied to individual pages in the WordPress page editor. As a result, specific templates for specific page kinds, such as an archive web page or a homepage, are sometimes available.

A “template” in the sense of Elementor is a specific part of your theme. For example, you might have different themes for your website’s:

You can then assemble these templates into a whole website, sort of like legos. To save time, Elementor even affords a characteristic referred to as Template Kits that offers you pre-built units of all of the templates that you simply may have to create a cohesive design.

Theme vs. Theme Builder: How Should You Build Your Website?

What Is the Difference Between a WordPress Theme and a Template?

At its most basic level, the difference between WordPress themes and WordPress templates is the number of pages each pertains to. Templates affect the structure of a single web page on your site, whereas themes affect the overall aesthetic of your website. Another distinction between themes and templates is the number of sections.

On your website, you can only have one active WordPress theme at a time; however, you can utilize many templates. You can also use two different templates for your blog and portfolio. One of your website’s pages can even have many templates.

To put it another way, you may have a Header template on one web page but a distinct Footer template on another. When using templates, you’ll almost always utilize a separate template for each component of your website.

What Are Templates Kits?

Template Kits are an excellent example of how templates are used for certain pages on a website. Elementor Template Kits are sets of web page templates focusing on a specific topic or website type. You can see what we mean if you look at our Templates Library. Template Kits are a collection of individual templates designed to work together on a single website. For example, our real estate website template kit includes templates for every web page that a typical real estate firm could need and templates for specific elements such as pop-ups, headers, footers, contact forms, and so on.

Template Kits are unique in that they are designed with a specific business goal or customer profile in mind. Take, for example, our website template package for online courses. This website is for entrepreneurs and industry experts who want to build and deliver online courses.

Based on this design persona, we already understood without conducting extensive user research that the people who will be using this template kit will be attempting to target an audience that consists of seasoned internet users interested in a modern training medium similar to online programs.

We deduced from this that the website should have a modern, tech-savvy look and feel and a design language that speaks to younger professionals, such as those seeking to expand their knowledge and advance their careers.

What Is the Difference Between a Template and a Template Kit?

They may appear to be interchangeable since each WordPress template and Template Kit has pre-determined design components that can be used on a page-by-page or component-based basis. On the other hand, Template Kits are a group of templates that aren’t just theme-based but rather a “complete package deal” that includes every web page and design aspect that a web designer could create a specific class website.

Template kits, in particular, are easier to customize and alter, whereas templates are more rigidly coded. After all, there are numerous variances between templates and Template Kits, including the following:

  • Our Template Kit includes all of the pages you’ll need for a complete website, including a homepage, contact us page, about us page, gallery/mission exhibition page (if applicable), blog archive, and single post page, as well as headers, footers, basic pop-ups, 404 pages, and more.
  • In the long run, with Elementor Template Kits, you can obtain a complete kit in a single click or choose which components of our kit to obtain – in contrast to some WordPress themes (not templates) that don’t have this capability to import demo content material.. some do, some don’t, and those that do have the flexibility to deactivate it.
  • With Elementor Template Kits, you’ll have the flexibility to employ Global Colors, Global Typography, Theme Style, etc., with the option to establish exceptions and assign distinct definitions to specific photographs, texts, titles, names, and so on.

What Is the Difference Between a Template Kit and a Theme?

Template Kits share similarities with themes, such as consistent color palettes, typography, spacing rules, and model properties. However, they offer more customization options compared to traditional themes. Here are some distinctions between Template Kits and WordPress themes:

Personalization Options:

Template Kits provide more flexibility for personalizing designs. Users have greater control over the appearance and structure of their websites.

Dependency on Plugins:

Many WordPress themes rely on third-party plugins to ensure proper appearance and functionality. Additional plugins are often required to install and configure the theme correctly.

Customization Methods:

When customizing themes or templates, users typically resort to CSS coding. Template Kits, on the other hand, offer a more user-friendly approach to customization.

Shortcodes Usage:

WordPress themes often use shortcodes for constructing content. Changing the theme may result in the content “breaking,” necessitating reconstruction. Elementor Template Kits, however, build content directly within Elementor, eliminating the reliance on shortcodes. This ensures that changing the theme won’t disrupt the content.

Content Creation with Elementor:

Elementor Template Kits enable content creation directly within Elementor. If users utilize Elementor for content creation, changing the theme won’t negatively impact the content structure.

Selective Customization:

With Template Kits, users can unlink specific template components from the overall template, allowing for selective customization. Changes made to a particular component won’t affect other instances where the template was used.

In summary, Template Kits offer a more customizable and user-friendly approach compared to traditional themes. They provide greater control over design elements and content creation, reducing dependencies on additional plugins and coding for customization.

Conclusion – What is the Difference Between Premium and Custom WordPress

While a premium theme may meet your company’s needs, a customized website is nearly always the more practical option. The apparent differences between premium and customized include increased security, speed, enterprise integration, and ease of use.

Working with professional development allows you to customize the look of your website to meet branding requirements, better integrate your web presence with your core business, and stay current with digital marketing best practices. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, hiring a third party for custom WordPress website development rather than using a pre-built premium theme alleviates the stress of launching a new website on your own.

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