I attended a free webinar today hosted by Adria Richards (Wordcamp speaker & CEO of Freshworkshops) on Selecting a Wordpress Theme. The hour long webinar was basic. I am in the 1st steps of setting up my Wordpress blog. Everyone on the webinar was new to Wordpress- all Blogger users, so non-techies will feel comfortable with the content.
My takeaway: there are 3 ways to get your word press theme up and running
Free Themes. On Wordpress.com / Wordpress.org. Free is great and does not mean sub-par. Expect common designs and ease of use. Downside on free, there will be no support services for the technically challenged and if you set up thru wordpress.com you are limited to about 70 templates, no plug ins, and limited on analytics.
Commercial Themes- if you prefer some support or different design options there are many providers that sell templates. Expect to pay $ 30- 200. The upside of buying a Wordpress theme: may have support services from the designer when it comes to installing and customizing. There are trillions of templates - too many for me to digest. It was recommended to check out www.welovewp.com for some design ideas.
Custom- looking for a unique design and have bucks to put into the project ( I didn’t pay much attention to this option as most of my clients & I do not have the budget luxury )
One question that orginally perplexed me was the difference between Wordpress.com vs. .org. Wordpress.com has limited templates (approx. 70), no plug-in but requires no installation. So if you are technology challenged or want a blog template for personal use, Wordpress.com may be for you. Wordpress.org is preferred by designers and webmasters since you can edit codes, upload your theme, install plug-in bells and whistles but you will need some technical ability to install it on your server. Cons- you are responsible for preventing spam, backing up, installing newer versions and should have some technical interest to handle these housekeeping issues.
What I did learn today, certain servers are more Wordpress friendly. This was good to find out before I started the process. I love learning new facts!!
A lot of handy links were provided by the Freshworkshops moderator – this one has a lot of detailed information http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org
So now I know I will need to adjust my server and go with wordpress.org….next step installing ….stay tunes.
My takeaway: there are 3 ways to get your word press theme up and running
Free Themes. On Wordpress.com / Wordpress.org. Free is great and does not mean sub-par. Expect common designs and ease of use. Downside on free, there will be no support services for the technically challenged and if you set up thru wordpress.com you are limited to about 70 templates, no plug ins, and limited on analytics.
Commercial Themes- if you prefer some support or different design options there are many providers that sell templates. Expect to pay $ 30- 200. The upside of buying a Wordpress theme: may have support services from the designer when it comes to installing and customizing. There are trillions of templates - too many for me to digest. It was recommended to check out www.welovewp.com for some design ideas.
Custom- looking for a unique design and have bucks to put into the project ( I didn’t pay much attention to this option as most of my clients & I do not have the budget luxury )
One question that orginally perplexed me was the difference between Wordpress.com vs. .org. Wordpress.com has limited templates (approx. 70), no plug-in but requires no installation. So if you are technology challenged or want a blog template for personal use, Wordpress.com may be for you. Wordpress.org is preferred by designers and webmasters since you can edit codes, upload your theme, install plug-in bells and whistles but you will need some technical ability to install it on your server. Cons- you are responsible for preventing spam, backing up, installing newer versions and should have some technical interest to handle these housekeeping issues.
What I did learn today, certain servers are more Wordpress friendly. This was good to find out before I started the process. I love learning new facts!!
A lot of handy links were provided by the Freshworkshops moderator – this one has a lot of detailed information http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org
So now I know I will need to adjust my server and go with wordpress.org….next step installing ….stay tunes.
Posts
Angela,
ReplyDeleteNice post!
Wordpress.org is also preferred by bloggers who want unique and flexible blogs. Through the choice of themes, they can have a unique look and by using the plugins, they can make their blogs do almost anything.
Business owners who choose Wordpress as their website platform also like Wordpress.org so they can create a great looking site that is easy to update.
I will think about creating a "Blogger to Wordpress" training.
Thanks for your feedback!