How to Pick a Wordpress Theme
How do you choose a Wordpress theme? What do you need to consider? First let’s look at the parts of a blog or a theme:
The header is across the top, the sidebar can be on the left, right, or both sides. (or like on our site, we have two separate sidebars to the right side of our content area) The footer sits at the bottom of each page. The content area is where your actual blog title and blog post will appear.
Look at some sites you like and see what style of blog appeals to you.
A theme can greatly impact how the readers view your site. Is it easy to read? Too busy? Too empty? The standard Wordpress install comes with two themes. Look at our DandelionBlog in the included default theme. 
Here is our site in the classic theme that also comes with the standard Wordpress install
The font, the images, the placement on the page can all give off a different feeling for your site. See how we have the same elements on our website in these layouts? (minus the second sidebar since these two themes use only one sidebar) Take time and visit some websites you like and write down what you like about them. After you’ve browsed the web, it’s time to pick a theme for your blog.
Go to the Wordpress Theme Viewer site. This is a comprehensive site of free Wordpress themes. On the left of that page, under sorting options, select the layout you’ve decided you like, such as two column, sidebar on right.
Other options to consider:
When you find a theme you like, click on the test run button (circled in red on the above picture) The theme will load full size in your browser.
What kind of feeling do you want to get across to your viewers? Dark and suspenseful? Light and a chick lit feel? Homey, pull up a chair and grab a cup of coffee? Pick a theme that ties in well with the type of writing you do. After you find a theme you like, click the download link and save the file to your computer.
While many elements of a theme can be changed–font color and style, images, colors, backgrounds–for now pick a theme that will fairly represent the style and feel of your writing. After you get your site up and running, and you learn more about managing a website, you can delve into changing out some of the elements of your blog.
Important Note about downloading Wordpress Themes:
There are many places on the web where you can find free Wordpress themes. The reason I suggest downloading a theme from the Wordpress Theme Viewer site is these themes have been checked to make sure they don’t have hidden links in them or hidden javascript. There are sites out there offering free Wordpress themes with hidden links to sites you wouldn’t want connected to your site. At all. So unless you know enough about coding and can check for these malicious elements, I suggest sticking with the main Wordpress theme viewer site.
I’ll cover uploading a theme to your website in a future post as well as adding widgets to the sidebar and fun plugins to try.
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