Choosing and Changing Themes with WordPress

By now you should have WordPress installed on your server as well as a new theme and child theme in development. In this article, Linda shows how you can change themes on a whim, as well as how to alter them within WordPress (WP).

The Custom Header with WP Default Theme

Now, if you want to keep it simple for any number of reasons, you can stay with the WP default theme. If you do this, you have the option of playing with the header in that theme. This option is only available for the WP default theme, and it provides users with options to change that theme to a degree.

Go back to "Appearances" and click on the "Custom Header" option while you are in the default theme. When you click on the "Custom Header" link, you'll see the following:

The image shown above provides a few options to help you make changes in that header, including:

• Font Color

• Upper Color

• Lower Color

• Revert

• Advanced

Say that you want to change the font color. Click on the Font Color button, and a colour chart will appear. You can choose a colour by clicking on the colour, or choose your colour by hex number:

The same options occur when you pick upper or lower colours, which affect the gradients in the header. If you don't like what you see, simply push the "revert" button to return to the original colours. When you click on the "Advanced" option, you'll see that the only advancement allowed is choosing hex numbers rather than using a chart:

As you can see, this is a very simple and limited way to change your header, but it's an option that few users pick – and it's useful for those who don't know how to change a header.

If you want to add an image, that's a different story, as the options shown above do not allow the change of that header to a visual one. In fact, that option is not wise for the most part, especially if you seek SEO. Using type for your header is the best way to go for SEO, but if you want to use an image, you can. I would write about this option here, but WordPress Codex already has done a bang-up job on how to change the header in the default theme. Take in that article as well as the links at the bottom of that page, and chaning headers in WP might be demystified for you.

Conclusion

While I realize that my audience at DMXZone consists of designers and developers, this article might be useful to you when you talk with clients about their desire to alter their Web site without bugging you and – as a consequence – without racking up a bill with you. While these efforts may take some change out of your pocket in the short run, your client might like the freedom to make alterations. And, in gratitude, he or she may offer your name to other people who could become potential clients.

So, this tutorial may help your clients understand how to make theme changes, and provide them with the ability to choose those themes. This choice is especially welcome to me as a designer, as I can send the client to the backend to pick and choose themes they like before we begin the serious work. While WP does not always back up their choices of themes shown, you can bet that most of them will work with current WP upgrades and that they have proven, over time, to be valuable themes.

On your end, when you or your client has chosen a theme, make sure that theme can work with widgets and plugins. This ability alone will make your life easier down the road.

In the next article, I'll show you how to work with the Hybrid theme in a variety of settings, including choosing a static page.