Choosing a WordPress theme – how to choose the best one

In short: A WordPress theme determines how a site looks and part of its functionality. When choosing a theme, assess the design, mobile compatibility, SEO, customisability and speed; the article also looks at popular themes and page builders — Elementor, Flatsome, Astra, Divi and OceanWP.

WordPress themes are ready-made designs and functional solutions that let you build professional websites quickly and easily without knowing programming languages. They determine how the site looks, the design structure and often part of the functionality too. Themes are very important, because they are the visual foundation of your site, which has to match your brand identity and the user experience. WordPress currently offers thousands of different themes, both free and paid, and choosing one can be a challenge.

A WordPress theme is a pre-built template that determines how your site will look and how it will work. It includes the page layout, colours, fonts, navigation style, tools and other visual and technical details. A theme not only defines your site’s design but can also include certain functionality, such as custom sidebars, support for different page types and multimedia integration.

When choosing a WordPress theme, it is important to consider several factors:

1. Design and user experience: the theme should match your brand identity and provide a positive user experience. It should be attractive and easy to navigate.
2. Mobile compatibility: a responsive design is a must. Most users access websites on mobile devices, so the theme has to work well on both a computer and a smartphone.
3. SEO optimisation: the theme has to be SEO-friendly so that the site is easier to find in search engines.
4. Customisability and flexibility: the ideal theme lets you make adjustments, such as changing the colour scheme, adjusting background images and formatting text, without requiring coding knowledge.
5. Speed and performance: lightweight, well-optimised themes help improve page load speed, which matters to both users and search engines.

Although Elementor is not a theme itself, it is one of the most popular page builders and can be used with any theme. It offers “drag-and-drop” functionality that lets you build custom websites without programming skills. Elementor offers hundreds of pre-made blocks and templates, which makes building web pages very intuitive. It works well with popular themes such as Hello Theme, which is very lightweight and optimised for use with Elementor.

Flatsome is one of the most popular premium WordPress themes and is especially well suited to e-commerce sites. It offers wide design customisation options and strong integration with WooCommerce – one of the leading WordPress e-commerce solutions. Flatsome comes with its own “drag-and-drop” page builder and many pre-built pages and elements that make it easy to customise how the site looks.

Astra is an extremely popular WordPress theme, known for its speed and light weight. It takes a minimalist approach, and its flexible design lets you build almost any kind of website – from blogs to business sites and e-commerce stores. Astra is also fully compatible with page builders such as Elementor and Beaver Builder, which let users fully customise the design.

Divi is one of the most versatile WordPress themes and offers a complete visual editing experience with a built-in “drag-and-drop” builder. It was developed by Elegant Themes and is known for its wide range of design options and intuitive customisation interface. Divi is a popular choice for those who want full control over their site’s design without programming knowledge.

OceanWP is another highly customisable, fast theme suitable for any type of site. It is compatible with many page builders and offers a wide range of features, such as WooCommerce support, various page layouts, customisable headers and footers, and SEO optimisation.

Most WordPress themes offer various customisation options that let you edit how the site looks and works, for example:

• Visual page builders: Elementor, Divi, WPBakery, which let you build custom pages simply by dragging and dropping elements.
• Demo import options: many themes offer demo content that can be imported quickly, letting you start from an existing template that you can adapt to your needs.
• Custom colour schemes and fonts: the ability to change the site’s colours and fonts to match your brand.
• E-commerce integration: many themes are specially optimised for building WooCommerce stores, offering special layouts and features for product pages, baskets and checkout.

Choosing a WordPress theme is an important step in building any site. A well-chosen theme will provide both visual appeal and the functionality you need. Whether you plan to build a blog, a company site or an e-commerce platform, it is important to choose a theme that not only looks good but also offers the features and support you need in the long term.

Over more than 10 years, the CREATING.LV team has tried a great many different WordPress themes, looking for solutions that combine good functionality with user-friendly design. Thanks to this experience, we can offer our clients themes that are easy to use and easy to customise, whether the site owner is a beginner or an experienced user.

We know how important site speed, SEO optimisation and mobile compatibility are, so we offer proven themes that meet these criteria.

Related: Website development · The main components of WordPress CMS · Why WordPress for a website.