Category: WordPress

WordPress is a worldwide website equipped with themes and custom widgets where anyone with content can create a WordPress site.

WordPress avails a number of features such as a premium responsive theme, page builder, and theme customizer that ensure blog pages are unique. The content that the website accommodates includes any photography portfolio, fictional writing, technical writing and so much more.

WordPress has gained popularity and can be found on many search engines. It is SEO friendly and facilitates social media integration through custom widgets.

What is SEO & SEO Content?

It is an abbreviation for search engine optimization. Many people use this to increase the chances of their content being shown by search engines after getting past the search filters.

Is WordPress suitable for people who prefer SEO?

The website is very SEO-friendly and is a great way for beginners to put their work on the map when someone does a search. In this way, WordPress lets users appear on the viewers’ page even with search filters.

What are responsive web designs?

These are designs that respond to the user’s environment then change resolutions and orientations accordingly.

Is WordPress responsive?

WordPress is one of the websites that can be comfortably accessed by the use of a mobile device. The grid layout can change to fit the screen of the users’ mobile devices; the columns are adjustable.

Responsive WordPress features appeal to many users. Whether using a mobile device or computer, users are comfortable with the website layout as it adapts to the screen resolution. This ensures none of the designer’s feel for the site is lost. Moreover, the use of a code that confines media files to certain dimensions guarantees the compatibility of the business sites with mobile devices. It has a variety of google fonts that allow writers to showcase their work in style. The blog theme and google fonts’ colors are flexible visuals that can change according to the device’s background.

Responsive WordPress themes.

These are WordPress themes that adjust to the user’s screen size. As more than fifty percent of the world’s internet traffic is on mobile devices, a designer would have to consider the use of a responsive WordPress theme.

A responsive WordPress theme has an added advantage. Because it is SEO friendly, search engines are more likely to bring up your page when users on mobile devices search for content.

WordPress portfolios

A portfolio is a plugin that shows a business or person’s professional abilities through images.

A portfolio theme will speak for itself and attract the users who come across it. There are four different types of layouts that come with WordPress portfolios. Only one of them lacks the option of adding images to your portfolio. These are all responsive portfolios that will help a business gain popularity.

A photography portfolio would appeal to more than one without images. Creating a photography portfolio is easy as there is no coding required.

A WordPress portfolio comes with many features such as drag and drop ordering, a variety of colors, unlimited layout variations, and all text size control (the google fonts would be of adjusted sizes).

The WordPress portfolio has a new feature called the layout preview. After setting up the demo content, one can click on the preview to see how it would look. The demo content is a trial that gives the designer a feel for the website outlook. Demo content is perfect for a user who is not sure about what they want their page to be like.

How to build a portfolio in WordPress

There are some steps to be followed before your target audience can marvel at your portfolio;

• Find a web host.

WP engine and flywheel are the best hosts to use in WordPress.

Choose a domain name

Choosing a name that is unique to your website is an interesting quest. The name should be relevant to your content. It should be chosen carefully because changing it could prove difficult.

Install the WordPress app

WordPress is available on the google play store and its APK can be downloaded from the browser. It will be already set up using the hosting company that you chose. All one would have to do is input their username and password and they can proceed to create their portfolio.

Pick and activate a theme

WordPress themes come in different colors and layouts. Once the website owners have chosen the ideal theme, they can install the needed plugins after getting prompts.

Create and edit portfolio items

Website owners can either use demo content as the starting point of their portfolios or create their own using the visual composer page builder.

The visual composer uses the drag and drop method. Items can be incorporated into the portfolio to build a site that oozes compatibility with the content being showcased.

Creating the portfolio page

All the chosen items can now be compiled to create the page. This is done by clicking on ‘pages’ then ‘add new’.

The page can be fine-tuned to the perfect portfolio by changing things such as image size, margins, titles, and borders.

The portfolio grid element has settings that can edit features such as widget areas. Widget areas are pre-built units that allow a user to add custom widgets such as a footer. The custom widgets can contain contact forms and social media handles where interested companies can contact portfolio owners.

Creating widget areas in WordPress is an easy task. After clicking on ‘appearance’ on the dashboard, one then clicks on ‘widgets’ and selects a new widget to add to the list with the use of the drag and drop method.

Customizing your portfolio

Placing finishing touches on the portfolio guarantees no mistakes are done in writing names and job descriptions in portfolios.

The banner image can be edited with the use of a portfolio post-type editor. The banner image is the image a reader sees when they click on a website. It usually contains information about what content to expect as one proceeds to read the website.

Adding your portfolio to the menu

To do this, click on ‘appearance’ then ‘menu’ then tap on the portfolio and add it to the menu.

If a website owner wanted to set the portfolio as the first page a visitor sees on the site, they can click on the static page and make it the portfolio.

Does WordPress have website templates?

WordPress has a wide variety of templates for websites to choose from.

Page builders

These are tools that WordPress site owners use to style their responsive websites.

Website owners can either create their drag and drop page builders from scratch or a designer could use it to make a finished site for the user.

Page builders typically have three content types; the drag and drop page builder plugin, form content, and live previews.

A responsive business menu should contain features such as cookies that will enable the users to keep track of the site’s activities.

Custom widgets enable social media integration by adding a contact form where people who read your content can access you. The contact form could be a professional email account where they can make inquiries.

The Elementor page builder is the best free WordPress site builder. It is a drag and drop page builder that does not require one to be experienced in how to code.

Coming with a theme builder, pop-up builder, and widgets, the Elementor page builder is every website owner’s dream. The theme builder contains a variety of design options to choose from. It also allows for the creation of a business theme, portfolio theme, and loading theme.

The loading theme has a theme customizer where you can decide whether or not to show loading percentages and which images to preview.

The Elementor page builder also has drag and drop options for content blocks. Here, you can edit and add content blocks to the pages to make the website more appealing.

Are the templates free?

WordPress has both free and commercial templates.

How to find templates in WordPress

Click on ‘pages’, then ‘add new’, followed by ‘attributes’, and finally tap on ‘templates’.

WordPress theme

There are two categories; free theme and premium theme.

The free WordPress theme is accessible by anyone as it is not paid for. Free themes are common because most users don’t require a lot of plugins to set up their websites.

The advantages are that before a WordPress theme becomes accessible to users, it undergoes scrutiny by WordPress plugins and once it has passed the code standards, it is made available. This means a website owner can count on the free WordPress theme being authentic and of high quality. Also, this option is perfect for people who are always experimenting and switching between themes.

The downside is that a free WordPress theme has limited features and there are not many theme options to pick from. For example, a magazine theme could look similar across WordPress websites because not many changes are done to it by users. This is where the premium WordPress theme comes in.

The premium theme would have a very unique magazine theme because it has more features than a free theme. Furthermore, it is more ideal when a business is undergoing issues and requires a support forum where its website problems are solved.

There is a theme options panel where website owners can change themes whenever they want. This panel contains any free theme that would appeal to the user. A theme options panel is available in many framework plugins. Examples of the frameworks are Fluent framework and Redux.

Where to find free WordPress themes?

The user simply has to click on the dashboard then select ‘appearance’, followed by ‘themes’ and finally ‘add themes’.

More free themes can be found on the browser and downloaded.

Woocommerce support

What is WooCommerce?

It is an eCommerce platform found in WordPress. It can be customized to a business’ liking with a basic drag and drop feature.

Built-in tools help business owners manage their products effectively. The tools help in the following ways;

1. The user can choose how exactly they want to get paid. It can be through credit cards, cryptocurrency, mobile wallets, or cash. The method they choose will be shown to buyers so that they can fill out the necessary details.
2. Setting up shipping options. Once the products have been bought they have to be delivered in some way. WooCommerce steps in to ensure the user makes deals with well-known carriers such as FedEx in order to deliver products to buyers in a far location. The shipping fee will be used to settle with the carriers. This shipping method is ideal for buyers and will attract them in numbers as they will not have to lift afoot to get their needs met. Moreover, there can be special offers for buyers around the business’ locations because delivery will not be costly. The offers will appeal to many visitors who see your website.
3. Simplifying taxes put on sales. Integrations with certain services will make calculations easier and clearly show buyers the automated taxes incurred when buying a certain amount of products.

When incurring problems with WooCommerce, a WordPress user should first ascertain whether the systems are up to date. Content management systems require constant updating. To check on this, click on updates then menu. If everything is updated then one can contact WooCommerce support.

Also, a user can check for conflicts. There is more than one way of doing so. First, use a default theme. If the issue stops then the problem is with the theme you chose so the next step would be contacting a theme developer for help. The other thing a person can do is remove all plugins except two; WooCommerce and the plugin suspected to be causing the problem. Slowly, install the plugins one by one again. The website owners can then contact WooCommerce support if the issue persists.

If website owners opt to share usage data with WooCommerce, they can feel confident knowing that it’s anonymized and kept secure. Choose to opt-out at any time without impacting your store.

Unlike hosted eCommerce solutions, WooCommerce store data is future-proof; should you wish to migrate to a different platform, you’re free to export all your content and take your site wherever you choose. No restrictions.

Developers can use WooCommerce to create, customize, and scale a store to meet a client’s exact specifications, making enhancements through extensions or custom solutions.

Leverage hooks and filters to modify or create functionality. They also integrate virtually any service using robust webhooks. Additionally, they design and build custom content blocks.

They also inspect and modify any aspect of the core plugin code. Finally, they speed up development with a lightning-fast CLI.

The core platform is tested rigorously and often, supported by a dedicated development team working across time zones. Comprehensive documentation is updated with each release, empowering you to build exactly the store required.

WooCommerce is developed and supported by Automattic, the creators of WordPress and Jetpack. It also has hundreds of independent contributors.

WooCommerce is translated into multiple languages, including Danish, Ukrainian, and Persian.

How can it benefit WordPress users?

Business owners can take their products to the online community by easily setting up a website. It is free and one can have control over what they spend unlike on other platforms.

The platform allows users to show products and their prices. It also accommodates a business’ contact form for potential buyers. It has proved very beneficial to online businesses.

What is Divi?

It is a premium theme with a design framework and a WordPress plugin that allows users to search for theme options and design options. They can use them to create their website using the drag and drop page builder plugin.

It was created with Elegant themes. It has two plugins and themes that come at the price of one. Layouts are the creamy features inside Divi. There are more than a hundred pre-designed layouts you can use. These are mostly complete designs with varying layouts and color schemes.

The advantages include;

• Intuitive: For the most part, once you get into Divi, it’s pretty intuitive. If you have any experience with WordPress, the verbiage makes sense and it’s well-laid out.
• No design experience necessary: Because of their many templates and modules, you don’t have to be a designer to create a pretty blog post, site page, form, or landing page. You can select from their abundance of options in their library.
• Small content updates are speedy: Instead of sending my copy requests off to the developer, one can go into the Divi modules and make them myself. This includes page titles, headings, copy, the footer, blog categories, CTAs, and more.
• Tons of tutorials: When there is something a website user doesn’t understand, the Divi tutorials are super helpful. On top of that, there are several of them so pretty much any question one may have, he or she is able to find some guidance.
• Plugins: Something users didn’t expect as a feature of Divi their analytics features. For example, one uses a split-testing tool for our CTA variation (“Start a Free Trial” vs. “Schedule a Call”). To do this, you go into the page’s settings, click the hamburger menu on Divi Builder and select, “Enable Split Testing.” This allows you to test 2 variations: half the visitors will see version A and the other half will see version B. You set a time limit and then check analytics in the split testing settings to understand which language and/or design performed higher.

The disadvantages include;

• Design isn’t completely editable: As to be expected, there is some rigidity to how much you can tweak Divi’s templates without coding experience. If you need something to be custom—which happens more often than a user expects—you need to know some CSS and/or HTML to really make it work.
• Doesn’t make you a designer: Also not surprising, but becomes an issue for marketers is that oft-times you still need a designer to look at your Divi layouts. If you’re not careful, you can really mess up the formatting of the page and even though you don’t know why it looks off. Only a professional designer can see what to do in some circumstances.
• A lot going on: This can work in its favor, as designers and developers can make the tool do so many cool things, but on the flip side as a marketer, so many tools get a little cluttered. It’s hard to get to the module you want to edit and there’s a chance you could change something on the site that you didn’t mean to.
• Not a CRM: When it comes to forms and landing pages, works great—that’s a huge part of its job! Divi was not built for marketing. When it comes to making a CTA that connects to a download or sign-up, it takes some extra work.

Bloom, which is a plugin, works well with Divi and can help you convert more visitors into email subscribers.

It’ll help you maximize your lead generation efforts. With Monarch, it’s pretty easy to connect your web visitors to all the social media giants such as Facebook or any other social network that you’re on.

As a blogger who wants to make more money online, you can use landing page-related layouts to promote affiliate offers and maximize sales. The Bed & Breakfast layout, for example, is ideal for bed and mattress brands and other companies that promote sleep aid accessories.

Overall, one would say Divi is a great way for marketers, business developers, and salespeople to better manage a site and save time. It allows you to create your own content without relying on a designer or developer.

However, Divi works are at their finest when it serves as a way to better collaborate between these teams. Marketers can get further along in their site edits but should remember to call on their designer or developer when they need the eye of a professional.

How can one use it?

Divi is easy to use because of its drag and drop feature. The blog theme, portfolio theme, or business theme can be created after a few clicks. There are many videos on the browser that explain step-by-step procedures.

WordPress templates are overall well received by its website owners.

Gutenberg

The Gutenberg WordPress editor was named after Johannes Gutenberg, a man who invented the printing press.

WordPress released this editor that is in its testing phase hence is not ready to be used in production sites just yet.

Gutenberg requires a lot of HTML codes to keep it running.

Installing Gutenberg

One can click on the dashboard and find it under the ‘add new’ plugins or directly download it from the WordPress repository.

After installing Gutenberg, you will see links under your Posts that allow you to open up the Gutenberg editor. They don’t replace the default WordPress editor, which is a good thing as during the testing phase it allows you to bounce back and forth. As of the latest version on the repository, it now supports custom page types and pages as well.

Gutenberg adds a new menu in your WordPress dashboard which contains a demo and the ability to create a new post. Users will see the visual editor looks quite different than the ones most users are probably used to. It has a very similar feel to Medium, which users will think is great.

How to use Gutenberg

In the Gutenberg WordPress editor, you can click on “Post Settings” to remove the right-hand sidebar. And while this does give you access to even more of your screen it is kind of halfway in between the currently available distraction-free writing mode. Trying to use Shift+Alt+W to launch it in Gutenberg editor will not work as it doesn’t seem to be functional yet. Hopefully, the feature will be added later as there are probably quite a few people that use this.

To switch between the visual editor mode and a text editor (code), there is now a dropdown in the top left. You will notice that there are now HTML comments at the beginning and end of each block.

This allows you to create the blocks directly from the text editor mode. However, it also adds a lot more clutter than you are probably used to if you are editing in this mode.

When you highlight over a block, there are options to easily move it up or down with the arrows, delete it, or go into the settings of the block. This is very similar to the controls available on other editors.

If you need to make a quick image insert or add a paragraph before publishing a post on the go, Gutenberg is going to make that very easy.

Simple tables are much easier now, as you can insert them as blocks within the editor. Previously you had to either use a third-party plugin or HTML code. Currently, you can only add a 2×2 table with the insert option and you can’t style it without going into the text view. Although, eventually it is assumed you will be able to do all these things from the visual editor.

Gutenberg has a live HTML block. You can insert your code and then see a preview from right within the block. This is actually a pretty cool idea and might actually prevent some of us from having to switch back and forth between the visual editor and text editor modes.

Users can now drag and drop images directly into an image block, just like you are used to with the visual editor. However, there is a fade effect when doing this which is quite strange.

With all the blocks being built into the Gutenberg editor, and probably many more to come, “Recent blocks” were added to try and help speed up the process of insertion.

It also introduced some new visual styles and options for cover text. You can easily change the font size, turn it into a drop cap, and change the color with their new custom color palette component.

Also featured is the ability to use autocomplete to insert blocks. For those who use WordPress on a daily basis, this is a very familiar way of quickly formatting content the way you want it. Having the option to minimize clicks and utilize more of the keyboard is amazing.

Gutenberg also has anchors. Adding anchors allows you to then link directly to a certain section or header in the article. This is great for sharing, as well as creating a jump to menus.

For publishers that prefer the newer Medium-style editing experience, they are most likely going to love the WordPress Gutenberg editor.

Gutenberg provides a less distracting experience with more screen space.

Blocks are fun to use and the new alignment options are a step forward for larger resolution screens and full-width templated and responsive sites. It also already works great on mobile, and going forward WordPress can actually see people utilizing this a lot more. Need to make a quick edit on your phone while on the go? No problem.

The ability for theme and plugin developers to create their own custom blocks. It is easier to use for beginners.

However, with so many themes and plugins out there, backward compatibility is going to be a huge issue going forward. In fact, there will probably be thousands of developers that now have to do a lot of work, such as those that have integrations with other sites. Out of all the WordPress updates, this is probably going to be one that causes the most work for developers. Although there might be a wrapper coming which would enable backward compatibility.

As proved above, WordPress web templates are the best to use for a startup business or blog.

WordPress 5.8, released on 20th July, is called “Tatum”. It is named after Art Tatum, a Jazz pianist. brings a whole new range of features along with the introduction of some initial features for the Full Site Editing project.

The WordPress 5.8 update introduces some very useful features, some new blocks for the Gutenberg editor, support for WebP images, blocks as widgets, template editor, and so on.

Some of the most important features and updates are:

• Full Site Editing in WordPress 5.8
• WebP images support
• Edit Post Templates
• Block Editing for Widgets as well as Customizer
• Block patterns and pattern Directory
• Dropping support for IE11
• Custom tabs for Site Health interface
• Theme.json: Global styles and Global settings
• Other Changes

Full Site Editing in WordPress 5.8

As the name suggests, full site editing is an attempt to provide the flexibility and tools/features to build an entire website using blocks. It is a broader project, and WordPress 5.8 just brings the first features falling under it.

This new update will not yet significantly change how we build and manage websites with WordPress, but it is just the beginning of the change since it introduces some new blocks and features that will be the instrument for Full Site Editing.

WordPress 5.8 doesn’t actually bring on the Full Site Editing but introduces some of the features that can contribute to it. So it just brings about some new blocks and features that will aid the future of WordPress with full site editing capabilities. The template editing feature, which we will discuss later in this post, and global settings, and styles options.

This version is just the beginning of or the tip of the iceberg called the FSE experience. New and more features to provide a complete and flawless building experience within WordPress will be introduced over time, with newer versions.

The new site health Interface

The feature at Tools > Site health option, which will give you an insight into the health of your site, is also updated.

The tool helps you detect common WordPress configuration errors and other issues on your site that may impact its performance. With WordPress 5.8, developers are now allowed to add more to the Site health interface. The site health header can either include tab navigation or extend another interface.

WebP image support

WebP, an image format developed by Google, intends to change the quality of web experience with redefined image quality at smaller sizes.

WebP images will now be supported by WordPress. The format is specially developed to make the internet users’ experience faster and better. They are now supported by mostly all the major browsers. It is great news for everyone, all the bloggers or business website owners that use WordPress.

WebP images can be compressed losslessly and give the best output compared to other image formats, and now you can use them in your WordPress-based websites.

WebP images are a way you can easily use better quality images on your website, without having them occupy large memory space. Now, WordPress will allow you to upload the WebP images easily to the media gallery, just like any other image.

Block Patterns & Directory

In order to maintain the consistency of the layout across your website, you can now use the block patterns. New in WordPress 5.8 will be the block pattern library, called pattern Directory.

It will be a repository for WordPress patterns. Any WP.org user can create and share Block Patterns. They can submit their patterns after going through some basic validations. They can even view and manage their submitted patterns.

So WordPress users can browse through patterns based on their categories or use the search mechanism to find patterns. They can have a live preview of the patterns and use them for their projects.

Edit Post Templates

You can now create, edit, save and reuse templates, to manage the layouts on your WordPress website. Find the template editor in the post editor, and use it to design a structure using the blocks you need and save it.

Later, you can easily assign these templates to specific posts or pages. This feature will be opt-in for classic themes and opt-out for themes with theme.json and Block-Based Themes.

Dropping support for IE11

With Microsoft 365 dropping support for the Internet Explorer browser, it is clear that most internet users are not using it.

WordPress 5.8 and versions after that, will discontinue support for Internet Explorer. This means that this version and newer ones after it, will not be tested for the browser, or will have code compatibility required for IE support.

Blocks as widgets

The block-based widget editor is a major addition to the new version of WordPress. It brings the block-based editing interface to the widgets in WordPress.

Even if you still use the classic WordPress themes, the new widget editor will have many advantages. You will be able to create layouts using columns, separators, spacers, and other design blocks. They will also allow rich text editing by default.

This feature comes with backward compatibility, so you don’t have to worry about your existing widgets or the theme widgets.

The block widgets will also be available with the customizer making things more flexible.

Theme.json: Global styles and Global settings

You can control the access allowed to your clients in terms of how much they can control the site. For instance, you want to allow some simpler changes like define the color palette, or font color and styles, but you want to restrict some of the advanced customizations.

You can do so by creating a theme.json file and enable or disable features. Manage the settings for the block editor or a single block. You can even set how the styles are managed and control the Custom CSS properties too.

Other changes

Besides the major features, there are several minor added features to improve the web development experience with WordPress. Some of them are:

• Decimals will be allowed while managing the spacing
• More Gutenberg blocks to enhance the block editing features
• You can now embed pdf files with the File block just like you upload any other file

Wrapping up

WordPress has been the favorite of web users for a long time now, and it powers over 41% of the internet. With every new version of WordPress, the experience tends to get better. And eventually, we can look forward to Full site editing in the future, where designing websites will be easier and more fun.

Also, read:

• Understanding WordPress Gutenberg
• Start a blog with WordPress
• SEO Friendly WordPress Themes
• Gutenberg plugins and resources
• How to build a directory website with WordPress

WordPress is the most-loved content management system (CMS) and we’ve already explained to you why. The feature that makes CMS like WordPress so easy to use and flexible is the template system. Besides, integration with MySQL or MariaDB makes a developer’s job as easy as a child’s play to create a multi-functional website. There are several components that go into developing a WordPress.

We’ve already been introduced to a variety of themes already, and here we’ll talk about WordPress templates and why it is so cool to use them in your websites. WordPress templates are often confused with a WordPress theme, and so we’ll talk about their difference at the top. Before you read any further, go grab a cup of coffee as this is going to be an insightful read for a professional WordPress developer.

After reading this post, you will understand:

• What are WordPress templates?
• Difference between WordPress templates and WordPress theme
• How WordPress processes templates
• Templates Hierarchy explained
• When and why use WordPress templates?
• D.I.Y First WordPress template
• Elementor templates and template kits

Before you read further, let me tell you a story about my friend Jake. Jake recently bought an apartment in a high-rise building in Manhattan. It’s a plush 3 BHK apartment in one of the affluent areas of the city. But Jake is very confused. He can’t decide where his furniture will go in these rooms? He can’t decide where to keep the TV unit, where and in which direction should be the couch, where should be the dining table, and similarly where should he align his bed.

All these components are basic requirements of any house. This will define how your house looks and whether it’s designed properly. You can’t have a bedroom in the front room and can’t have a dining table in the bedroom. Everything has its place and purpose. Similarly, WordPress templates define the position, orientation, and function of some components of a website like a header, footer, comments section, sidebar, and other page settings.

Now let’s get started:

What are WordPress templates?

WordPress templates are files that control how your website’s page looks. WordPress websites have an index.php file as their homepage template, and similarly, we have header.php, footer.php, and several other files that control how these components look and where to place them on our web pages.

The templates are the building blocks of WordPress theme development. It is important to have good knowledge of the templates and it’s a hierarchy to customize a theme. WordPress templates are PHP source files that your browser requests to generate the web pages requested by the user. Template files consist of template tags, HTML, and PHP.

WordPress is very flexible in allowing you to create different templates for different parts of your website. Also, you can have a single template file called index.php which can act as a template for all your pages. The most practiced method is to create different template files for various aspects of your website for maximum customizations.

However, the call to create new templates depends on the WordPress theme developer. Templates are generated based upon the template hierarchy, depending on the templates that are available in your WordPress theme.

Difference between WordPress templates and WordPress themes:

Since both themes and templates go hand-in-hand, it gets quite confusing for some developers to understand the difference between these two. Simply put, templates are the subset of a WordPress theme. A theme changes the look of your entire website, while templates only change the layout of a single page of a website. You set a different template for different areas of your site, while you can only set one theme for your website. Think of templates as compartments inside your themes. For example, your header, footer, blog post title, comments section, etc can be compartmentalized into their respective templates. So in short, a WordPress website can have only one WordPress blog theme at a time, while it can have several templates for a page. You can have different headers and footers for different pages of your website with templates.

References: https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development#Template_Files

Glossary

How WordPress processes templates:

WordPress uses a query string to decide which template(s) to choose to display on the page. A query string comprises information related to the content on your website. It comprises several parameters that are separated by an ampersand (&) and it will always start after a question mark (?)

Example: ?category_name=planets&value=earth

The WordPress traverses through the template hierarchy until it finds the matching template file. The WordPress follows these steps in processing the query string to determine which template files to load:

1. It matches the query string to a query type and understands which page is being requested (example, WordPress blog posts page, contact page, menu page)
2. WordPress selects a template according to the template hierarchy.
3. WordPress looks for template files with specific names in the WordPress theme directory and selects the first matching template file from the hierarchy.

The basic/default file that WordPress looks for is the index.php file, and you’re able to call your custom template file WordPress because of this file. WordPress keeps looking for your custom file in the templates hierarchy and if it does not find a match, it will use the index.php of the theme.

A simple example:

If you’re having your WordPress blog at http://your-website-here/blog and a user clicks at a page with link http://your-website-here/blog/category/planet-name/, the WordPress starts looking for a template file that matches the category’s ID to generate the required page.

Here are the steps that WordPress will take under the hood once the user requests for a page:

1. Look for the matching template file in the WordPress blog theme directory that matches the category’s slug. For example, if the slug is “planets”, then WordPress will look for a template file defined as category-planets.php.
2. If category-planets.php is not present and if the category ID is 8, then WordPress will look for a template file, category-8.php in the directory of the WordPress blog theme.
3. If both the above files are not present, WordPress will look for a generic template file called category.php in the directory of the blog theme.
4. If the category.php is non-existent, then WordPress will look for a generic archive template file called archive.php in the WordPress blog theme directory.
5. If all the files mentioned above are missing in the WordPress blog theme directory, WordPress will use the default/main template file called index.php

This is how WordPress processes a template request every time a user navigates from one page to another if we equip the WordPress site with multiple templates.

WordPress Templates Hierarchy explained:

The WordPress templates hierarchy for different queries is explained below:

1. Home page display:
2. Your website’s home page is by default the main page to display your latest posts when someone visits your web URL
3. You can create a custom index page for your blog posts
4. The home.php is the file that renders your blog posts index, be it on the front page or another static page
5. If the home.php is not present, WordPress uses index.php
6. front-page.php has special status over the home.php template and in case it is present in the configuration, it will be preferred over the home.php template.
7. If all of these files are missing, index.php will be used
8. Frontpage display:
9. The Front-page.php file has an upper hand over your blog’s home.php file
10. WordPress tries to access the template in the following hierarchy for the front page.
11. front-page.php
12. home.php
13. page.php
14. index.php

As seen above, WordPress can take a lot of paths and it can get confusing at times. So to ease the development, WordPress has created a flow chart that explains the templates hierarchy. We’ve attached the image sourced from WordPress here:

You can try out the flow chart here.

3 . Privacy Policy page:

In order to redirect your users to the privacy page, a template called privacy-policy.php is used for the page set in settings > Privacy > Change your Privacy Policy page

Again, in absence of the privacy-policy.php file, WordPress will use the other files already mentioned below in the hierarchy as given below:

1. privacy-policy.php
2. custom page template (if set)
3. page.php
4. page-{slug}.php (here slug is privacy)
5. page-{id}.php (here id is page number)
6. page.php
7. singular.php
8. index.php

4 . Single Post:

When a single post is rendered by WordPress, the Single post template is used in the hierarchy as mentioned below:

1. single-{post type}-{slug}.php (here slug is mainly the post name and post type is the type of post being rendered, for example, if the post type is a ‘new-product and the post name is ‘avengers toy‘, then your template would become single-new-product-avengers-toy.php).
2. single-{post type}.php (from the example above, WordPress would look for a file called single-new-product.php)
3. single.php
4. singular.php
5. index.php

5 . Single Page:

Similar to Single post templates, single-page templates are used while rendering a static post page. The template hierarchy for the same is given below:

1. the custom page template file
2. page-{slug}.php (slug could be any page title, so if your page name is ‘WordPress-tutorials’, your template would become page-WordPress-tutorials.php)
3. page-{id}.php (id is your WordPress page id, so if your page id is 9, your template file would be page-6.php)
4. page.php
5. singular.php
6. index.php

6 . Category pages:

To display the category pages, WordPress uses the following hierarchy of template files:

1. category-{slug}.php (slug could be any category, so if your category is ‘tutorials’, your template would become ‘category-tutorials.php’)
2. category-{id}.php (id is the category id, so for example, if your category id is 7, your template file will be ‘category-7.php’).
3. category.php
4. archive.php
5. index.php

7 . Tags:

To display the tags, WordPress uses the following hierarchy of template files:

1. tag-{slug}.php (slug could be any tag, so if your tag is ‘tutorials’, your template would become ‘tag-tutorials.php’)
2. category-{id}.php (id is the tag id, so for example, if your tag id is 7, your template file will be ‘tag-7.php’).
3. tag.php
4. archive.php
5. index.php

8 . Custom Taxonomies:

To display a custom taxonomy, WordPress uses the following hierarchy of template files:

1. taxonomy-{taxonomy}-{slug}.php (taxonomy could be any tag, so if your taxonomy is ‘some_taxonomy’, and your slug is ‘taxonomy-1’, your template would become ‘taxonomy-some_taxonomy-taxonomy-1.php’)
2. taxonomy-{taxonomy}.php (taxonomy could be any tag, so if your taxonomy is ‘some_taxonomy’, your template would become ‘taxonomy-some_taxonomy.php’).
3. taxonomy.php
4. archive.php
5. index.php

9 . Custom posts type:

To display the custom posts types, WordPress uses the following hierarchy of template files:

1. archive-{post-type}  (for example if post type is ‘products’, then template file will be ‘archive-products’.php)
2. archive.php
3. index.php

10 . Author:

To display the author index page, WordPress uses the following hierarchy of template files:

1. author-{name}.php (slug could be any author name, so if your tag is ‘Anthony, your template would become ‘author-anthony.php’)
2. author-{id}.php (id is the author id, so for example, if your author id is 795, your template file will be ‘author-795.php’).
3. author.php
4. archive.php
5. index.php

11 . Date:

To display date-based pages, WordPress will use the following hierarchy of template files:

1. date.php
2. archive.php
3. index.php

12 . Search results:

To display the search results, the hierarchy of template files is as follows:

1. search.php
2. index.php

13. 404 Not Found:

To display 404 not found template, the hierarchy is as follows:

1. 404.php
2. index.php

14 . Attachment:

To send an attachment page template, the hierarchy used for templates is as follows:

1. {MIME}.php (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions or MIME type can be of any type, for example, images.php, videos.php, pdf.php, text.php) For plain text, the following sub-hierarchy is used:
2. text-plain.php
3. plain.php
4. text.php
5. attachment.php
6. single-attachment-{slug}.php (here slug can be anything, for example, if the slug is holiday-list, then the template file will be single-attachment-holiday-list.php)
7. single-attachment.php
8. single.php
9. singular.php
10. index.php

15 . Embed:

To render the file which gives a description of the post which is being embedded. The template hierarchy is as follows:

1. embed-{post-type}-{post-format}.php (Here WordPress looks for post type and then post format, for example, if your post type is a ‘post’ and the post format is video, then the template becomes, ’embed-post-video.php’).
2. embed-{post-type}.php (Here if the post type is new product, then the template becomes – ’embed-new-product.php’)
3. embed.php
4. wp-includes/theme-compat/embed.php template

16 . Non – ASCII character handling:

After WordPress version 4.7, any template file names containing Non-ASCII characters in the name are actually supported in both encoded and un-encoded formats. The template hierarchy for the same is as follows:

1. page-testing-😀.php
2. page-testing-%f0%9f%98%80.php
3. page-744.php
4. page.php
5. singular.php

17 . Filter hierarchy:

WordPress allows us to filter the hierarchy. For example, the filter in get_query_template() function uses a filter “{$type}_template” where $type is the template type.

Interesting observation: If you’ll see all the hierarchies above, you’ll notice that they end with an index.php file, thus making it an important component of WordPress blog themes development. If all other templates fail, index.php comes to the rescue.

When and why use custom WordPress templates?

WordPress templates are useful when you want to customize your WordPress theme on page level. So, each page on your WordPress site can have its own template, and there’s no limit to the number of templates you can have on a website. So, to simplify again, a WordPress theme is applied to an entire website and a WordPress template is attached to a particular page of that WordPress theme. So, by default, your WordPress theme would consist of some default template files, like index.php, archive.php, home.php.

The question is, why do you need custom WordPress templates? Let me give you an example, suppose you have a WordPress blog where you share the latest toys and cars. You share multiple posts in your genre. Some are reviews, some are new arrivals and some pages are reserved for selling some products. Now as a designer, you’d want the new arrivals to be highlighted in your feed and when the user clicks on it, you want the user to experience a different color and texture page for it. In this case, having separate templates for each page saves you a lot of time in managing and maintaining the blog theme. And so, having a custom WordPress template is useful in WordPress theme development.

Some WordPress websites might also restrict you to customize certain sections of your blog and it becomes imperative for a WordPress theme developer to start writing a custom template for the WordPress blog theme. A custom template can be used for a variety of reasons and some of them are mentioned below:

1. show a collection of new arrivals
2. social media feeds
3. charts or dashboards for business blogs
4. highlight best shots from your photography portfolio
5. show comments or testimonials
6. images carousel
7. contact page
8. recently uploaded photos

Do it yourself – First WordPress template:

Now that you know what templates are, what it’s hierarchy is, and why it’s important for any WordPress theme developer, let’s get our hands dirty and create our first WordPress template.

Step 1:

Open a text editor of your choice and define your template file with the following code:

<?php /* Template Name: PageWithOutWidget */ ?>

The above snippet defines the template name and tells WordPress that it’s a template file. Save the file with .php extension, example, pagewithoutwidget.php. It’s very important that you give the .php file extension, else WordPress will not be able to access it.

Step 2:

Now open the directory where your WordPress is installed, be it in your local or on a hosted server.

Go to WordPress > wp-content > themes > twentytwentyone (or the WordPress theme file you’re using)

And paste the pagewithoutwidget.php file inside the folder.

Now go to WP Admin panel > Pages > Add new and you can see a new custom page template pop-up on the right side of your screen.

Now select a new page and set the template to pagewithwidget.php and publish it. After you create this page, if you navigate to that page, you’ll see a blank page as no designs are implemented in the template file yet.

This shows the custom template is integrated successfully with WordPress.

Now inside the WordPress directory on your machine, navigate to WordPress/wp-content/themes/{your-wordpress theme}

Inside your WordPress blog theme folder, select the page.php code which looks like this:

<?php

/**

* The template for displaying all single posts

*

* @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/#single-post

*

* @package WordPress

* @subpackage Twenty_Twenty_One

* @since Twenty Twenty-One 1.0

*/

get_header();

/* Start the Loop */

while ( have_posts() ) :

the_post();

get_template_part( ‘template-parts/content/content-page’ );

// If comments are open or there is at least one comment, load up the comment template.

if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) {

comments_template();

}

endwhile; // End of the loop.

get_footer();

Copy the contents of this file and paste it into the pagewithoutwidget.php. So, the pagewithoutwidget.php looks like this:

<?php /* Template Name: PageWithWidget */ ?>

<?php

/**

* The template for displaying all single posts

*

* @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/#single-post

*

* @package WordPress

* @subpackage Twenty_Twenty_One

* @since Twenty Twenty-One 1.0

*/

get_header();

/* Start the Loop */

while ( have_posts() ) :

the_post();

get_template_part( ‘template-parts/content/content-page’ );

// If comments are open or there is at least one comment, load up the comment template.

if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) {

comments_template();

}

endwhile; // End of the loop.

get_footer();

Now if you refresh the page, you’ll see the default WordPress blog theme page that you’ve copied into the template file.

Now we can see the comments widget in the file, we search it and remove:

comments_template();

Save the file and reload the page and you’ll see the comments section is removed.

However, it might happen that the text format does not look good, so in that case, go to the template file pagewithoutwidget.php and change the ‘content-area’ to full width.

Now, you might wonder why we didn’t edit the page.php file directly instead of creating a new template? Well, the reason for that is changing page.php will change all the pages on the site. In order to make changes to specific pages, a custom page template in WordPress becomes handy.

Templates and template kits:

Template kits are a package of templates. It’s easy to confuse between templates and WordPress blog themes.

So, template kits are a collection of templates that are intended to be used with one WordPress blog. For example, a restaurant website will require templates that are quite different from the ones required by a photography artist.

A magazine company would require different features in its header, while a food blog would have completely different requirements for its header and footer section.

WordPress caters to a variety of customers and users and it has a strong network of experienced and smart developers that meet the customer’s requirements with ease. Thus template kits are a collection of templates that is user-specific.

A WordPress blog themes developer should consider studying the end-user of their WordPress blog themes and templates. You should study the people, their professions, their business, and their requirements like the items they deal in, the problems they’re facing on daily basis, and then design the templates that they’ll need to solve those problems.

After completing the research, the WordPress blog themes developer should design the header, footer, columns, logo, background, and other designs for search tools, services, and other page templates.

WordPress 5.7 comes with many new features to make your WordPress website building experience even better. As interesting as the names of new versions are, this one is “Esperanza” in honor of the musician Esperanza Spalding.

The official release was on March 9, 2021, and to sum up, the following are some of the highlights:

• WP Admin color palatte
• Robots API
• Lazy loading iFrames
• Easier migrating from HTTP to HTTPS
• Resetting Password link
• Improvements in the editor

Every update of WordPress intends to make small but significant improvements to the WordPress website building experience. Like the grand WordPress 5.0 update, it doesn’t change anything major but just adds a few new features and some improvements to the existing ones.

Let’s dive in to find what each change means:

WP Admin color palette

A Standardized color palette used in WP-Admin CSS removes the limitation of color schemes and offers a wider range to choose from dark and light schemes.

The Robots API

WordPress 5.7 also comes with a new way for the programmers to control the robots meta tag on a WordPress website. The introduction of the new Robots API with this update will allow the WordPress users to programmatically control the crawler’s behavior.

The updated version of WordPress will add a new function called wp_robots to WordPress and that function can be used to modify or alter the features of the robots meta tag.

Lazy loading on iFrames

Lazy loading helps to reduce the page load speed by only loading the images as they are brought to the screen only when the visitors scroll to that section. The latest WordPress version will automatically add the lazy loading feature to all the iframe embeds.

So now whenever you add an iframe to embed a video from a website like YouTube or Vimeo, it will automatically add the lazy load effect to it, therefore making your website faster.

Easier migrating from HTTP to HTTPS

WordPress 5.7 makes it easier for you to migrate to a more secure web environment. It allows automatic migration from HTTP to HTTPS.

Before WordPress 5.7 this had to be done manually but the new version comes with an option to easily switch from HTTP to HTTPS. The ‘site health’ section, under the Tools menu, allows choosing to migrate to HTTPS.

Resetting Password

Now, the admin of the WordPress website has the feature to send a password reset link to a registered user with just a single click. This option will send the WordPress user an email on the registered email address with a link to reset the password.

There are two different ways for the admin to do this:

1) From the user profile menu screen, where there is a field with a button to send a reset password link to the user.

2) From the user’s screen, where the admin can find a link below the user name, as shown in the figure.

Clicking on this link will automatically send an email to the registered user, on their email address which they can click to set a new password.

Editor Improvements

The Drag and drop blocks: The blocks can now be dragged and dropped directly to the post or page, so much easier than the earlier version of the Gutenberg block editor, which was click-to-add. The drag and drop blocks will certainly add to the ease of use.

Height adjustment options (supporting full height): Some of the blocks now come with the option of full height, so it can fill up the entire screen span.

Block variations: Now the block variations are displayed using a drop-down, making it easier for the editors to choose the style of the block he/she wants to include. Moreover, the block inspector will also show the icon as well as a description of the block variation.

Other changes: The other changes in WordPress 5.7 include reusable blocks that are now auto-saved when the post is saved. The button block includes a vertical alignment & preset button width option and the list and code block comes with a font size management option. Also updated, is the social icons block size. You can preset percentages for these social icons as well.

Final Words

If you are using an older version of WordPress, you should definitely consider updating your WordPress website. But before you do so, make sure that your website is backed up.

The release of WordPress 5.7 comes with these small changes that don’t change anything grand but will surely contribute to a better website building experience, by adding more features and options.

Download WordPress 5.7

With the development of digital technologies, virtual space has gained immense importance and become more complex. Straightforward static presentation of information has evolved into an interesting and exciting process. But the secret of success remains unchanged. It all depends on how the user evaluates your work. Like the first impression of a person, the first acquaintance with a company website can either attract or repel. The level of usability directly affects the success of your business. It determines whether the user will buy something, whether one will return to the site and become a regular customer of the company. UI/UX design works as a linking element in the relationship between customers and a particular company. In 2020, it becomes one of the drivers of the site ranking in search engines.

Of course, creating an efficient UI/UX design takes time as it is done in several stages. At the very least, it requires performing competitor research, designing a concept, and building a prototype before the final design is implemented. You can check the detailed description of the process on this website. Obviously, you will also need a team of specialists to execute the UI/UX project.

What Is UI/UX Design?

UX and UI help sort out one of the biggest challenges when it comes to websites — they allow creating products that people will use with ease and pleasure. In simple terms, UI/UX design’s main task is to make the product clear and aesthetic.

Earlier sites were designed based on the wishes and preferences of the customer. Now, everything is focused on the user’s expectations. When a user is comfortable with your web resource, they easily navigate it, often visit and surf through pages, make purchases — the site’s traffic increases, and, consequently, its position becomes stronger.

UX design is in charge of the adaptability and functionality of a particular product, as well as certain emotions that it evokes. The simpler, more accessible, and convenient the site interface is, the easier it will be for the user to find the information they need or make an online purchase.

UI design is UX visualization. The UI designer is responsible for the convenience of the site’s or application’s interface. The main task is to enable the user to work with the content as intuitively as possible. The UI designer has a variety of tools (fonts, graphics, buttons, visuals) at their disposal, which they use to optimize a specific interface.

UI/UX Benefits for Business

There is a direct dependence between UI/UX and the profit of the company. Moreover, the efficient UI/UX design influences both the cost of an individual product and the value of a company in the market.

UI/UX boosts customer loyalty

No matter whether you are selling goods or services, the success of your business depends on customers. So increasing your audience loyalty is the number-one task. What is the role of UX here? You should create a resource that will fully meet customer expectations. Your website must be informative, usable, and accessible to the customers. Satisfied customers are more likely to make new orders, purchase additional products, renew membership, give positive reviews, and stay away from other brands.

Reduced promotion costs

If you devote enough attention to UI/UX design at the early stages of your project and implement optimized features, you will minimize the costs spent on marketing efforts. A positive user experience makes your customers the brand’s best advocates, who not only buy your product but also share good feedback about it, for example, on social media. This communication channel is efficient and free.

Increased sales

People want products and services that fully meet their needs, that are easy and enjoyable to use. Products that provide a good user experience will be sold better. Since the market competition is high, people won’t spend a lot of time sorting out the available options. They will opt for a company that provides a better user experience.

According to a Microsoft study, a person’s attention span is only 8 seconds. It means users can focus on your website or app for just 8 seconds. After that, they either stay or leave.

UI/UX design saves time and costs

Introducing UI/UX design at the early stage of product development may seem costly and time-consuming. However, this approach actually saves resources, allowing you to find the right solution or fix problems at the outset when it is easy and affordable.

It is a completely different story when you try to change the UI/UX design of an existing site. Imagine what awaits your business if you decide to add new features to your website when it is already used by thousands of people.

Solving a UI/UX problem at the development stage is 10 times more expensive than at the design stage, and 100 times more expensive if you’re trying to fix a problem with an already released product.

Increased user interaction

Any online business should make a user its priority. However, it is not possible without investing in UI/UX design.

A well-organized interface helps you understand the reaction of users towards your business. For example, you can create a comments section where users will share their experiences and opinions. In addition, you can make a web page more personalized and use text or images that are specific to each site visitor.

High rates of conversions

One of the most important reasons why you need a great UI/UX design is to attract more customers. By providing an engaging user interface, you can be sure that visitors will return to your site again and again. Conversion rates will increase.

Without a doubt, any good UI/UX design should include calls to action at certain points on the web page. With these buttons, you can encourage visitors to buy products.

Wrapping Up

Companies are increasingly focusing on UI/UX in order to reach a competitive edge in the market race. The impact of UI/UX design on business will continue to grow. Timely investing in UI/UX design will become a financial gain for the business. You will enjoy not only increased revenue but also lower costs, better customer retention, and higher search ratings.

Team Templatic Wishes You A Very Happy New Year!

Hello, This is Team Templatic wishing you a very happy new year & good health!

2020 was a challenging year for all of us, but now we are welcoming 2021 with a lot of hopes for a better future. Since the pandemic, the world has become more digitized and we encourage you to set your own website with WordPress. To support new businesses to create their online identity, we are again offering our themes at almost half price. 

For a limited time, get our Club at a 70% discount!

It’s been an exciting last few weeks! WordPresss 5.6 was released and we have been testing and fixing all of our WordPress themes to ensure they are compatible for you. Our developers and designers are always enthusiastic about the new features and like to make sure that our themes work well with the latest WordPress versions.

Additionally, one of the Templatic owners, Anthony Presley, did an interview with Spencer Haws of NichePursuits.com – in which he discussed the updates done by Google in May and December, building an online business, and shared some of the details around the Templatic purchase. To celebrate almost 2 years of Templatic, we opened up a 14-day promotion on the Theme Club. Why? Because we love entrepreneurs, and it’s a new year, and it’s time to get your site launched and going.

For a limited time, use coupon code NICHEPURSUITS and get 70%+ off of the club. It’s now priced at $89 / year plus $13 / month.

Browse our themes

Additional Resources & Ideas From Our Blogs

1) Earn with a directory website

Set up a directory website as your online business that earns you passive income without making huge investments. In this post, we have some actionable ideas, along with some good examples to inspire you. 

18 types of directory websites to make money in 2021

2) Tutorial on how to build & manage online directory websites

An in depth guide on how you can launch your own directory from scratch. Since ‘directory website itself sounds complex, many people assume that creating such a website, and managing it, must be as difficult. But it’s quite simple with the right tools. Read to find out how you can build and manage an online directory on your own, with minimum investment.

How to build a directory website?

3) For those who want to setup an eCommerce website

A detailed article on how you can use the FREE WooCommerce plugin to set up your online store and start selling physical as well as downloadable goods on your WordPress website. Also included are some unique and actionable business ideas and practical instructions on how to get started. 

WooCommerce eCommerce

4) Traffic tracking, Reports & Analysis

If you own a website, there is no reason why you should not use Google Analytics. It lets you know all the details about your site’s traffic – the number of visitors per day, per post, how long they stay, the demographics, etc. This post will help you understand Google Analytics functions, features and how it can help you make strategic decisions about your website. 

Google Analytics For WordPress

5) How to use the analytic tool

This guide comes with instructions to help you set up Google Analytics for your WordPress website. And a list of some simple Analytics add-ons that can help you extract the most from your Google Analytics statistics. 

How to add Google Analytics to your WordPress?

6) Your guide to setup a business website on your own

At almost half price, you can download one of our Business Themes, get hosting at an exclusive discount with Bluehost, and use this guide to create brilliant corporate business or an agency website to let your clients find you online. 

Build A Business website with Templatic

This article is dedicated to Artists. Here is a list of WordPress themes for artists that they can use to create their website. These themes are designed to let them showcase their skills in the best way possible.

The themes are specially designed to let your create portfolios, galleries and posts to let you showcase your work. They come with special section for the introduction and displaying the services provided by you. However, all you need to do with this theme is to update it with proper data and make some optional customization. Rest will be managed itself. You won’t have to spend time managing the features and functionality of the theme.

We have created this list so that you won’t have to spend time visiting different websites and choosing the theme. These are the best options at one stop. You can choose the theme that works for your subject, visit the sales page and own it.