Features to Look for While Choosing a WordPress Theme
                     Features to Look for While Choosing a 
WordPress Theme
Yash Kumar
Writes for search-marketing.in, 
provides information on 
Digital marketing in india to improve 
Digital marketing strategies.
Deciding the WordPress theme for a website has always been confusing 
for the programmers and developers because there are plenty of options 
available for creating the layouts and graphics. Though many use 
customized themes to make it compatible for their websites, others utilize 
readily available designs with little alterations. WordPress themes are 
versatile as they can be modified to the desired layout and functionality 
based on the website requirement. The WordPress theme that you select 
should complement the webpage content but not act the other way round 
slowing down the performance of the website. Before picking the right 
theme for your website, it is important to understand what you need to 
look for in the features.
Important Features Required for Theme
• Avoid complex layouts & flashy animations
Wordpress ThemeChoose the theme that is aesthetically pleasing with 
good elements of page design but do not overdo it by choosing complex 
layouts and flashy animations. The theme presentation style should be 
simple and easily customizable to suit the website needs. Some of them 
may look really great in color and layout but may not match with the 
website’s purpose.
• Check for responsiveness
When themes are designed for responsiveness, they automatically adjust 
their layout to the browser screen size. Some WordPress themes are built 
responsive and can align to fit into various screen sizes. Before choosing 
the theme, it is important to check for responsiveness otherwise, the 
theme will not adjust itself to the smaller screen widths for mobiles and 
tabs. The easiest way to check theme responsiveness is by resizing the 
browser screen. If the layout adjusts itself to the screen width then the 
theme is responsive and mobile friendly.
• Presentation vs Functionality
Many people often get confused between themes and plug-ins. In 
WordPress, themes determine the presentation part of the website 
whereas plug-ins handle the features and functionality. Some WordPress 
themes are designed to behave like plug-ins as they are specifically 
created for special niche purposes. If you choose a theme that includes 
specific functionality then customizing it will become difficult and time-
consuming process. Hence, it is better to avoid themes that include 
features and functionality unless it mandatory for the website.
• Compatibility Check
monitoring serviceThe theme that you choose should be compatible with 
the plug-in that you are planning to use. Otherwise, there will be 
inconsistency in functionality & design, when they are put together in the 
website. As such, there is no restriction to use a particular theme for a 
plug-in but if the theme is matching then it will include all the necessary 
page templates required for that specific criteria.
• Plug-in support
Plug-ins are very important to add a functionality to the website. There are 
plenty of plug-ins available and some are mandatory for every wordpress 
website. Make sure the theme that you select supports all the important 
plug-ins that are necessary for the website design.
• Page builders
The requirement of page builders is another big decision while choosing a 
WordPress theme. Many premium WordPress themes come with this 
option pre-installed. This plug-in allows drag and drop option for easy 
creation of page layouts. However, there are also some disadvantages as 
this produces lot of unnecessary code which makes it difficult to modify if 
you ever plan to switch the theme.
• Optimized for SEO
The theme that you select could influence your website SEO affecting its 
performance on search engines. Some themes will have well structured 
design but have poor performance because of their slow accessibility. For 
beginners in wordpress, analyzing the theme for SEO friendliness might 
be bit difficult unless the person has some technical knowledge to go 
through the source code. The better option is to check for that feature 
while selecting, as many developers will mention upfront that their themes 
are optimized for SEO.
• Support resolving the issues
It is the quality that matters the most while selecting WordPress themes. 
The are hundreds of themes that are available free but they may not 
provide guaranteed support when help is required. Even a small issue 
may prevent your website from performing well and you may end up in 
confusion how to resolve them. Hence before you choose the theme, 
make sure it has enough documentation and good support option.
• Reliability and performance
When themes are made not focusing much on good coding practices they 
are vulnerable to security and performance issues. These themes are not 
reliable as they are not safe to use for your websites. If you are not a 
technical person to check the quality of code, then it is better to look for 
reviews and customer testimonials.
Choosing Between Free vs Premium
For websites that require simple page layouts the wise option is to go for 
free themes from reputable and trustable sources. If price is site 
monitoringnot a major concern, then you can always opt for premium 
themes with quality features and flexible customizing options. Most of the 
premium WordPress themes provide access to template files which 
makes it easy to design the website. However, while purchasing premium 
themes make sure to check if they support ongoing updates to maintain 
compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress.
About Search-marketing 
Search-marketing.in website is a useful resource which caters to 
micro businesses on developments in digital marketing in India. It 
provides information on digital marketing strategies and helps Indian 
micro businesses to establish strong online presence and to leverage 
the Internet for business performance and growth.
Thank you for reading this article!