Last updated on January 31st, 2023
WordPress is an incredibly popular CMS Platform and has emerged as the most accessible and manageable CMS solutions owing to its ease of use, reliability, and security. It is a dynamic platform that can be utilized for making anything be it a B2B website, a fashion blog, or turn into an e-commerce website. The Platform comes packed with many exciting themes, numerous useful plugins, simple functionality, in short, it is enjoying the center stage and is here to stay.
WordPress has open so many possibilities for designers and developers at the same time. If you are a designer and just getting started with the WordPress then this blog is for you.
Here Are Some Useful Tips That Can Give You A Good Start.
01. Simple Yet Compelling Color Scheme
A pleasing color scheme sets the tone of your website and speaks to your visitors beyond words. To make your website colors pleasing to the eyes of visitors, here are two key things to keep in mind:
a) Stick to a limited color palette
Abstain from using too many colors as it can turn out to be distracting rather than appealing. In addition to usual gray or black text, select any two main colors for your website. Using two main colors throughout the website gives consistency and you have a naturally appealing color palette ready.
b) Select an Accent Color
You can use an accent color, when you wish to draw attention of the user to any CTA button, interesting offers, business logos or contests on your WordPress website.
Image Source JUST Creative
02. Use Of White Space
The golden rule of a clean and catchy design is not filling every blank area of the screen. Putting too much information in a small space often turns out to be distracting for the users and does not give a professional look to the website. Make it more pleasing and user- friendly, by giving your design a breathing space.
Image Source: Usability Geek
03. Custom Fonts Is The New Trend
Ditch the stereotypical Arial-Verdana fonts and make use of catchy custom fonts. Using such custom fonts especially in WordPress websites has become a trend. Though setting up these fonts is tricky but worth the effort as it makes your website stand out. Another pointer to keep in mind when picking up fonts: make sure chosen font is readable and compliments the background. Lastly, make sure the font selected is a true reflection of your brand’s personality.
Image Source: Garage Encoder
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04. Stock Up On Interesting Images
Images play a critical role in the aesthetic makeup of a site. Make use of interesting images to tell your story. Well, Images are not only good at capturing attention of users rather compliment your words and communicate on an altogether different level. When uploading images, don’t forget to refine and optimize them as per the web pages of your WordPress website. Sites with apt & appealing images often give a far more complete and professional look.
05. Add Readable Permalinks
Permalinks or permanent URLs direct a user to a specific page when surfing your website. The standard format for permalinks on a WordPress website is : http://keepfit.com/?p=123. Well you can turn this link into something more consumable like : http://keepfit.com/sample-post/. The idea behind changing this link is, to make it more readable and SEO friendly. This new link formed will have post name included ,and page’s URL will contain headline of the article thus giving you good ranking in search engines and is easier for human consumption too.
Image Source: WebNots
06. Content Formatting For Attractiveness And Readability
The overall look and feel of your content can either make it or break it. So, don’t just let your content lie on your website, organize it into bolding, italics, subheads, bulleted points, and short paragraphs. Make sure;you are giving readers an easy way to your content. Generally, as per content marketing expert, 45-75 characters per line are considered ideal for comfortable reading.
07. Be Picky About Plugins
Plugins can do wonders to your WordPress site but don’t go overboard. There are numerous WordPress plugins available. You can visit WordPress news sites to get updates about the newly released plugins. Ensure that you go for only bare minimum plugins and uninstall the ones you are not using as too many plugins can interfere with the speed of your site. While selecting plugins, do a lot of research work, consider ratings and user reviews. When in doubt, a little testing won’t hurt, so go for it to evaluate how it is affecting your site.
Image Source: Perihacks
08. Effective Navigation
A simple and clean navigation turn out to be most effective. Overwhelming the user with too many options can be distracting, in the same way crowding the navigation with too much text is not a good idea either. Users enjoy your site in the best possible way, when navigation is easy to understand and well placed.
09. A Compatible WordPress Site
Make your website responsive with responsive WordPress themes so that it can be compatible with all devices such as desktop, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. This is of paramount importance as more and more people are accessing sites from their handheld devices these days. So, to ensure a seamless experience to the users a responsive WordPress site is the need of the hour. Moreover, mobile-friendly websites are more search engine friendly also.
10. A Website That Is Easy To Share
Build a WordPress website that is worth sharing so that the content can be easily shared. Well placed links and easy social sharing buttons at the right locations are accessible and make sharing so easy for users that even a non- tech person can do it.
Image Source:Daniel Setzermann
11. Brush Up Your Photoshop Skills
Designers and creativity go hand in hand. Photoshop is a powerful tool that enables designers to come up with something unique and creative. To take your designing skills to the next level, you need to be well- versed with Photoshop. You can play with different designs, layouts and much more in your WordPress website if you possess good Photoshop skills.
Image Source: Webneel
12. Knowledge Of WordPress Specific CSS
Being a designer you are already well acquainted with CSS. However, to get the best results you need to learn the WordPress specific CSS coding. No need to panic if you don’t know CSS, as you can always rely on drag and drop functionality. But, if you want best results then get a hold on manual CSS coding.
13. Knowing The Theme
The theme you select becomes the face of your WordPress site. Not only this, it decides how your users as well as search engines, interact with it. The first thing you need to consider is whether you are going to go with a wordpress theme builder software, Beaver Builder Review,a free or premium theme. Here, are other important things you can keep in mind when picking a theme for your WordPress site such as : not overly complicated, needs to be responsive, browser compatibility, SEO friendliness and not to miss reviews and rating given by the users.
Image Source: Colorlib
14. Get Some Inspirations
You can always get website inspiration from the work of best of website designers. Analyze their work, look for techniques they have used, if possible study the codes they have applied. The key idea here is to get inspired but not blindly copy the concept.
15. Constant Learning And Innovation
Lastly, WordPress is a popular CMS platform that is known for its unique features and functionality. Having been said that, WordPress is ever evolving and to stay on top of the game you need to keep track of the major innovations they keep coming up with. One great way to stay abreast with all the necessary changes is, reading a lot about it or you can join WordPress forums that offer a great place to exchange ideas and connect and share views with other designers. Learning WordPress latest release Beaver Themer Review– a theme builder framework that connects page building and templating functionality – will add an additional feature to your creativity. The functionality was available earlier when the developer used to edit a theme’s PHP file.
Final Thoughts
If you are a designer and have not tried your hands on the WordPress wagon as of now, don’t despair just start now and enjoy a rewarding career in WordPress designing.