So you have your website planned out, you’re all set up with WordPress and a domain name… but you’re not a developer and you don’t plan to hire one. How do you choose from the thousands of WordPress themes and templates out there to get a multi-purpose solution that lets you implement all of your ideas?
The best flexible WordPress themes give you the ability to build exactly the site you want, within reason. Even if you’re a WordPress beginner, you can build a website quickly and painlessly. The 5 themes outlined below can be customised extensively and don’t require you to know any PHP.
OceanWP
Let’s start with a highly-rated, versatile and free theme that offers layouts suitable for all kinds of websites. OceanWP enables you to create any sort of custom site and make it look good on all devices including mobiles and tablets. What’s more, it has been designed with SEO best practices in mind, supports RTL languages for easy translation, and includes a market-leading WooCommerce integration for online stores.
Uncode
This is a multifaceted theme that scores highly for design quality, custom options and great support. Built on Bootstrap, Uncode offers a drag-and-drop interface in its Visual Composer plugin that makes it simple to adjust layout and design without a line of code in sight. If speedy site loading is important to you, this theme places great emphasis on performance. And if you need to be GDPR-compliant, you can configure content around your users’ consent.
Struct
This theme is primarily aimed at software, SaaS and mobile app sites, but is easily adaptable to other purposes. Struct uses flexible content widgets built on WordPress’ own functionality and gives you comprehensive control over every aspect of your site, including all colour schemes. It’s also fully compatible with the most popular page builders, and plugins such as MailChimp and WPML.
Hestia
Another free theme, and one with Material Design at its core. Hestia’s Live Customiser allows you to fine-tune colours, backgrounds, layouts and many other design details, and view the results in real time. Plus it’s WooCommerce and translation ready, and designed for both SEO and fast performance.
Divi
Finally, a mention for one of the most intuitive and sophisticated themes available. Divi’s front-end page builder tool offers an incredibly powerful way to build any type of site, whether you use one of its pre-designed layouts or start from scratch. The modules and layouts are all highly adaptable, enabling you to produce elegant and unique designs. Throw in super-fast loading times, responsive editing and regular feature updates, and it’s no wonder this theme has over 300,000 satisfied customers.
Of course, this is only a tiny sample of the themes out there and there are plenty more to explore. If you’re after a free theme, you could also check out Customify, Bento, or Zelle. More experienced designers could look at Genesis, while Soledad is a good option if you want lots of demo pages to get you started.
With a little investigation of the WordPress themes on the market, you should easily find one that meets your needs. And there’s absolutely no PHP knowledge required.
