A theme is a tool used in WordPress to change the design and layout of your website. Changing your WordPress theme will change how it looks on the front-end, which is the part visitors see. It will change what users see when they visit your website. WordPress themes allow for the customization of your website’s appearance, layout, typography, colors, and many other design elements.
WordPress themes are collections of different files, written in the PHP programming language, Javascript, HTML, and CSS, that work together to create what you see and how your website behaves.
When you are ready to create your first WordPress website and install it on your web host for the first time, it will pre-install a default theme to help get you started. Depending on your business type or brand, you’ll most likely want to change this to suit your needs. Choosing a great WordPress theme can improve its appeal, user-friendliness, and visitor engagement.
So, What is a WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme, in its most basic form, is a folder of different files with code that makes up your website. They contain file types such as PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript, and even image files. A WordPress theme changes how your website looks.
With a WordPress theme, you can change how your website looks to your visitors. You can change the layout of your website, such as the way blog posts and pages are displayed, website headers, footers, colors, and the typography or fonts used.
How do WordPress Themes Work?
WordPress websites store information in MySQL databases, like your website name, blog posts, pages, and comments. WordPress retrieves the information with PHP (a programming language) and uses a theme to display it.
So changing your theme doesn’t change any blog content, page content, users, or any other information stored in the database. It only changes how your website’s information is displayed.
Is there a Difference between a WordPress Theme and a WordPress Template?
Beginners can sometimes become confused by the terms WordPress theme and WordPress template. However, themes and templates are two separate things.
WordPress templates are files that make up your theme, including CSS stylesheets, script files, and images. It’s not possible to install a template like you would a theme. Template files are the different pieces that make up your website. All of these files work together to create a WordPress theme.
A WordPress template file only controls a page or part of a page. Template files help control how information from the database is displayed, including the layout of each page. For example, most themes will have separate files for your website’s header, footer, sidebar, and comments. WordPress is responsible for determining which template gets used for which section using a template hierarchy.
Additional Reading: