What Is The Latest Wordpress Template

WordPress Themes and Templates Explained

Kirk Biglione
January 5, 2017
Themes

In that location's a lot of defoliation surrounding WordPress pattern terminology. I am ofttimes asked questions similar, "can yous recommend a good WordPress template for a business website." When this happens, I understand that the person asking the question is actually looking for a WordPress theme proffer.

While it may seem pedantic to dwell on these seemingly interchangeable terms, at that place's a existent difference betwixt themes and templates in the WordPress globe. In one case you've finished reading this post, you'll know the difference between a theme and a template — and, more importantly, when to use each.

What Are WordPress Themes?

A WordPress theme is a complete design for a website.

A WordPress theme includes all of the things that you typically associate with spider web design. From color choice to headers, footers, and sidebar positioning. Through its CSS stylesheet, a WordPress theme controls everything related to typography — including font face, font style, margins and indentation, and line spacing.

You can find themes in the official WP theme directory or from any number of WordPress theme designers.

When you install a theme through your WordPress admin area, the theme files are downloaded to your web server automatically.

If yous download a theme to your computer, you'll find it packaged in a single cypher file. Open up up the cipher file, and yous'll notice a folder full of files (and even more folders!).

That messy drove of files and folders is the guts of your WordPress theme. Some of those files are WordPress templates.

So, What is a WordPress template?

This is where things go a chip confusing. Some other web design systems refer to the overall site design as a template.

In WordPress terminology, a template is a page layout that'due south available within a theme. In other words, the template is just a unmarried-page layout, non the whole site design. With WordPress, there's no limit to the number of templates a theme can contain.

Some standard WordPress templates are common to near all themes. For example, the archive.php template displays a list of all posts (within a category, tag, or appointment range). And the single.php template is used to brandish unmarried blog posts. Consult the template bureaucracy to effigy out which template WordPress uses on any given page of your website.

Page Attributes box - select an alternate template — ***Select an alternating template in the Page Attributes box.***

As well the standard templates, some themes have special templates designed to deliver special blueprint features. For case, your theme may have a special template for a contact page or a total-width template with no sidebar.

You use templates to individual pages in the WordPress page editor. Just go on in listen that not all WordPress themes take special templates. If yours does, you'll find them listed in the Page Editor. Expect for the Folio Attributes box but to the right of your page content.

To summarize the difference between theme and a template: A theme controls the design of your entire site. A template defines the layout of a single page. Themes include several dissimilar templates.

Changing WordPress Templates

Templates are page layouts designed to piece of work within a WordPress theme. It's not possible to install a single template. WordPress doesn't work that mode. To modify templates, y'all install a new theme.

Yet, it is possible to create your ain custom templates — I'll save the details for a future post. You will need to have a good understanding of web blueprint (CSS, HTML, and PHP). Strong knowledge of the WordPress template hierarchy helps also. In the end, both themes and templates are fabricated of the same ingredients that brand up any web page — HTML and CSS.

All the same, take questions well-nigh WordPress themes and templates? Get out a comment below, and we'll assistance y'all sort things out.

Updated Oct 1, 2020

28 thoughts on "WordPress Themes and Templates Explained"

Howdy Kirk,

If I downloaded a template (Apartment HTML) would I need to install a theme to brand information technology work?
1. Hello,
  
  That's just an HTML template. To use that with WordPress you volition need to turn it into a WordPress theme. That would involve breaking up the design elements into the appropriate WordPress templates (header.php, footer.php, sidebar.php, index.php, etc.). Every bit you create those files you'll need to add together the WordPress tags that merge content with the template.
  
  If you're up for the claiming I propose yous read through the WordPress Codex entries on the topic. Start here: https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/
  
  kb
I accept a self-hosted WP blog site. My current WP theme is outdated and I believe no longer supported past WP. When I log in as an admin, I'one thousand prompted to update the theme, merely I'chiliad not sure what will happen if I do so. Volition I lose the graphic pattern elements? I'k not married to the design anymore. It too is quite dated. But I haven't performed the update because I don't know what my site will look similar after I practise.
1. Hi Monica, Updates tin can be scary, no doubt. Generally speaking, you shouldn't lose any of your design elements with a theme update. If you've only fabricated pattern changes through the WP Admin there'due south nothing to fearfulness.
  
  However, if you (or someone you lot've hired) has customized the underlying theme code (CSS or PHP templates) without kickoff creating a child theme, then there's a real chance that yous'll lose your customizations.
  
  To be safe be sure to brand a full fill-in of your site before installing the update. That mode you can restore your former site if something goes incorrect.
How-do-you-do Kirk,

This relates to WP Themes & Templates that y'all accept elaborated in a higher place. I am new to website edifice. I accept a free theme on my website. Can I add a HTML Template ?
Cheers
1. Hi Nadir, Yes, you can add a new template, but it will have to be PHP. You include your HTML in the template along with WordPress template tags (which are really specialized PHP functions that only work with WordPress).
1. Hello Nancy, I have no experience with this product, simply afterwards looking at the sales pages I would say yous need the WordPress theme version. The Website Template version is non a WordPress theme (only the static HTML, CSS, JavaScript files, etc.)
Hello Kirk,
I would like to purchase a wordpress theme that I similar but does not accept the landing page template. In the spider web I found some codes to create landing.php
Can I simply create a template similar landing.php or is information technology a more complex thing?
Thanks in advance
Hullo Kirk
I don't sympathise why I run across a mix of the layout of my template and the layout of my theme on my website. There are 2 websites shown on top of each other.
When I go to my homepage for example, I see the heading of my template. The rest of my homepage is like to my theme. I want to utilise the heading of my theme notwithstanding.
I want my website to expect like my theme, not my template.
Is this because I'yard working with the gratuitous version of my theme? I encounter there is a pro version. Should I purchase this pro version and will my problem exist solved then?
Thank you
Griet.
1. Hi Griet,
  
  What theme are you using? And besides, are you using Elementor or some other folio architect?
From these comments nearly themes and templates?WP is a headache for Begginers
1. Peradventure. But if you lot stick with a quality theme it's much easier than attempting to build your site whatsoever other manner. Beginners shouldn't demand to worry nigh the technical workings of WordPress themes.
Hi Kirk,

I have an WordPress website, that got messed up when I had BlueHost alter the primary domain. All the images are gone from the header and the Home page. Information technology was built using Astra Theme. I encounter a template when I go to each folio (that template happens to exist the one I used to build my website in the outset place). Can yous point to some write up that explains the exact steps to utilize this new template to fix my site?

Thanks
Satish
1. Hi, it sounds like you have some hard-coded links pointing to your images on the old domain. First, bank check your media library and encounter if all of the images are broken. If and so, you can employ a plugin like Better Search and Supervene upon (https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-supersede/) to do a global search and supercede and modify the one-time domain URL to the new domain URL. That should bring your missing images back.
  1. Hi Kirk,
    
    Thanks for the prompt response.
    
    I was broken-hearted to have my site stock-still as I was expecting someone to visit my site, just to check things upwards. Therefore, I took a much longer road to ready the problem. I could however see the Astra template I used last fourth dimension to build my site. I used it and built each page, using copy/paste. It was tedious, just I got it fixed. I also got some newer, more bonny, images added. Your solution would have been much easier. In fact, ii sites got messed up. I have fixed only one of the ii. I will use your method to fix the second and will let you know how it went.
    
    Cheers over again, for helping me and other novices similar me. Wish you the very best!
    
    Satish
    1. Hi Satish,
      
      Glad to hear you're back in business. Hopefully, my suggestion will work with your other site. It should be much less work.
      
      kb
      1. Hello Kirk,
        This is to update you on the status.
        
        As I was playing effectually with dissimilar functions in the Page Architect, I stumbled upon something that I missed before. In that location is a section that shows the electric current picture (which was null for me) and then gives you an option to bring in a new one. Using that, I was able to put images on my pages. I was able to find some relatively catchy photos that are much better than the original ones I lost.
        As I mentioned earlier, I am a total novice with no formal preparation on building websites. However, I go excited when I discover/learn new things. That was a not bad day for me. I discovered several impressive features built in these addons. I never got around to trying your suggestion, but want to thank yous for leading me to this path of experimentation that helped me learn and so much.
        
        Wish you lot the best.
        Satish
      2. Bang-up to hear Satish! Happy to hear you were able to exceed your expectations.
Thanks, Kirk, for explaining it so well. When I started, I likewise used to exist confused virtually themes and templates. Your post is thorough. Is information technology ok to apply two folio builders for a WordPress website?
1. No, I don't recommend using two unlike page builders on i site. That could lead to a very slow website and a variety of other design and performance issues.
1. Hi Anthony,
  
  Not as an HTML template, but with some additional PHP coding it could exist turned into a WordPress template. You lot would need to add some template tags to tell WordPress where and how to brandish your content.
  
  More data here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags
Great article.

Starting my get-go site on Hostinger (with WordPress), if I load generatepress theme(bcs it'south told past many sites that it loads fastest), then should I select any other template as well(which hostinger shows in starting/ else they give a choice to customize afterwards, which I don't know) or they r inbuilt in this theme?
My blog is about Automation products.
1. Hi, You lot tin can but have one active theme at a time. If y'all select one of the pre-installed themes that your WebHost offers, Generate Press will no longer be the active theme.
Hi Kirk, great commodity and annotate replies.

I'm not sure my consequence is on topic here, but I am stumped almost a stubborn image in my home page. Using Astra theme. At ane bespeak in my initial attempts to customize a theme, I added an image from the PhotoStock library that appeared in my image library. It had a place for a explanation and I added that. It's the Brooklyn Span epitome on my home page.

The problem is that I no longer want that image. It shows on my home page, but when I edit that folio, information technology doesn't show and I don't run across any identify where I can delete it. For the Featured Paradigm in the right editing panel none is shown, so I don't call back it is a featured image. I've asked the support team at Astra but they are also stumped at the moment.

At one indicate I deleted all pages from my site and reloaded the Astra theme, checking the "delete previous theme" to attempt to start with a clean slate, but fifty-fifty later on that, that Brooklyn Bridge image is showing on my website.

I tried searching for that image (via the explanation text) in the code editor for that page and can't seem to see information technology there either. I wonder where the lawmaking for that image could be lurking? In instance this is an appropriate question for this stream, I'd capeesh your thoughts on this.
1. Hi Tammo,
  
  It could be an image set up as a featured epitome (check the right sidebar on post/folio edit). I would also try setting some other page as your dwelling page. If the prototype still appears on your home page so it's something that was added to your header somehow – either via widget or perhaps past code. Could fifty-fifty be a plugin.
  
  kb