The internet isn’t new any longer, but it is now changing and evolving faster than it ever has in the past. As new web design techniques and trends come about, and new devices proliferate that demand web sites react in new ways, the methods WordPress designers and developers use in making their WordPress templates are changing as well. Each year, WordPress design is advancing and changing, and it is important that those inside the WordPress community stay abreast of the latest techniques and ideas available to them. For an overview of some of the latest innovations spreading through the world of WordPress design, and a preview of how WordPress will change in 2013, see the list below of the biggest changes coming to WordPress in 2013.
Biggest Changes Coming to WordPress in 2013
Responsive WordPress Design
The new default theme put out in November 2012, which is called (fittingly) “2012,” is a responsive theme, and it is only one of many responsive themes now gaining traction among WordPress bloggers. Responsive themes, for those who don’t already know, are themes that detect what device readers are viewing them on, and then alter their layout accordingly. Looking at a theme on a mobile device? Responsive themes will make the layout narrower and the pictures smaller and crisper, so that it looks better on the small screen of an iPhone or Droid device. Visiting a web site with your iPad?
Responsive themes will then display a medium version of the site, one that’s smaller than what those reading on normal computers see, but larger than the version sent to iPhone readers. Additionally, responsive themes mete out features like Flash videos and Javascript based on the capabilities of the device the reader is using. In the past, responsive theme design may have been a cool feature, one that readers were thankful for but surprised to find. By 2013, readers expect that WordPress sites will be responsive to their browsing style.
Simplicity Is A Luxury
Theme designers will begin to recognize this, and more of them will offer simplicity as a design feature in and of itself. One development pushing WordPress themes toward greater simplicity is the incredible proliferation of options and extensions within the last three or four years. Themes, especially premium themes, now come with pages and pages of options that would bewilder even the most senior WordPress user, and which are totally useless and meaningless to most novice bloggers.
This isn’t a great thing, but it has allowed WordPress designers to determine what’s needed and what isn’t. Now that they have a better idea of what users are looking for, designers will be able to focus on the features that WordPress users really need, and cut out all the fat that is only cluttering up themes.
Themes For Every Need
WordPress has gone mainstream. As a blogging platform, it went mainstream a long, long time ago, but as web site development platform, it is now truly coming into its own. Even amateurs and entrepreneurs for whom web design is only a part time occupation are using WordPress to build web sites for their businesses and hobbies. That means they are recognizing its power to do more than simply serve blogs.
Accompanying this trend will be the rise of niche themes which cater to all manner of businesses and hobbyists, and to their unique needs in building web sites. For example, there will be theme stores that only cater to those setting up WordPress e-commerce stores. There will be theme stores that only cater to those setting up newspaper web sites. There will be theme stores that only cater to those setting up cooking web sites. And so on and so forth, until every last need is met.
About the Author: Olga Ionel is a creative writer at ThemeFuse – a top provider of WordPress themes. She is passionate about studying online marketing industry and sharing informative tips.
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