Developing a Theme for your Website

by: Gene DeFazzio

The importance of a website theme

Every website should have some type of theme or a way of giving your site an identifying look. When visitors come to your website they should be presented with an experience that they will remember. Something that makes your website unique will go a long way in making your website memorable. This can be through the use of a unique logo, a particular color combination or a recognizable idea such as gardening or pets. Let's take a look at some of the methods you can use to develop a theme for a website.

Developing a theme

If you have chosen a title for your website or business, think about what theme would compliment that title. Let your imagination take over here and think of several ideas and write them down.

If you don't have a title or name chosen, think of the content, graphics and/or photos you're going to include on your site. Deciding on a theme might help you come up with a unique name.

A theme can be obvious . . . such as a greenhouse using gardening tools, flowers, etc. Or it can be a metaphor. For example, a website about babies could also use a ''gardening'' theme. The metaphors of seedlings, growth, nurturing, feeding and caring for tender plants would translate very well.

Expressing a theme

Another popular way to express a theme is to use thumbnails throughout the site that tell a story or express an idea. Thumbnails of snowflakes scattered around your website would be great for a website that deals with winter sports or some other cold weather activity or product. Also, using the thumbnail method makes your website easier to load than when using large graphic images.

When the theme is a particular color or color combination, the links, buttons and graphics should all reflect that color theme. Use it everywhere on your website. If a logo is used as the theme, that logo should be incorporated on every page. One such method is to incorporate your logo into your page headers and/or footers. This way your visitors will be presented with a repeating theme on every page of your website that they visit.

Summary

What you are doing, with a theme, is providing cohesiveness to your site - letting visitors know they are still in the same place no matter what section they are viewing. Web users don't like the feeling of being ''lost'' and will leave a site if they feel they don't know where they are or how to find information.

More importantly a theme should tell a story or convey an idea. Your theme should enhance your message. It can help to make your visitors understand what it is that you are trying to say. Picture your theme as a framework into which you are placing your message. Like the settings that a jeweler might use to embellish a gem your theme should present your content is the best light possible.