Websites that use themes are often not highly regarded for website expansion. There remains an underlying belief that choosing a template rather than creating a custom web design could limit your opportunities.
Typically, this is based on previous use of website themes and templates.
In the past, themes were limited: they appeared polished at first but quickly became unstable when businesses tried to introduce new elements, resulting in broken layouts, reduced performance, and anxiety-inducing updates.
Themes are merely tools for building a website.
A crucial aspect lies in how it is utilised, particularly in decisions regarding design and development. Certain websites can scale effortlessly, whereas others encounter issues. The key disparity does not originate from the theme itself, but rather from over-customising it.
Utilising a Theme for Your Website
Simply installing a theme does not automatically create a fully developed website; it provides a foundation to build on.
The choices made regarding the organisation and customisation have a greater impact than many web design companies initially appreciate.
While some web design companies approach themes as complete entities, making only superficial adjustments, others view themes as adaptable foundations that require meticulous customisation to reach their full potential.
What is Scalability?
Scalability is more than just managing high web traffic volumes. Many people associate scalability with handling sudden spikes in web traffic or server demand. While this is a component, most scalability issues arise in scenarios that do not involve high traffic.
Although adding a new page seems straightforward, it may require modifications to the templates. As the content expands, the navigation system was not originally intended to accommodate such growth. These problems also involve scalability.
Scalable websites can adapt to growth and make modifications straightforward, whereas inflexible themes make such changes precarious.
How to Create a Flexible Website
Early design decisions influence the level of flexibility later on. While design is commonly associated with visual elements like colours, fonts and layouts, its true impact on scalability lies in the underlying structure.
Effective template-based websites typically use established styles rather than customised approaches. They use a logical structure in a clear and coherent manner.
Websites that struggle to scale smoothly may look great initially, with customised design that deviates from the theme. This approach works at first until it doesn’t.
A web design company in Auckland has encountered this: how a business can experience unexpected growth, making the innovative website feel problematic.
A Developer’s Role in Implementing Themes
The process of web development is crucial for determining whether a website can grow effectively. Even if two websites start with the same template or theme, their outcomes can vary significantly over time.
The distinction is typically not apparent on the surface but lies in the code.
Embracing an organised approach to development preserves flexibility. By utilising child themes effectively and implementing considered customisation, it becomes easier to make modifications later.
Shortcuts may not have immediate consequences, but they can become problematic when the website needs to expand.
That is when minor choices begin to accumulate.
An experienced web developer typically values reliability more than speed, even if it results in a delayed launch. This willingness often leads to better results in the long run.
Early Team Collaboration is Key
Websites often struggle when design and development are treated as consecutive stages rather than as a collaborative process that informs and influences each other.
Web designers strive to create a visually appealing outcome. In contrast, developers concentrate on the functional elements, ensuring that the project operates as intended. A lack of coordination, however, can lead to discrepancies and inefficiencies.
The visual concepts often push the theme’s boundaries in awkward ways. While the development process prioritises adding features without considering how they affect the user experience. As a result, the website feels like a collection of disparate elements rather than a cohesive, well-planned entity.
Collaborating as a team in the initial stages makes it simpler to prevent these problems. Collaboration doesn’t need to be complicated; it simply needs to happen.
Theme-Based Website Performance Issues
Websites using themes do not typically crash abruptly; instead, they tend to decline over time, with bugs appearing frequently. Companies are reluctant to implement changes due to the risk of something going wrong.
Typically, the underlying cause is a familiar one: early decisions were made without foresight into the site’s growth potential.
Performance issues can often go unnoticed because they gradually worsen over time. Web design teams then try to improve what should not have been changed in the first place.
The early collaboration between designers and developers is where website performance is realised, and neglecting this synergy leads to issues down the line.
Implement SEO and Accessibility Early
SEO and accessibility are frequently overlooked until the later stages of website creation.
The success of both is crucial: A structured website, clear navigation, and semantic markup benefit search engines and website visitors while also laying a solid foundation for seamless website expansion.
By incorporating accessibility and SEO from the start, you can avoid costly revisions as your project grows.
A Strategy For Website Growth
Ultimately, the true strength of a website’s performance is exposed over time:
- A surge in website traffic
- The addition of new material
- A change in business strategy
Early alignment between design and development makes challenges more manageable, enabling smooth, seamless customisation.
Typically, at this point, teams discover whether their strategy included a plan for website growth. Themes are often scapegoated for issues that are not their responsibility.
The issue of scalability mainly arises from how themes are implemented. It is often the result of excessive customisation and shortcuts in development.
Creating a Scalable Website
Many themes are adaptable. Effective integration of design and rigorous development is essential for their success. Creating scalable sites requires intentional effort and strategic thinking. Success comes from thoughtful website future-proofing:
- As time progresses, how will the website adapt when content increases exponentially?
- Is the theme flexible enough to accommodate future enhancements?
Regardless of whether the project is handled in-house or outsourced to a web design agency in Auckland, the approach remains consistent: creating a flexible website that can evolve without frequent maintenance.
In Conclusion
Theme-based websites are not inherently restrictive. They can be designed to be robust and long-lasting. By integrating web design and development early, website themes can evolve into robust frameworks that support long-term success.
Scalability is not incorporated at a later stage. It is gradually developed through careful decisions that may not have seemed significant at the time. Those decisions are key to success.
