How to Customize a WordPress Theme for Your Freelance Portfolio
Many professionals from all around the world are opting for freelancing rather than getting engaged in fixed jobs in various fields, to maintain balance between their professional and personal life. However, to become successful in this chosen career path – you, the freelancer need to promote your area of expertise with prospective clients. One of the best ways of handling this critical aspect is to create a website describing your portfolio by using WordPress. The process is really simple and even without having in depth knowledge in web design, you’re able to come up with a great looking website.
Let’s walk together through this detailed guide on easy ways to customize a WordPress theme for your freelance portfolio.
The first step
The first important step that you need to take is downloading and installing WordPress in the system which you are going to use for designing the website. For more details or difficulties you may encounter, you can take a look at this guide from the WordPress team.
Then you need to choose a theme or template. This job is quite difficult, as you have endless options presented to you. It’s best to choose a soft color and simple theme for the portfolio website. Download the theme and open the zipped folder. You will come across a documentation file. Read it properly as it is going to help you in customizing the various aspects of the website.
Theme installation
For installing the theme of your choice in the portfolio website, you need to log into the Admin panel of the website and click on the tab stating “Appearance”. You’re going to find two options: i.e. “Manage theme” or “Install theme”. You need to click on the install option and upload the file on the website. Once the theme is uploaded, click on the activation button to complete the process. For problems on downloading and installing your theme, you can get your questions answered here.
For any difficulties you may encounter, WordPress maintenance is always a good solution. Also remember, themes may provide a different set of options, or not options at all. Let’s take a look together at some particularities you may be able to change to add a personal touch to your theme.
Customizing the theme
Now you should check whether the theme is being uploaded or not and then return to the admin panel and click on the “Appearance” tab. After that, you should select “Theme Options” from the drop down menu and click on it. You are going to be presented with many options, amongst which you need to choose the “Styling Option” and start to customize the different aspects of the WordPress theme.
Adjusting the highlight color
For changing the highlight color, you need to choose the “Highlight and Link Color” option and then choose the color according to your preference. Various themes come with different range of hues to choose from. So the options are restricted, but you know that it will be compatible with the theme. This color is going to appear in the header, as background color for the different icons used in the website, as well as on the links. You can use color picker or chose it by using different color codes.
Customizing the color of the background theme
The next important customization option that you should focus on is the background color. You have the option of choosing your own image and uploading the file on the website. Then, under the “Default Background Repeat” choose the tab that states “Repeat”. This way, the same background will appear on all the pages of your portfolio website.
Other customizing options
You also have the option of uploading a unique logo in the theme or uploading the easily downloadable ones available on the internet. Many themes also allow you to use an additional header caption where you can upload any vital information that you want the visitors of your website to see and remember.
These are some of the ground rules when customizing a WordPress theme for your portfolio. We hope it will help you in creating an attractive and engaging website. And in case you want to practice your newly acquired skills, you can get these top notch themes from Best PSD Freebies and Brill Themes at exclusive prices – for a limited time on Inky Deals:
The above article is written by RS from Themes4CMS group.
Andra, thanks for sharing this introductory WordPress tutorial. There are so many ways to personalize WordPress, the only thing that concerns me about this CMS is some of the security issues and often having to update plugins.