Lauren's Student Site

Author: Lauren Barnes

WordPress Theme System
- Definition
- Examples
- Tutorial
- Additional Information
WordPress has numerous features to assist in creating your own website. One of WordPress’ most notable features is their Theme System.

What are WordPress Themes?

Themes are used in WordPress as a format for the appearance of a website. They allow you to incorporate your content into a pre-formatted template seamlessly, which makes it a useful tool for website creation and allows you to divert more focus to the content of your website. Themes are flexible, they allow you to customize within a certain theme, and incorporate responsive web design allowing users the best possible experience no matter the device they’re using.

There are various different themes for different website purposes, and you can search for specific layouts using the theme search bar. You can even make your own theme and publish it for others to use. WordPress also has default themes corresponding to each year. For example, the theme used on this website is the Twenty Twenty Five theme, which you can find on the footer of the website. You can also use older themes from previous years, although you want to keep in mind that newer themes are better suited for the current updated version of WordPress, and some older themes may not correspond with an updated version of WordPress well.

You can customize themes by going into your theme editor and clicking the customize button. Many website developers find it convenient to choose an engaging theme and tweak it to meet the specifics of their website, as opposed to building from scratch using HTML and CSS.

“WordPress Themes can provide much more control over the look and presentation of the material on your website.” ~Adam Onishi, “Pro WordPress Theme Development”

Examples of Themes

Besides the pre-installed themes, there are thousands of free themes to choose from. While browsing the themes page, you can also preview features of the theme to see how they could fit into your website.

Here are some notable free theme examples:

Themes taken off the WordPress Themes section

If you are searching for more in-depth and specific themes, you can also use paid themes. These paid themes often incorporate advanced features, better design optimization, and unique design elements and blocks. You can buy theses through marketplaces or directly from a theme developer.

As you get more familiar with WordPress, as well as its theme system, you may notice that serval websites also incorporate WordPress, and use their own unique themes. Some examples include:

rollingstone.com – Uses a VIP magazine style theme

news.harvard.edu – Uses the Harvard Gazette Theme

nasa.gov – Uses the Base NASA theme

How do you use Themes?

When you download WordPress, you should have a few themes pre-installed, with the most recent pre-installed theme being the default for your website. At the time of this posting, that would be Twenty Twenty Five. But if you would like to change your theme, here’s how you can:

Access the dashboard for your WordPress Site.

Your dashboard should look something like mine, you can find your dashboard in your admin panel.

Hover over the Appearance tab and select Themes.

Once you do this you will be taken to the Themes section.

Once you are in the Themes Section, click the Add Theme button.

This will allows you to browse through various themes, once you chose one you can move on to the next step.

Lets take this theme for example, once you find the theme you like, click on it and it will take you to the preview page. Press the Install button to add the theme to your installed themes.

In the theme preview page, you can look through various features and reviews. Make sure to look through your chosen theme thoroughly to determine if it’s the best for your webpage.

Now, go back to your Theme section. Hover over your desired theme and press the Activate button. This will make that theme your format for your website.

You can also press the Live Preview button to see what your webpage will look like with the chosen theme.

If you find a WordPress website with a theme you especially like, you can also identify the theme it uses and use that theme for your website. Keep in mind that many themes, especially used by popular websites, may not be free or publicly available. You can find the theme of a WordPress website using this WordPress Theme Detector online tool:

https://www.wpthemedetector.com/

What else should you know about Themes?

Now that you’ve learned more about the WordPress Theme system and learned how to implement themes into your websites, what else should you know?

Another component of themes are child themes, these occur when you take a parent theme and customize it, then save the customizations to create a descendent theme that wont change when the parent theme updates. This is a great practice to keep your webpage theme consistent and allows less consistent tweaking with the Theme Customizer.

Fun Facts:
- There are over 14,000 free themes available provided officially by WordPress.
- The “Avada” theme is the most widely used theme for websites.
- The first official WordPress theme was the “Kubrick” theme, before this the WordPress default was Classic.
February 10, 2026
Pizza Toppings

There are a wide range of toppings available to put on pizza. While many toppings are popular, like pepperoni, some are more debatable, like pineapple. I personally like pepperoni, black olives, and mushrooms on my pizza. What kind of toppings do you like? You can answer in the poll below. 🍕

January 25, 2026
The Importance of Sleep

How Sleep Affects Your Brain – Dana Foundation

Sleep is essential for our brain to function. While we sleep, our brain sorts and stores our experiences from our day when we were awake, allowing information we’ve learned to resonate. This is likely why we dream during our sleep. Our body also heals and prepares for the next day while we sleep.😴

A large amount of people don’t get enough sleep. The ideal amount of sleep is 7-9 hours, usually more for children and teenagers.

January 25, 2026
Guinea Pigs

Guinea pigs are domesticated rodents from South America. In recent years they have become quite popular pets.

Guinea pigs are lovable and affectionate pets. I actually own two guinea pigs, their names are Luma and Boba. While I don’t have any current pictures of them, let’s appreciate these cute guinea pigs!

Wikimedia Commons – George the amazing guinea pig

Animalia – Domestic guinea pig

Public Domain Pictures – Guinea pig-

PICRYL – Black and brown guinea pig

Wikimedia Commons – Baldwin guinea pig

You’ll notice in the gallery that the Guinea Pigs in these pictures all look a bit different. This is because they are different breeds, like cat and dog breeds. The Guinea Pigs in these pictures specifically are an American Shorthair, Crested, Abyssinian, and Hairless Guinea Pig (aka a skinny pig).

January 25, 2026
Banana Slugs🐌

Wikimedia – Olympic National Park

Banana Slugs are a type of terrestrial slug, identifiable by their bright yellow color and elongated size. There are various different sub-species of banana slug. The most variety of these species is present in California, home to the Button, California, and Slender banana slug species. Banana slugs typically reside in the Pacific Northwest, but some have settled farther east in places like the Canadian Rockies and Yosemite National Park.

One sub-species of the banana slug common here in Washington is the Pacific Banana Slug. The Pacific Banana Slug is the 2nd largest species of terrestrial slug in the world, growing up to 10 inches long. They also produce mucus that is capable of numbing the tongues of predators.

January 12, 2026