{"id":22699,"date":"2018-03-12T08:36:02","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T07:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpjournalist.wpmudev.host\/?p=22699"},"modified":"2021-09-15T17:10:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T17:10:59","slug":"review-the-two-best-free-wordpress-website-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpjournalist.nl\/en\/review-the-two-best-free-wordpress-website-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: the two best free WordPress website themes"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do the best free WordPress website themes perform that are in the WordPress website\u2019s Thema Directory<\/a> itself?<\/p>\n

I am – and maybe you too – curious about that.<\/p>\n

WordPress also offers themes that you can download from their website. Under the heading Themes, you will see a large list of themes that you can use for your website.<\/p>\n

But what is the best choice? <\/em><\/p>\n

Recently I had a great opportunity to test the best free WordPress website themes. Two clients did not have a large budget for building a website. They had chosen a free theme from the WordPress Theme Directory.<\/p>\n

Free WordPress website themes<\/h2>\n

The themes of Hestia<\/a> and Sydney are highly ranked on the list of popular themes. We will leave Twenty Seventeen, Sixteen, Fifteen, etc., aside for a moment. Each new year these themes are standard in a new installation of WordPress and therefore have a lot of downloads. But are not necessarily the best.<\/p>\n

Usually, I make a lot of use of a href=”https:\/\/1.envato.market\/c\/1292089\/275988\/4415″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>ThemeForest, one of the largest providers of themes. But I found out that the WordPress Theme Directory also offers very good themes. Themes like Hestia and Sydney are free to download and to use.<\/p>\n

If you have a not too long wish list with functionalities for the website, then you can easily use them. The nice thing is that in addition to the free version there is also a paid version that offers more possibilities in terms of design and functions. Anyway, my clients were satisfied with the free version.<\/p>\n

How do these free themes of WordPress perform? By now I have experience with them, and I can tell you exactly. So if you want to build a website with little budget, read the reviews below.<\/p>\n

\"hestia-free-wordpress-theme-1\"<\/p>\n

WordPress theme Hestia<\/h2>\n

Hestia<\/a> is currently the highest ranked among the popular themes. That, of course, immediately appeals to the imagination. The theme is downloaded 1000 to 2000 times a day. Furthermore, the theme has a lot of 5-star review scores.<\/p>\n

\"statistieken<\/p>\n

It is a professional and modern WordPress theme that is suitable for many sectors. From the self-employed (coaches, handymen, bookkeepers) to small and large companies. On the website of the creators of the theme, it is stated that the famous musician Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac also uses the theme. You can also expand it (in the long run) with an online store.<\/p>\n

I have built the website for a handyman.<\/p>\n

Hestia is easy to download from the WordPress Theme Directory. After you have installed the theme, you will need to install a few recommended plugins. One is to manage social media, one is to activate the beautiful contact form. You also need to install the plugin of the page builder Elementor.<\/p>\n

The Hestia theme also has an extensive documentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Installation<\/h2>\n

After the demo (the example website) has been installed, you can start working on this theme. I always recommend starting with the example website, because then you already have a starting point and from there you can further customize and expand your website.<\/p>\n

You have to build the front page of the website with the customizer. Here you can easily customize things.<\/p>\n

\"customizer-theme-Hestia\"<\/p>\n

On the left, you can see the blocks that make up the front page (large title selection, features, over, etc.) and on the right, you can click on the pencil to change texts or other things. You don\u2019t see a code, but you can actually customize things on the website itself. So it is nice for beginners.<\/p>\n

The layout of the pages is slightly different. For this, you can (you don\u2019t have to…) use the Elementor page builder, one of the popular page builders.<\/p>\n

When you build a page with Elementor, you\u2019ll see all kinds of blocks on the left to build the page. If you want to have a contact form on your page, you can easily drag it on to the page. No more need for a code.<\/p>\n

\"werken-in-page-builder-elementor\"<\/p>\n

Also here, you can see the website in front of you and make adjustments to the blocks of text.<\/p>\n

All in all, it is a very pleasant theme, which is easy to set up. Working with page builders and on the live website is also the future of WordPress.<\/p>\n

If you decide to add more functions to the website, you can always decide later on to buy the paid variant. The extras for the paid variant are:<\/p>\n