Yes, the real bane of my existence is WordPress Themes.
You’d think it would be my security plugin that I have to CONSTANTLY deactivate so I can do something and then reactivate for the security.
But NOOOOOOOO, that’s nothing compared to themes.
First, if you have an old theme that you bought, and you try to install it on your new WordPress site, it can completely lock you out of your site.
They locked me out of this site, but not my other site.
Then you have thousands to choose from. Some of the differences are so slight, you really have no idea what the differences are but their name.
If you use the preview function, it kinda gives you an idea with the defaults but you still don’t really know until you install and activate it. Then you have to customize it.
And you can fill up your precious storage space with dozens of themes just trying to find that perfect one. That’s also a security issue, by the way. The fewer unused themes (and plugins) that you have, the better.
And that’s NOT taking into account the responsiveness nor how it looks on mobile devices.
Oh sure, they SAY they’re mobile, but are they really? Just because you can see it on a phone doesn’t mean it’s OPTIMIZED for a phone.
I’ve looked at plenty of sites that work fine on everything BUT my phone, with its overlapping text or worse, critical buttons that aren’t on the screen and you can’t scroll to in order to close those stupid popups or find the log out button.
Some theme cost a ton if their free version doesn’t quite suit you, and you have to pay for them every year.
The “works for any type of site” can be big, slow, and have WAY TO MANY options that can overwhelm the newer people and frustrate the experienced ones.
I’m currently searching for a new theme and it is truly a frustrating experience.
I’m looking at free and paid versions.
The reality is that there is no true “one size fits all”.
I’ve found several that are fine but don’t quite do it for one reason or another.
In the meantime, comment with your favorite, or least favorite, themes and/or share your own experiences looking for “the perfect theme”.