Customized Features of the Front End of a WordPress Website Vary
Choices Made in the Dashboard Set the Design Seen by the Public
See video tutorial below.
1. Front End Features
WordPress site front end customizations can include the title, tagline, header area, horizontal navigation menu bar, sidebar, share elements, subscribe elements, categories, custom menus, tag clouds, newsletter sign ups, ecommerce payments, and more.
Often there is a site search box, an About page regarding the author and site mission, and archives. There is also a footer area where other features can be added.
2. Front End Design Goals
An uncluttered front end makes it easy for the visitor to read and find things. A look at the top award winning websites shows they keep clutter to a minimum and have a clean, simple but effective look. Keeping your site as uncluttered as possible also makes it easier for the search engines to access it.
3. Uncluttered Sites Often Load Faster.
Another benefit of an uncluttered, clean front end is fast loading time. Visitors are used to browsing rapidly and if a site loads slow they may leave without waiting for it. If you want visitors to stick around clicking on pages and posts it’s important for the site to load fast as well. Search engines prefer a fast loading site and load times are part of the analytics and webmaster tools at Google.