WordPress themes controls the overall design features (font, colors, layout, header, etc.), so work on selecting your theme first. There are thousands of themes to choose from. Here are a few themes to try out first. The developers for these themes have provided documentation, which can be helpful for learning how to customize the theme for your site.
- Brilliant. (Theme documentation) Example: SOCI 369 course site
- Kale (Theme documentation) Example: Professor Maura Tumulty & Professor Jill Harsin
- Neve (Theme documentation) Example: CLTR Summer 2020 Research
- Prefer (Theme documentation) Example: Core 151
- Type (Theme documentation) Example: ARTS 101
More themes with documentation:
- Chosen (Theme Documentation)
- Modern (Theme Documentation)
- Virtue (Theme Documentation)
- Writee(Theme Documentation)
Also try any theme from Anders Noren. Documentation isn’t provided for his themes, but they are easy to work with. This very site was created using his Koji theme.
Learn more about Themes and Customization.