This post is to help you tell us what you want your new website to look like.
There are a lot of different layouts available. Most sites use a mixture of these ideas.
Storefront by WooCommerce
Single Column
This is a single column layout from Storefront by WooCommerce. It looks like what you see on your phone, but it is used for the desktop site, too.
Justread from GretaThemes
This is another example of a single column layout. The picture runs the entire width of the site, but the text is narrower. If your text runs too wide, it is easy to lose your place as you are reading. Justread from GretaThemes uses a Card layout for the home page with a single column layout for the rest of the pages.
ColorMag by ThemeGrill
This is a traditional single column layout. All of the information is presented centered on the page.
ColorMag By ThemeGrill
Single Column with Sidebar
This is a single column layout with a sidebar. The sidebar can go on either side and present more information and secondary navigation.
ColorMag By ThemeGrill
You can look at the demo site for ColorMag to see other ways this Theme can look.
Storefront by WooCommerce
This is a really basic example using the Storefront Theme by WooCommerce. This is the Blog section of their sample site. The right sidebar can have anything in it, the shopping cart, secondary navigation, banner ads, an excerpt from your Facebook Page, anything.
Justread from GretaThemes
Card or Tile Layout
This layout is called a lot of things, Card, Tile, Grid, Masonry or Pinterest Style layout. It shows you a lot of information at a time
Justread from GretaThemes uses a Card layout for the home page with a single column layout for the rest of the pages. You can see a demo site for Justread from GretaThemes to see other ways this Theme can look.
Kale by Lyra Themes
Project Small House uses a Theme that puts excerpts from each blog post into a tile on the home page and search pages. The posts have a single column with sidebar on right.
Minimal Grid by Thememattic
Masonry Layout
A masonry or Pinterest style layout uses blocks of content in any height floating in fixed columns.
Minimal Grid by Thememattic is a good example of a masonry style Theme. The content floats up to fit the space available on the screen, depending on how wide your browser window is. The secondary pages use a centered column with a fixed left sidebar and a floating right sidebar.
You can play with the design on their sample site.
ColorMag by ThemeGrill
Magazine or Multi-column Layout
This layout presents a lot of information on the home page. Secondary pages usually have the content centered, with more information in the right or left column, or both.
You have to have a lot of content for this layout to work.
Storefront by WooCommerce
Combinations
Most sites use a combination of layouts on different pages of the site. And most WordPress Themes can be configured to look a lot of different ways. Above is another layout using the Storefront Theme by WooCommerce. This layout has top navigation, then a large Hero Image. Next are three Tiles, followed by two columns.
You can click around on the sample site to see how the different pages look.
WordPress Themes
There are a lot of WordPress Themes available. Be sure when you choose a Theme that you have enough content, text and images, to make that theme work.
Also be sure that the Theme you choose is popular enough to continue to be supported.
Scroll through the Themes. When you see one you like, click on it.
Look for when the Theme was last updated. It should be recently.
See how many Active Installations the Theme has. The more people that are using a Theme, the more the Theme will be updated. And the easier it is to find help if you get stuck.
Many Themes have a Theme Homepage with more information. You can see some example websites using this Theme. It’s great if there are instructions. It is helpful to know what size to set images to before you upload them.
Show Us Examples
Make a list of sites you like. Copy the link to the page on the site and let us know what you like and don’t like about it.
A list can look something like this:
Sites I Like and Why
https://www.projectsmallhouse.com/blog/2020/12/have-a-home-office-delivered/
I like the menu, but the colors are boring.https://www.deepdiscountlighting.com/
I like the colors and the tiles, but the pages are too long.https://www.design42.com/hiltonhead/
I like the big photo on the home page.
https://www.design42.com/hiltonhead/category/hilton-head-island/
I like photos and I like the way the sidebar looks.
Can we make this in different colors?https://www.mydesign42.com/brighten-the-night-with-cafe-lights-and-string-lights/
I like the colors. I like the way the sidebar has a shadow.
I like the tiles at the bottom of the page that tell what page to go to next.
I like the search bar.https://www.design42.com/ireland/
I like the little thumbnail images.