Point is one of the themes that can be a live saver for people just starting their online businesses. This free, multipurpose, responsive WordPress theme has more than you will need in the beginning.
Downloaded from more then 300,000 people, this skin is one of the most popular from among the bloggers. The theme is designed by Mythemeshop and it’s shared both on their official website: Mythemeshop.com and also on the official WordPress website, here: WordPress.org.
Inside this detailed review of the WordPress theme Point, I will show you all of the available features, this clean and responsive theme has to offer. Let’s start with this:
Who Is This Theme For? And Is It For You?
If you’re wondering if this theme is suitable for your new blog, most likely the answer to this question will be Yes.
If you are a beginner, and your are just getting started, I must say that this is the right theme is for you because it’s super easy to use. Simple dashboard, clean design, responsive layout, custom widgets section. All of this will help you create one good looking website.
Although the design is rather for a bloggin site, you can still use the theme for something different than that.
The reason I can say this is because the available settings provided by Point are pretty easy to modify, even from someone just getting started.
Installing the WordPress Theme Point
There is nothing special about the installation of this theme. Access your theme dashboard, by going to your domain name /wp-admin, go to Appearance > Themes > Add new, upload the .zip file and activate the WordPress theme Point.
Right after the installation, you will notice a message saying that there are a couple of plugins that needs to be installed. Click on the begin installation button if you want to add them, if not you can skip this section.
Getting Started With WordPress Theme Point
We’ve successfully installed the theme, let see what it has to offer. When we access the Theme options section we will immediately see selling proposition from mythemeshop.com. They actually offer also Point Pro theme, which has, even more, options and settings, but more about that later.
Skip this message by clicking on the General Settings tab. Here we can see the main options, of course starting with the upload logo, favicon and etc.
However, there are a couple of options that are standing out from the others:
General settings
- Trending: This feature ads articles from preselected category on the top of your website pages. Right after the installation, you will notice it on the top of your site. You can choose which posts to show from the Trending Category section. Additionally, if you don’t like it or don’t need, this can be easily turned off from the corresponding button.
- Homepage Featured Section: If you would like to capture the attention of your visitors activate this option. This will enlarge the images of a couple of post from a category of your choice, and place it on your homepage. It really is that easy, just choose the category, check the section and click save. However, there is something a bit annoying about this option – it looks a bit static. Unfortunately, there is no option to make it be a slideshow.
- Footer Featured: Similar to the Trending option, the Footer Featured one will add also a category of your choice to the button of the page. Again, this is optional and you can easily disable it from the section. This is a really nice touch to the footer because it will grab the attention of your visitors and will keep them longer on your website.
- Right To Left Language Support: Тhis is a great option for sites that are focused towards countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and etc.
Styling Options
The styling options are really straight to the point. For a free wordpress theme, I must say that they are enough.
- Primary Color Scheme: This here will change the color of the small details on your site.
- Layout: Do you want to have Right or Left sidebar? It’s up to you.
- Posts on blog pages: I will recommend using the Excerpts option. This will only show limited text from your blog post.
- Background Color or Custom Background Image;
- Responsiveness;
Single Posts, Ad management, Navigation, Import/Export
These sections are straight to the point and don’t provide any exceptional features. You can easily find the best possible option for your website by clicking through the tabs.
Creating a Landing page on WordPress Theme Point
Adjusting the theme to capture the attention of your visitors is crucial and the best way to do it is by creating high-converting landing pages. Let see if this is an easy job when using the free WordPress theme Point.
After the installation, by default your home page will show the latest blog posts, something like this:
But if you really want to grab the attention of your visitors, setting up a landing page is the right thing to do, let’s begin.
Firstly, we can create a new page, from Pages > Add new, add the content and the featured Image and hit Publish.
Once we go to the new page we just made, we will notice that the Image is actually not showing.
We will need to manually add the image inside the content and re-size it to the proper dimensions. This is a bit annoying and building a landing page will take a bit more time.
Customizing Blog Section on WordPress Theme Point
The theme layout itself shows that it is made mostly for blogging purposes. The thumbnails are exactly the right size and the Ream More button is in the right place.
Let us have a closer look. Once the different categories are in place and are ready to type our first blog post several things grab our attention.
Except attaching the post to a specific category and adding Featured Image to it, there is nothing else you can change.
You can’t remove the sidebar, or the related post from a specific post, or the author box. This can be done only globally for the theme, from the settings shown above.
Furthermore, the Featured Image is also not showing inside the post, only on the thumbnail. Let’s summarize the experience we with the WordPress theme Point.
See live examples of Point WordPress Theme:
Pros and Cons of WordPress theme Point
Pros:
- Free and Simple to use.
- Responsive.
- Speed Optimized.
- SEO Ready.
- Free plugins available after installation.
- Option to easily add ads.
- Option to upgrade to Pro version adding these features:
You can purchase the theme at a discounted price, by visiting the official website of the developer: mythemeshop.com
Cons:
- The featured image is not showing on the actual post/page.
- Limited options on individual pages and posts.
- You can’t change the “Read More” button.
- Homepage Featured Section is static.
- Background image cannot be stretched
- Pagination cannot be changed.
Final Thoughts
Point is a theme for personal blogs or small magazines. The layout of the theme is focusing on your content, which is saving you hours and giving you more time to work on your articles and products.
Although there are many drawbacks and missing options, Point has more than enough for building a simple site.
I must say that this is a great theme for someone who is just getting started with his first website or blog.
Are you planning to start a blog? Would you try this free WordPress theme?