Website design is a constantly-evolving field that has no one-size-fits-all solution. One of the many reasons for the abundance and variety of themes is that the way your website looks should be reflective of your (or your business’s) unique traits while still being visually appealing.
However, there are still a few big-picture or general decisions that may be easier to make before you even get started. For example, do you want all of your information to be accessible on one page or spread out through multiple pages of your website?
The Pros and Cons of a One-Page Website
Whether or not your website is easy to navigate will be one of the first things that affect your site traffic and the length of time a person spends on your page, which is why you want to make sure that your layout makes sense and fits well with your content. If information is scattered or difficult to find, visitors are much more likely to click away from your site in favor of a similar one that feels more user-friendly.
This is where one-page website themes may come in handy.
Pros
Some of the positive aspects of a one-page website are:
- All of your information is right there for visitors to see, so they don’t have the chance to get lost among several pages of content.
- People will spend more time on your web page before clicking away. Plus, when they do, it’s much more likely to be because they found what they were looking for rather than because they got frustrated while trying to find information.
- One-page sites are perfect for showcasing a particular item, theme, or idea (depending on what kind of site you own) and get right to the point.
- They pair well with visually exciting features and effects like animations and parallax scrolling, which help make your site more noteworthy to visitors.
- Navigation is linear, which makes it concise and easy to follow.
Cons
That being said, there are also going to be a few downsides to this efficient and effective type of theme, namely that:
- There is often a lot of content to fit onto one page, which can slow down the site or make it appear cluttered depending on how the content itself is presented.
- Animations and scrolling features may increase the space you have for information, but they will also make your website load considerably more slowly.
- Because you may have to cut down on the content itself, SEO often gets neglected during the content creation process, which lowers your chances of being ranked well on search engine results.
- There’s limited capacity for growth, both for your business (if your website includes a business) and for the website itself. There are some limitations as to what you can build with a one-page website.
When is a One-Page Theme Appropriate, and Which Ones Should I Use?
Freelancers, small business, corporate websites, portfolios, and blogs–all of these are types of websites that can easily benefit from a one-page theme depending on how the content would be organized. If there are dozens of sections with subsets of information for each section, you may want to work with a multi-page theme. However, if you can pare down your content to be straightforward, visually pleasing, and sensible at a glance, your conversion rates could skyrocket with a one-page theme! That being said, here are some of the top-rated options currently available through WordPress.
Hestia
The Hestia theme concept is simple. It is of those themes that didn’t make a huge splash when it first came out but adapted and improved drastically to bring about a wildly successful theme that regularly creates gorgeous, unique websites for its users.
One of the top things that users love about Hestia is its free version because it still delivers high-quality results without dumbing down or completely stripping away the features available to use during development. It’s WooCommerce-friendly, is compatible with any number of popular page-builders (like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Divi), and offers a variety of “Starter Sites” for those who don’t want to build from scratch.
The Pro version gives you all that and more. For as little as $69/year for a single site or $99/year for three sites, you can have access to features like portfolio sections and pricing plans sections, section reordering, color options that are completely customizable, and a header slider. Hestia can be downloaded through ThemeIsle.
Uncode
Uncode is one of the most popular themes for those wanting flexibility above all else. With both one-page and multi-page options, Uncode comes with 100% functional demo sites, custom-made widgets, and visually flawless designs that will make your website look polished and refined. This theme is also WooCommerce-friendly and includes a wide variety of features to improve the user’s visual experience. Uncode starts at $59 for a single license through ThemeForest.
The Gem
Like Hestia, The Gem offers a huge array of visual and scrolling effects to ensure top-notch user experience. With little to no coding experience, you can use the intuitive drag-and-drop features and easy toggling to convert any demo to a one-page website complete with animations, transitions, and helpful plugins such as WooCommerce. The Gem also places a huge focus on loading speed, SEO, and usability across multiple platforms. Like Uncode, it’s available for $59 per license through ThemeForest.
What’s Best for Me?
Ultimately, the best way to determine whether you need a one-page or multi-page theme is to figure out how your content will be organized before you spend time and money on creating the site itself. Figure out what’s most important to you. If you need to focus on conversion rates and accessibility, and your content will be easily and naturally condensed into a single page using scrolling features, a one-page theme will be right up your alley and make a huge difference in your users’ experience. If your website is going to be particularly content-heavy, however, you may want to consider other routes. If you’re still unsure, try starting out with a free theme and see how it looks in one layout or the other, then goes from there!
