One of the advantages of using a content management system such as WordPress is that the site's content is separated from the visual design. Because of this, we are able to easily update the look of our site.

Themes is the term WordPress uses to describe the templates that control the appearance of our site. All new WordPress sites use a theme entitled Twenty Eleven.

Due to the popularity of WordPress there are currently well over a thousand free themes available through WordPress.org. Additionally, there are hundreds of premium themes for sale around the web.

We can easily search for and install free themes from within the WordPress interface. To add themes, hover over the Appearance tab in the left sidebar and choose the Themes option. This will present us with the Manage Themes screen. To search for new themes, click on the Install Themes tab at the top of the page. From here we can choose to search for themes, upload our own theme, or browse through the featured and recently uploaded themes.

The Manage Themes screen allows us to see all of the themes we have installed. From this screen we may choose to Activate, Preview, or Delete any of the themes we have downloaded. When we Activate a theme, it will become the current, active theme of our public WordPress site.

Here is how the sample course site appears using the free theme picochic by Valentin: