A catalogue of first websites, arranged by the look

Eight chapters · Seven plates · One index

Your first website starts with how it should look. The platform comes second.

Foreword

Theme Jr. is a website-building guide for first-timers. Theme Match turns five answers into three themes and what each costs every year; the guides cover themes, builders, WordPress, stores, design, hosting, blogging and SEO.

Find my themes

Five questions, three themes, the cost every year

Plates 1–7

Seven kinds of first website, each with the one choice that makes its look work.

Drawn for this catalogue

Plate 1: a bakery’s homepage in butter yellow and navy, “Baked at four. Gone by noon.” beside a ticket listing today’s bread and how many are left

Plate1Restaurants, cafés and bakeries

A bakery that sells out by noon

Today’s bake is the hero, so the first thing anyone reads is what is still on the shelf, with the hours right under it.

Fraunces and Work Sans

5 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 2: a hair salon’s homepage on a phone in plum and blush, with the phone number and a Book button in a bar at the very top and the prices in a plain list

Plate2Salons, studios and local services

A salon people find on a phone

The number and the booking button sit at the very top, where a thumb finds them first.

Playfair Display and DM Sans

5 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 3: a photographer’s homepage, near-black, the name small in spaced capitals and one wide picture of a coast at dusk filling the page

Plate3Portfolios for photographers, artists and designers

A photographer whose pictures do the talking

The name is set small and the menu is three words, so one picture fills the page. On a portfolio, the work is the design.

Italiana and Work Sans

5 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 4: a coach’s homepage on a phone in navy on pale blue: one promise, one Book a free first call button, and the twelve weeks listed on a card over a coral circle

Plate4Coaches, consultants and freelancers

A coach who sells one thing

One promise and one button, and coral kept for a single shape.

DM Serif Display and DM Sans

5 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 5: a small pottery shop’s homepage in shell pink with a tomato-red name, twelve pots shown on the same pale ground in a grid of six by two, each with its price

Plate5Shops and makers

A small shop with twelve things to sell

Every product sits on the same pale ground at the same size, so twelve pots read as one shop, and the basket never leaves the corner. One typeface in two weights does all the talking.

Bricolage Grotesque alone

6 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 6: a sewing blog’s homepage, ink blue on paper white, one centered column under a short red rule and an email sign-up box where the reading ends

Plate6Blogs and newsletters

A blog with one column

About sixty-five characters to a line and nothing in a sidebar: most of a blog’s look is its reading measure. The sign-up box waits where the reading ends.

Literata for everything

4 themes for this kind of site →
Plate 7: a volunteer group’s homepage on a phone in deep green, a Donate button in the header, tall capitals saying what a Saturday cleanup is, a drawn river and the morning’s timetable

Plate7Nonprofits and community groups

A volunteer group with one ask

Donate stays in the header, and the first screen says what a volunteer does on a Saturday.

Oswald and Public Sans

4 themes for this kind of site →

About the plates

Each plate is drawn for this catalogue: a kind of site, not a real business or a real theme. Theme Match turns the look you pick into real themes on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace and Wix, with what each costs every year.

Find my three →

Index

Theme Match

The list behind Theme Match: thirty-four themes and templates for seven kinds of first website, on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify. Each one has the look it gives, the editing and selling it suits, what it costs in the first year and every year after, a link to its live demo and the one thing to know before you choose it.

Find my themes

  • The price after year one

    Every theme, plan and host with what it costs in the first year and in every year after the intro offer.

  • Tools

    The builders, themes, hosts, fonts and email tools worth a first-timer’s money, each with its yearly cost.

The thirty-four, by kind of siteEvery year after the first

Restaurants, cafés and bakeriespl. 1

Coffee House $150; Divi Restaurant $240; Hill $250; Loam $250; Restaurant (Classic) $220

Salons, studios and local servicespl. 2

Align and Flow $370; Car Repair $150; Emmeline $250; Hair Salon (Simple) $370; Lotus Spa $150

Portfolios for photographers, artists and designerspl. 3

Artist Multipurpose $150; Nevins $250; Photographer (Timeless) $220; Spotted $250; Studio $370

Coaches, consultants and freelancerspl. 4

Business Coaching & Consulting $150; Consultant Landing Page (Modern) $220; Divi Copywriter $240; Myhra $370; Suhama $250

Shops and makerspl. 5

Craft $370; Home Goods Store (Organic) $370; Local $370; Maca $370; Plant Shop $150; Prestige $370

Blogs and newsletterspl. 6

Creative Blog $150; Harman $250; Personal Blog (Clean) $220; Twenty Twenty-Five $150

Nonprofits and community groupspl. 7

Charity $150; Environmental NGO (Bright) $220; Malone $250; Women Empowerment NGO $150

Prices are US dollars on yearly billing as of October 2026, rounded to the nearest $10.

How we count the cost →

Theme Jr.Contents

Guides

Still deciding how the site should look? Start with Themes and Web Design. Picking where it runs? Website Builders or WordPress. Already live? SEO & Growth.

  1. 1

    Themes

    Themes and templates on every platform, sorted by kind of site and by look, for first-timers choosing the design their site starts from.

  2. 2

    Website Builders

    Wix, Squarespace, Framer, Webflow and the rest, compared for first-timers deciding whether an all-in-one builder or WordPress suits their site.

  3. 3

    WordPress

    WordPress for people who are not developers: setup, the block editor, page builders, plugins, and keeping a site safe, fast and up to date.

  4. 4

    Online Stores

    Selling from your own site, for makers and small shops: Shopify, WooCommerce and builder stores, store design, payments, shipping and digital products.

  5. 5

    Web Design

    Making a site look right without a designer: fonts, color, layout, photos and the small details, for owners doing it themselves.

  6. 6

    Hosting & Domains

    The plumbing under a site, explained plainly: domain names, hosting, email at your own address, and what each costs after the first year.

  7. 7

    Blogging

    Starting and running a blog or newsletter on your own site, from platform and design to writing and earning, for small businesses and solo writers.

    In this section

    Blogging platforms comparedGhost, Substack and BeehiivA blog on WordPressNewsletter toolsBlog designWriting for the webEditorial calendarsImages for postsMaking money from a blogEmail lists and sign-up forms

  8. 8

    SEO & Growth

    Getting a new site found and used after launch: search basics, analytics, speed, local search and turning visitors into customers, without the jargon.