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If you have WordPress and you want to install a template, the video below will demonstrate the easiest way to install a free template.

The templates installed in this video use the native Gutenberg page builder, so several themes will be compatible with your templates (the video uses Astra theme). Before getting started, you need to have WordPress installed. Check out this video if you need to install WordPress.

Let’s get started by ensuring we have a good theme that won’t break when you install a page template.

The theme allows you to customize certain aspects of your WordPress site. The video uses the Astra theme because it comes with the option of having a transparent header for certain pages, and regular header for other pages.

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Appearance > Themes > Add New
• Search “Astra”
• Click Install > Activate for the Astra Theme

Now you are running the Astra Theme. This video and post covers installing Astra in greater depth.

After your theme is installed, install the Spectra plugin. This plugin contains the free templates that you will install, so it is required for this tutorial.

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Plugins > Add New
• Search “Spectra”
• Click Install > Activate for the Spectra plugin

After Spectra is installed, you can install a free page template.

Let’s get started by installing a template for “Home.”

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Pages > Add New
• Enter a title for the page “Home” and remove visibility by clicking the eye next to the title (if you have Astra theme).
• Click Template Kits Button at the top of the page to browse free templates.
• Select a Template and Select a page you like for “Home.”
• Click Import Template Button at the bottom.

To understand how your template was built, you can click the List View icon in the top tool bar, the three lines icon that look like a staircase.

This will show how each section of the template was built, block by block. The containers within the template are from the Spectra plugin, as well. These containers can be used instead of columns and rows. The primary container will determine if the inner containers are side to side or stacked, under the flex box properties.

Now that you know a little bit how these templates work, you can save a container as a reusable block, and build more pages with your containers.

Follow the same steps in the video as the Home template instructions above.

Now you have a Home and an About page.

Now that you have created a designated Home, you will need a place for your blog posts to live. Create a new page called “Blog” and leave it blank.

Now you can tell WordPress your Home should appear as the root page for your site, and direct WordPress to put your blog posts within the blank Blog page.

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Appearance > Customizer
• At the bottom of the Customizer, select Homepage settings.
• Select Static Page Radio Button.
• Select Home for Home page and Blog for Posts page.

The easiest way to adjust the fonts within the template is to adjust them globally throughout your site. This will give your site a consistent heading font and body font. You can browse the templates here to browse fonts. If you are using chrome, right click the font, and inspect. Hover over the font to see the font that the template uses.

Now set your template fonts globally.

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Appearance > Customizer
• Select Global > Typography
• Select a default pair or manually set Headings Font and Body Font

The easiest way to adjust the colors of your template is to adjust the global colors for your theme. Often times, the template will use a background color or a button color that is designated within the global palette. The template doesn’t always use global colors, so you might need to adjust colors block by block, but sometimes you can set the global colors and do less work

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Appearance > Customizer
• Select Global > Colors
• At the top, adjust the first five colors to your palette, and see if your template makes adjustments to the colors that appear in the live preview.

Some templates within the Spectra Template Kit come with a transparent header. Let’s look at setting a transparent header for a page.

• From the dashboard of the WordPress site, select Pages.
• Select Edit under the page you want to set.
• At the top, click the Astra icon, the “A” in the top right.
• Select Advanced Settings > Transparernt Header > Enabled

See this video for more information about the transparent header.

Free WordPress templates are, by far, one of the greatest advantages of creating a site with WordPress. With this tutorial, you are able to use the native Gutenberg page builder, a free theme, and free templates so your site remains flexible and fast.