Do you want to create portfolio website from scratch by using WordPress? If yes, then you’re at the right place to find out the best themes, plugins and product portfolio website template to showcase your skills on the web.
While we may overlook the importance of imagery when designing a website, the benefits of using them go beyond making your portfolio website look good.
Although you may decide to give handouts of your business cards to potential customers or other print media, a well-designed portfolio website can enable you to reach more global customers.
Remember that this is an extension of your company or resume, and you need to showcase your pieces of art, work, or products professionally.
Creating a great portfolio website, however, is a process that requires proper planning and one of the things to consider is finding the best portfolio plugins and themes.
Plugins help to add functionality to your portfolio website while themes handle the visual appeal of your sites like style, colors, layouts, and content presentation.
A theme ties your website together, and whenever you change it, you risk losing essential data. Plugins are easy to use, and you can use with any theme you like.
Best Themes & Plugins To Build The Portfolio Website
There are several types of themes and plugins to choose from. If you’re considering building a robust portfolio website, then below are the best themes and plugins to choose for your WordPress portfolio website.
1. NextGen Gallery Plugin
With the ability to handle virtually anything, the NextGen plugin is preferred by professional artists and photographers. This plugin handles everything ranging from simple photographs to other complicated requirements.
Incidentally, if you want to learn how to create a website for photographers, this is a great source: BEST WORDPRESS PHOTOGRAPHY THEMES + 21 TOP TIPS (2019) – COLLECTIVERAY
The NextGen plugin lets you upload, sort, rearrange, and create a collection of beautiful images on your website.
Besides, it lets you import Metadata and edit thumbnails and also view your images in two different formats, i.e. compact/extended and slideshows or thumbnails. Moreover, with this plugin, you can vary the lightbox effects, size, color, transitions, and timing.
The NextGen plugin works fine with many WordPress themes. It is very responsive and utilizes JavaScript display.
For added security, you can create a password to protect your gallery. This is because the plugin uses original WordPress functions. You can find this plugin in various languages with many additional features.
Install NextGen Gallery Plugin
2. GridKit Portfolio Gallery Plugin
If you would like to make a Portfolio website using WordPress in the Grid design, then here is an exclusive plugin for you.
It is GridKit Portfolio Gallary Plugin that has excellent features to display your portfolio as grids with inline project details and external links or popups.
Making a photo gallery, Gallary album, Gallary slider, product catalog for your e-commerce stores, Instagram feed gallery, Vimeo video gallery, Images & Videos Popup, Google Maps, social share buttons and much more are easier with this WordPress extension.
It is available in both Free and Paid version, however, its free version is worth using!
If you are looking for more layouts, responsive Popups, Multiple slider layouts, extreme customization, excellent support, and several fantastic features, then you should go with the premium version.
Install GridKit Portfolio Gallery Plugin
3. Envira Gallery
Designers and photographers love this plugin due to the lovely pack of features that comes with it. The plugin makes it easy to create a gallery in just a few easy steps.
It has a user-friendly interface that works pretty well with WordPress websites. Being a responsive plugin, it makes it possible to display images that fit various screen sizes.
Envira Gallery also lets you create albums and add portfolio stuff anywhere on your website. It has a drag-drop feature that allows you to add and arrange images.
You can change the settings to suit the height and number of image columns that you want to display on your website. Other features that you can adjust include loading speed, size, theme, and lightbox caption.
For advanced features, you may want to buy the premium version of this plugin that has mobile-friendly settings that lets you share and add videos. This version also makes it easy to filter your gallery, split pages, and add widgets.
Install Envira Gallery WordPress Plugin
4. Uncode WordPress Theme
Uncode is designed to showcase your portfolio professionally. It comes with a lot of layout options which can be customized to suit various display needs. It has more than 70 ways to display your stuff including metro, masonry, and carousel.
The theme also includes an iLightBox plugin that lets you display media. It also has a Revolution Slider and LayerSlider plugins that you can use to display various pieces of art.
To customize the layout of your page, this theme has a Visual Composer Plugin which is easy to use. It has six menu options that let you create custom navigation that suits your website.
5. Divi
This is a multipurpose theme that suits sites in different niches. It has a very functional column layout and grid that makes it very convenient.
The theme comes in full-width version, and you can display your portfolio in either carousel or checkerboard style. There is also the drag and drop feature that you can create personalized pages.
Having a sophisticated visual builder technology is the best thing about this complete WordPress design system; It gives you the customization features at the maximum level.
Shape dividers, advanced code editing, Drop & Text shadows, Bulk editing, and Divi quick actions are some of the exceptional features of this best WordPress theme for Portfolio.
6. TheGem
TheGem is a big brand that comes with several features. It is a well-suited portfolio theme for websites that require a proper visual appeal.
This theme has four layout options and lets you put images at the center and front. Without spending too much time, you can create a stunning portfolio website that meets your specific needs.
Just like most themes, TheGem lets you edit your content with the drag and drop function. You can manage and customize your website in a way that suits your target clients.
7. Pofo
Pofo is known for its stunning navigability and elegant imagery. This theme is bundled with lots of features, including the drag-drop feature, Revolution plugin, and more than 25 demo templates.
The flexible customization makes this theme very popular among photographers and website designers. It has many headers, demos, and menu options that make website building quite simple.
What makes it even more appealing is its compatibility with W3 Total Cache plugin which integrates perfectly with WooCommerce.
The several features that Pofo brings make it the ideal theme if you’re planning to build an active portfolio website that is also scalable.
Get Pofo WordPress Portfolio Theme
Conclusion
Designing a portfolio website requires thorough consideration of many factors, and one of them is choosing the right themes and plugins.
These elements play a crucial role in giving your website the desired imagery that makes it attractive in the eyes of existing and future customers.
There are several themes and plugins to choose from. Whether you are designing a new portfolio website or seeking to upgrade your existing one, then the above are the top 7 best portfolio themes and plugins to consider.
Yes this is really helpful article for bloggers who want to create portfolio. I made more than 20 portfolios for my clients using Uncode wordpress theme.
uncode theme is user friendly and contains easy to use options.
thanks nirmala
Thank you for this. I have been a content writer for two years and just started to create my own portfolio website. I completely agree with your point regarding giving a strong aesthetic to a website. I will be following your blog for more. Thanks!
This post of course certainly came in handy Madam Nirmala. I intend setting up animals blog and it will of course be filled with photos and certainly all I need are here.
Thanks a lot.
thank you mam for this article, i was searching this . Thank you for everything
Thanks for sharing the list of effective tools and plug-ins to create a portfolio website. I hope this would be more helpful for bloggers to build their impressive portfolio site to showcase it to their clients. Especially these days, the case studies, reviews and testimonials are the deciding factors in making users believe in a brand.