What are Starter Templates? Ultimate Beginners Guide

Here is a complete guide to know and understand Starter Templates.

If you’re searching for answers to questions like “What are Starter Templates? ” This article should provide all the answers. 

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

• What are Starter Templates in WordPress
• What are Responsive Starter Templates
• Are Starter Templates free for building a WordPress website?
• Are Responsive Starter Templates different than Elementor Templates?

And a list of identical questions.

Without any delays, let’s get started.

Chapter 1. Introduction to Starter Templates

Let’s start with our first chapter.

Here, we’ll understand starter templates and set a foundation for learning about them in detail.

What are WordPress Starter Templates?

Starter Templates are pre-designed website templates built by the Cyberchimps team. It’s a library of 250+ ready-to-import WordPress websites available to all WordPress users.

Additionally, there are premium templates that include advanced features like white label, mega menu, WooCommerce-related features, LifterLMS templates, and much more.

Responsive Plus-Starter Templates, a plugin that extends the Responsive theme, unlocks 250+ designer-made templates, and professional, ready-to-use WordPress sites, making it easy to launch your websites with just a few clicks.

It provides a vast collection of individual pages for all your business requirements and helps you build any page without starting from scratch.

Chapter 2. Difference between a Starter Template, a WordPress theme and Patterns?

WordPress themes, Starter Templates, and Patterns are all related but distinct concepts in the WordPress ecosystem.

They all look similar but have different purposes.

Let’s go by the definition for each tech term.

WordPress Themes

A WordPress theme is a complete package that defines a WordPress website’s overall design and layout. It includes styles, templates, and functions that dictate how the site looks and behaves.

It deals with two things: 

1. CSS – that decides the way your website looks
2. Technical functionality

When it comes to functionality, WordPress themes control a website’s aesthetics (colors, fonts, layouts) and structural elements (header, footer, sidebars). They can also include additional features and customizations, such as widgets and shortcodes.

Important Point: Installing a theme affects all pages and posts on your website, providing a consistent look and feel throughout.

Now, let’s understand the difference between WordPress themes and Starter Templates.

Starter Templates

Starter templates are pre-designed layouts that can be imported into WordPress to set up a website or individual pages quickly. They can be part of a theme or offered as standalone templates, often created for specific industries or purposes.

Starter templates provide ready-made designs for specific pages (like homepages, contact pages, or portfolios) that users can import and customize. They save time and effort by allowing users to start with a polished design instead of building from scratch.

Starter templates can be used with a theme (like the Cyberchimps Responsive theme) and typically work with page builders (like Elementor or Gutenberg). Users can mix and match different starter templates to create a unique site that matches their business requirements.

In summary, a WordPress theme sets a website’s overall design and framework.

On the other hand, Starter Templates provide niche, pre-built designs that help users quickly build out individual pages or entire sites. They often complement themes by offering users additional design options tailored to their needs.

Patterns

Patterns are new to the WordPress ecosystem. They were first introduced in WordPress 5.5 as part of the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor.

Patterns or WordPress Block Patterns are pre-built block layouts of Gutenberg Blocks. They help build WordPress websites with minimal effort and save time.

Block Patterns can be anything – a basic block containing a heading or a group of blocks like a heading, image, and paragraph. If you want to design a section one time and use it multiple times, you should create and register a block pattern to speed up your website designing process.

Summary of Starter Templates Vs WordPress Themes Vs Block Patterns

Scope of Work

• WordPress Themes: They control the entire site’s design and layout.
• Starter Templates: Starter Templates are specific, ready-to-use layouts for pages or entire sites.
• Patterns: Patterns are small, reusable design blocks that can be combined to create content.

Usage

• WordPress Themes: Themes are applied at the site level.
• Starter Templates: Starter Templates are imported to create individual pages or entire websites.
• Patterns: Patterns are used within the content editor to build page sections quickly.

Complexity or Design Requirement

• WordPress Themes: Themes are the most complex, offering comprehensive functionality.
• Starter Templates: Starter Templates provide a library of pre-made complete websites and single-page templates to help you set up a site quickly.
• Patterns: Patterns offer a quick solution for adding specific design elements within a page.

Each element serves a unique purpose in the WordPress development process, allowing users to efficiently create visually appealing, functional websites.

Chapter 3. The Benefits of Using Starter Templates

Let’s understand the significant advantages of building websites using Starter Templates.

• Saves time
• Ease of use
• Ease of customization
• Niche templates catering to all industries
• Responsive designs for all devices
• Integration with page builders

Let’s see each benefit in detail.

1. Time-Saving: Launch a Website Quickly by Importing Pre-Designed Layouts

One of the most significant advantages of using Starter Templates is launching a website quickly.

Responsive Plus-Starter Templates plugin offer pre-designed websites, which can be imported with a few clicks, eliminating the need to create a site from scratch. 

Whether you’re building a homepage, services page, or contact page, the layout is ready for you—just customize the content and publish. 

This instant website setup feature makes Starter Templates especially valuable for busy professionals, freelancers, or small business owners who need to get online fast without spending hours on design and development.

2. Ease of Use: No Coding Required

Starter Templates are designed to be user-friendly. 

That means you don’t need coding skills or a background in web development or design to create a professional-looking website. 

For beginners, you can focus on adding content without getting stuck in website technical tasks. 

For professionals or agencies, Starter Templates offer a foundation from which to work, allowing for faster project completion and focusing on their client’s business. 

Whether you’re a novice or an experienced web designer, Starter Templates provide an accessible way to create stunning websites.

3. Customization: Fully Editable Templates to Suit Your Website Branding

While Starter Templates provide ready-to-use websites, they are highly customizable.

Users can modify colors, fonts, images, and layouts to match their branding or specific requirements. This flexibility ensures that even though you’re starting with a ready-made design, you can make it your own by tweaking elements to fit your business identity.

You can adjust templates to reflect your brand’s unique style, ensuring the final result looks distinctive and aligns with your marketing goals.

With robust design controls available in WordPress themes like the Responsive theme, customization is easy and comprehensive.

4. Industry-Specific Designs: Templates Crafted for Various Industries

Responsive Starter Templates by Cyberchimps often come with industry-specific designs built to meet the needs of different businesses. 

Whether you’re building a website for a business, restaurant, travel agency, or portfolio, there are templates designed with these industries in mind. 

All the templates include the features and design elements most relevant to each industry, such as call-to-action sections for restaurants, booking sections for travel agencies, or gallery layouts for portfolio websites. 

This makes it easy for users to choose a template that not only looks professional but is also functional for their specific niche.

5. Responsive Design: Templates Work Seamlessly Across All Devices

Starter Templates are built with responsive design principles, ensuring that they automatically adjust to different screen sizes. 

Whether it’s a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop, you don’t need to worry about creating separate versions of your website for different devices. 

Using Responsive Starter Templates ensure you’re consistent and seamless user experience, which can improve visitor engagement, reduce bounce rates, and enhance overall site performance across all platforms.

6. Integration with Page Builders: Work Seamlessly with Elementor and Gutenberg

Starter Templates integrate smoothly with popular page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg.

With Elementor, users can import Starter Templates and then use the drag-and-drop interface to make additional changes to the layout or add widgets.

Similarly, Gutenberg Starter templates allow users to easily rearrange, add, or edit content blocks within the block editor.

These page builders offer a visual editing experience, making it simple for users to see changes in real time as they build their websites. This makes Starter Templates a versatile choice for users who want to build with familiar tools while benefiting from a well-designed starting point.

Chapter 4. Starter Templates Importing Vs Building a Website from Scratch

Using Responsive Starter Templates or building a website from scratch both have pros and cons.

You need to decide which to choose between the two depending on your goals, resources, and skill set.

Let’s look at each method in detail regarding time, cost, technical knowledge, and design requirements.

1. Building a Website by Importing Responsive Starter Templates

Pros of Starter Templates

• Time-Efficient: Templates provide a pre-designed layout with functional pages (e.g., home, about, contact). You can launch a website quickly by replacing the placeholder content with your own.
• Cost-Effective: Ready-made templates are often cheaper than hiring a designer or developer and can suit different budgets.
• Ease of Use: Templates generally come with easy customization options in the theme customizer or page builder, so you don’t need advanced technical skills.
• Consistent Design: Templates maintain design consistency across the site with cohesive fonts, colors, and layout styling.

Cons of Starter Templates

Not Fully Unique: Since these templates are available to others, it’s possible that other sites might have a similar look.

Best for Those who want a professional-looking site quickly, without requiring extensive customizations or specialized functionality.

2. Building a WordPress Website from Scratch

Pros of Building a Website from Scratch

• Total Control and Customization: You have complete creative freedom to design the site exactly as you want, down to the minor details.
• Unique Design: Starting from scratch ensures your website’s unique design aligns with your brand identity.
• Custom Functionality: It’s easier to integrate unique features and specialized functionality (e.g., custom forms, unique animations, or specific workflows) that may not be available in templates.

Cons of Building a Website from Scratch

• Time-Consuming: Building from scratch requires time to design, code, and test, especially if you’re developing complex functionality.
• Higher Cost: This approach can be costly if you hire designers or developers or require premium tools and resources.
• Requires Development Skill: Designing from scratch demands technical knowledge in design and development, which may require learning or outsourcing.

Cyberchimps Responsive Starter Templates

Using the Cyberchimps Responsive Starter Templates, for example, allows a combination of speed and some degree of customization. 

It offers a pre-designed template you can further adjust with Responsive Addons for Elementor or Responsive Blocks plugins, providing some flexibility while still saving time and effort.

Chapter 5. How to Import a Complete Site with Starter Templates

Building complete websites with Starter Templates is easy. You just need to import a template that fits your business website design needs.

Once a template is imported, you can easily modify the settings from the theme customizer and the page builder. You have complete control to remove design sections, change the text, and control the colors of your website.

You can even import individual pages and sections to your requirements.

Let’s see how to import a complete WordPress website step-by-step.

Step 1: Install the Free Responsive Plus – Starter Templates Plugin

From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Plugins menu > click on Add New Plugin.

Search for Responsive Plus – Starter Templates plugin in the search bar.

Click on the Install Now and Activate button after installation.

Once the plugin is activated, you can access the template library from Dashboard > Responsive > Templates.

Step 2: Selecting a Starter Template

You can see the grid view showing all the Starter Templates.

Before you select a website template, we suggest you finalize a page builder. Two-page builder options are available: Elementor and Gutenberg.

Just to let you know, choosing any page builders will automatically import the required plugins, so you don’t need to worry about the remaining plugins.

You can use the category menu in the Starter Templates dashboard to check the templates categorized based on different types of businesses.

Before importing the website, you can select a template and preview all the pages in the next window.

Step 3: Importing a Starter Template

While on the selected template page, you will find a footer in the same window.

The footer has three buttons:

• Back: If you wish to go back to the previous step.
• Import Site: If you want to continue importing the website.
• Import Template: If you want to import a single page from a template.

Click on the Import Site button.

You’ll see a popup that asks you to create a free account. If you’re a new user and do not have an existing account on Cyberchimps Responsive Platform, click on the New? Create a free account button.

You’ll be prompted to connect your website to the Cyberchimps account by clicking Connect.

Upon successful connection, you can continue importing the template. 

Select the template and click on the Import Site button from the footer.

Next, you’ll see a dialog box showing some necessary toggles. You can add your email address to subscribe to essential newsletters and any new offers here.

Click on Subscribe & Start Importing.

And that’s it!

The import will take a few seconds, and your website will be imported entirely.

Then, click “View Website” to see your new website.

Chapter 6. How to Import Single Pages with Starter Templates

But what if you want to import only a specific page from a website template?

That’s possible.

You can import a single-page template using the same plugin.

To import a single-page template, you need to follow the same steps such as:

1. Installing the Responsive Plus – Starter Templates plugin
2. Activating the plugin and creating an account on Cyberchimps Platform
3. Once done, go to the template containing the page you wish to import.

Next, you will find a button in the footer – Import Template.

Select the template you want to import and click the Import “Page Name” Template button.

You will see an importer screen that will complete importing a single page.

And that’s it.

You have successfully imported a single-page template for your website.

Chapter 7. Import Starter Templates from Elementor Editor

Additionally, there is an alternative way to import single-page templates directly into your website.

If you’re editing a page/post in Elementor and have installed the Responsive Plus – Starter Templates plugin, you’ll see the plugin icon in the Elementor editor section.

Next, click the Responsive Plus – Starter Templates icon.

A window will open, showing the template library. Browse through to find the template you need.

Click on the template you want to import to view single-page templates.

Browse the available page templates, select one, and click Import Template.

If any required plugins are missing, they’ll be automatically installed and activated when you import a page with dynamic content.

Once the import is complete, the imported page will appear as a “Draft.” You can edit and publish it further from Dashboard > Posts/Pages.

Chapter 8. Importing Ready-to-use Elementor Sections

Like the single-page templates, the Responsive Plus—Starter Templates plugin offers an extraordinary feature: the ability to import ready-made sections or ready-to-use Elementor sections.

Here is how you can import ready-to-use Elementor sections:

• Step 1: While using the Elementor Editor, click on the Responsive Starter Templates icon.
• Step 2: A new window will appear with two sections – Pages and Blocks.

• Step 3: Click on the Blocks options. Each Block is carefully crafted with unique design elements that can help you enhance your website. You can filter the blocks to meet your business requirements.

• Step 4: Click on the Import Block to add the block immediately on your web page.

Here is the final output of how the imported elementor section will look on your page

Chapter 9. How to Fix Starter Template Importing Issues

Starter Templates are imported using the Responsive Plus – Starter Templates plugin. The plugin is built by the Cyberchimps team with a mission to make the website building easy and quick

Usually, users do not face any issues while importing templates. However, since plugins have technical aspects like changes in code or compatibility with other plugins, there are instances users may face some issues.

Here are some of the most common issues and their solutions.

Fix Any Missing Widgets in Elementor

The first step to ensure that you don’t face this issue is to check if you have Responsive Addons for Elementor(RAE) and Elementor plugin are active on your WordPress setup.

Next, make sure you’re using the latest version of Elementor and RAE plugin.

If you’re using older versions of the plugins, update to the latest versions by going to your WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Update plugins.

Check if the Required Widgets are Enabled.

If you’re seeing blank spaces in place of some elements, make sure you have enabled all the necessary widgets from the Responsive Addons for Elementor (RAE) settings.

From your WordPress dashboard, go to Responsive > Elementor Add-ons. You will find all the widgets from the RAE plugin on this screen.

Ensure the widget you are looking for is enabled. If it is not, toggle the switch to enable it.

Check Widget Settings in Elementor

If the widget is enabled in RAE but still not visible in the editor, you need to verify the settings in Elementor.

Go to Elementor > Element Manager in your WordPress dashboard.

Make sure that the widget is enabled in the Elementor Element Manager. If it is not, enable it.

Click Save Changes to apply the new settings.

By going through all these steps, you should be able to fix the missing widget issues in the Elementor editor.

Fixing Caching Issues.

Sometimes, your website does not show the expected results, which might be due to a caching issue. Ensure you have cleared the cache and refreshed the window.

You might need to deactivate the cache plugin in your plugins and see if you get the expected output in the front end.

If caching was the reason, this should resolve your issue.

Chapter 10. Starter Templates FAQs

Chapter 11. Conclusion

In conclusion, Starter Templates combine speed, ease, flexibility, and compatibility. They save time while allowing customization and quality design. 

They offer the right mix of pre-made layouts and creative freedom for both beginners and professionals, helping to build responsive, branded websites for any industry.

To recap:

1. You can create WordPress websites quickly by using Responsive Starter Templates.
2. Starter Templates use the Cyberchimps Responsive theme, a page builder plugin, and customizer settings.
3. The key benefits of using Starter Templates are saving you time, effort, and money spent on resources.
4. You don’t need any technical knowledge to import a Starter Template. Customizing a starter Template is simple; you can customize it using drag-and-drop Elementor widgets and Gutenberg blocks.
5. Responsive Starter Templates are free; you only need a WordPress setup to build your business website.
6. We at Cyberchimps keep creating beautiful Starter Templates, and the library grows monthly.

You can start by signing up for a free Cyberchimps account and building your business websites.

What are you waiting for? Build your first WordPress website now.