Secrets of WordPress Theming

For an amazing examination of building a WordPress Theme, dissecting every detail of the modular PHP building blocks and code that goes into a full, do-it-yourself WordPress Theme, check out the The Secrets of WordPress Theming by Chris J Davis from Sillyness Spelled Wrong Intentionally.

Begin at the beginning with some basic core tips and techniques in Part 1. Then get more into the code in Part Two to understand more about building template files, including custom template files for specific needs like 404, search, and more. Chris recently introduced Part 3 which examines how to make your home.php custom template work for you with feeds and more.

Expect more in this great series that exposes all involved in a WordPress Theme and just brushes against all the possibilities for customization when working with the power of WordPress.

Technorati Tags: wordpress, themes, theming, secrets, design, website, blog, layout, php
Site Search Tags: wordpress, themes, theming, secrets, design, website, blog, layout, php

14 Comments

Michael Sync

Posted July 22, 2007 at 1:53 am | Permalink

I’m getting this error for those URLs.. is the Server down or something?

Controller Object ( [base_url] => / [stub:private] => 2005/05/26/secrets-of-wp-theming-part-1 [action:private] => [handler:private] => ) Unmatched rule: 1

Lorelle VanFossen

Posted July 23, 2007 at 8:25 pm | Permalink

Chris’s site is a mess. I honestly cannot find the new link to the post, which I’ve changed several times. He’s gone on to other topics, and while I much respect all he has done for WordPress, it’s really frustrating as this was such a fantastic and helpful article. But I can’t find it on his site, but please, give it a try. If you find it, please let me know so I can update the link. He might have removed all of his WordPress articles when he switched to Habari. I just don’t know.

Andrew da Silva

Posted July 24, 2007 at 7:58 am | Permalink

Here’s the link to the article:
http://www.chrisjdavis.org/secrets-of-wp-themeing-complete-series

Enjoy!

salpickering

Posted May 19, 2009 at 10:11 pm | Permalink

Hi, I’m new to blogging. How do I create a sidebar to allow subscribe, twitter etc?

- Lorelle VanFossen
  
  Posted May 20, 2009 at 6:38 am | Permalink
  
  You don’t “create” a sidebar, you simply add the information for subscriptions and sharing to your sidebar. There are a variety of WordPress Widgets and Plugins that will do that for you, or you can create it manually as I have done with a text widget. See Customizing RSS Feed Links for WordPress.com and WordPress Sidebar Widgets for some tips.
  
creatingchloe

Posted March 27, 2010 at 6:02 pm | Permalink

I have chosen a theme but I would very much like to change the color of some of the font. Do I have to purchase an upgrade to do this?

- Lorelle VanFossen
  
  Posted March 28, 2010 at 4:30 pm | Permalink
  
  No. But it depends upon the WordPress Theme. You can also change it yourself if the license is GPL.
  
creatingchloe

Posted March 29, 2010 at 5:14 am | Permalink

Thank you Lorelle for answering my question. I designed my header, added that and then wanted to change font color but it was a no go.

juanrenaware

Posted November 11, 2010 at 6:18 pm | Permalink

HOLA ME LLAMO JUAN GONZALEZ Y CREE UN BLOG POR WORDPRESS
POR FAVOR ALGUIEN PODRIA DECIRME COMO HAGO PARA TENER UNA BARRA LATERAL ISQUIERDA?
ES QUE TENGO SOLO UNA DERECHA Y QUISIERA EMPAREJAR EL SITIO CON SUS 2 BARRAS LATERALES, POR FAVOR VENALO Y AYUDENME NO SE COMO SE HACE.

- Lorelle VanFossen
  
  Posted November 17, 2010 at 1:12 pm | Permalink
  
  Usted puede encontrar una amplia ayuda con los foros de soporte WordPress.com y ayudar a los sitios en esto. Y en su propio idioma. http://es.wordpress.com/
  
carey

Posted December 20, 2010 at 10:22 pm | Permalink

i just upgraded to CSS on the template for my site – and I want to add my logo to it as a header that shows up on every page – can’t seem to figure out how to do this

- Lorelle VanFossen
  
  Posted December 21, 2010 at 11:36 am | Permalink
  
  WordPress.com blog Themes have a link in the left sidebar menu on the Administration Panels for Appearance > Header or Header Art. If the Theme is enabled to permit customization of the header, you can upload an image there that will appear on every page in the header. If your Theme does not permit such customization, switch to one that does.
  
corechangeswithcarey

Posted December 21, 2010 at 12:49 pm | Permalink

okay thanks Lorelle – so this theme doesn’t have that “header” option under appearances, but I did upgrade to add the CSS – and now there is an “edit CSS” under appearances – with that is there any way to add a header?

Also, since it appears you are new to WordPress.com and blogging, you might want to change your public name as the way it looks now, it’s kinda spammy. 😀

- Lorelle VanFossen
  
  Posted December 21, 2010 at 10:12 pm | Permalink
  
  Again, it depends upon what Theme you are using. The Edit CSS upgrade allows you to completely customize the CSS. If you do not know how to do that, it’s a waste of money and I’m sorry you made that decision. Choose a Theme with a customizable header and use that option to change the header, whether or not you decide to use the custom CSS functionality, as that is the easiest way. I’m assuming you don’t know how CSS works from your question.