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Designing and creating a base WordPress theme

Designing and creating a base WordPress theme

Presentation given at WordCamp Bournemouth (UK) in July 2014. This presentation is about the why and how of creating a base, client or starter theme. I talk about the processes I went through, various tools I used and other techniques in design and web development

Avatar for Ngaire Ackerley

Ngaire Ackerley

July 12, 2014
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Transcript

  1. Who am I? •  Designer and WordPress Developer •  Travelling

    Kiwi •  Works at LBDesign •  WordPress website at http://designack.com •  Travel Blog on WordPress.com at http://kiwifootprints.com
  2. What’s this all about? •  What is a base/client theme

    •  Why design a base/client theme? •  Process •  Designing •  Coding & Testing •  Future
  3. Planning: What we want to achieve •  Simple theme • 

    Easily changeable •  Easy to build onto •  Deal with the common base templates •  Consider different standard layouts •  Has to be responsive •  Consider plugins, widgets etc.
  4. Planning: Keep it Simple! •  Simple templates •  Easy to

    edit code •  Sass Variables •  ‘Bare bones’ functionality
  5. Planning: Tools to use •  Sass •  Git/Bitbucket/Github app • 

    Sublime Text 2 •  Codekit •  BrowserStack •  Test Data •  Dev Tools and Firebug •  Asana for notes/reminders
  6. Coding •  Templates – page/layouts – tag/archive/category – custom post

    types/taxonomies – single/single custom posts – author – header, footer …
  7. Options •  Plugins •  Custom Post Types/Taxonomies •  Widgets –

    sidebar, footer •  Sliders, image galleries •  SEO •  Imports/Exports (Forms, ACF)
  8. Future •  As easy to edit as possible •  What

    works, what doesn’t work? •  Homepage templates •  Allow for custom design still