The Basics of Unique Theme Development | WordCamp London | 21st March 2015

Many WordPress websites use hand-crafted themes intended solely for one website. Creating a WordPress theme from scratch can seem daunting at first, but it is not as tricky as you may think. The talk is aimed at people who want to create a one-off theme for a single website (eg. a client project, personal blog), rather than building a theme for distribution. It will require previous knowledge of WordPress, HTML, CSS and basic familiarity with PHP.

Transcript

1. The Basics of Unique Theme Development @sambulance WordCamp London 21st March 2015 Samantha Miller
2. What is a ‘unique’ theme? 1. Designed and built for one purpose 2. Part of a bespoke build
3. What are the advantages? 1. You’re not restricted 2. Lean code 3. You know your own code is not malicious 4. It’s fun!
4. What are the disadvantages? 1. Need to know HTML, CSS, basic PHP, maybe Javascript/jQuery 2. Takes time to build 3. Needs fully testing
5. Approach 1. Don’t overthink it 2. Start with a clean slate 3. Don’t reinvent the wheel 4. Start small
6. The Bare Minimum 1. index.php and style.css
7. The Bare Minimum No style.css No index.php
8. The Bare Minimum 1. index.php and style.css 2. A couple of basic template tags
9. The Bare Minimum Required HTML tags
10. The Bare Minimum wp_head(), wp_footer() and body_class()
11. The Bare Minimum The Loop
14. Basics of a theme 1. Style.css header comments
15. Basics of a theme style.css
16. Basics of a theme style.css
17. Basics of a theme 1. Style.css header comments 2. Headers and footers
20. Basics of a theme header.php
21. Basics of a theme header.php
22. Basics of a theme footer.php
23. Basics of a theme index.php
24. Basics of a theme index.php
27. Basics of a theme footer.php
28. Basics of a theme index.php
32. Basics of a theme 1. Style.css header comments 2. Headers and footers 3. Functions.php
33. Basics of a theme functions.php
34. Basics of a theme 1. Style.css header comments 2. Headers and footers 3. Functions.php 4. Everything else depends on the project
35. Templates 1. page.php 2. front-page.php 3. single.php 4. Page-specific templates
36. page-contact.php
38. Templates 1. page.php 2. front-page.php 3. single.php 4. Page-specific templates 5. Named templates
39. Templates template-gallery.php
46. Template Hierarchy http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
48. Build from the ground up 1. Break down design 2. Functionality 3. Mark-up & style 4. Enhance
49. Easily missed 1. 404.php 2. search.php 3. Archives/categories/tags 4. Styles created by the WYSIWYG
50. Thank you Any Questions? Samantha Miller @sambulance