The following blog post will help you build your own WordPress theme from scratch. It will be teaching you everything you need to know about WordPress Theme development. By the end of it, your completed theme will carry a search engine optimization plug-in, Google supported micro format mark-up with a logical structure, smart CDD layouts, widget areas that can disappear when not in use and anything beyond then the expectation of the theme.
Beginning with the development tools, there are various to name. You will begin with downloading a XAMP or a MAMP on the computer which should be set as a local server. You will also have to download the most recent version of WordPress and install it on the local server. During this process, you will have to provide your WordPress with sample content. This will ensure you that you don’t miss anything.
Other software that is required is a text editor (Notepad/ Text Wrangler) and a browser (preferably Firefox). You will also need HTML and CSS skills (go through the tutorials for both so you aren’t too confused) and PHP. With the software in place, we can turn our attention to coding the HTML structure. The code should be lean and meaningful without too much of meaningless structure. The HTML structure will protect your WordPress theme and will also provide a platform to do some very powerful innovative stuff with CSS.
A minimal WordPress theme only requires an index.php template as well as a style.css file but you can go with something more solid. You can go on to create files for what you want in wp-content/themes/for your theme path. You can individually sort the files out in a text editor, so that they are able to show up as part of your WordPress theme. Then, you go on to build your own HTML structure. The next few steps involve building your header.php and validating your theme with an HTML doctype.
Then, there is the index.php template (crucial). Following the creation of an index for your posts, you will have to create a template that can frame each piece of your content or even the missing content on its own. Then, there is the comments template that needs to be developed with all the attention, for it can be very confusing, along with the search template and the page template. The former two are important for the completion of your theme and are the easiest to code.
Lastly, there are the archive, author, category and tags template and then the sidebar template. All you have to do then is to reset your CSS and define the layouts and you’re done with your WordPress theme.
Additional Resources on WordPress Themes
For more information regarding WP themes please visit the following:
