Want to learn how to create a WordPress theme? I’ve found an awesome WordPress theme tutorial that rocks, and I want to share it with you. I’ve used this tutorial to help clear up some of the issues and questions that I have had about WordPress theme development, and if you’re interested in learning how WordPress themes are structured and built, this is an excellent resource for you.
Ian Stuart is the head guy at ThemeShaper.com, and back in 2009 he wrote a series that will walk you through the creation of a custom WordPress theme. There are 11 lessons total, and I was able to go through all of them in a few hours.
Ian did a terrific job of optimizing the theme you’ll create. Here are a few of the features of the theme he’ll show you how to build:
- All the search-engine optimization you’ll really need
- Including google-supported Microformat markup
- Valid and logical semantic markup structure than can be used to create ANY layout
- Smart default CSS layouts
- Dynamic Body, post and comment classes
- Separated trackbacks and threaded comments
- 2 widget areas coded to disappear when they’re empty
- And all the typical WordPress stuff you expect from a theme
Here are all the lessons as well:
- WordPress Theme Tutorial Introduction
- Theme Development Tools
- Creating a Theme HTML Structure
- Template and Directory Structure
- The Header Template
- The Index Template
- The Single Post, Post Attachment, & 404 Templates
- The Comments Template
- The Search Template & The Page Template
- The Archive, Author, Category & Tags Template
- The Sidebar Template
- Reset-Rebuild Theme CSS & Define Your Layouts
It’s thorough, and in the end you’ll have a WordPress theme that is optimized, and ready for use in a production website.
Thank you Ian for putting together such an incredible, and useful tutorial! You can follow Ian on Twitter also.
Twitter: http://www.baldydog.com
says:
Cool..so most of the part of a morning and I could get through it..hmm..I just might have to take a stab at it.
Twitter: waynejohn
says:
It really is a well put together series. There are a few points that might get ya, but if you read, and I mean actually read and understand the flow he is taking, it all makes sense. But, if you hop around, you’re going to get lost.
Twitter: http://www.baldydog.com
says:
So do you think it would be beneficial to schedule a day to do the series?
Twitter: waynejohn
says:
If you want to learn how a WP Theme is put together, and perhaps create your own, then yes. Absolutely.
hey wayne,
thanks for sharing. this is fantastic. i always wanted to work on my own wordpress theme, so i will give this tutorial definitely a try.
thanks for the share Wayne. I always learn great stuff in your posts
Twitter: waynejohn
says:
Glad you like it! I did when I went through it.
Twitter: kaiserthesage
says:
Awesome resource Wayne! Just exactly what I’m searching for these past few weeks. I was really thinking of sponsoring a free wp theme for SEO purposes, but eventually decided to try and do it myself
Well, actually, by learning this, I’m not only expanding my knowledge about the industry, but as well as the services I can offer. Thanks for the share!
Regards,
Jason
Twitter: 20MilesNorth
says:
Great walk-through for making a WordPress site. The SEO part is often what most people forget.
Great tutorial list. Thanks for posting! When customizing WordPress, I usually just take the default theme and tweak the code/css until it looks the way I want, but the code ends up kind of messy that way. I’ll definitely check these out!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I haven’t gone through it yet, but at first glance, the tutorial seems well written, with some good resources listed as well. I’ve tried reading through WP’s docs once or twice, but I especially like to learn by doing, so this sounds like it might do the trick. I might just have to try this out when I get the chance.
Twitter: waynejohn
says:
It’s very well written, but there are some gotchas….but what is learning without gotchas I ask you. We need those to deepen our understanding…but it’s a really good set of instructions that cover all the basics really, really well. I wouldn’t promote it unless I felt that way.
Gotchas are my guru.
Twitter: ingbase
says:
These are some nice tutorials. So far i have just tried tweaking the default wordpress 3.0 theme and it worked to some extend until it got all messed up. I am not really into wordpress theme designing but it can be done with some basic knowledge. Also converting the main design image from PSD to HTML looks a bit time consuming.
what such a great post ! thanks for sharing ya, i really appreciated your hardwork for write this post.
keep up your hardwork.
and thanks for the tutorial ya
Twitter: nak4michi
says:
Great tutorial list. Thanks for posting! When customizing WordPress, I usually just take the default theme and tweak the code/css until it looks the way I want, but the code ends up kind of messy that way. I’ll definitely check these out!
Looks like a very useful resource. I think it’s well worth the time and effort to learn how to customize a WordPress theme for yourself — not least in order to be able to demonstrate true individuality in your website design. There are some fantastic “blank” templates that can act as a starting off point as well.