stevegrunwell/theme-development-essentials.md

## theme-development-essentials.md

      
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    Theme Development Essentials

July 14, 2012
Instructor: Joe Querin (@joequerin)
Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/joecue/theme-development-essentials-columbus-oh-word-camp-2012
What is a theme?

A collection of PHP scripts, CSS files, and images to create the look and feel
Can also include:

Custom post types
Theme options
Sidebars
Nav menus

Template files

Base files

style.css
header.php
index.php
loop.php
footer.php

Additional files

sidebar.php
page.php
category.php
tag.php
author.php
single.php
404.php
...

See http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy for more
style.css

Important to define theme name and description.
Example:
/*
  Theme Name: Twenty Ten
  Theme URI: http://wordpress.org/
  Description: The 2010 default theme for WordPress.
  Author: wordpressdotorg
  Author URI: http://wordpress.org/
  Version: 1.0
  Tags: black, blue, white, two-columns, fixed-width, custom-header, custom-background, threaded-comments, sticky-post, translation-ready, microformats, rtl-language-support, editor-style, custom-menu (optional)
  License:
  License URI:
  General comments (optional).
*/

Theme frameworks

Allows you to develop child themes that inherit look, feel, and functionality from the parent theme.
Popular theme frameworks

Thematic
Thesis
Genesis
Gantry
Hybrid
HEADWAY
Whiteboard

Child themes in the WordPress codex
Making a theme responsible

Child themes should allow the user to customize the look of the site without impacting underlying functionality. This means that the parent theme can be updated and pass on its updates to child themes.
Why create a custom theme?


Functionality is required that cannot be accomplished through plugins
Unable to find a theme that can either be modified or have a child theme created for it
Because you want to!

Where to start


WordPress Codex
Look at a sample theme (TwentyTen, TwentyEleven)
Download a theme from the wordpress.org repository

What not to do
Download a theme from a "free wordpress theme" web search
Questions to ask when you get started

Are you going to create a framework/use a framework to start?
Will the theme be a child theme based on someone else's theme?
How will the site function?

Mostly posts, pages, or a mix?


Create a design for your theme
Decide how to divide your theme so you can crete the necessary files

Tips


Go to the codex
Enable WPDEBUG in wp-config.php to catch deprecated code
Try to break your theme

Theme Unit Test


Theme Check Plugin
If you try to change the WordPress core files, you're gonna have a bad time
Consider putting Google Analytics directly into your theme, which cuts down on your plugin overhead
Evaluate current plugins and see what you can get away with not using
If you're missing the admin bar, make sure you have <?php wp_footer(); ?>
Setup a good development environment