Nov 17
Building Custom WordPress Theme
This is the Chapter II of the Complete WordPress Theme Guide series. This chapter will show you how to build a custom WordPress theme. Although the Codex site provides very good documentations on how to create a theme, but I find it too complicated for a beginner. In this tutorial, I will explain the basics of how WordPress theme works and show you how to convert a static HTML template into a theme. No PHP skill is required, but you need Photoshop and CSS skills to create your own design.
1. The Blog Frontend
Before you start, let’s take a look at the WordPress default theme and see how it is structured. Take note of the elements (header, post title, search form, navigation, footer, etc.).
Default Frontpage (index.php)
Default Single (single.php)
2. Photoshop Mockups
Based on the information gathered from the default theme, design a Photoshop mockup of your blog. Here I’m using GlossyBlue, one of my free WordPress themes, as an example. Download the demo.zip to see the Photoshop file.
3. HTML + CSS
After the PSD design is done, create a static HTML+CSS template of each page. You can use my GlossyBlue HTML files in the demo.zip to follow this tutorial. Extract the zip and take a look at the index.html, single.html, and page.html. Later in the tutorial, I will use these HTML files and convert them into a theme.
Why Create a Static HTML File First?
Mainly because it will make the development process a lot easier. I usually create a HTML file for every template that I need, test it across all browsers, validate both HTML and CSS markups, then all I have to do is cut & paste the WordPress code. By doing so, I don’t have to worry about HTML or CSS bugs during my theme making process.
4. How WordPress Theme Works
If you go the default theme folder (wp-content/themes/default), you should see many PHP files (called template file) and one style.css file. When you are viewing the front page, WordPress actually uses several template files to generate the page (index.php << header.php, sidebar.php, and footer.php).
For more details, check out Site Architecture and Template Hierarchy at Codex.
5. Duplicate The Template Files
Copy the GlossyBlue HTML folder into the wp-content/themes folder. Then, go to the default theme folder, copy the comments.php and searchform.php file to the glossyblue folder.
6. Style.css
Go to the WordPress default theme folder, open the style.css file. Copy the commented code at the top and paste it to the GlossyBlue style.css file. Change the theme name and the author information as you desire.
7. Splitting The Files
Now you need to understand where to split the file into several files: header.php, sidebar.php, and footer.php. The image below shows a simplified version of my index file and how the markups should split.
8. Header.php
Open the index.html file. Cut from the top to where the <!--/header --> ends, paste it in a new PHP file, and save the file as header.php.
Go to the default theme folder, open the header.php. Copy and replace the tags where it requires PHP code (Template Tag): <title>, <link> stylesheet, <h1>, and <div class=description>.
Navigation Menu (wp_list_pages)
Replace the <li> tags in the <ul id=nav> with <?php wp_list_pages('sort_column=menu_order&depth=1&title_li=');?>
Reference: wp_list_pages.
9. Sidebar.php
Back to the index.html file, cut from where the <form id=searchform> start to the closing tag of <div id=sidebar> and paste it in a new PHP file, save it as sidebar.php.
- Replace the
<form id=searchform>wrap with<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/searchform.php'); ?>. - Replace the category
<li>tags with<?php wp_list_categories('show_count=1&title_li='); ?> - Replace the archive
<li>tags with<?php wp_get_archives('type=monthly'); ?>
References: wp_list_categories and wp_get_archives.
10. Footer.php
Back to the index.html file, cut from the <div id=footer> tag to the end of </html> and paste it in a new PHP file, save it as footer.php.
Recent Posts
Here I used the query_post to display the 5 latest posts.
Recent Comments
Recent comments are generated by a plugin (included in the theme folder).
11. Index.php
Now in your index.html file, you should only have the <div id=content> wrap. Save the file as index.php. Insert the line:get_header, get_sidebar, and get_footer in the same order as your layout structure.
12. Understanding The Loop
The image below illustrates how The Loop works. The Loop is used to display blog posts and it also lets you control what to display. Basically, The Loop checks if there are posts in your blog, while there are posts, display it, if no post found, say "Not Found".
13. Copy The Loop
Go to the default theme folder, open the index.php file. Copy The Loop from the default index.php and paste it in between the <div id=content>..</div>. Then, replace the static text with the WordPress Template Tags: post date, title, category, comments, next and previous link.
14. Preview The Theme
Congrats! You’ve done the front page (the main part of the theme). Now, login to your admin panel, go to the Design tab, you should see the GlossyBlue theme, activate it and go to the front page to preview the theme.
15. Single.php
Now, it is time to do the single.php template. If you want, you can go through the same process — cut & paste from the default theme. But, I find it easier to use the index.php that you just created and save it as single.php. Open the default theme single.php file and copy the Template Tags over. Then include the comments_template. The image below highlights what I’ve changed:
16. Page.php
With the single.php template you just created, save it as page.php. Remove the post date, comment form, next/previous link… and that’s it.. there goes your page.php template.
17. Delete The HTML Files
Delete all the HTML files in the glossyblue folder (we don’t need them anymore). Technically, that is enough for a basic WordPress theme. You may notice there are more PHP files in the default theme. Well, you don’t really need those files if you just want a basic theme. For example, if the search.php or 404.php is not present in the theme folder, WordPress will automatically use the index.php to render the page. Read the Template Hierarchy for more details.
18. WordPress Page Template
Ok, final example. I will show you how to use Page Template to create an archive page that will list all posts on your blog (good for sitemap). Copy the archives.php file from the default theme folder. Delete the unwanted code and you should have something like this:
Here I’m using the query_post (showposts=-1 means display all posts) to display a list of all posts.
Now, login to your admin panel, write a new page, title it Archives. On the Page Template dropdown, select Archives.
More Reading:
Check out a list of WordPress Plugins that you may find useful. For more advance theme coding, read my WordPress Theme Hacks.
What’s Next…
In the next chapter, I will show you how to export your local WordPress to a web host and keep the local version for backup purpose.
Installing WordPress Locally Exporting and Importing WordPress
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148 Frank Barrera Jr http://www.frankspointofview.com
January 5th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Thanks for the detailed information! Let’s see if I can do it!
147 Fiona http://sugoi.ws
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
You have encouraged me to make my own Wordpress them. Thank you so much for the details tutorial.
146 vncomet
December 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
How to add banner ads to two sides that are outside the content table?
I have a question: How to add banner ads to two sides that are outside the content table.
Look at this blog: http://www.spunk-ransom.com/. This blog has 2 sides that are obviously outside its content table.
I don’t know if my question is clear. The thing I want is to add banner ads to such 2 sides. Here is a good example of what I mean: http://nhacvietplus.vietnamnet.vn/vn/index.aspx
145 ali http://www.didimtoday.com
December 30th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Very clear, l will try it soon
144 Felipe
December 29th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
It encouraged me to make a wordpress theme.
And, I’d really made a wordpress theme.
Thank you!
143 Roald André Pedersen
December 28th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I dont understand this.
I am totally new to this, is this the most basic? :S
142 abhijit http://www.abhijitdutta.com
December 27th, 2008 at 7:41 am
in the footer section, some images have the right side part chopped off. This makes it difficult to use them. I tried the footer.php file of the default theme, but there I found only the wp_footer() function called.
141 Jengly
December 26th, 2008 at 3:55 am
THANK YOU!
140 Grégoire Noyelle http://www.gregoirenoyelle.com
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:12 am
So great. Thanks you ! I just wonder how to improve this part of my work !
Grégoire
139 factotum218 http://designingcrap.com
December 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Great in depth tutorial. Being someone who is going from a few years of desktop publishing and pursuing and interest in web development I want to use something like Wordpress or Joomla! not only as a tool to get results, but to also get a good understanding of how to work with php and javascript.
Eventually I would love to be someone fluent enough to consider myself a hobbyist AJAX developer. Who knows where I will really end up. Probably cold and alone still trying t decide whether I want to use Linux or Windows as my platform because I’m to old and still too broke to get a Mac. But I digress.
Great post, very informative.