American University WordPress Theming LecturePresentation Transcript
Principles of WordPress
Theme Design
Template Files
StyleSheet
• style.css
• The only required file
• Includes Headers that will be used by
WordPress
/*
Theme Name: Custom Theme
Theme URI: http://emmense.com/
Description: A Child Theme of Twenty Ten
Author: Aaron Brazell
Author URI: http://technosailor.com
Version: 1.0
Parent: twentyten
*/
Why use a Theme
Framework?
• Themes present content according to the
desires and tastes of the designer
• Frameworks provide an extensible way of
empowering designers within a set of
guidelines.
Why use a Theme
Framework?
• Frameworks realize the principle of
separation of content and presentation
• Early Predecessor: CSS Zen Garden
• Change a theme using only CSS. No
markup modifications
Hybrid
• Hybrid (http://themehybrid.com)
• Templates for everything
• Admin Pages for content control
Thematic
• Thematic (http://themeshaper.com/thematic/)
• Focuses on Widget Areas and Grid layout
• Modify EVERYTHING via CSS
Carrington
• Carrington (http://carringtontheme.com/)
• Most Robust: Focuses on Typography,
semantic markup and Ajax
• Includes a Mobile Theme
Best Practices
Use Hooks In Themes
• Let plugin devs build for your template
• Add filters and actions throughout themes
• Examples:
• do_action(‘before_content’);
• apply_filters(‘logo’, ‘logo.jpg’);
Internationalize!
• Internationalization (i18n) is important
• Use load_theme_textdomain() in
functions.php
• Utilize __(), _e(), _c() and _x() to provide
translatable strings
• Don’t forget the .po file
• More info: http://codex.wordpress.org/I18n_for_WordPress_Developers
Essential Plugins
Essential Plugins for Any
WordPress Blog
• Headspace 2 SEO (http://wordpress.org/
extend/plugins/headspace2/)
• Akismet (http://wordpress.org/extend/
plugins/akismet/)
• MobilePress (http://wordpress.org/extend/
plugins/mobilepress/)