Wrangle everyone's favourite WordPress item: theme! For beginners and established users alike, we'll tackle some common issues such as : - understanding what themes are - how to find the right one for the job - maintenance tips - how to level up an existing theme Presentation at the WordPress Halifax Meetup's 2nd Anniversary.

1. WRANGLING THEMES
ERASERHEADER.COMALISON KNOTT

2. WRANGLING
THEMES
BEFORE WE BEGIN...
WHAT THEME QUESTIONS
DO YOU HAVE?

3. WRANGLING
THEMES
What We’ll Cover Tonight...
• What a theme is
• Common terms and anatomy
• How to pick a theme
• Ways to boost themes
• Beyond themes
• Theme care

4. WORDPRESS CORE THEME

5. GENERAL ANATOMY
OF A THEME
Header. Logo . Navigation . Image . Sub-navigation (social media links)
Hero . Slider . Jumbotron . Banner Image
Breadcrumb ( Home > Services > Design)
Main Content Area
Content Bottom (various widgets can go here)
Footer
(various widgets can go here)
Sidebar
(various widgets
can go here)

6. WRANGLING
THEMES
WHICH THEME IS THE BEST?
THE RIGHT ONE FOR THE JOB

7. WRANGLING
THEMES
How to Pick A Theme
• Define the site’s purpose
• Define your wish list of functionality
• Research similar sites
• Pick themes and narrow down selection

8. WRANGLING
THEMES
Purpose Of Site Before Looks
• What content will you be updating the most?
• What will major pages requite content-wise?
• What major areas of content will you have?

9. WRANGLING
THEMES
Make A Wish List And Prioritize
• Research similar or dissimilar themes,
look at functionality over aesthetic
Photographer: gallery variety, contact form, minimal
Blogger: combination latest posts/regular content, sidebars,
sign-up forms
Designer: variety of templates, layout, ultimate control
• Use this as‘shopping list’to narrow down choices

10. WRANGLING
THEMES
Other Common Terms To Keep In Mind
• Carousels and galleries
• Light-box
• Columns
• Front page post form
• Different page and post
widths (templates)
• Sticky post
• Custom menu
• Featured content made of
pages and posts
• One Page website
• Featured Image Header
(definitions at wordpress.com themes and look at‘filters’)

11. WRANGLING
THEMES
Places To Find Themes
• WordPress.com/themes
• Google“Best WordPress themes for _____”
• Beware of Themeforest.net

13. WRANGLING
THEMES
What To Look For (price don’t mean nuffin)
• Live demo
• Many downloads
• Recently updated and supports latest Core
• Solid customer review, accessibly support
• Lots of options in default WordPress
Customizer
• Responsive (demo looks correct on phone)

14. WRANGLING
THEMES
What To Avoid In A Theme
• ‘Premium Bloat Themes’(themeforeset.net)
• Lack of updates
• Lack of evidence of support
* average lifespan of a theme is 3 years.

16. WRANGLING
THEMES
Plugins That Aren’t Theme Dependent
• Gallery (FooGallery/FooBox, NextGen)
• Sliders (Layerslider, Revolution Slider)
• Lightweight Grid Columns
• Page builders (more on that in a moment)
• Contact forms (Caldera, Contact Form 7, VFB)

17. WRANGLING
THEMES
Need More? Page Builders
• Way to be more‘block based’, drag and drop
• Look for those that let you save templates
and set global parts (change one aspect and
it affects every page with that component)
• Can slow down a site so choose wisely
• Beaver Builder, Divi, Site Origin Builder,
Visual Composer, Cornerstone, iThemes

18. WRANGLING
THEMES
Go Beyond... With Frameworks!
• Like a skeleton/foundation to build upon
• Divi, Genesis, Bones, Underscore,
GeneratePress Pro
• Beaver Themer (on Beaver Theme)

19. WRANGLING
THEMES
Go Beyond... With Plugins!
• Advanced Custom Fields (additional
functionality/blocks into pages and
posts... like price, images or filters)
• Custom Post Types (add your own unique
postypes!)
• Read about template parts on
developer.wordpress.org

20. WRANGLING
THEMES
How Can I Preview A New Theme?
• Must install theme to preview, unless it’s one
that’s listed at Appearance > Themes > Add New
• Install on a different location
(local, subdomain, other sandbox)

21. WRANGLING
THEMES
Immediately Create A Child Theme
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/wordpress-child-theme-tutorial
• Install immediately after installing theme
• Easy to install
• Do all tweaks (even customizer) on this so
you know where to find errors later
• Throw plugin content in here to make special
changes (ie: remove cart on Woo Commerce)

22. WRANGLING
THEMES
Theme Maintenance
• Regular backups of core, theme and plugins
• Update when required
• Always work in child theme
• Familiarize with forum

23. Giant-Ass List of Resources
LEARN MORE
Lynda.com free with library card:
http://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/computers/classes/
elibrary.html
LunchPress (every Tuesday)
https://www.facebook.com/pg/eraserheaderdesign/video
http://www.wpbeginner.com/category/beginners-guide/
https://www.w3schools.com/
https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/tem-
plate-hierarchy/
THEMES & FRAMEWORKS
https://themeforest.net/category/wordpress
https://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/
* https://generatepress.com/?ref=543
https://underscores.me
https://themble.com/bones/
* http://www.elegantthemes.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.
php?id=39481_5_1_20
PLUGINS
https://www.advancedcustomfields.com
https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-post-type-ui/
https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/recent-posts-wid-
get-extended/
https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/conditional-widgets/
https://revolution.themepunch.com
https://layerslider.kreaturamedia.com
https://calderaforms.com
https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/
https://www.mailpoet.com
PAGE BUILDERS
*https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/?fla=1708
https://vc.wpbakery.com
https://siteorigin.com/page-builder/
https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/lightweight-grid-col-
umns/
https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/visual-form-builder/
https://ithemes.com/purchase/builder-theme/
* means my affiliate link, where I make a small
% of $ if you buy the item from that link

24. THANKS FOLKS!