Why WordPress Themes?

This article is about developing WordPress Themes. It discusses the Utility and Basic components of Wordpress themes, technical aspects of writing code to build your own WordPress Themes.rnWordPress Themes are set of files that work together in creating the design and functionality of a WordPress site. Each Wordpress Theme is unique, providing many choices for the website owners to instantly change their website look as they like.rnYou may wish to develop WordPress Themes for your own use or for a client project or to submit to the Wordpress Theme Directory. rnWhy do you want to build a Wordpress theme? • WordPress Theme creates a unique look for your WordPress site. • With WordPress themes take advantage of templates, template tags, and the WordPress Loop and generate different website results and looks. • It provides alternative templates for specific site features, such as search result pages and category pages. • Wordpress Theme facilitates to quickly switch between two site layouts, or to change look of your site. A WordPress Theme provides you many benefits, • The presentation styles and the system files are separated from the system files. So the theme will allow the website to upgrade without any drastic changes to the visual presentation of the website. • The theme allows for customization of the site functionality. • The Wordpress theme facilitates quick changes of the visual design and layout. • The Wordpress theme facilitates the Wordpress site owner to have a great looking website without the need for learning CSS, HTML or PHP. rnWhy should you develop your own WordPress Theme? • Developing a WordPress Theme gives an opportunity to learn more about CSS, HTML, and PHP. • It also provides an opportunity to put your knowledge and experience with CSS, HTML, and PHP to work. • It makes you creative. • The theme development brings fun most of the time. • If you develop the theme and release it to the public, you can have the feeling of satisfaction and goodness that you have shared and given something back to the WordPress Community WordPress Theme Development StandardsrnWordPress Themes should be coded with certain standards that are given below: • The theme should be created with well-structured, error-free PHP and with valid HTML. For more information on wordpress standards you can refer the WordPress Coding Standards.( codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Coding_Standards) • The theme should be developed with clean and valid CSS. For CSS Coding Standards refer (codex.wordpress.org/CSS_Coding_Standards) • While developing the Wordpress theme follow the design guidelines provided by Wordpress . (Refer codex.wordpress.org/Site_Design_and_Layout) Anatomy of a WordPress ThemernThe files of the WordPress Themes are in the subdirectories which reside in wp-content/themes/. The WordPress Theme's subdirectory consists of all of the Theme's stylesheet files, template files, and functions file (functions.php) which are optional, JavaScript files, and images. For example, a Theme named "blank" would reside in the directory wp-content/themes/blank/. Avoid using numbers for the theme name, as this prevents it from being displayed in the available themes list.rnIn each new installation, WordPress includes a default theme. You can go through all the files in the default theme carefully which will give an idea in developing new WordPress Theme files rnWordPress Theme directory consist of three main types of files, that are (1) style sheet which is called as style.css to control the visual design and layout presentation (2) optional functional files called function.php and (3) template files to control the way the site pages generate the information from your WordPress database, displayed on the website. The wordpress theme directory also consists of image files and Javascript files.rnChild Themes are the simplest Themes include a style.css file, plus any images. This is the child of another theme which acts as its parent.