Templates

Templates are the files which control how your WordPress site will be displayed on the Web. These files draw information from your WordPress MySQL database and generate the HTML code which is sent to the web browser. Through its powerful Theme system, WordPress allows you to define as few or as many Templates as you like all under one Theme. Each of these Template files can be configured for use under specific situations. More information on creating Themes can be found at WordPress:Theme Development.

General Theme Articles

WordPress:Using Themes

Basic information about using and installing Themes and Templates

WordPress:Migrating Plugins and Themes

Contains information on how to upgrade a Theme for compatibility with new versions of WordPress

WordPress:Theme Development

How to design and develop your own themes

WordPress:Designing Themes for Public Release

How to design and develop WordPress Themes for public release

Version 2.2 Theme Compatibility List

List of which Themes are compatible with Version 2.2 of WordPress

Version 2.3 Theme Compatibility List

List of which Themes are compatible with Version 2.3 of WordPress

WordPress:Site Architecture 1.5

Standard site architecture of the Default and Classic themes, which you are encouraged to follow in your Themes

WordPress:Creating Admin Themes

How to create a plugin that modifies the look of the Admin section

External resources

• Make your Own Wordpress Theme by Fauzi Mohd Darus
• Ryan Boren's Anatomy of a Theme
• Moshu's Visual Anatomy of a WP v1.5 Theme
• Chris J. Davis' Secrets of WP Theming, Part 1
• Chris J. Davis' Secrets of WP Theming, Part 2
• Chris J. Davis' Secrets of WP Theming, Part 3
• Dissection of a WordPress Theme
• Design your First WordPress Theme
• How to convert your XHTML/CSS Based Design to a Wordpress Theme
• How to create a WordPress Template or Theme tutorial
• WordPress is Not PHP - Template Files
• WordPress is PHP

Template File Articles

General References

WordPress:Stepping Into Templates

Introduction to the building blocks of WordPress Themes, the template files. Explains how they work together to build a web page and how template files can be included in other template files.

WordPress:Template Hierarchy

Description of the order of preference of templates for the generation of various pages. Briefly lists the various templates that WordPress checks for in the process of generating a requested page on the weblog.

WordPress:The Loop

Description of the WordPress Loop, which is the part of a template file that generates the content

WordPress:The Loop in Action

More about the WordPress Loop

Header, Footer, Sidebar, and Content Sections

WordPress:Designing Headers

Customizing the header.php template file.

WordPress:Adding Post Feeds to the Header

How to add RSS feed links to your header template file

WordPress:Customizing Your Sidebar

Customizing the sidebar.php template file.

WordPress:Customizing the Read More

Customizing the look of Read More links on your excerpts

WordPress:Next and Previous Links

Customizing the look of next/previous post/page links

WordPress:Styling Page-Links

How to break up single posts into multiple pages, and customize their links

WordPress:Separating Categories

Putting custom separators in the category list for your posts

WordPress:Using Custom Fields

How to add custom meta-data to your blog posts, and how to display it

WordPress:Adding Asides

How to add side notes to your blog posts

Enabling Popup Comments

How to make comments come in a pop-up window

Archives, Categories, and Special Pages

WordPress:Creating a Static Front Page

How to make a static home page, or splash page, for your blog

WordPress:Author Templates

Customizing the author.php template file which showcases information about the author and their posts.

WordPress:Category Templates

All about defining and customizing templates for the various category archives on your weblog.

WordPress:Alphabetizing Posts

How to make a category page use alphabetical rather than chronological order

WordPress:Creating an Archive Index

Customizing the archives.php template file which showcases posts by date.

WordPress:Pages

Describes WordPress Pages, and the relationship between Templates and Pages feature.

WordPress:Styling Theme Forms

Describes how to make forms in your templates for comments, search, etc.

WordPress:Creating a Search Page

Customizing the search.php template file.

WordPress:Creating an Error 404 Page

Creating a template file Page to feature a customized Error 404 Page.

WordPress:Displaying Posts Using a Custom Select Query

Modifying which posts are displayed on a page

External Resources

• Creating Multiple Single Posts for Different Categories

Template Tags Articles

WordPress:Stepping Into Template Tags

Introduction to the use of template tags in template files.

WordPress:Template Tags

The core set of functions used to draw information from the database and display it on the web. For example, the Content of a Post is displayed with the Template Tag the_content().

Anatomy of a Template Tag

Understanding the structure, usage, and parameters of template tags used in template files.

WordPress:Include Tags

A document describing the tags that are available to include and use WordPress' template files.

WordPress:Conditional Tags

These tags (always of the form is_something(), such as is_home()), report what sort of page is being displayed (e.g. the Main Page, a Category Archive, etc.) and can be used within a Template to control the Template's output depending on what the tags report.

Query Posts Template Tag

A description of the query_posts template tag, which is used to control which posts are displayed on a page

List Pages Template Tag

A description of the wp_list_pages() template tag used to create a list of Pages.

External Resources

• Templates and "is" functions, by Ryan
• Theme cheatsheet
• Using the_content and the_excerpt tags within the Loop at the same time.

CSS, Design, and Layout

WordPress:CSS

How to integrate CSS into WordPress, with list of other WordPress CSS references

WordPress:Blog Design and Layout

List of articles and resources for WordPress blog design, and layout

WordPress:Know Your Sources#CSS

List of general CSS references

External Resources

• Flumpcakes CSS Optimizer - Optimize your CSS file. Contains a possibly "not safe for work" header image.
• Creative Commons Images:Search for Creative Commons images that are free to share and use online.
• Image * After:A free stock image library for commercial and personal use.
• stock.xchng:Photographs available free of charge to the public.
• freedigitalphotos.net:Free photos for commercial and non-commercial use.
• informaticafriuli.com:Free wordpress theme and template.
• Animal Photos: Animal Photos under a creative commons license

Tools, Testing and Validating

WordPress:CSS Fixing_Browser Bugs

WordPress:CSS Troubleshooting

WordPress:Validating a Website

Plain Text Editors

A list of plain text editors for all platforms.