February 25, 2008

Creating a WordPress theme is one of those tasks that can see deceptively simple. The core concept is simple, but what if…? This post is the first in a series where I will blogging my process of creating a theme.

I have created a lot of WordPress themes over the years but notably they have all been for a specific blog, and for a specific reason. I have never created a theme just for the sake of it and I have never distributed one.

On my own sites I have tended to get the big stuff done and let the rest evolve as each post needed it, but that really isn’t the best idea if the theme is for someone else.

I have been focussing on plugins and tools for long enough to lose some of the instinctual feel of design and theming and so I feel as though I am as close to being a beginner as I will ever be in future. That being the case makes this the perfect time to blog about my first real attempt at a very simple theme.

I hope that writing about the process will nudge me to remember the things I have missed, let others tell me what I have missed, and help anyone that wants to give it a go see where things can go right, and where they can go wrong.

Make no mistake, this isn’t a master class.

The posts in the series will be listed below as I post each one.

1. What overall feel do I want for my theme?.

2. How should I set out the navigation?.

3. Layout of the most important page, the single post page.

4. Archives, Search, Categories, Tags, navigating through it all.

5. The home page, or lack thereof.

6. Great Layout and Design Tools.

7. Building the elastic layout.

8. Sitewide Navigation.

9. Dealing with Images.

You can download the finished theme Fun with Minimalism Here.