Part 2. WordPress Theming Basics

Dear Web Designer,

When I installed WordPress for the first time, I just about had a panic attack. The dashboard was full of terms I didn’t understand and it was extremely intimidating. What I didn’t understand at the time was that I needed only what I understood at that point.

Install a theme—it’s not that difficult—and write a post. Tag it, pick a category, and publish. Easy, right? That was just enough to focus on for the first few months. Only after creating some real quality content did the other stuff matter. There are amazing websites with mediocre designs that effectively spread their message, but I don’t know of any beautiful sites with garbage content that anyone pays attention to.

After a few months I dove into plugins and widgets. Experience has taught me that less is more as far as plugins go. If a social network doesn’t bring me traffic, I get rid of its plugin. It’s important to have a site that loads quickly, and having fewer plugins (or the lightest ones possible) helps increase speed.

Over the years, the back end of WordPress has become more and more user-friendly. The drag-and-drop interface has made it very accessible, but I still love getting in under the hood to play with the CSS a little and create a site that’s just a bit different.

I’ve broken my site many times, but it’s always been put back together again. Sometimes it’s just a misplaced symbol that I’ve been able to locate after a few passes; other times I’ve had to hire folks to find my errors.

When I’m looking to try something new with WordPress, I go to the forums and quite often I’m led down a rabbit hole. I’ll be trying to find a fix for a certain plugin and the next thing you know there’s a thread about a snippet of code that does something really cool and two hours later I’m still reading the forum like it’s a gossip magazine. None of this is time wasted. It’s learning about what you can do, and, even if you never use the capabilities, it’s good to know what’s possible.

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Jessica Gottlieb
jessicagottlieb.com | @jessicagottlieb

WordPress theming can take years to master. Especially since WordPress is continually growing and improving. You have to stay on your toes and remain continually aware of the new and different things happening in the industry. The goal of this section is to lay the groundwork for a good understanding of WordPress theming basics.

With a good foundation and proper comprehension of exactly how each element functions, you’ll learn the more complex pieces faster and retain them better. Even if you have tinkered with WordPress theming before, it’s important to go through this section with an open mind.

In the next two chapters you’ll learn about the WordPress hierarchy and get an introduction in to WordPress functions, template tags, and even The Loop. A good understanding of the hierarchy is the key that will empower you to build better, more complex themes.

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