To get going on your WordPress theme design, you'll want to understand how the WordPress blog system works, and have your head wrapped around the basics of the WordPress project you're ready to embark on. If you'll be working with a more technical WordPress administrator and/or PHP developer, make sure your development installation or sandbox will have the same WordPress plugins that the final site needs to have. You'll want to have all the recommended tools installed and ready to use, as well as brush up on those web skills, especially XHTML and CSS. Get ready to embark on designing a great theme for one of the most popular, open source blog systems available for the Web today.