Build WordPress Theme Designs

Introduction

Help your client assess their site's target users first. If everyone is web 2.0 aware,using newer browsers, and are fully mouse-able, then you'll have no problems,AJAX away. But if any of your users are inexperienced with RIA (Rich Interface Application) sites or have accessibility requirements, take some extra care. Again, it's not that you can't or shouldn't use AJAX techniques, just be sure to make allowances for these users. You can easily adjust your site's user expectations upfront, by explaining how to expect the interface to act. Again, you can also offer alternative solutions and themes for people with disabilities or browsers that can't accommodate the AJAX techniques. This is just an extract from the WordPress Theme Design Book: http://www.packtpub.com/wordpress-theme-design/book

What you'll need

This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors.

Regardless of your web development skill-set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions, but familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.

Steps

Gone are the days of clicking, submitting, and waiting for the next page to load, or manually compiling your own content from all your various online identities to post into your site. A web page using AJAX techniques (if applied properly) will give the user a smoother and leaner experience. Click on a drop-down option and the checkbox menus underneath are updated immediately with the relevant choices—no submitting, no waiting. Complicated forms that, in the past, took two or three screens to process can be reduced into one convenient screen by implementing the form with AJAX. As wonderful as this all sounds, I must again offer a quick disclaimer. I understand that, as with drop-down menus and Flash, you may want or your clients are demanding that AJAX be in their sites. Just keep in mind, AJAX techniques are best used in situations where they truly benefi t the user's experience of the page,for example, being able to add relevant content via a widget painlessly or cutting a lengthy web process from three pages down to one. In a nutshell, using an AJAX technique simply to say your site is an AJAX site is probably not a good idea. You should be aware that, if not implemented properly, some uses of AJAX can compromise the security of your site. You may inadvertently end up disabling key web browser features (like back buttons or the history manager). Then there are all the basic usability and accessibility issues that JavaScript, in general, can bring to a site.

Alternate methods

Plug-in Preparations Most WordPress Plug-ins can be installed and will work just fi ne with your theme, with no extra effort on your part. You'll generally upload the plug-in into your wp_content/plugins directory and activate it in your Administration Panel. Here are a few quick tips for getting a plug-in displaying well in your theme: 1. When getting ready to work with a plug-in, read all the documentation provided with the plug-in before installing it and follow the developer's instructions for installing it (don't assume just because you've installed one plug-in, they all get installed the same way). 2. Occasionally, a developer may mention the plug-in was made to work best with a specifi c theme, and/or the plug-in may generate content with XHTML markup containing a specifi c CSS id or class rule. In order to have maximum control over the plug-in's display, you might want to make sure your theme's stylesheet accommodates any id or class rules the plug-in outputs. 3. If the developer mentions the plug-in works with say, the Kubrick theme, then, when you install the plug-in, view it using the Kubrick theme (or any other theme they say it works with), so you can see how the plug-in author intended the plug-in to display and work within the theme. You'll then be able to duplicate the appropriate appearance in your theme.

Suggested readings

This title will take you through the ins and outs of creating sophisticated professional themes for the WordPress personal publishing platform. It will walk you through clear, step-by-step instructions to build a custom WordPress theme. From development tools and setting up your WordPress sandbox, through design tips and suggestions, to setting up your theme's template structure, coding markup, testing and debugging, to taking it live it reviews the best practices. The last three chapters are dedicated to additional tips, tricks and various cookbook recipes for adding popular site enhancements to your WordPress theme designs using third-party plugins.

Whether you're working with a pre-existing theme or creating a new one from the ground up, WordPress Theme Design will give you the know-how to understand how themes work within the WordPress blog system, enabling you to take full control over your site's design and branding. For more Information http://www.packtpub.com/wordpress-theme-design/book

• This page was last modified 09:20, 17 October 2008.