generally inappropriate work, school, hobbies, and toilet jokes

How to Create Your First WordPress Theme

So I set out a while back to create my first WordPress theme. In doing so, I discovered a couple of really good resources that gave me an excellent head start and wanted to share them with the world.

To give you some background, I've been writing (X)HTML and PHP for quite some time and I've been a programmer even longer, so I know my way around code. Obviously, your mileage may vary with these tools depending on your comfort level with XHTML and PHP.

Now, to start, I thought it would be pretty easy to just sit down in an afternoon with my PSD mockup and throw together a WP theme in no time. So, I found this great tutorial on writing a WordPress theme from scratch and I was off to the races. Or so I thought. Turns out, this stuff is quite a bit of work! I went through the whole tutorial (inasmuch as my limited attention span would allow) and ended up with a lot of great background knowledge. I mostly knew what all that code meant, but I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what the heck I was doing. I needed something a bit simpler.

Enter Whiteboard, a fantastic "theme framework." At least, that's what they call it. It's a barebones WP theme that's easy to understand and edit. With the knowledge I gained from the aforementioned tutorial, I was able to take Whiteboard and turn it into the fully function WP theme of my dreams. Well, not exactly. But hey, it's my first try! I will say that my first-ever WP theme was for a client and they are very pleased with it. Now I'm thinking of entering this contest with a WP theme store.

Just for the heck of it, here's a little bonus content: From the same folks that brought you the WordPress theme tutorial, here are a few tips to help you secure your WP install: http://themeshaper.com/dont-get-hacked-wordpress-security-tips/

Enjoy!