Blog Design 101: WordPress Theme/Template Design (Part 1)
16There are probably over 1000 free WordPress blog themes/templates out there. Yet, I still get people who write and ask me to help them design their own. And that’s cool. After all, it’s a great way to express one’s creativity. This post marks the first in a series to help you do just that: create your own WordPress blog theme. Before we get into WordPress blog/theme design, however, we need to talk a little bit about WordPress itself.
Database-Driven Websites (AKA Push-Button Publishing)
WordPress, like most blogging platforms, is a “database-driven” web publishing platform. In other words, all of your blog’s content is stored in a database in the form of, well, data. The database merely acts as a repository for all the information you add to your WordPress site. That includes blog posts, blog comments, blog categories, the title of your blog and a whole slew of other information. Most people, me included, would say that database driven websites are a key characteristic of Web 2.0 websites.
Compare that to Web 1.0 websites. When I first started designing sites in 1999, I used a program called Microsoft Frontpage. With Frontpage, I would create a web page that contained all the data I wanted to appear on that page. At the same time, I’d also create the look and layout – or the design – of the page with Frontpage. Then I’d have to upload that page to my webhost and link to it somehow from the other pages on my website.
If I wanted to change the look or layout of the page, or if I wanted to add something to the page, I’d have to do it with Frontpage and then upload the new page all over again. That’s not such a big deal if you’re only changing one page, but if you wanted to change the look of your entire site, it could be pretty time-consuming and costly. Most bloggers I know have hundreds of pages on their site. Some have thousands!
With database-driven sites, the design and the content are separate. Again, the data resides in the database on your web server/web host, and the template files (or theme) tell WordPress and the web browser how to organize and present that information to your website/blog visitor. If you want to change the look or layout of your entire site, all you have to do is change a few template files rather than every page on your site. For example, if you wanted to add a photo of yourself to your blog’s sidebar, all you’d have to do is go into the template file for your blog’s sidebar, add the HTML code for the photo, then save the template. And like magic, your photo would then show up on each page of your site that has a sidebar.
Database driven sites, such as WordPress are a glorious thing. It truly is push-button publishing at its best. If you want to add something to your website, just enter some information in a few fields, push a button and it’s instantly live on your site looking just the way you want it to look.
I hope I made all that clear enough for you to understand database driven websites. If not, feel free to comment with questions. In part 2 of this series, I’ll talk specifically about WordPress themes. We’ll cover the various template files that make up a WordPress theme and get you started creating your first theme.
Go to part 2 of this series.
About the Author
Michael Pollock is the marketing and product development guy for Solostream. He's also a blogger, a web marketing trainer and an entrepreneur. When he's not evangelizing Solostream, he trains other solopreneurs on how to use the web to reach more people, earn more money and live a bigger life. Michael's Website.
Thanks for your information. As a blogger, I always value people who add value to the information available to educate their readers. I particularly liked your advice about database driven websites. The whole look of the website can say it all aside from the content.
Great site and information – i recommend this site
Dreamweaver has its place as a design tool, however it doesn’t handle WordPress files too well without an extension. ThemeDreamer unlocks Dw’s design view so you can open a theme file and start modifying right away. It also has insight into WP’s template tag documentation. If your using Dreamweaver + WordPress without it, you’re only getting half the picture. Check out the before and after shots at
http://www.themedreamer.com/demos
I believe the blog template is just as important as the content. One of my friends bragged that her traffic increased tenfold after a redesign.
Hi,
I keep thinking about trying WP but even though there are so many templates available I still cannot find one that suits me.
I am afraid that I will end up with a mess if I try to build my own template. Are there services that you can pay to create a template for you?
John
I have found that templates are the easiest way to get started. If your computer savy in any way modding the template is your best bet.
I can attest to that. I’ve also started putting up my own website a few years back with Frontpage and then Dreamweaver, and it’s a heck of a time updating it. But with database-driven sites like WP, updating couldn’t be easier.
Thanks for the useful post, it answered a few questions I had.
Thanks. I finally understand database-driven WP blogs and realize I’ve spent years of time editing and uploading html pages for my sites, one by one. Themes are the way to go! Easier to modify.
Great, you post really helps newbies like me to understand wordpress basics. You explained things well, thanks!
[...] Blog Design 101: WordPress Theme/Template Design Part 1 and Part 2 [...]
I have created a personal website in dreamweaver, but have yet to publish it. I wanted to also add a blog. How do I do that? Should I use WordPress? If so, do I need to know php, mysql, apache? Also, is Textpattern the same thing as WordPress?
thanks & appreciate any help..
[...] Blog Design 101: WordPress Theme/Template Design (Part 1) (Part 2): Michael D. Pollock führt interessierte Leser in das “1 mal 1″ der Theme-Erstellung für WP ein. Ein Dritter Teil soll folgen, lässt jedoch noch auf sich warten (man kennt das ja mit diesen versprochenen Serien ;-)). [...]
[...] database-driven websites [...]
[...] He has released part 1 and part 2 of the series and I would expect the sections to continue to come out every day. Also be sure to check out the main frontpage of the site at http://www.solostream.com to keep up with the next parts of the series and everything else his team writes on! [...]
[...] Posted by Michael Pollock on October 30, 2006 in WordPress, Blog Design In part 1 of this series, we talked a little bit about database driven publishing platforms, such as WordPress. The key point of that discussion was that your blog data is separate from your blog design (the look and layout of your site). The data – such as blog posts, blog comments, blog categories, etc. – reside in a database on your web server/web host (you establish your database during the WordPress install process). [...]