Building the Perfect Theme
Web Design

WordPress Web Design – Building the Perfect Theme

WordPress.org is an industry leading content management system (CMS) which powers a huge percentage of the internet. One of the reasons for this is the huge amount of flexibility you have when it comes to WordPress web design. You can choose from thousands of themes from the WordPress template library, but you can also create and upload a custom theme.

Many more experienced designers do decide to go down the custom theme path, especially when they want to build larger, feature-rich sites. But, this isn’t always easy, and there are numerous things to think about when you’re trying to build the perfect theme.

Decide How To Build Your Theme

Once you’ve decided to create a custom WordPress theme, you need to start thinking about exactly how you’re going to do it. There are numerous options, but the most popular are using an automated WordPress theme builder or coding your site manually.

Automated theme builders are useful, but they t end to be somewhat limited. If you have a strong knowledge of HTML, CSS, website layouts and JavaScript, then I’d lean towards the manual coding option. It will give you full flexibility and the ability to create pretty much anything you want.

Understand What Files You Need

Next, you need to start thinking about what sort of files you need to create for your website. The simplest websites need only two files – style.css and index.php – but more complex sites need more files.

If you want to add things like a custom header, footer, sidebar, or anything else, then you will need to add separate code files for each section. You might also choose to use additional CSS stylesheets or JavaScript files to enhance your site’s functionality.

Think About Using Tools

Just because you decide to code your website manually doesn’t mean that you have to write every single line of code. There are numerous tools out there that are designed to help you compile your code fast and efficiently.

For example, I love using Webflow’s design software. It uses a drag-and-drop interface which allows you to define the layout of your website without having to write the code first. Once you’ve put your site layout together, you can export a tidy code file that you will be able to edit manually as much as you need to.

Make Sure You Know What Your Site Should Look Like

Finally, you need to make sure that you know exactly what your website is going to look like before you start the design process. I’d recommend sitting down with a pencil and a piece of paper and sketching the main elements of your site, where they need to be, and what they’re going to look like.

Final Word

Creating your own custom WordPress theme won’t be easy, but the results will be incredible if you put a decent amount of time and effort into it. Think carefully about exactly how you’re going to create the theme, what it should look like, and what elements you need to include.

Good luck!