Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes

Allan Cole, Raena Jackson Armitage, Brandon R. Jones & Jeffrey Way

Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes is an indepth but fun read that covers WordPress over 8 packed chapters and 217 pages. This table of contents should give you a good overview of what we've got in store for you.

Preface
- Who Should Read This Book
- What’s in This Book
- Where to Find Help
  - The SitePoint Forums
  - The Book's Website
- The SitePoint Newsletters
- The SitePoint Podcast
- Your Feedback
- Acknowledgments
  - Raena Jackson Armitage
  - Allan Cole
  - Brandon R. Jones
  - Jeffrey Way
- Conventions Used in This Book
  - Code Samples
  - Tips, Notes, and Warnings
1. Introducing WordPress
- A Brief History of WordPress
  - WordPress Today
- Why WordPress?
- WordPress.com and WordPress.org
- What is a Theme?
- Why become a WordPress theme designer?
- And Finally …
2. Planning Your Theme
- What do you start with?
  - Pages and Posts
  - Media and Links
  - Custom Fields
  - Categories and Tags
  - Comments
  - Widgets
  - The Loop
  - Menus
- Defining Success
- Letting Your Content Lead the Way
- Doing Your Research
  - Theme Research
  - Plugin Research
  - Script Research
  - Keep on Scouting
- Avoiding Feature Bloat
- Planning for the Audience
- Planning for Publishers
- Planning for Organization and Hierarchy
- The Theme Sitemap and Wireframe
  - The Sitemap
  - The Wireframe
- Just Recapping …
3. Theme Design 101
- The Principles of WordPress Theme Design
  - Color
  - Branding
  - Typography
  - Visual Style
  - Layout and Composition
- The Anatomy of a WordPress Theme
  - The Header
  - The Navigation Menu
  - The Loop
  - Pagination
  - Comments
  - Sidebars and Widgets
  - The Footer
  - The Home Page
  - The Standard Page Template
  - The Single Post Template
  - The Archive, Author, Category, and Tag Page Templates
  - The Search Results Page
  - The 404 Page
  - Standard Styling for HTML Elements
  - Extra Features
  - Don't Leave Anything Out!
- Putting It All Together
4. Theme Frameworks
- Why use a framework?
- Child Themes: The Smart Way to Build on a Framework
- How do I choose a great framework?
- Frameworks Worth Checking Out
  - Freebies
  - Paid Frameworks
  - So which framework is the best?
- Building a Simple Child Theme
  - Preparing Your Canvas
  - Creating Your Child Theme
  - Looking Stylish
  - Keep Poking Away at Those Styles
- A Frame to Work With
5. Advanced Theme Construction
- How Templates Work
  - Quick-and-dirty Template Hierarchy Reference
  - The Template Hierarchy and Child Themes
  - Thematic's Templates
- Building a Magazine-style Home Page
  - Ditching That Sidebar
- Including Files
  - Modifying the Footer
- Hooks and Filters
  - Adding a Favicon
  - Thematic's Hooks
- Putting It All Together
  - Time for a Break
- Pimping Your Child Theme
  - Adding a Social Media Button to Your Posts
  - Showing an Author Bio on a Post
  - Posts with Excerpts
- Red-hot Tips for Themers
  - Comments, Comments, Comments!
  - A Place for Everything, and Everything in Its Place
  - A Case of Mistaken Identities
- Keep On Exploring
6. Widgets
- Understanding Widgets and Widget-ready Areas
- Default Widgets
- Thematic's Widget-ready Areas
- Widget Markup
- Adding a Custom Widget-ready Area to Your Theme
  - Registering a Widget-ready Area
  - Displaying a Widget-ready Area
- Removing Widget-ready Areas
- Adding Custom Widgets
  - Introducing the Widgets API
  - Creating the Widget
- Summary
7. Theme Options
- Creating an Options Panel
  - Laying the Groundwork
  - Adding an Admin Panel
  - The Options Form
- Using Options in Your Theme
  - Altering CSS
  - Altering Markup
  - Altering Functionality
- Adding Color Variants
  - The Options Form
  - Adding the Style Sheets
- Custom Page Templates
- Shortcodes
  - Building Your Own Shortcodes
- Customizable Menus
- With Great Power …
8. Selling Your Theme
- Understanding the GPL
- You're Not Only Selling the Theme
  - Support
  - Documentation
  - Video Tutorials
  - Convenience
- Dual Licensing
- What Makes a Theme Sell?
  - Multiple Color Schemes
  - Custom Configuration Options
  - Freebies
  - Embracing the Latest Technologies
  - Keep It Simple, Student
  - Pull In the Reins and Solve Problems
- Test, Test, Test
  - Browser Testing
  - Plugin Testing
- Educating the Community
- Three Avenues for Selling Your Themes
  - One Website Per Theme
  - Your Own Marketplace
  - Choosing an Existing, Reputable Marketplace
- Soaking It All Up
Index

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Customer Reviews

Live, unmoderated reviews from our customers, typos and all.

Great book! Very concise and helpful.

C R W, USA 5 stars

I am by no means a developer/designer, however this book was easy to read and understand. I now feel more confident about updating our school website with the techniques used in this book.

Christpher Schmid, USA 5 stars