[tomdkat]

I'm not asking "how" to create a Wordpress theme but how YOU, personally, create Wordpress theme (if you have ever created one)?

Or do you just use canned theme made by others?

EDIT: Edited to change "templates" to "themes".

Peace...

[colinsp]

Tom, If you mean a theme I had a look at this and it seemed to me that the php skills required to do a good job were extensive and beyond my current knowledge or ability. What I have done is standardize on a highly configurable theme called Suffusion and this allows custom CSS to alter any elements of the theme without breaking it on upgrade. The page templates themselves are also quite complex and imho the documentation on Wordpress leaves a bit to be desired (not simple enough for me to understand).

[tomdkat]

Yes, I meant a Wordpress theme. I'll update the title now (if I can).

Interesting point about the PHP skills. I've created my second Wordpress theme (not for general use but for two specific sites needing Wordpress embedded) recently and didn't need to know any PHP, other than where to put the info I needed for my content.

Is "Suffusion" something you downloaded? Do you think others are "put off" by the PHP stuff and don't create their own themes?

Peace...

[lordsmurf]

I have dev licenses to several premium theme packages. I've stripped down the themes to pure frameworks. I create my own look and feel, using their base code. More than once, the premium theme dev could not tell my theme was based on theirs.

I'm put off by all the PHP, but I'm good with the CSS.

Writing something completely "from scratch" also doesn't appeal to me. I didn't want to build a theme (PHP), I just wanted to build how it looked (CSS). I have gotten more into PHP, however, in the past 8 months.

For an example of "premium themes", have a look at StudioPress.

I'll never make a canned-quality site. Nothing shouts amateur like a template used as-is. (Even the theme devs tend to frown on as-is usage.)

[caraewilton]

I always follow the same method. First I create a css xhtm-1 strict template. Then I seperate it the template into a head, footer and content. Next I open the standard template that is packed with wordpress and borrow their php snippets using cut and paste. Then I add any aditional stuff I may want. I have built themes from scratch but I just find it takes ages for no real benefit bar the fact I can say, o wow all that code I typed myself!

[colinsp]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Is "Suffusion" something you downloaded?

Peace...

Yes Suffusion is one of the most powerful free Wordpress themes that there is imho. Just go to 'add themes' and search for 'suffusion' add it and have a play. there is a good support forum for the theme.

Like the other two posters I have modified a couple of themes the same way but I now don't bother and just use the Suffusion theme and use its extensive in-built configuration and a bit of custom css to give me what I want.

[lordsmurf]

Originally Posted by caraewilton

for no real benefit bar the fact I can say, o wow all that code I typed myself!

Yep, an ego boost for nerds -- a bragging point -- and nothing else.

Sometimes "from scratch" has benefits (cleanliness of code).
Sometimes it does not. This would be a "not".

Originally Posted by colinsp

Yes Suffusion is one of the most powerful free Wordpress themes that there is imho.

It looks very "bloggy" and basic to me.

[colinsp]

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

It looks very "bloggy" and basic to me.

Look at some of the page templates and what they can do, I have found it is easy to make it looked like a fixed page website rather than a blog. It depends on what you want of course