creating themes and php

well, it is my experience while making themes that it is more time efficient as well as effective cutting down of frustration to use what is already written. You gotta be sure not to step on others work though..

Most the functions are standard, meaning if you were to write a php script to do something it would just about be duplicate to the way it already is- so most changes are in display structure and presentation style..

If you do write a theme, it is my opinion it should look quite a bit different than others available, or at least to the point that nobody can say “hey, that is just like this one except…”

you know what I mean?

drew, thanks for getting back.

If I write a theme, it will be for personal consumption only. I’m not a good enough programmer or patient enough to create a feature rich ready for distribution theme. But if I go through all the trouble I want to brag that it’s my own creation – even though I anticipate that about none of the php will be my own. Thus the dilemma.

Is there a specific code set that one can use without needing to give credit? Obviously, I want to hog all the credit for myself.

Thanks again.

most themes use standard codex scripts. You can look at the codex until you go blind because very little of it will be meaningless unless you have a theme open in front of you.

My suggestion for writing your first theme is find a style you like i.e. header, footer and sidebars where you like them. Then start dissecting them to see what each part does. Then do another and another of similar styles. Compare each function and how they work, then look at the options in the wp codex for each function and play with them one at a time.

Don’t worry too much about stepping on people’s toes when it comes to theme building. Don’t claim work that isn’t yours, but know that if you have reordered the functions, changed the colors, and gave it new graphics it is no longer someone else’s theme, it is yours. If you can find your code in the codex or in any list of css styles, then it is yours to use. Anyone who wants to get high handed and claim public code as their own needs to be smacked. The code arrangement may be your work, but the code itself belongs to everyone.

Obviously, I want to hog all the credit for myself.

hehehe I hear ya…

again, imHo, the script is almost universal as far as getting the function you want from the WP structure…. If you were to tell 10 php’rs “I want to echo the posts in alphabetical order”, you would get ten almost identical scripts… the essence of a theme is structure and presentation. The CSS and theme structure is where you will cross paths with ripped off developers…

I feel you can look at something and get some inspiration for something else, and use that as a platform to build on- change it in other words- and at a point it becomes all you… I don’t have an answer for you where that point is though…

Anyone who wants to get high handed and claim public code as their own needs to be smacked.

bravo—- x 3 !!!!

amen, brother ben!

And about using generic code and yet making a unique design out of it, I suggest you look at all the wonderful designs at CSS Zen Garden. They all use the same HTML code and stylesheet. It’s just how the CSS is applied that makes each design unique. So the originality lies within you and your ability to deliver a fresh, different design. Not in the code.

Go here. Prepare to be dazzled.
https://www.csszengarden.com

Go here. Prepare to be dazzled

I go there often… there are some pretty ingenious folks out there, isn’t there?

My understanding of CSS really launched when I read on the ‘complex spiral‘ though… almost like I broke through the glass ceiling and learned how to use css for more than the obvious.. and also use css against itself as one way of saying it, to get a form/function truly unique.

I just wished all the browsers would play the same game… I hate IE hacks, but resort to them often.

Thanks for the input. I’ll dig a little deeper into the codex.