developing code

  • I am [not] a newby to understanding hosting, migrating, etc. I’ve been developing some online, but recently downloaded MAMP and am doing so locally to speed things up.

    I am familiar with Dreamweaver, but out of my element with WordPress.

    I need a crash course in the design/development part of WordPress, not the “how to get the site up.” I am lost in how it’s structured, permalinks, IDs, etc. I’ve downloaded several themes and am stuck trying to create from that point on.

    I need a ‘somewhat’ in depth explanation of developing on the platform >> from Post to Pages to Portfolios to Widgets.

    My issue resolves around using existing Themes that I’m downloading. The developers are much further ahead on the knowledge curve. I am struggling taking existing Themes and designing with them.

    I used Viba Portfolio to create www.bobgriner.com, but I need a boost.

    Thanks!

    • This topic was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by bobgriner.
    • This topic was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Jan Dembowski.
    • This topic was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Jan Dembowski.
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • First ditch Dreamweaver and download Sublime Text. Use your browser to preview code.
    Second , google a tutorial on how to create your own WordPress theme from scratch. It is the BEST way to learn WordPress. The problem with using someone else’s theme is you have to override all the CSS to make things look the way you want. If your HTML/CSS skills are up to par, go ahead and create your own theme. All the PHP is copy and paste and you will learn a bit of PHP as you do it.

    Short description….
    A page is a website page.
    A theme is a collection of page templates and CSS/JS that make your content look a certain way.
    A post is a blog post that gets inserted into a blog page.
    A widget is a section of the template that allows you to drag and drop pre-programmed functionality to your page.

    There are literally thousands of tutorials on WordPress on the web. Get Googling.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Great response, @jaycbrf.

    One minor quibble: Rather than rolling your own theme from scratch, start with underscores (https://underscores.me). It embodies WP best practices programming and is a good way to learn how things work.

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Some great tips so far.

    If you haven’t seen it yet, review the Theme Handbook.

    Thread Starter bobgriner

    (@bobgriner)

    Thanks for the tips all. I’m “up” on Posts, Pages, etc. Been reading [The Codex] today. I’ve been reading about Page Templates, Site Architecture 1.5, and deeper info.

    My issue is really revolving around taking a Theme I’ve downloaded and making it do what I want. I’m not overly concerned with tweaking the colors, etc. I’ve taken a few One Page Themes and activated them. I can’t replicate the demos that they show with my own content. The standard WordPress Twenty Seventeen has actually been the most helpful. Their “customize” section actually has areas that reveal where/how to input content for various sections.

    My expectation with downloaded One Page themes created by others is that each page that I create can be placed/used on the Single page. I’ve been completely unable to figure out any of those themes. I’m not trying to produce blog content, so that Post area is unneeded. However, every WordPress theme defaults to using Post content on Home pages, etc.

    I think several of the developers are expecting a level of savvy/understanding/knowledge with using Permalinks, “#,” or slugs. All of which I’m not sure how to use those to “force” a Page into various layout sections.

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    First of all, you probably need to switch your front page setting to “Static”. It’s not truly static in most cases, the setting just means use a particular page instead of displaying a index of posts. The content that goes into this page is theme dependent. Sometimes there’s special fields on the page edit screen, sometimes a custom post type, sometimes a particular category of posts, there’s all sorts of variations.

    If you’re customizing a theme that’s that developed, you should consider creating a child theme. Typically, full theme development starts either from scratch or from a very basic theme meant to be built upon. There are also many commercial themes that are just child themes of a highly developed framework. We don’t see this last sort in the WP repository because the frameworks are typically not GPL licensed, a repository requirement. Child themes may not be acceptable either I believe, I haven’t seriously read through the guidelines lately.

    It’s true that some themes may take a lot of work to get your site to appear like their demo page. The demo is not so much “your site will look like this” as “we provide the tools to do this if you know what you’re doing.” While very misleading, it’s technically on the fringe of acceptable practice. The nice thing about repository themes is you can easily test them out on your own content.

    The demo is not so much “your site will look like this” as “we provide the tools to do this if you know what you’re doing.” While very misleading, it’s technically on the fringe of acceptable practice

    I think a lot of people forget the “Know what you’re doing” part and just think they can whip out a website that looks exactly like the demo that was built by a professional web designer/developer.

    Everything I know about WordPress I learned by building my own theme from scratch. I used Bones and Bootstrap and lot’s of tutorials. Until you understand how the code works you will never truly know why things are happening…

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • The topic ‘developing code’ is closed to new replies.

Tags