WordPress Theme Basics

What’s A Theme?

Themes control what people see on the front end of your website.

If WordPress is the engine powering your site, themes are the body of the car it drives.

More Than Just LooksThemes are responsible for:

• Hiding or showing content & metadata

• Creating containers to insert widgets & menus

• Enabling adding functionality (often powered by plugins)

Controlled By Your Theme• Number of columns

• Styles & CSS

• Typography

• Thumbnail image placement & size

• Meta information display & size

Twenty Sixteen (Default Theme)• Pre-loaded when you install WordPress

• Used to showcase the features of WordPress

• New default theme released each year

• Super useful when things go wrong

https://wordpress.org/themes

Appearance > Themes

Commercial Themes

Child Themes• If you modify a theme directly and it is updated, then your

modifications may be lost. By using a child theme you will ensure that your modifications are preserved.

• Using a child theme can speed up development time.

• Using a child theme is a great way to learn about WordPress theme development.

Source: WordPress Codex

Theme Considerations

• What are you using it for?

• Key functionality

• Translations/multilingual considerations

• Plugin compatibility

• Ease of use

• Responsive is not optional

Evaluating ThemesWho’s the author?

Popularity/downloads

Ratings & reviews

Support

• Last Updated • Popularity • Rating

What do users have to say about features and support?

Installing a Theme

Exercise: Play Around With Live Previews

Exercise:Install a New Theme

Activating a Theme

Customizer Lab