WordPress Theme Design Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Getting Started as a WordPress Theme Designer
• WordPress Perks
• Does a WordPress Site Have to Be a Blog?
• Pick a Theme or Design Your Own?
• Drawbacks to Using a Pre-Made Theme
• This Book's Approach
• Things You'll Need to Know
• WordPress
• CSS
• XHTML
• PHP
• Not Necessary, but Helpful
• Tools of the Trade
• HTML Editor
• Graphic Editor
• Firefox
• We'll Be Developing for Firefox First, then IE
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Theme Design and Approach
• Things to Consider
• Types of Blogs
• Plug-ins and Widgets
• Getting Ready to Design
• We Have a Problem
• It Gets Worse
• The Solution–Rapid Design Comping
• Let's Get Started
• Sketch It
• Consider Usability
• Start with the Structure
• The DOCTYPE
• The Main Body
• Attach the Basic StyleSheet
• Basic Semantic XHTML Structure
• Adding Text–Typography
• Start with the Text
• Font Choices
• Cascading Fonts
• Font Sizing
• Paragraphs
• Default Links
• The Layout
• Navigation
• More Navigation–WordPress Specific Styles (OK, Style)
• Color Schemes
• Two-Minute Color Schemes
• Color Schemes with Photoshop
• Adding Color to Your CSS
• Create the Graphical Elements

• Relax and Have Fun Designing
• Slice and Export
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Coding It Up
• Got WordPress?
• Understanding the WordPress Theme
• Your WordPress Work Flow
• Let's Build Our Theme
• Tabula Rasa
• Including WordPress Content
• The Loop
• The Sidebar
• Breaking It Up–Separating Your Theme Into Template Files
• The Home Page
• Internal Pages
• Static Pages
• Quick Recap
• Fun with Other Page Layouts
• Don't Forget About Your 404 Page

• Summary

• Chapter 4: Debugging and Validaton
• Don't Forget About Those Other Browsers and Platforms
• Introduction to Debugging
• Troubleshooting Basics
• Why Validate?
• PHP Template Tags
• CSS Quick Fixes
• Advanced Troubleshooting
• Fixing CSS Across Browsers
• Box Model Issues
• Everything Is Relative
• To Hack or Not to Hack
• Out-of-the-Box-Model Thinking
• The Road to Validation
• Advanced Validation
• Firefox's JavaScript/Error Console
• The Web Developer's Toolbar
• FireBug
• Extra Credit
• What About the New Safari Mobile Browser?
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Your Theme in Action
• A Picture's Worth
• Theme Packaging Basics
• Describing Your Theme
• Licensing?
• Create a ReadMe.txt File
• Zip It Up
• No Way to Zip?
• One Last Test
• Get Some FeedBack and Track It
• Summary

• Chapter 6: WordPress Reference
• Class Styles Generated by WordPress
• Using the Template Selector Feature
• Template Hierarchy
• New Template Tag in 2.5
• Great Template Tags for Tags from 2.3
• Adding Tag Display to Your Theme
• General Template Tags—the Least You Need to Know
• Include Tags
• Custom Includes—Streamline Your Theme
• The Loop Functions
• WordPress Core Functions
• Summary

• Chapter 7: Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
• DYI or Plug-ins?
• Dynamic Menus?
• Drop-Down Menus
• DIY SuckerFish Menus in WordPress
• Applying CSS to WordPress
• Applying the DOM Script to WordPress
• Flash-ize It
• Flash in Your Theme
• Pass Flash a WordPress Variable
• Users Without Flash, Older Versions of Flash, and IE6 Users
• Flash in a WordPress Post or Page
• Summary

• Chapter 8: AJAX / Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
• Preparing for Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
• You Still Want AJAX on Your Site?
• Plug-ins and Widgets
• Plug-ins
• Widgets
• Getting Your Theme Ready for Plug-ins and Widgets
• Plug-in Preparations
• Installing the AJAX Comments Plug-ins
• Widget Preparations
• Installing the Google Reader Widget
• AJAX–It's Not Just for Your Site Users
• pageMash
• The AJAX Factor
• JavaScript Component Scripts
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Design Tips for Working with WordPress
• The Cool Factor
• Rounded Corners
• The Classic – All Four Corners
• The Two Image Cheat
• Creative Posting
• Breaking Boundaries
• Keep Tabs on Current Design Trends
• Graphic Text
• Extra Credit – Use PHP to make Graphic Headers Easy
• Good Design isn't Always Visual – Looking at SEO
• Search Engine Friendly URLs
• Keywords and Descriptions
• DYI Metatags
• Metatag Plug-ins
• Summary

• Index