Based on a recent poll I’ve conducted, many readers are interested in learning how to build a custom WordPress theme. So, in upcoming posts on Web Designer Wall, I’m going to write a complete WordPress guide on how to install WordPress and customize theme. Below is a table of content of the guide (links will be updated as soon the posts are published):
Chapter 1: Installing WordPress Locally
Chapter 2: Building Custom WordPress Theme
Chapter 3: Moving and Exporting WordPress
[poll=13]
Todd Smith
I’ve been waiting for this. Thank you in advance. I’m really excited.
Skelliot
hopefully this helps me iron out some of the issues I have been having with my themes :).
LL' Leo Lemos
I’ve been waiting for this too!!!
Jacob
I’m really excited about this too. Perfect timing as I’m looking to get a new site up and was really hoping to use WordPress! When can we expect the first article?
Mr X
CSS tricks has some really good screen casts that beginners may find useful. I’m sure they would compliment your good work!
http://www.css-tricks.com/videos/
Sean Neill
Woohoo! Looking forward to some WordPress stuff on WDW. But, I definitely would still like to see the articles about trends and techniques that are typical for this site.
By the way, I absolutely loved your presentation at FOWD NYC. It was really inspirational and I found it interesting how much we can really learn from our surroundings and all the little details that make up our environment. Thanks!
Greg M
I can’t wait for this series! Thanks in advance for lending us your expertise.
Rui
Nice! Thank you! I’m new to WordPress themes, so your article might help me a lot.
Zach LeBar
Hi. First off, thanks abunch for doing this. I was wondering if I may be so bold as to make a request. I’d really love to see an indepth look at the functions that make WordPress work the way it does and then how to harness and twist that power to our own use. BWAHAHAHAHA!…hmm…um sorry. Anyway, that would really be nice. Please take your time. An detailed long review that I have to wait a week or so for, is more valuable imo, than a 15-20 minute overview. Again, thanks. And can’t wait!
M.A.Yoosuf
its god for giving a picture in wordpress, whay dont you add about the DRUPAL, becouse its also becomming a propler CMS, better to cover that also (Sorry for going out of the point ;) )
Miiitch
I know how to make a WordPress theme, but I’m sure you’ll have a few tricks I’ve never even heard of. Can’t wait!
umang
theres like tons of these guided on the internet.. we dont need more… post something intresting or useful, since not everybody uses wordpress
Ben
I know how to create WordPress theme, and I have already started a series of blog posts in my site about how to Creating a WordPress theme, post made with newbie WordPress users in mind. If you have got some time, take a look at my attempt along with the upcoming WDW Tutorials
David Hellmann
good idea!! i think many people use free themes because they not known how to create a own theme. gogogo nik, write it! :)
polonel
Great News… I was wondering if your going to start from scratch… As in once the layout is made in photoshop taking it and breaking it into a CSS WordPress compatiable theme..?
Edwin
This sounds awesome, I definitely need to learn this too. Thanks!
Jeana
If anyone else was doing this I would not be as interested. I find I rarely have questions once you are done with a tutorial because you are so thorough. So excited to begin, I knew it was a good idea to add you to my blogs I follow list.
Brandi
I would love to read and use your detailed guide for this. Its time I got off my laurels and wrote my own wp theme.
andrisetiawan
thanx for sharing.
I can’t wait to read the tutorial. :D
Sheilla
Looking forward to the articles :)
kami
i realy love t this things
i m waiting
Anton Shevchuk
I’ve been waiting for this.
P.S. I create small cheatsheet for template designers (for wordpress)…
Henk
OK! I am really looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, ideas and insights on this blog!
theMunna
go with God!!!!! I need that …
thanks
chris
great. is it going to be the installation on mac or pc? hope it is for mac
Gertrude
Lovely!
We are definitely waiting for that.
Hillie
Great! looking foarward to it!!
poring
YAY!!! Another reference for creating a wordpress theme? Can you also include a guide on how to instal wordpress offline?
Thank You so much looking forward to it!
Horous
That sounds really nice !
I too am looking forward to it…
Thanks !
Khürt Williams
I had planned on moving from a WordPress.com hosted blog to a self hosed blog. I purchased a theme but I am overwhelmed with how to customize it for my needs. Your series of articles will be most welcome.
Nicole
Oh, that’s a great idea! I’m just working on a new design for my website and I’m planning to base it on wordpress. I hope your tutorial will be ready in time! ;)
I love your site btw. :)
Sean
I’ve got a new client using wordpress. For me this is the first time to use it, so I’m really looking forward to your tutorial.
Joey
YAY! I love wordpress so much! I just have no clue on where to start in maknig my own theme from scratch!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
IN advance
Looking so forward to starting my own Theme!
Jacob Lower
Uhuh, something intresting is coming ^^
noelperlas
Yes, a mac walkthrough would be great. Plus, I have somewhat done a wordpress custom theme. But I am missing which details should be customized, like fonts for comments, form elements, sidebar navigation, gravatar, subpages and such. I would like to know what constitutes as a “complete” custom theme.
Sam Christy
Awsome I can’t wait!
hexefish
love to learn something new….and better if it is helpfull
Alison
wow I’m definately excited about this one! i mean, I know how to do it, but I never thought about doing it locally, I just make sure to do a noindex when im developing. i’ll be waiting to see how you do it!
Rob
This will be great as it will save me a document at work! I find it really shocking the amount of good web developers that I work with “worry” when i mention word press to them and how easy it is to re-skin or create a theme for it. This should show them just how easy it is.
Great work
Ara
Love your site always man… Looking forward for the complete guide :-)
Dainis Graveris
oh I cann’t wait to get these parts..:)
PY
Looks like a good ressource too! Thanks for this!
Looking forward to read those tutorials, even though i’m more into Joomla! right now.
PY.
Anthony
The part about “Installing WordPress on Local Computer” is very important, I did it about 5 months ago and I can not tell you how much time it saved me, and it was easier to fix buggy themes. Good to see that someone is finally making that a part of how to make your own wordpress theme.
TheFrosty
That will be awesome!
Max Weir
Thanks, I’ve got the basic grasp of building one myself but would love to learn what things I can dump out of the code so its tailored exactly to the project itself without any redundant markup left over. Look forward to this one!
Saeed Ashour
Waiting for tutorial :)
Josh
Sounds fantastic! Can’t wait for these posts.
wojtek
Finally :) Thanks a lot, can’t wait, can’t wait…
Emma
I can’t believe the excellent timing, as this wkend my friend helped me install WordPress as a starter so I’m good to go. Just got to theme it now. Can’t wait for the guide!! :o)
ruben
Please begin with chapter 2!
…No just joking :-P
Ricks
Great stuff… cant wait!!!
Ricky Catano
I’ll be watching this :)
Just as I watch the site
Tangletail
That would be great i’m currently working on one.
Are you still hireing bloggers. I may be thirteen but I’m pretty good with css and html and have some knowlage of VB, PHP, JS and flash Action Script 2.
I’m not good in php but I do alot of experimenting.
weblizzer
hi, this would be a great for us to know, i’m trying to learn the most for wordpress… specially from psd to implementation on wordpress… i do hope you will continue and we’ll look forward for this.. great!
Finan Akbar
Gee.. It’s GREAT!!! Cant wait to learn how to customize themes!!!!
ROCK!!!
Carolyn
This is just what I need. A no-nonsense intro to customising a wordpress theme, so hopefully I will finally start my blog which has been on the back burner for quite some time.
Thanks.
Frank
this sounds great, i’m looking forward to see this and thanks a lot!
ิีืBG
Super Useful Guide !!!
Can’t wait !!!
Thanks.
Dave Treagust
Cannot wait for this! perfect reason to finally start my site!
Daniel
For me it would also be very interesting how i can start a design for wordpress. What are all the parts that need to be designed.
Installation explanation seems to be not so very necessary to me, but perhaps for your majority visitors it’s a big issue…
Chapter 2 is THE most important :)
Danne
Awesome :D
printers capalaba
yeah sounds like a great idea. look forwad to the post thanks heaps!!!
mkjones
Makes sense to do this with 2.7 on the horizon.
Bleyder
Yeah! I can’t wait till you post this articles!!
Krishna
Yeah, I like this…
Bill
Looking forward to this, I haven’t built my own WP theme yet and after moving a site from my dev box to the live web server, I’m interested to see what steps you take compared to what I went through with the move. Thanks.
Jason
Will be really usefull !! Thanks =)
Brtk
Lookin’ forward to part 2 of your tutorial ! Should be great, as usual :)
David Smith
I will look forward to this. Exaclty what i need. Please include sections on turning WordPress into a portfolio using tagging to flag some “blog articles” as “images”…etc
Many people want to use WP as the backend to their portfolio site, and I’d like a fool proof demo of how to retain the blog/individual page aspect of WP, whilst also adding a portfolio section as part of the backend.
Christian Mejia
Excellent! I am looking forward to chapter 2. I would also hope to learn how to theme a WordPress into a portfolio making most pages static. Thanks for the heads up I will be stuck like glue onto webdesignerwall!
Edward Terry
Was just thinking my blog needs a makeover because the “advanced template” I am currently using has a few elements missing and isn’t quite the look I’d like. Looking forward to the posts and enjoying reading your blog.
Jake Mize
looking forward to this. Im in the somewhat familiar category but am interested in seeing a more detailed description.
Willi Wonka
I would like to improve my ‘somewhat’ WP-Theme skills.
Nikolay [u2k]
Wow , this smell like a new skills !
Zlatko N.
Can’t wait to read the articles. It’s just the right time when I wanted to start building custom WP themes.
Demian
Yeah! i hope read this guide soon! Thanks!
(specially the first, i need learn wordpress now!)
Atomic Bombshell
Brilliant idea! Looking forward to it.
Kevin
Your site is one of the BEST, up to date, learning facilities online.
You teach what I want to learn!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cloud9 design
Yay! I can’t wait to read this one!!!
tif
Ohhh thank you so much! I am very looking forward to the chapters. I would love to learn…I’ve always wanted to make a custom wordpress blog.
garaj kapısı
i know creating theme, but i want to read your guide.
:) i’m looking forward to it.
Ken Nickless
I have installed many wordpress sites but can’t wait for the post on Building a Custom WordPress Theme.
Turbotrak
Will be very helpfull to an oldie like me !Looking forward to it!
Jacob
looking forward to it.
Ariyo
Looking forward to reading your articles. It will be nice if you incorporate some widgets and plug-ins too like custom Flickr and Tweeter widgets and stuff like that.
Kayla
I absolutely love the way you write tutorials/articles. They’re very easy to follow, and I always learn so much from this blog!
I’ve only found one good tutorial on creating custom WordPress themes, and it wasn’t completely versatile. I’m looking very forward to the guide.
insic
im sure this would be great tutorial. im looking forward in to it.
Josh
Wow! Thanks a lot. Like Kevin said, yours is the best! Really admire your work, and hope you can teach us all how to customize and built our website so we can create a good one like yours.
Catsoup
Yum Yum
web dizajn
I’m looking forward to it too. Regards :)
paluh
WordPress it’s a top blog and cms tool, i think it’s very powerful and easy to use. I love it. thanks for this guide it helps a lot us, the webmasters.
Regards from Paluh
http://www.deprowebs.com
Fumin
WordPress is wonderful!
StuKnow
WordPress is absolutely top notch & I would LOVE to know how to build it from scratch, especially from a photoshop template. I’m willing to dive into the php swimming pool IF I can learn how to turn my visual creativity into a WP Blog/CMS. So……YES PLEASE!!!!!
Kavita Kumar
I am really looking forward to this article. Your website is very very inspiring and it is the free encyclopedia for a web designer like me to learn and grow. Thank you.
Jason
Thanks for doing this. I’m developing my first theme right now and I’d like some tips on certain things. I just started with the default theme and plugged in my basic design.
For instance, check the CSS on the Read More button. There’s a huge difference between Having it position correctly in IE was a bit more frustrating than normal.
A checklist of everything involved would be pretty cool. I like to mark things off. Makes me feel like I’ve done something. :D
Annica
When will you update the links? I want to read! :D
kaiz3n
omg thank you. =) Chris Coyier has a great screencast tutorial series he has done on WordPress themes. I started there and was going to use the WPThemerKit to do my second design properly but now I have another choice, I love it! I haven’t read the tutorial yet so who knows what goodies I will find.
Thanks!!
Alex
SHOUT! I’m planning to update my site soon and have it powered by wordpress so I can blog away like a lord…. also set up some other people’s so this would be grand.
dzg
Yes, I do!
Jo
The topic seems quite interesting especially if done in detail. However why post just to say you will write bout something in the future? Isn’t this a bit redundant? Would be good if you at least had the first part published already…
Finan Akbar
When will it be? I cant stand it!!!! Pleaaaseee…
Floris Baan
If this guide is of the quality we are used to on webdesignerwall I’m really looking forward to it! Keep up the great work!
Nikzuave
Wee! I will wait for it! God Bless and more power..
Eliot
While waiting for the tutorial on making your own theme to apear here you could check this tutorial out. It takes a bit of time to get through it, but it’s worth it. At least had a lot of help from it.
Temaindir
When will you update the links? I want to read!
kaiz3n
Wish I had this a few months ago. Good to have now for a quick reference sheet now.
Mr B
Great stuff Nick and I see you have started. I am trying to get WordPress going as a CMS with several templates and finding it tricky. Any help advise, tutes on that would be much appreciated!
Adam
Just spotted this great idea, I will be watching this like a hawk.
Also point to note: I think that poll might not give you the best feed back. I voted too fast and should have chose ‘no but would like too’ and clicked ‘no’.
Trigger
Raphael DDL
I’ll insanely wait for the Chapter 2.
I have no idea how export and all tries were a complete fail.
Crop
Very Good Nick
Bastian
This is going to be very helpfull to a lot of people. Especially the first part will be very helpful for the people who have never worked with servers, php and that sort of stuff. Also for the people who are a bit more advanced, this tut. can be helpful: you can always learn from an expert ;)
Bastian
PS. You can learn a lot from building your own blog: I’ve created mine from scratch.
Diego
The questions isn’t why, but why not !
Diego
http://www.corporatewebsolutions.net
Wade
Can’t Wait for Chapter 2 and 3 to be released. But I think it will be a while before it is.
M.A.Yoosuf
its great,
why dont you make a simple artical on developing wordpress themeinn?
now i also thought of publicing a articals like u nick, but i wont interrupt ur concepts and ideas, so i have published an artical about Drupl Teaming hope it will be use full for all the bloggers and guys who re using and hoping to use Drupal as CMS, please find the entry on below link
http://yoosuf.awardspace.com/archives/25
Thank you
M.A.Yoosuf
Flash Expert
Thanks for this word press tutorial. I have tried to install it on my machine, but stuck with configuration file.
Steve Edge
I love webdesignerwall !!!!
You always come up with great articles.
It is a close call between you and Smashing Magazine :-)
joao
this is very helpfull to me! I’ll apply this knowledge in my blog. Thanks!
Yohan
Can I translate your tutorial for the Russian audience? Backlinks will be posted!
DragonWiz263
Hi there,
Thank you for sharing such valuable information. I find them all very informative and I am sure that it is definately going to keep me coming back to this site. I’ve fav’ed your site to Stumble Upon….
bweb
Thanks, it helps a lot.
paluh
This is great, thanks a lot for sharing all this skills.
best from Paluh
http://www.deprowebs.com
David
Thanks for the tutorials always wanted to know who to work with Wors Press , i do how ever think modx is easier to work with and more flexible
http://modxcms.com/
CMHB
Thanks for this. I think I will be making use of this as I will soon be working on a new blog site, and I’m sure I’ll pick up a few tips with this tutorial that I haven’t yet discovered. Thanks again.
– CMHB.com
Home
I appreciate the tutorial on wordpress theme guide
Fiona Angelina
thx for providing these useful wp-related guide. they’re really helpful :)
Der Onkel Plak
Damn! this is very quick and nice.
pepe
me ha gustado mucho esta web.Gracias
Suresh V Ramani
Thats a nice quick tutorial i could learn from. Thanks for sharing it.
And by the way, your ndesign site is really cool. :)
ArabBible
great tutorial…………this will help me in my future web designs
kidslovemusic
great :) im building my own template at the moment and this tutorial will help me i hope :)
tutinit
tui cung đang mún tìm hỉu tk web
mong được các bác chỉ zùm
sikis
great tutorial…………this will help me in my future web designs
porno
Have installed this theme on my main blog – amazing theme. I’m a web developer myself and know how much time it takes to make something like this.
But some problems arise in IE7 with WP 2.7.1. I’ll drop a note when I’ll have a solution for that.
wpdigger
Have installed this theme on my main blog – amazing theme.
Thanks for providing these useful wp-related guide.
Irfan
working as beginner
Irfan
my comment
watin
this is great, thanks for your tutorial.
Website Designer Katy TX
This is great! I just installed WordPress and was in need of this tutorial. I book marked this and your WordPress Theme Hacks Tutorial. I am really enjoying your work.
nina
hi..im planning to create an e-learning website for my thesis.. how can this wordpress help me?.. (actually, i don’t know what a wordpress really is!)..
can some1 explain this to me pls.. i’m really interested.. thanks a lot guy!
Chris
I am trying to download WAMP or the other program, when the sourcefoge widow pops up, I click on the downloads and nothing happens, I’ve tried direct links and mirror sites. I use Windows XP would anyone have any ideas, I really want to learn this theme program from the ground up?
Ruana
One of did ask: what is this wordpress? For those who really don’t have a clue, please check out this pages first:
1. Getting started with WordPress:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress#WordPress_for_Beginners
2. Blog design and layout:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Blog_Design_and_Layout
Overall one could say: WordPress is a CMS best used for blogs and based on php-templates. Each section of your site (header, content, sidebar, footer) is a separate php-file. Conten is created dynamically.
Ruana
Ruana
@Chris (concerning the wamp-server)
Did you try this page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wampserver/files/WampServer%202/WampServer%202.0/WampServer2.0i.exe/download
I just tested the download and it works perfectly fine.
Ruana
CaillouDesign
great tutorial. Thanks !
tugas akhir
The design is unique, i am very like it. Thanks for it.
Aoobi
Have installed this theme on my main blog – amazing theme.
Thanks for providing these useful wp-related guide.
bagsin
Yes, I want to make my own theme
Cyrus
Great , Complete WordPress Theme Guide
Great article. CSS saved web design
Cyrus
Visit http://www.psdtoxhtmlcoder.com
Cinzia
Hello, I am a webdesigner and Italian graphics and I wanted to tell you that I translated your valuable WordPress tutorial’s and I wanted your permission to be able to include this tutorial in my next blog. If you want I can send it to you! Bye, Cinzia.
Mike
The design is unique, i am very like it. Thanks for it.
CristHoz
Tanks!!!
vincentdresses
The designs showed here show what simple and tasteful design is all about. Another one to consider
KH
Hi,
Is it possible to have different header image for different pages (not post, in this case) by using WordPress default theme? If so, how do we go about it?
Thanks and looking forward to hear from you soon.
Web Design
Amazin tutoiral thank YOU!
Kee
thanks for your tutorial.. t’was helpful for beginners like me! :)
hope i can make my own theme now! ^o^
中红网
Nice,,,,,,,tks
katie
This is awesome! Thank you! Anyone having trouble when they get to step 4 or 5, watch this video…it helped me alot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10fbwScPMtQ&feature=related
أبل
great tutorial very nice work thanks
Nelvin
thank you so much for this! Easy to understand for a beginner. :D
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Ben
The post is really the best on this laudable topic.
Ivan Kristianto
Even i know most of them. But it’s great article for beginners. Well done!
formula 21
thank you so much for this! Easy to understand for a beginner
altın çilek
The post is really the best on this laudable topic.
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Kazi Ataul Bari
Excellent…………
Timor-Leste
Cool…I am going to practice it now. A helpful blog. Thx:)
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Make Money on Squidoo
I want to make my own WP theme, too. I will read your posts and I hope I will learn a lot. Thank you for your hard work, much appreciated! I hope this will work with any other WP theme.
Erik Glassett
I have to show thanks to this writer for bailing me out of such a dilemma.
sugar daddy
Aww Yeaaaaaah
maroc wadifa
thank you ! that’s really helpful , i’ll practise it shortly ;)
absolute logo
Thanks for the information, a lot of people can use this to their benefit!
Danielle
This was a great help thanks! I am using Lubith in order to generate my WP theme because I don’t have that much time to start from scratch and it’s a really fast and flexible editor but here I found some really useful information which might help me with the code and the overall improvement of the layout!
bitkisel
Thank you Thank you!! This is organized very nicely
sumit
hi
sumit
hi
this is good sit….