WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme is a collection of code files and it provides the layouts (or templates), functionality and design of a website’s front-end and backend. Its main function is to show content and stored data of a website on the browser according to specified layout and style.
Theme file Storage Location
All theme files find in \wp-content\themes\ directory. From your WordPress powered website, you can access it from Appearance->Theme. After WordPress install we find only default themes.
Begining of Theme
TwentyTen which was the most famous default theme was introduced in 2010. Since then thousands of themes are developed.
Installation of Theme
Every time we get a default theme active on every WordPress installation. Some default themes present on every WordPress site initially. according to need, we can use the default theme or we can change the theme. Few ways are available to install a WordPress theme. Activate only that theme which is going to use.
Filter the WordPress Theme before installation
There are lots of themes that are free to use; whereas premium themes are also available for WordPress websites. WordPress has a huge number of free themes. We can add themes from Add New of Appearance -> Themes, or we can download them from wordpress.org and add it to our website. Thousands of free themes are available in WordPress. Then how to choose a perfect theme? WordPress provides categories to choose a theme. Categories are –
1. Popular:
In popular theme directory we find the most used themes.
2. Latest:
All recent time themes are available in this section.
3. Favorites:
When we mark any theme as the favorite in wordpress.org then you need to provide the username to get access of your favorite themes.
4. Feature Filter:
Here we can filter themes depending on their features like layout, feature, and subjects. You can choose your required features to get the available themes.
Basic functions of WordPress theme
Every WordPress theme comes with its design, layout, and features. Design is a unique creation of web page where layouts of the theme represents one column, two columns or three columns; features are some functionality which theme provides.
All basic functions of a website are controlled by the theme. Therefore every theme comes with front-end and backend layouts. The front-end layout is for normal users and backend for the admin user. Basic theme features are – navigation menu, load text-domain, post formats, post thumbnail, content width, custom header, custom footer, sidebar(s) management, background color, editor styling.
Categories of Theme
We can divide the theme into two types depending on its features. One is Single purpose and another is multipurpose.
Single-purpose Theme
A single purpose theme is for a specific type of website. we use it only for blogging or for eCommerce websites.
Multipurpose Theme
A multipurpose theme with a variety of features which are the basic need of any kind of website. A multipurpose theme is one where we can create blogs, promote a product, personal portfolio, support eCommerce even it can be used for corporate websites.
Minimum requirement for the creation of theme
Minimum two files required to create a WordPress theme.
1. Style.css:
It provides metadata for communicating with WordPress with the theme and also provides the style of HTML used in various files of the theme. Style.css is a must-have file for both parent theme and a child theme.
2. Index.php:
This is a fall-back file in WordPress. If WordPress does not find any template with a matching name than index.php is used as the current template.
Lots of PHP files are used to create a better WordPress theme. There are some basic template files which are present in WordPress themes. function.php is one of the important files. We can modify this file to make changes of theme template or add new functionality. It is better to create a child theme and copy function.php file or respective theme file in it and modify it. A child theme can be created with few lines of coding or we can also create a child theme without coding.
Final thought
We can customize our theme according to need even we can change the default theme style. Under Appearance, there is Theme Editor. Theme editor shows all the files of an activated theme. Any modification to any theme file can be done through the theme editor.
