Customer Reviews

WordPress 2.8 Theme Design

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I seem to be reading quite a few WordPress books of late, and there are certainly a few to choose from. Packt Publishing's WordPress 2.8 Theme Design's tagline is 'Create flexible, powerful, and professional themes for your WordPress blogs and websites'.

WordPress themes are of interest to me since they fuse a visual aspect with PHP code, and there's no doubt that they appeal to many other people too.

Chapter Overview

1. Getting Started as a WordPress Theme Designer
2. Theme Design and Approach
3. Coding it Up
4. Debugging and Validation
5. Putting Your Theme into Action
6. WordPress Template Tag, Function, and CSS Reference
7. AJAX/Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
8. Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
9. Design Tips for Working with WordPress

The book's author Tessa Blakely Silver starts very gently with an introduction to WordPress themes and why downloading a theme that's already been coded and designed may not always be the best solution. Subsequently, the book develops a theme from scratch and examines core technologies such as WordPress, CSS, XHTML and PHP.

The second chapter starts with a discussion of theme design in general, followed by the beginnings of the theme that's developed throughout the book. There are further discussions on semantic markup, typography, fonts and layout.

The following chapter focuses on the code aspect of theme design, and suggests a workflow strategy as well as template tags, hooks, and the WordPress loop. Comments are then discussed in some detail, the topic including pagination and threaded comments.

Chapter four examines the process of debugging and validating. A thorough chapter includes references to the W3C validation services, Firefox's JavaScript/Error console, Firebug and some of the issues that the budding theme developer will face when dealing with IE6.

Chapter five looks at the style.css file, which provides descriptive information about a theme, together with packaging the theme into a ZIP for distribution and running test installations of the theme package.

Chapter six adopts a more reference based approach, with an in depth examination of WordPress template tags, the WordPress template hierarchy, the loop and shortcodes.

The following chapter looks at AJAX and JavaScript, as well as preparing your theme for plugins and widgets.

Chapter eight builds on Chapter 7's JavaScript discussion by developing a drop-down menu for the theme. There is also a discussion of Flash and how that can be used with WordPress themes.

Chapter nine rounds off the book with a number of design tips that apply not just to WordPress theme design, but web design in general.

The book's about 250 pages in length, and is generally well written. I did, however, notice a few errors in code samples (mostly misplaced quotes), and a couple of examples in the prose itself. Another minor niggle was that the author talks about semantic markup, and then introduces 'sidebarLT' (sidebar left) and 'sidebarRT' (sidebar right) IDs into the markup.

The back of the book states: This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions. But familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.

It seems as through Packt have tried to convince the potential reader that this is the book for them, regardless of whether they're fairly inexperienced in some areas, or a a highly skilled developer. I'd say that the book covers a lot of ground, and that it does so at a pace that would be suitable for an inexperienced developer. Much of the content, however, would already be familiar to a skilled web developer, and so I feel that they'd think that the really useful content is a little thinly spread.

Overall, it's encouraging to see more books about WordPress; although the internet is a fantastic resource, books still have a very important role in my opinion. The content of this one is great for beginner-medium level web developers, but more experienced readers will be left wanting more.

WordPress 2.8 Theme Design is the right book for those who currently understand the basics of Wordpress setup and theme modifications. Many books on Wordpress explain how to set up a self-hosted Wordpress blog, customize a header graphic and basic Wordpress blog management tasks and procedures. Wordpress 2.8 Theme Design takes you beyond the setup and management basics and into the creation of your own unique Wordpress theme from start to finish and is best for those who are comfortable with XHTML, CSS and Photoshop or GIMP. Silver begins with pros and cons of creating your own theme including Wordpress design best practices.

Silver has what some would consider a unique way of creating rapid prototype composites. Rather than sketching and designing first is a design program (e.g. Photoshop), she starts out with a rough sketch then moves directly into developing the layout in HTML and CSS. Her reasoning for this is twofold: First, she knows that by creating and laying everything out in XHTML and CSS that the site actually works for the real environment it will be used on. Second, many changes from clients come in the form of text tweaks. Working this way is easier in her view then wading through many Photoshop layers. From there, she takes a screen-capture of the layout and finesses it in Photoshop to create a comp that is easy to update and has the benefit of being partly coded. From there she takes the reader through the steps to convert the HTML to XHTML & PHP for Wordpress, widgetizing, testing your code and more.

There's a lot to like about this book. Just the fact that the book is about Theme design and not just another "Wordpress basics" book is worth noting. The instruction and reasoning behind each step and area of development is clear and concise. However, I tried and just couldn't get into a good groove in using her HTML to composite process. I'm going to give it another shot in the future but even if you work from PSD composite to XHTML/CSS the book is still very good - you'll just need to reverse some of her work flow ideas to suit yourself.

**Disclosure: I received this book at no cost from the book publisher.

OK, I know authors and publishers are under the gun to get stuff out the door with limited budgets, but the copy in this book is downright appalling. Obviously nobody bothered to edit it. The organization is terrible and every page has really bonehead grammatical and punctuation errors, which makes me reluctant to trust the code samples (they also contain typos). This is a real shame because there's a lot of good info here -- especially for front-end developers like myself. I probably wouldn't buy another book from this publisher or author. Compared to the WordPress Bible (which I'm also reading), it's the difference between night and day. A big disappointment.

I'm writing this review in part as an open letter to Tessa, the book's author, as well as to provide some insight into making your purchase ("you" being the shopper). I had originally reviewed (okay, "ranted about") Tessa's previous writing, "WordPress Theme Design". I found it lacking in many ways and went into an in-depth analysis of what I felt the book was missing.

WordPress 2.8 Theme Design is a soup-to-nuts improvement on the previous book. THIS book actually introduces topics that pertain to actual theming of WordPress blogs, with only casual discussion of related (albeit off topic) subjects. Tessa has really outdone herself here, and just as I bitterly criticized the previous writing, I feel this current edition is praise worthy. The book is well organized, concise, topics are developed ADEQUATELY, and in logical order, and references are made to where additional resources can be found.

Reading this book will guide the novice through some of the main factors of WordPress theme design. It explains, though briefly, pretty much all you need to understand to create your own WordPress theme, and from scratch. Topics are very well developed and though it may not say as much as I'd like, this book is by far the best (hard copy) resource I've yet to see on the subject. The reader will NOT be disappointed.

Good job Tessa!

This is great to get you started with Theme Design, at the very minimum. However, if you want to do some really in-depth and complex Theme Design this book will leave something to be desired. I would say this book is for someone who has an understanding of web design, and wants to understand how Wordpress functions alongside HTML and CSS. If you want to go more in-depth, I would check out "Digging Into Wordpress" which has explanations for everything, and goes very in-depth, but does assume a base-level of Web Design experience.

Overall, this book did get me through the initial steps needed to take a template and customize it to my needs. Hence, the 4 stars.

-HV

I found this book to be extremely useful. I needed to get a WordPress site up and running last fall. I bought four or five WordPress books that were in-depth enough to cover themes and this was the one I turned to more and more. One reviewer cited multiple mistakes in code and grammar; I don't recall this as being a problem. The only real issue I had with the book was that Chapter 6 is a Template Tag, Function and CSS Reference. This usually signals to the reader (me in this case) that everything after that is an appendix which was not the case. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 were really essential to getting the site up and running. Not a big issue but a little unusual.

Tessa's approach is to create a theme from scratch, creating each file one at a time, cutting and pasting what she wants from the Default Theme and leaving out anything she doesn't plan to use. I liked this approach a lot. I have a background in C programming and have been doing web development as a corollary part of my job for 15 years and, while I'm no professional by any stretch, I have many opinions and biases. One, I like to understand what I'm coding. Two, I don't like having any unnecessary overhead, especially with the Web. I've avoided adopting the "Child Theme" approach for exactly that reason since I haven't been convinced yet that this is the cleanest and fastest way to code (but it may be; jury's still out). Tessa's book was the only one I found that shows you how to create a theme from scratch and follows that process from the beginning to the end of the book.

Tessa can write. Her prose style is approachable and makes one feel like one is sitting with an enthusiastic friend. She offers plenty of advice about which tools she likes but leaves the final choice to the user (not always the case). She likes her work which shows in her writing. I like her work so much I also bought "WordPress 3.0 jQuery", also by her.

Some coding background is assumed. If you don't know a for loop from a fortune cookie take a pass. If you have no coding background and need to develop Wordpress Themes you should probably use a framework or customizable theme. If, however, you want to develop a theme from scratch, this is the book.

Tessa mentioned on her site she would be working on a version for WordPress 3.0 which I look forward to buying. I haven't invested the time to figure out what the differences in the WordPress files are with this update, and there are many. I'd rather she do the work and explain it to me. I'll buy that volume in a heartbeat.

I've read quite a few books on WordPress, and I can honestly say I wish this woman had written more of them.

In any book in this product class - computer / design / programming how-to - there are only really two issues at hand... Is the right information in there, and is it presented in an accessible, digestible, comprehensible way.

You could almost add "enjoyable" to that list, but in most programming and design books, that seems to be asking just a bit too much... And, on the surface, that seems ok. Education doesn't have to be entertaining, after all, you're there to learn, not to be amused.

But it sure helps if it is entertaining - The information sticks better, and reading it isn't such a chore.

In this book, not only is all the right information "in there", it's also presented in such a way that makes it pleasurable to read. The author keeps the tone on target, but makes it personal enough that you don't feel like you're reading an instruction manual.

This book advertises for a readership target of fairly new beginner to much more advanced developer, and I'd say it hits that as well as a book can. While it's true that more experienced designers might feel they're having to wade through basic information here and there, but there's no avoiding that in a book that also has to show new people the ropes. Too, this book does contain the much-needed information on the WordPress specifics that are the only reason a more experienced developer would buy such a book in the first place... And, you might just learn some other things, too.

She includes some helpful basic design tips and ideas, as well as some excellent CSS theory and resources, but she doesn't allow them to derail the main subject of the book - applying those principles and theories to theme creation.

Now that WordPress has hit version 3.0 (and 3.01), I expect Packt will ask the author to update the work in the fairly near future, so I'd do a quick check for a newer version before buying... Everything in this edition still works just fine for version 3.0, but there are a few new capabilities in 3.0 - most particularly the new menu capabilities - that could use some coverage... A theme designed by the processes in this edition will still work just fine, it just won't natively support WordPress 3.0 custom menus.

Of course, it can't be stressed too strongly that you must always buy the most recent addition of any book on programming or software. Buying out of date programming and software manuals is no better a way to save money than buying spoiled food... But don't let that stop you from selling them at your local used books store, or online. ;-) Another good reason to buy a Kindle or some similar device - nobody throws away as many books as a software professional.

When the author -does- update this title, I hope she'll consider adding information on creating the back-end menus for theme option management by the site administrator, as that's the only thing this book is really missing. It's true that that is more PHP and programming than theme design, but it's a very important part of building professional themes for clients or resale.

By the way... You can learn most all you'd need to build those back-end features in either of these books: WordPress Plugin Development (Beginner's Guide) or Professional WordPress (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

In summary, if you're good enough at CSS, XHTML, and Photoshop that you've got any business designing user interface and layout for web sites, then this is the best book I've found for telling you how to apply those skills to WordPress theme design.

I highly recommend WordPress 2.8 Theme Design. For beginners it provides an easy to read guide that details the process of theme design from start to finish.

Developers already familiar with WordPress will also find this book useful, it covers more advanced topics not commonly found in online tutorials, such as the use of Ajax within a theme, Flash and JavaScript integration.

It's expected that readers have an understanding of HTML and CSS. A knowledge of PHP would be helpful but with WordPress's template functions it is not necessary. It would have been useful had they included a chapter on how to setup a local development server, for those that do not have a web server already. However a quick Google will get you up and running in that regard.

Example code is helpfully provided as a download from the publisher's website including instructions on what to do with it. The screenshots and illustrations are very beneficial alongside the well written content.

Compared to my own articles on the subject, this book wipes the floor in its detail on the subject. For example its section on typography in chapter 2 really impressed me, it is not a subject that is always covered in deign guides but something that can actually make or break a design very easily. The use of relative font sizing throughout the book is also a good practice that I welcome.

The technical detail used in this book would not alienate a reader that the book is described for. The writing is friendly but informative, making for a read that is not to heavy.

Chapter 6 provides some great reference material on the WordPress theme functions (which can be further looked up on the WordPress Codex that provides even more detail), useful long after you have finished the theme that is created by following the book.

In all this book is an excellent resource for developers starting out with WordPress and those that are already designing for it. Its methods are reusable, follow good practices, and could be applied on the creation of any other theme.
The Contents

1. Getting Started as a WordPress Theme Designer
2. Theme Design Approach
3. Coding It Up
4. Debugging and Validation
5. Putting Your Theme into Action
6. WordPress Template Tag, Function, and CSS Reference
7. AJAX / Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms
8. Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements
9. Design Tips for Working with WordPress

As a note, I was provided with a review copy.

The book is an incredible helpful guide to anyone starting out, or even intermediate Wordpress users looking to create their own themes from scratch. The book is conversational but not to the point of being waffly or frustrating. It's full of helpful little tips along the way about the general process of making a theme and even just rapid prototyping and designing in general - not just a book full of code snippets which can easily be found by using Google or the Wordpress codex. I liked her insights and approach for sketching, wireframing and coding early on even though I've been designing Wordpress themes for years it's always handy to see a fresh perspective on the process.

There's plenty of practical and common types of things you'll want to add onto your theme, such as plugins and widgets. Alongside this, you're given information on a wide variety of tools that most web developers usually have at their disposal for handling the technical side of managing sites, especially bug testings.

The book is a good mix of advice, non-technical and technical information. Parts of it you may want to skip over on first read and use more as a reference - not every theme has all the complexities mentioned in the book. It's not exhaustive, but again that's where the codex and Google come in handy.

There's a little on adapting other themes and frameworks are mentioned but if you're looking to work with Thesis or adapt an existing theme, this book will be helpful but not provide the answers you're probably looking for. One thing I've come to learn after looking at so many themes is that while there's a lot in common, they do take quite a bit of tuning in to, to understand how the theme author has organized things, especially with the more complex themes. Some themes have been designed for maximum flexibility - within a certain set of parameters - and if you go outside these changes, it can become a bit of a nightmare. Other themes haven't come with all the bells and whistles of their own administration interface but are quicker to adapt.

While Wordpress 2.9.2 is already out, there will be little information in this book which is dated and in fact, screenshots of Wordpress' administration area are minimal.

My only criticism of the book would be that I would have loved to have seen a few more case studies (or mini-case studies) of building a theme, rather than just one long in-depth one on building a magazine-type theme. These days there's so many different types of Wordpress themes out there, used for so many different purposes.

Chapters are: Getting started, Theme Design and Approach, Coding it Up, Debugging and Validation, Putting Your Theme Into Action, Wordpress Template Tag, Function and CSS Reference, AJAX/Dynamic Content and Interactive Forms, Dynamic Menus and Interactive Elements, Design Tips for Working with Wordpress (including SEO).

Disclosure: I was sent a review copy from the publisher.