How can I create a theme from scratch on WordPress so it looks like a professional looking site?

Question

I'm currently using the free version of WordPress not the payed version.

Answer 1

A Beginner’s Guide To Building Your Own WordPress Theme: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/a-beginners-guide-to-building-your-own-wordpress-theme/



Lubith: Create Custom WordPress Themes Without Coding Knowledge: http://www.lubith.com/

WordPress Theme Generator: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wordpress-theme-generator-create-wordpress-theme/

Templatr: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/templatr-create-custom-wordpress-template/

TopWpThemes: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/topwpthemes-free-themes-wordpress/

Design Your Own Wordpress Theme Easily With Constructor: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/customize-design-wordpress-theme-easily-constructor/ and http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/constructor



Designing for WordPress - Complete Series & Downloads: http://css-tricks.com/designing-for-wordpress-complete-series-downloads/



Styling Page-Links: http://codex.wordpress.org/Styling_Page-Links



Ron

Answer 2

Well the nice thing is that Wordpress has lots of documentation on their website. The help forum they use is called their codex. The codex does contain the following page on themes http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development . To develop a theme on your own you would need to review the codex page and build the required template files. Doing this will require a few programming skills including CSS, HTML, and PHP.



The good news is that because Wordpress is well documented you should be able to achieve your desired goal of template development.

Answer 3

In order to create a theme from scratch, you will need to know HTML, CSS, and PHP at the very least. There are a lot of good videos tutorials. You really don't have to create a theme from scratch. You have more flexibility if you self-host.

Answer 4

creating a theme from scratch requires the following skills as a minimum.



image manipulation ( like photoshop to design ), html, css, jquery ( although you can get away with this ), and basic php skills



it also requires a knowledge of creating themes as there is code in there essential to wordpress sites.

Answer 5

digital is correct on the skills, but since you're on wordpress.com you don't need them. You cannot alter your theme.