Be the first to write a review
WordPress Themes and Child Themes
How to choose themes and how to modify them easily and safely with the child theme option.
At this point in the WordPress process, you probably are anxious to use a theme other than the bland WordPress default theme. In this article, Linda shows how to choose themes and how to modify them easily and safely with the child theme option.
Theme Happy
If you are ready to change the bland default WordPress theme into something more spectacular, then go for it. Designers have developed numerous theme designs that you can use, and thousands of them are available for free. But, before you choose a theme and upload it to your server, you might think about a few precautions:
1.Has the theme been recommended by others as a safe and reliable base for blogging on WordPress?
2.Has the theme been recommended by WordPress?
3.Does that theme support widgets and plugins?
4.Is that theme older than 2009?
If you answered "no" to the first three questions above and "yes" to the last question, then avoid that theme. Otherwise, you'll end up disappointed over that theme's lack of performance. Additionally, you may even find a theme that carries some disease that may destroy your computer or your blog or that is open for others to wreak havoc. While "open" or free is good, you may also get what you pay for – a poor foundation for your blog.
On the other hand, if you can find an open source theme that comes highly recommended and that can support widgets and more, then you could have it made. Open source themes are great, as they can be modified to suit your fancy if you are a developer. If you aren't a developer, you can rest assured that theme will only get better in the hands of developers who find may find loopholes and fix them or who may modify them to become even more functional.
In the conclusion to this article, I'll list a few places where you can find fairly reliable themes that have current functionalities. But, I want to focus now on Justin Tadlock's Hybrid Theme and its variations.
Why the Hybrid Theme?
As I mentioned in the previous article, you currently can join Theme Hybrid Club for free. This is a great option, as you'll learn that the support for Theme Hybrid is timely and accurate. Justin monitors the forums constantly, and he is a wizard at problem solving, along with numerous developers who have joined the club to get their hands wrapped around Theme Hybrids open source code.
For example, even if you decide to eschew WordPress in favour of another blogging system such as Movable Type, you can find the Hybrid Theme available there as well.
If you're worried that your blog will be lost in the myriad versions of Theme Hybrid as this theme gains footing among bloggers, you can rest easy – this theme is easy to modify through the development of child themes and by altering the way the theme looks through variations in colour and CSS. Additionally, you now have choices on whether you want your blog to show a stationary page or a blog page on the front page of your site, and even this option has variable choices.
Since the child theme option often confuses designers and bloggers, and since it's the easiest way to modify a theme without destroying the original theme, I'll cover that design option first.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.