Five Questions is where I talk to bloggers about their projects and some of the other things they are doing. I ask {Q}uestions, and hopefully get some {A}nswers!
{Q} Could anyone familiar with WordPress create their own themes, or is some technical knowledge (e.g. XHTML, CSS, and PHP ) necessary?
{A} I would say some technical knowledge is necessary. The more you know, the easier it is. I learned by diving in and experimenting with XHTML and CSS. You’ll also need to know some PHP if you want to create a theme from scratch and have a LOT more control over it.
{Q} Are they any guidelines WP theme designers need to work to? Do themes need “approval” from WP?
{A} Well, not that I know of… hahaha. I don’t think WordPress really has a big list of rules, or a department waiting to review your theme. If they did, I’m gonna guess there would be a lot less themes freely available.
{Q}This may vary from theme to theme, but what would be the most challenging aspect of creating a theme?
{A} For me, the most challenging aspect would be dealing with browser bugs… mainly Internet Explorer 6 and below. I learned recently that a fair majority of web surfers are still using IE6, so you can’t just ignore it.
{Q} Of the themes you have created is there one that has been especially favoured by WP users?
{A} Darkwater has been the most popular download so far. I made a small correction in it and went to update it on the Theme Viewer site, and mistakenly re-uploaded the theme. You aren’t supposed to do that.
I emailed them to let them know, but they never responded. So, anyway, it’s on there twice. So far it’s been downloaded over 1600 times… it’s about 3 weeks old.
{Q} There’s a lot of themes out there all with their own names! Where do you get your naming ideas form?
{A} This is probably the second most challenging aspect… something I’m dealing with right now as a matter of fact. I just try to look at the theme (colors and layout) and see what comes to mind.
I try to name themes in a way that’s at least somewhat descriptive, yet find a name that’s not already taken by another theme. I generally get a few ideas together, then do a search for those names on the Theme Viewer and see if anything comes up.
Thank you Anthony!