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Designing my own theme

  1. upstart1
    Member

    I work for a small NGO in South Africa. They've chosen to use WordPress as their official site because it makes accessing it and posting content much easier.

    I've been asked to redesign the site though, and I'm finding that the templates are all very limiting. I have experience in web design and I would like to try and develop my own theme. Does anyone know if this is possible? Could I develop a theme using HTML coding and upload it onto my WordPress account?

    The blog I need help with is upstartyouth.com.

  2. 1tess
    Moderator

    On WordPress.com we have no ftp access to upload themes. The only themes we can use are found:
    dashboard—>appearance—>themes
    or
    http://wordpress.com/themes/

    see here:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/

    There are over 200 possibilities and many of them are customizable with backgrounds, headers, colors, and menus.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/customize-my-site/
    You can also purchase the Design upgrade:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/

  3. 1tess
    Moderator

    If you must use your own design, then you'll need to buy a domain name, and pay a company like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and others to host your site. WordPress.ORG has free software to make your site function.

    http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

  4. auxclass
    Member

    A few other notes - Themes are coded in php not html - and if you don't know what you are doing you can open up a security hole in the system big enough to drive the whole web through - so caution is advised -

    If you really can't make a theme here work and decide to move then look at the 1,500 or so available at WordPress.ORG for free that have already been tested

    The CSS option can be used to change the look of a theme so much that you can't recognize which theme you started with

  5. 1tess
    Moderator

    …and I'm finding that the templates are all very limiting.

    What limits are you wishing to overcome? What functions do you want from your site that you cannot find on the wp.com themes?

  6. thesacredpath
    Member

    If you are good with CSS, you can use the Tool Box theme, which is a blank canvas and has a lot of capabilities. You cannot add functionality with CSS though, such as new sidebars or anything like that. CSS is for styling an placement of page elements only.

  7. thesacredpath
    Member

    Whoops! Tool Box has been retired. :(

  8. thesacredpath
    Member

    Still, a whole lot can be done with CSS to make a theme look unique.

  9. hattiekitty10
    Member

    "When there is a good there is a bad and when there is a bad there is a good"

  10. timethief
    Member

    @thesacredpath
    I'm sharing this update with your re: Toolbox
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/toolbox-gone?replies=6

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