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Wordpress Coding

by SilentX
8 replies
I'm relatively new to IM, and have been using wordpress for my first couple of websites. However, I have realized the huge deficit in not knowing how to use the specific codes that wordpress themes rely on, ie: css, php, xhtml. I can remember some basic html coding from back in the day but it is basically useless when trying to manipulate the editing portion of wordpress inside the themes. Does anyone know of any good guides to get me started in the learning process for these kinds of coding? I know wordpress has its own help section and support available, but its kind of convoluted and is not very helpful yet to me,as I am such a newb still. Any tips are greatly apprecaited. Thanks in advance.
#coding #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author BobJutsu
    Digging Into Wordpress from Chris Coyier

    I haven't actually read it yet, but everything Chris puts out is top notch (read: css-tricks.com). Plus, we're from the same town so I have to plug him a bit

    You can get it in print, or PDF and Print...but I don't think there is a PDF only version, which is a good thing because judging from everything else I have read from Chris, it isn't something that you would want to fall into obscurity sitting in some file on your desktop.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mohsin Rasool
    Originally Posted by SilentX View Post

    I'm relatively new to IM, and have been using wordpress for my first couple of websites. However, I have realized the huge deficit in not knowing how to use the specific codes that wordpress themes rely on, ie: css, php, xhtml. I can remember some basic html coding from back in the day but it is basically useless when trying to manipulate the editing portion of wordpress inside the themes. Does anyone know of any good guides to get me started in the learning process for these kinds of coding? I know wordpress has its own help section and support available, but its kind of convoluted and is not very helpful yet to me,as I am such a newb still. Any tips are greatly apprecaited. Thanks in advance.
    To edit the files inside the themes..

    First you remember themes are located at:
    your-install-folder>wp-content>themes>YOUR THEME Folder

    in that folder you find files....
    One of the most important is Sytle.css it contains all CSS style code for
    that theme..

    Then there are two/three other important files there:

    index.php or home.php (if present) is used to display home and other pages...
    single.php (if present) is used to actual post page///

    and page.php(if present) is used to show static pages.


    Header.php , Footer.php and Sidebar.php are always present,
    and these are included in all pages...
    so if you want to edit some porition to show at every page,
    if it is top section... edit header.php... for other portions Footer or Sidebar...

    I suggest you have a look at those files, these files are not that complex,
    if you have know how of some basic html, css or php you will know what to
    edit where...

    Wish you best,
    Mohsin
    PS. Sorry do not remember any specific guide in this regard..as
    I learned it by doing, and tweaking the default theme files..and now
    we design high-end custom themes for our clients.
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    • Profile picture of the author SilentX
      Awesome, thanks guys. I'll start with chris's posts wherever I can find them. I figure I'll pick up a book or two from the library to get some basics down on css and php, then I'll start messin about with my default themes to see what I can do.
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      • Profile picture of the author SilentX
        Hmm.. I can't seem to find any viable links to Chris's guide. Is there a new placement for it? or is the offer expired? I doubt that. Maybe you could connect me with him directly through email or something, if thats possible, since you said you live close by. If not, no worries. Thanks again.
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        • Profile picture of the author BobJutsu
          Originally Posted by SilentX View Post

          Hmm.. I can't seem to find any viable links to Chris's guide. Is there a new placement for it? or is the offer expired? I doubt that. Maybe you could connect me with him directly through email or something, if thats possible, since you said you live close by. If not, no worries. Thanks again.
          What? No, it is not a warrior forum thing...in fact, I don't think he would even ever be here since he is a designer, not a marketer.

          Digging into WordPress

          or check out his site, css-tricks.com. I just looked, and apparently I was a bit off, it is pdf or pdf and print...so you can get it pdf only if you are so inclined. Me, I like print. And just so everyone is clear, I have no professional affiliation with Chris and am recieving no gain from recommending his work...I just think his advice is top notch when it comes to design.
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          • Profile picture of the author houdy
            The way I learned and still do is to just Google the one specific tweak or code at a time. Although I haven't found one specific site or resource, the info is online its just a matter of finding it.

            I would say the hardest part starting out is knowing exactly what it is to search/Google for in reference to what part of the WP theme or WP in general you want to tweak. Once you have the basic understanding of how WP works and the terms used it gets much easier to know what to search for.

            Sorry I guess I didn't really give you much to go on...
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            • Profile picture of the author Luke Graham
              One of the best ways to learn is to not "reinvent the wheel".

              There are plenty of themes and plugins that probably almost do what you want.

              Take a peek at the code - im not saying rip it off - change it, find out what it does, then put it into practice. Learning by example is more powerful than reading someones book on it, IMO.

              Having said that. Open source is cool; but it means the above will indefinatly lead to bad programming practices. Learn from awful, you end up with even worse - and you didnt think it was possible :confused:
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  • Profile picture of the author alf82
    to:[QUOTE=SilentX;1911185]I'm relatively new to IM, and have been using..
    _______
    Hi, I just went through a disaster and recovered thanks to the people at Blue Host. For some reason the database cot corrupted and the only available backup was over a week ago. I would suggest downloading a partial (for blog) backup every day and making a copy of that on a usb.
    Things change real fast in the computer world - 6 years ago I could have done all of this in my sleep. One problem is that a company called Simple Scripts - who do a great job - seems to have taken over the Wordpress implementation on various hosting sites.
    The php coding got a lot more complicated. It also doesn't hurt to take a notebook (paper) and write everything down just in case you get an electrical spike which knocks out the hard drive.
    I don't know if this helps, but I saw your post and just had to comment. Good Luck! The site I was fortunate enough to have restored was loseweight-keepfit.com
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