Blog Tipz

There is no doubt that the “premium” themes market has made a strong dominance in the back of everyone’s minds that is launching or reorganizing a site’s theme.  Each of these templates, frameworks, or designs in themselves are definitely worth the cost—many come with free complementary support with the purchase, updates (sometimes automatic through subversions), and cutting-edge layouts that allow your blog to grow faster than any default or slightly modified template could provide.  However, not everyone has the budget or desire to use one of these themes on their website, resulting in a rather large group of people who would rather work with a “default/free” theme and expand upon it.  Although it doesn’t necessarily take much work, until you can transform any framework into a stunning website design suitable for your blog.

In this post, several (basic) methods of converting any starter template to a masterpiece are outlined.  However, if you have knowledge at any step, you can feel free to skip them; this guide is for the beginner who wants to dramatically increase readership through the use of a unique design.

Basic Guide to Creating a Template from Scratch/Based on Another Theme

1. Find a template or design that you like.  It doesn’t have to be complex, just something free (or within your budget, if you want to start off by paying for your theme.  You won’t be copying the theme, you’ll simply use it as the starter template, which will help you guide through the rest of the steps (layout, columns, design, etc.).
2. Secondly, plan exactly what you want your theme to do.  At this step, it may be a good idea to create a simple sketch or rough copy of the end template, then base all further theme editing steps off this.  Main areas of consideration include the header (size, format), sidebars (number, position, size), content (width, universal font set), and further options/customization in the footer, comments, and subscription or alternative areas.  Keep in mind that this is essentially a “draft” copy and doesn’t necessarily represent the final design.
3. Research (if you don’t already know how to implement some of the additions) code formats, template design, and other elements that will be required to build the template.  While many people may become stumped at this step, the end product is the most important goal; abandoning this ambition will leave you where you started from—using a default, non-optimized, and rather dull-appearing (in perspective) theme.  Creativity is the most important element of the whole design process.
4. Next, begin building, one line of code at a time, your theme, testing and reorganizing each along the way to create the most optimized and accessible (standards compliant) code possible.  Don’t be overly concerned with minor layout issues, especially with CSS at this point.  They can generally be worked out when you finalize the template for publishing.
5. Along the way, add or find images, plugins, and related materials that will increase the “fullness” of your website.  For example, if you need an RSS image, either create your own or find one that works well placed on your blog.  These tiny additions can create a world of difference.
6. Before transferring your “finalized” theme over to your actual website, make sure everything is backed up (it should work if you closed all template codes), then copy everything over to your website.
7. Finalization – check the template in several browsers to make sure that all readers are looking at a similar-appearing template.  You don’t want to deem the site inaccessible due to an error in the code.  Learning to create a template is fairly simple once you get the basics down and are able to recreate designs based on sketches you have created.  It can prove beneficial when you want to launch new blogs

Trends and Elements in Premium Themes

A few simple ideas and layout options to keep in mind when styling your theme.  All of these design elements have their own purpose; you must find a mix of them that suit your blog’s purpose.