Just as WordPress is a CMS framework allowing designers and developers to create blogs and CMS websites with greater ease, so too are there many tools on the market to assist in the design of individual WordPress sites.
I have always been interested in the comments and discussions generated by the comparisons of theme frameworks by the design community. I suppose I keep hoping to find an acknowledged “best” framework – but it seems that it isn’t that simple. Just as designers and developers tend to gravitate towards their favourite CMS systems (Wordpress, Textpattern, Expression Engine, ModX, etc.) – everyone seems to try out a few and settle on the tools that seem to work best for them. And sometimes it becomes obvious that certain jobs are just easier to develop from scratch.
I hope to provide an overview of some of the different options currently available to designers and developers – leaning towards my own bias towards desirable aesthetic outcomes and ease of use, over robustness and extensibility.
Of the hundreds of available pre-designed Wordpress themes, it is likely you’ll be able to find a few that meet your structural, functional and/or design needs. Using a pre-designed theme can dramatically reduce the time required to bring a site to a finished state. But be aware that every developer has their own little coding quirks, and if you fail to scrutinize the code before committing to a theme you may end up in a frustrating battle against the code – and end up with an increased development time the long run.
Theme Frameworks
This category can be further broken down into CSS-naked themes and frameworks that are essentially design/development tools.
Blank themes essentially provide the HTML and PHP framework upon which a designer can develop a site mainly through CSS. These blank themes come with a variety of functions already embedded, but new ones can be added via regular Wordpress PHP tags. Some of the more popular themes include Starkers , Blank and Whiteboard.
Frameworks are generally more robust systems that use proprietary tags and hooks to add functions to a theme, while styling is done either through CSS, the admin panel or though a WYSIWG feature. These frameworks also support increasingly popular child themes. Some of the more respected free frameworks include Hybrid and Thematic.
There is also a growing commercial market for these frameworks including Genesis, Canvas, Thesis , Headway, and the new kid on the block, Startbox. Each of these tends to be geared towards different markets and levels of skill.
The main benefit of working with a theme framework is that you can generally feel confident that the coding behind the platform has been created by Wordpress experts and is up to web standards. Especially so when those frameworks that have been around a little longer and have made improvements based upon community feedback.
Building Aids
Gravy – A fairly basic blank theme geared towards front-end designers that comes with a corresponding set of labeled PSD files to make slicing and converting a Photoshop design into a Wordpress theme easier.
Theme Dreamer - A plugin that allows you to build Wordpress themes within Dreamweaver.
Divine - A program that works in Photoshop to convert PSD files into to Wordpress. Full version will be released within the coming months.
Themepress - An inexpensive way to outsource your xhtml/CSS conversion. For $10 and a little pre-conversion preparation you can submit your code, and test out the conversion before you download the finsihed product.
Plugins
Elastic - An exciting new addition to Wordpress’ amazing array of plugins, Elastic is a WYSIWYG drag-and-drop that works in Wordpress’ admin area to develop the layout and styling of the site. The plugin is still in development, but judging by the buzz surrounding it, this may be one to watch. And you are able to freely download a test version today.
A Custom DIY Framework
Sometimes developing your own “framework” is the best way to go. Wordpress code is made for reusing and recycling. You’ll often find that each project contains about 80% of the same code, so why not make your life a little easier and carry things from one project to the next?
About the Author
Heath Waller is a guest writer for SpicyWebDesigners.com. She is a web designer based in Calgary, Alberta in Canada and currently you can view her portfolio of design work and her new blog called “Code Alchemy“.
Feel free to read some more about her here:
