There are thousands of WordPress themes to choose from all over the internet but if you the type who would want a unique look for your blog, you may be considering creating a unique skin that won’t be found anywhere else. Granted, you should have a bit knowledge on coding to create a versatile and fully functional WordPress theme but I believe you’re not so good with codes and will keep this as simple as possible. However, you need to have a little idea about graphic designing, Photoshop basics at least.
Creating your own WordPress theme isn’t as hard as you think and creating your own unique skin can be made easy by using some softwares or simply editing a ready made theme to your taste. This blog runs on Genesis theme Framework with a customized child theme you can hardly find on any other blog. You can do the same by using any of the methods listed in this article.
As earlier said, you should know a bit of graphic designs to do this, A little CSS too will be of great help. Knowing HTML and PHP too is a great advantage but even without a single knowledge in coding, you can still come up with a creative design.
1. Adobe Dreamweaver CS6
Adobe Dreamweaver is a software every aspiring web designer / developer should have as it makes it easier to get things done. Adobe Dreamweaver has CMS support for Joomla, Drupal and most importantly, WordPress. With little knowledge in coding, it can give your blog that outstanding look you desire. The user interface is intuitive and even as a experienced WordPress developer, the hints can easily let you learn new WordPress hooks you’re probably not familiar with. Dreamweaver is pretty expensive but it’s worth the money. There’s a full tutorial on their official blog on how to take full control of this powerful tool to create your own Worpress theme.
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2. Adobe Photoshop & Divine Elemente
If Dreamweaver is rather too difficult for you, this should be relatively simpler. With Adobe Photoshop, you can design what you want your WordPress blog to look like and you don’t even need to write a single line of code to do this. Divine Elemente works like a plugin that turns your already installed Adobe Photoshop to a “WordPress theme generator.” If you’re already conversant with Photoshop, you should find this very easy to use. You can download from here and the guide on that page should get you started.
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3. Editing image files & CSS from WampServer
I love this and most times, it’s how I edit wordpress themes. You need to install WordPress locally on your computer and there’s a tutorial I wrote about that using WampServer and you must understand this fully to make use of this method. The files to your theme should be located in C:\wamp\www\wordpress\wp-content\themes\theme_name. From this location, you can edit the default image files with Photoshop or try to be creative and use new ones. You can also edit the CSS file to your taste and preview changes immediately on your browser without being connected to the internet. If you’re using Genesis, you can create a child theme from this sample and if you’re creating a regular Worpress theme, this sample can be edited to your taste.
Twitter: mavtrevor
says:
This is indeed a great tutorial, editing a wordpress theme offline could be a great way of customizing your wordpress theme and make it look unique and this could make your site stand out.
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Twitter: oscarfranky
says:
Nice tutorial you’ve got here. Keep the good work going.
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really a nice article…
it will help me a lot…
Thank you..
Twitter: moviesforuus
says:
Awesome tutorial and useful for everyone
Twitter: xlimderek
says:
Thanks For the Head Start
I really wann build my own wp theme.
So Don Out of them all which one would you recommend
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The third is the easiest and recommeneded, followed by the second.
Twitter: xlimderek
says:
Surely I’ll try that but i think i’m gonna love the 2nd one more.
I’ll be glad if you can help me with the download links.
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Twitter: Nigeriaschools
says:
I would love to re-edit my theme, but all this look too technical.
Twitter: corjiakor31
says:
I always enjoy your tutorial http://www.orjiakor.com
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Twitter: ArewaTech_CEO
says:
Thanks for the information Don, we are undergoing a workshop on how to use dream weaver effectively in my school. I would love to tweak a wordpress theme by my self (though I’m yet to have a wordpress blog)
Creating your own WordPress theme would have to come a long way than just simple graphics if you really want to pursue the ideal theme for a blog. We’ve got plans, most of us have bigger dreams for a start of our blogs, and that’s how it makes it even more complicated to start the process of designing.
Twitter: none
says:
thanks man for the tutorial
Twitter: sukantaindian
says:
Thank you. very nice post. please tell me about artisteer. I am planing to buy to create theme for my blog.
Twitter: sukantaindian
says:
Thank you. very nice post. please tell me about artisteer. I am planing to buy to create theme for my blog.
infotilla is my blog
In this post u describe how to create design in Wp, but u listed all the expertise a bloger have he must know, css, java script, durpal, html, php, dream weaver, photoshop, Etc, etc,
My intelligent Nigerian friend plz think if all things a basic blogger knows, then whats need to come on ur site, and why he need wordpress if he knows all other web making skills,… …. any ways
good post for non-thinkers
Twitter: thisisphami
says:
The second option is the easiest! Tho I have pretty nice theme installed, I want something that it’s fully handmade by me. I’m good with Photoshop but I’m lacking of the knowledge of coding. Kind of sad but I’ll make it! Thank you for the post!
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