Make Your Own Themes

Archive for July, 2011

I want to put a magazine style theme as my theme for my wordpress blog. How do I do this?
I do not understand how to physically get it on wordpress. (What exactly do I do after I extract the file)

Answer:  There are two ways to do it. 

1)  Leave the theme file zipped, go into your WordPress Dashboard, Appearance, Themes, click the Install Themes Tab, then the Upload link just below the tabs.  Search your computer to find the zip file, install it, then activate it. 

2)  Unzip the file on your harddrive and it will create a folder with the theme’s name.  Upload the folder it created to your hosting account and stick it in the  (yourdomainname)/wp-content/themes/ folder using an FTP program.  Then go into WordPress Dashboard, Appearance, Themes and you’ll see the preview of it.  Then just use the link below the preview picture to activate it.

HOWEVER, if you’re using WordPress.com, forget it.  You can’t upload themes or plugins.  You need your self-hosted WordPress on your own web hosting account.  Anyone of these top 10 web hosting companies support WordPress.  They have it available with 1-click install in the control panel. 

Hey, can I use a downloaded WordPress theme on a blog I made but am not hosting? What I mean is, I’m just designing the blog via WORDPRESS.COM, and not uploading to my own server. How can I use a theme other than the free ones already offered in the DESIGN tab? Thanks.

Answer:  The short answer is, you can’t.  Can’t upload plugins either.  If you want to use your own themes, then you have to get web hosting.

Where can I find good free WorkPress themes, freferably without a slide to put pictures because I dont take much pictures. And also meant for personal blogs.

A:  Looks like you might be having problems finding free WordPress themes to your liking.  Have you even wished you could create your own themes just like YOU want and not how the developer wants?  Oh, and without any referral links in the footer.  After all, that’s why most of them are free because someone paid to have their link placed into the footer and one of the best ways to get backlinks is to give the theme away for free so they get all kinds of links pointing to their site.  Only thing is, if you remove those links, the theme may quit working or you might get a nasty email from the developer for violation of the user agreement.

Anyhoo, you can see where I’m going.  It sucks not having a WordPress theme exactly how you like it.  Well then, do something about it.  You can make your own WordPress themes, Blogger too, with a real super easy to use program called Artisteer.  The best free WordPress themes are the ones you make yourself.  Create all the free professional looking themes (limited only by your own imagination) that you want.  You pick the colors, layout and fonts.  Oh, and the footer has horizontal multi-column widgets, just like the big-boy sites!  Click here to download Artisteer for free.

I was looking for free wordpress themes and I found a few that I liked when I tried to upload them and install them and none of them worked! Every time I upload one I get an error like this Fatal error: require() [function.require]: Failed opening required (then my domain name) etc.  Why does this keep happening? I contacted the hosting and they said its something with the themes not there hosting.

Answer:  Sounds like something can’t be found.  First, make sure you’re putting the theme in the right place.  You can upload the unzipped theme folder to wp-content/themes.  Or, in Appearance, Themes, click the Install Themes tab and located the .zipped file on your computer, install it, then activate it. 

If that doesn’t solve the problem, then maybe it’s a file permission problem with the CHMOD settings.

If other people’s themes are giving you grief, why not make your own with Artisteer?  Click here to download a fully functional copy of Artisteer and try it out now.  It’s very easy to use.  No coding required.

I have a header graphic that I’d like to use, but i need a WordPress theme that size or somewhere around that size? for free? thanks

Answer:  You can make your own WordPress themes with any header size you like, including floating ones with a centered header image.  To do that, you’ll need the program called Artisteer and you’ll be able to make all the free themes you like. 

How do I copy my WordPress blog onto my computer so I can locally edit and try out plugins before publishing?  My website is on a remote server, I have copied all the files from their remote host server. How do I now configure MAMP to see this as a local copy of wordpress so I can edit it and try out different themes.
Please help. I am pulling my hair out!

I have built websites before and paid for hosting but have never used word press. I have downloaded a word press naked theme and put the code in to make it my own theme, and want to know how to host it and if I can host it for free.

Answer:  Don’t go free.  I’ve hosted WordPress free before and one day my site was gone.  And because it was free, there was no customer support so my support tickets went unanswered.  It’s a dirty trick free hosts play in an attempt to get you to upgrade. 

Click here to get yourself some good web hosting.  Then log into your control panel and you can do a 1-click WordPress install from the Software section.  I recommend a host that uses cPanel.  Or something like FatCow or iPage that uses vDeck.  Once WordPress is installed, you can install your theme.  You can even make your own WordPress theme with a program called Artisteer.  Try it out for free.

the theme of chosen for my website is that standard 2010 theme, the one that comes with WordPress. However I can’t seem to find a way to turn into a static page that I would like the first page to be.

I’ve used WordPress before, but I’m no programmer. Is it even possible to turn this page into a static page? And if not, can I just turn off the comments? And if so, how do I do that?

Answer:  Create a new page with the content you want to show on the home page, then go to Settings, Reading and change the Front Page Displays to a static page then select that new page you just created.  That’s it. 

Have you done the recent WordPress 3.2 update?  There’s a new 2011 theme.  Also, you can make your own WordPress themes by downloading a free copy of Artisteer. 

What is the best plugin that can create comparison tables on WordPress that wont affect my theme?  I need to create pricing comparison chart of my services on my WordPress blog.

Answer:  I use a free plugin called WP Table Reloaded.  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-table-reloaded/