ayrmer software blog

In our previous three articles we showed you how to registering your domain name (Step #1), set up your domain hosting (Step #2) and install WordPress (Step #3).  In this week’s article we’ll have a look at changing the appearance of your site using themes, as well as having a more in depth look at the site administration.

Using the default theme – Twenty Ten

Last weeks article ended with a look at the live version of “Got my goat” – http://www.got-my-goat.co.uk/ – which is the example site we have put together whilst writing these articles.  At this stage we had used the default theme – Twenty Ten (developed by the WordPress Team) – and whilst there is nothing wrong with it, the web would be a dreadfully dull place if every website looked the same, so we will have a look at what you can do with this theme.

So, log on to your blog and head straight to the “Appearance” link displayed in the menu of the WordPress dashboard.  You can customise the following elements (depending on the theme selected): -

• Themes – select / install new themes.
• Widgets – prebuilt sections of content that can be placed into an area within your theme, normally referred to as sidebars.
• Menus – new to version 3.0, allows users to create custom menus (not allow themes support this functionality).
• Background – customise the look of your site without altering your theme’s code by using a custom background.
• Header – set a custom image header for your site.
• Editor – allows you to edit the individual CSS and PHP files which make up your theme (for advanced users).

Custom header images

I created a new image for the blog header using some stock images I purchased from a stock photography website to create the “Got My Goat” banner.  Alternatively you can use one of the default images that come with the theme (see below).

Widgets

Once you have created / selected your header, click on the “Widgets” menu option.  This allows you to control what is displayed within the right hand side sidebar.  It is worth playing around with these and when you add more content as you’ll get a better idea of how information is displayed.  The image below shows the external view along side the widgets I selected for the example site.

As you can see I have added over forty articles on the site – these have been transferred from an old blog – so don’t be too impressed!  The sample site will eventually be used to vent my spleen, replacing Charlie rant and does not represent my professional views as Managing Director of Ayrmer Software.

You’ll notice I have added some links and also added a “tag cloud” – I will explained more about this in another article.  I’ll leave you to explore other areas of the other widgets but here is the design (very much work in progress) of the sample website.

You’ll see I created a custom header to reflect the name of my blog and added season touch using a photograph I took recently whilst visiting Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire as a background.

Using other themes

You can use other themes and as good a place to start your search is the Free Themes Directory on the WordPress site, but don’t limit yourself to one source as there are hundreds of free designs you can use on the internet.  In most cases you can install themes via the WordPress dashboard, but some might need you to upload them via your FTP client software.

Here are a list of websites that provide both free and premium themes for WordPress.  I am not endorsing any off these sites and would recommend you have a look around yourself, but it gives you an idea of what can be achieved and the number of options available.

Free themes

http://www.wpthemesfree.com/

http://www.wpthemes360.com/

Premium themes

http://themeforest.net/

http://www.wordpressthemes.com/

One other site worth mentioning is DIYThemes – a framework that is a premium template system for WordPress, designed to serve as the rock-solid foundation beneath any kind of website – which I found via http://www.kristarella.com/ a web designer based in Sydney, here you’ll find lots of useful tips about using WordPress.  I also stumbled upon webtreats etc who have provided a free PhotoShop file of their inFocus WordPress theme that is excellent.

You can also create your own themes by altering the underlying PHP / CSS files, but if you are following this tutorial I doubt you’ll want to go into that much depth.

A closer look at the site administration area

Now we have had a look at the appearance of the site we’ll take a closer look at the dashboard menu (see opposite) and explain the various areas of the WordPress administration area.

• Posts – this allows you to view and edit posts that are displayed within the site.  You can use categories to organise posts into logical groups; tags are used assign keywords to your posts (unlike categories, tags have no hierarchy).
• Links – are used to create links to external sources that are displayed within the sidebar.  These normally contain links to authors website and / or related website.  You can create one or more link categories to create logical groups; I created the link category “Related sites” which is displayed within the sidebar using the “links” widget.  By default, links to several sites in the WordPress community are included as examples.
• Pages – are similar to posts in that they have a title, body text, and associated metadata, but are not part of the chronological stream.  Pages are not categorised or tagged, but can have a hierarchy. You can nest Pages under other Pages by making one the “Parent” of the other, creating a group of Pages and can therefore use WordPress to create a standard website, rather than a blog.

The WordPress administration area contains some excellent help that can be accessed by clicking the “Help” tab displayed in the top right hand corner and will provide further explanation, when required.

There are a host of specialist websites where more information can be found, but start here.  It is now down to you to have a play and get to know the system!

Step #5 – Plugins

In next weeks post we’ll have a look at plugins that enable you to add functionality to the standard WordPress platform.

Tags: themes, web site design, widgets, wordpress

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 9:21 am and is filed under Internet, Web site design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.