Modifying an Existing Theme
The easiest way to customize the look and feel of your theme is to simply replace the existing theme graphics and not touch any of the coding in the theme. To do this, the first couple of things you need to know are where each image you want to change is located at on the server and what the name and file type of each image is. When you are done, all you will have to do is upload your new graphics to the same folder as the originals and simply overwrite the existing files with your new files. Here is a step by step of how I do it:
Step 1: View site in a web browser.
Step 2: Decide which images you would like changed (for this example I’ll explain changing your header image).
Step 3: Find and take note of your image name, image type (.gif, .jpg, .png) and the path to where the image is located on the server.
Step 4: Open those images up in your favorite graphics editor such as PhotoShop (or if you want a free comparable graphics program try www.gimp.org). Make sure to not change the default sizes of the images unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you do you will also have to modify the template code to accommodate the image sizes.
Step 5: Now get creative and lay down the sweetest graphics you can. If you are not comfortable designing your own images you should outsource this part to a freelancer. Just tell the freelancer what dimensions (in pixels not inches) and file type each image needs to be.
Step 6: Save the images using the same names as the originals.
Step 7: Lastly, upload the new graphics to the images folder inside your theme’s directory. You will find your theme directory by logging into your server via FTP and navigating to your blog folder > wp-content > themes > then look inside your specific theme’s folder and find the images folder. Upload the new graphic there and allow the old images to be overwritten. Note: Anytime you delete or modify any file on your server it is always best to save a backup copy of the files somewhere on your local computer. Go to your site again and refresh the page and you should now be seeing your new graphics. If you did everything correctly you shouldn’t see any weird layout issues or other problems and should be ready to go with a new look and feel for your blog.
Create Your Own Theme
Unfortunately there is no way I can teach you how to develop your own custom WordPress theme in an article as short as this. The process can be technical and requires a thorough knowledge of web design principles and practices relating to dynamic database driven systems. This is where you will want to hire an outsourced worker to help out. You can, however apply some of the ideas I have shared with you to help drive down your custom development costs. Start with templates and customize from there. Don’t reinvent the wheel unless you need to!
Checkout The Web Developer Toolbar Add-On For FireFox
This handy tool adds a toolbar to your FireFox web browser and gives quick access to helpful web design tools and information about web pages as you view them. It’s not one of those must-have tools, but it sure as heck is awesome to have in the old web design tool box. The web developer toolbar allows you to view vast amounts of information on almost every element you will find in a webpage. It can display image information such as name, file size, and location on all the images in a page of your site (helpful at step three of my step-by-step instructions above).
To learn more about how the Web Developer Toolbar Add-On for FireFox can help you visit: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60.
> Click Here to Read Part 1 of This Article
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