How-To

Anatomy of a WordPress Theme – exploring the files behind your theme

WordPress Category Hierarchy

WordPress Category Hierarchy

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Description

This video, by Tom Johnson of I’d Rather Be Writing explains the different files that make up the template of your WordPress blog. Templates discussed include index.php, single.php, category.php, tag.php, search.php, author.php, and more.

Flavor

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Language

Producer

Speakers

Date

March 16, 2009

Tags

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Categories

How To, Themes,

2 bloggers like this post

17 Responses to “Anatomy of a WordPress Theme – exploring the files behind your theme”

  1. bingorabbit Says:

    I never knew about author.php and category-ID.php, really excellent screen cast. Thanks a lot :)

  2. MMF Says:

    really fantastic
    thanks a lot .

  3. Magda Says:

    category-ID.php is a great nugget of info. Thanks.

  4. Ben Says:

    Great stuff, nice and simple explanation of the theme files.

    Thanks

  5. franzenjb Says:

    You say “go to theme and select editor”. I do not have that option. I have Edit CSS but none of these options or pages come up? I purchased the Edit CSS option / upgrade?

    • Yoav Says:

      If you’re hosting your blog with WordPress.com, you can’t edit your theme files, only your CSS.

  6. huyzer Says:

    Coo’ beans. Thanks for taking the time to explain this.

    Take care.

  7. faisalshahh Says:

    nice, “Eassy to learn”

  8. Simon Says:

    Good stuff, I agree with Magda. Using the Cat ID could be cool…

  9. Bento Says:

    I never knew about the category-id.php. Now it will be more easy to me to make my websites more pretty.

  10. kittemar Says:

    I’m just starting “in this wonderland” so excuse my stupid questions. Could I delete files I don’t want to be shown in my blog? I have a hosting account with GD must I upload files there?

    • Ryan Markel Says:

      You can remove those files, but if they are theme files, your best option is to either delete them using a control panel with your host (if available) or to delete them via FTP. If you still need additional help, please direct your question to the WordPress.org Support forum.

  11. Arfah Husaifah Says:

    Unbelievable. I became increasingly easy to understand the structure of wordpress theme after watching this video.

  12. Deb Says:

    Thanks for this information. It’s nice to be refreshed on things that you don’t use often enough. And, the author tidbit was great! Appreciate your tutorials!

  13. lee Says:

    Sorry for the silly question, but how do you get the “editor” to appearance in the “Appearance” section. I have WordPress 2.92. Is it supposed to be there by default or is it a plug-in?

    Many thanks,
    lee

    • Ryan Markel Says:

      The Editor option should be under Appearance in the Dashboard as long as you have sufficient user privileges to use that feature.

  14. TKr Says:

    Main Index is the highest in hierarchy. Excellent info. My favorite part is how you showed where the header, sidebar, and footer php script is located on each template.

    (get header) on top
    (get sidebar & footer) on bottom

    I put my php example in the post above, but they got erased.

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