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

21 responses on “Anatomy of a WordPress Theme – exploring the files behind your theme

  1. bingorabbit

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

    Like

  2. MMF

    really fantastic
    thanks a lot .

    Like

  3. Magda

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

    Like

  4. Ben

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

    Thanks

    Like

  5. franzenjb

    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?

    Like

  6. huyzer

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

    Take care.

    Like

  7. faisalshahh

    nice, “Eassy to learn”

    Like

  8. Simon

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

    Like

  9. Bento

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

    Like

  10. kittemar

    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?

    Like

  11. Arfah Husaifah

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

    Like

  12. Deb

    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!

    Like

  13. lee

    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

    Like

  14. TKr

    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.

    Like

  15. David J

    Well explained and still useful even over 2 years after publishing.

    Like

  16. Dan LaManna

    I’d also like to mention there are plugins that can tell you what file the page is using, since sometimes the hierarchy can get tricky, ‘show theme file’ plugin is pretty good at it.

    Like

Continue the discussion

Published

March 16, 2009

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.

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Tom Johnson 2

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PHP 81
Themes 279

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