What Do You Want in a WordPress Theme?

[vangogh]

I know I've asked this question a few times, but I'm finally getting back to working on developing WordPress themes for release and thought I'd ask again.

If you're going to use a free or premium theme what kind of things would you like that theme to have. I'm sure the design of the theme will be a top criterion for most, but what else beyond the design?

I have my own ideas naturally, but I'll hold of on mentioning any at the moment so as not to lead you in your suggestions. Anything you can think of would be helpful. Maybe even offer some ideas about what was missing with themes you have used or what you found difficult about using them.

Thanks in advance.

[Harold Mansfield]

The 2 most important things for me when purchasing a theme is the design :
I like a little zip to it. Maybe a scrolling headline or something that draws the attention. And the second thing is the stability of the code.

I have purchased quite a few themes over the months and the ones that I love the most are those that give me customization options from the dashboard.

No matter how nice the theme, it is almost a certainty that I will want to change the colors, and most of the time the header, to suit my needs. Themes that give me this option without having to hack the template code, are on the top of my list.

Also, I mostly use 3 columns. The ability to switch between 2 or 3 columns is also big for me. I will never purchase a theme that is limited to 2 columns only.

Lastly... I like themes that don't look like blog themes. I don't like "traditional" blog themes. I like themes that tend to stand out, are bold in color and options, yet still remain crisp, clean, and professional.

Obviously that is just what I look for. It would probably be very difficult to design for everyone's taste, but I think the customization option for colors and header should be standard on any paid theme.

[orion_joel]

One thing i really like is code that is really easy to follow, for example if i am adding something like adsense code to the bottom of a post, i know where i want it in the post, but it is not always easy to find the same spot in the code. (at least for me anyway because i am not the worlds best coded, however some themes outline what is what all the way through.

Another thing that is nice is the ability to adjust font and background colours from the dashboard rather then needing to find and change them in the CSS file.

But really the thing i like most is if it is possible to edit everything from the dashboard without modifying the code, Although i can understand that there will be some places you have to modify the code, as for example adsense or other adcode inserts.

[vangogh]

Thanks guys. Just about everything you mentioned is already planned. It's interesting that while you both have the skill to edit the files directly you prefer to have some kind of admin panel to easily make changes. I wasn't sure if that would be a feature developers would want. I assume non-developers would, but some developers might rather edit the files directly.

Joel as far as following where to add certain code would you prefer that the code itself be commented or would you prefer to see tutorials telling you how everything is put together and where to edit? I actually have some ideas to include things like AdSense on the backend so you don't need to touch the code at all.

What other kind of customization options would you like to see from the dashboard. So far you've mentioned:

layout (2 or 3 column)
colors
font

Anything else?

[Harold Mansfield]

What other kind of customization options would you like to see from the dashboard. So far you've mentioned:

layout (2 or 3 column)
colors
font

Anything else?

Ad blocks.
At least one 300x250 (or sidebar should be at least that size), one 480x60. It would be nice to have 2 blocks coded into the template so that you can use a rotating banner option. Any others you could ad to the sidebar. I think at least (1) 480x60 should be there minimum.

Some would say adsense coded into it as well, but I don't use adsense so it wouldn't bother me.

[rezzy]

The previous theme I was using had an update and later, allowed the ability to change the background to a list of different choices.

Not sure how that would play into your design, but if you have a background that would lend itself, that would be nice.

[orion_joel]

Adding on to the ad blocks that eborg mentioned, if this was to be put in, an option to activate or not, would be good. When not activated the area for the adblock would be set to 0 height and width and not even be seen at all. While when activated expands out in line with everything else. That would be a good feature.

Probably the primary reason that i like the idea of adjusting things like CSS without touching the code is that when you are trying to make slight adjustments, it can be annoying to have to constantly relocate the area of the file you want to change, using search in FF helps a little, but that is just me maybe.

I cannot remember which theme i used that had it on now, but one i used was well commented, along the lines of a short comment on each section which said what it did in the frontend. For example the sidebar would be.

<!-- Start Search Box -->
Search Box Code
<!-- End Search Box -->
<!-- Start Pages -->
Pages code
<!-- End Pages -->
<!-- Start Archive -->
Archives Code
<!-- End Archive -->

So the comments were a help to me following the code progressively through. But this is because i probably have not taken the time to learn how to read the code properly itself. Takes me a few minutes sometimes with guessing and checking to get stuff placed where i want it.

[vangogh]

@eborg - I probably wouldn't code something directly into the theme that was only for ads, but it's possible to code an area for widgets and then add a widget directly to the theme that does the ad rotation. That leaves it a little more flexible for people who don't want ads at all.

@Bryan - I could be mistaken, but I think the automatic theme update requires your theme gets included through the WordPress.org site somewhere. WP has mentioned that anyone selling premium themes or leaving a credit link in the theme is not allowed to be listed. It may not be possible to have the theme automatically update otherwise, though it's something I would like to do.

@Joel - easy enough to comment that way. I would probably add even more than the start and end if I go that route. I've added instructions for how to change things for clients. What would you think about having a link on the admin side of the theme that led to a support forum and tutorials for working on the theme?

[Harold Mansfield]

@eborg - I probably wouldn't code something directly into the theme that was only for ads, but it's possible to code an area for widgets and then add a widget directly to the theme that does the ad rotation. That leaves it a little more flexible for people who don't want ads at all.



I agree, widgets make everything a lot more flexible, but rarely do I see themes that account for a 480x60 banner, which are standard in just about every program and may times is where you find the biggest variety.
They don't fit in any sidebars, and if you want to add one, you generally have to hack the code yourself.

I agree..300x250, 160x600 and 120's can go in any sidebar, but the 480 is always left out.

that of course is just my opinion :)

[vangogh]

You can add the code to allow widgets anywhere. For example I could give you a widget area at the top or bottom of a single post or page. The code can be added to the header or the footer as well. When I say widgets I don't mean it to be limited to the sidebar.

The widget idea is to make things more flexible. You may want to place AdSense code at the bottom of the post, but the next person may not want to use AdSense at all. I want to have a theme that would work for both of you. One of the challenges with a theme is you can't know in advance how it's going to be used. I could certainly create a theme that's all about AdSense, but then only people who want to use AdSense would find it useful. On the other hand if the theme has widgetized areas that can be used for AdSense or something else it makes the theme more flexible for everyone.

[the goat]

One thing that I hate to see in a theme is over use of images in the design. For instance if the sidebar is a background image it is much more of a pain to go in and change the colors in an image editor than it is to change code.

[vangogh]

I agree. A certain amount if imagery can't be helped, but there are still far too many sites (no just WordPress themes) that uses images when they don't need. It's one of my pet peeves about web design. I'm always looking for ways to do in code what most do with an image.

[vangogh]

Another question. Does anyone here use theme frameworks to customize and build a design on top of or do you prefer grabbing a theme and just customizing that?

[rezzy]

I usually run for the frameworks. I dont like taking pre-written code and rethinking it, to messy.

[vangogh]

So you find it easier to work with a framework then. Do you prefer those that are basically just a stripped down version of a theme or those that add back in some features and maybe even an admin panel to make some changes without editing files?

If you are going for frameworks what do you like to see in them?

[rezzy]

So you find it easier to work with a framework then. Do you prefer those that are basically just a stripped down version of a theme or those that add back in some features and maybe even an admin panel to make some changes without editing files?
Honestly, I really like whiteboard. I liked having nothing to rip apart or decode. Just php code and a basic reset.

Leave the rest to me!



If you are going for frameworks what do you like to see in them?
Comments galore!! It makes it easier to find certain elements that I want to move or erase.

I can understand PHP well enough, that I can navigate the code, but sometimes having additional comments would allow me to move quicker.

[vangogh]

Thanks Bryan. Part of what I'm wondering is does the world need another framework. You're using Whiteboard and there are a few other similar frameworks. You can only strip out so much. After that the difference are what you add back.

There are things you can add back to help developers and non developers, though what's added back would be different for each. I guess I still need to decide better who my framework would be for and what kinds of things should be int he framework and what should be in the child themes of that framework.

Comments definitely. Regardless of which direction I go I want to make sure the code is clean, organized, and commented so it's easy to edit.

[orion_joel]

I usually just grab a theme and modify the header image, this is mostly because i literally dont have enough time to learn the ins and outs of things as such. Although leanring how to work with a framework is something that i would like to do soon. Just need to come up with suitable time.

[vangogh]

Developers can build a lot into a framework. One idea that some offer is an admin panel allowing you to make changes to your theme without having to touch any code. There's a lot you can do. That probably works better for non developers whereas developers might prefer just the basic code needed to get a theme working.

If you do adopt a framework and get to know it then you could find it does help your WordPress development, though it could lock you into doing things the way a particular developer does things.