WordPress Theme Jargon, Definitions and Terms You Need to Know

WordPress Theme Jargon, Definitions and Terms

CMS

A Content Management System is a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface. CMSs are often used to run websites containing blogs and news. Many corporate and marketing websites use CMSs. Well known CMSs are WordPress, Blogger, Drupal and Joomla.

Theme

The theme determines the visual design and functionality of your site. Sometimes called a skin, or a template. Theme and Template is often used interchangeably as themes are made up of template files.

Columns

Theme pages are split into one, two or three column. Your content counts as one column, so a two column theme dictates one content column and one sidebar. If you want two sidebars, you will need a three column theme. Side bars can be placed on either the left or right side of a page.

Responsive Theme

A responsive theme design adapts to different browser sizes so instead of needing a separate mobile site or mobile plugin, the content will be resized and rearranged to fit smaller screens such as those found on Android systems.

Magazine Style Theme

Posts are generally shown as list on, for example, the home. With a Magazine style page, the top posts will generally be shown from many categories. Many Magazine style themes also have an image slider for the latest or featured posts.

Fixed Width

With a fixed width web page the width of the page is fixed and does not depend upon the width of the browser window or users screen size. Fixed width sites allow more control over the exact look of a site. They prevent line lengths that are way too long or way too short.

Flexible Width

Also know as fluid width themes. With a flexible width web page the width of the page will expand and contract depending on the width of the browser window and the users screen size. This can cause problems with the look of the site as line lengths will vary may become too long making them difficult to read, plus, graphics do not generally resize automatically.

Widget Ready

A widget ready theme is a theme capable of handling sidebar widgets. In other words, the theme has widgetized areas which you can dynamically manipulate in an easy to use drag-and-drop fashion. Most of the time widgets are used in the sidebars of themes, which is why you may frequently see the term widgetized sidebar in conjunction with widget-ready.

Theme Options

Theme options indicate that a template has an options panel to configure elements of the theme such as menus, CSS, etc. without any coding.

Child Theme

A Child theme is a theme that works as a subordinate of the parent theme. Think of a child theme as a separate theme you install which inherits all of the attributes, templates and functionality of the parent theme, hence the term child theme.

The beauty of a child theme is that it allows you to modify the behaviour and add to the functionality of the parent theme without having to modify the files of the parent theme because code in the child theme overwrites the code in the parent theme.

Theme Framework

A theme framework is the base from which other themes can be created. The Thesis Theme is often described as theme framework, while Woo Themes and Elegant Themes create all their different themes based on their own frameworks to provide commonality of options and coding.

Theme frameworks are essentially starter themes that you use as a foundation for the creation of your own themes. Some are more elaborate than others featuring in depth template systems. If you are going to design a WordPress theme, beginning with a starter theme or framework is probably the most efficient way.

WordPress Theme Jargon, Definitions and Terms Conclusion

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Well, I hope you found something useful and enjoyed this article, WordPress Theme Jargon, Definitions and Terms You Need to Know.