WordPress Theme Design: A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes | 
| Author: Tessa Blakeley Silver
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $35.99
You Save: $4.00 (10%)
New (17) Used (4) from $35.99
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 98267
Media: Paperback
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 1847193099
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9781847193094
ASIN: 1847193099
Publication Date: May 30, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
Expert guidance on designing a great theme for one of the most popular, open-source blog systems available for the Web today! This book can be used by WordPress users or visual designers (with no server-side scripting or programming experience) who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. Regardless of your web development skill-set or level, you'll be walked through the clear, step-by-step instructions, but familiarity with a broad range of web development skills and WordPress know-how will allow you to gain maximum benefit from this book.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 A waste of my time and money January 6, 2009
Steve Lemaster (Lynden, WA, USA)
I was really hoping that this book would teach something that is incredibly complicated, I was, yet again, disappointed.
The book seemingly starts out simple enough. However, on page 31, is where it begins to get muddy and gets worse from here. It begins by talking about typeography and on page 33 shows an image of something that is nowhere explained as to how it came into existance. At no time that I can see that this term is explained and how that image on page 33 was created.
Upon further reading, it is easy to see that the authors are under the impression that beginners know where to start.
I'll stick with the arduous task of trying to muddle through backward engineering current themes.
When are these people going to understand that many of us trying to learn this stuff need to have simple, step by step instructions?
Sorry, thumbs down on this one.
 Not for the abject beginner, but a fantastic reference as I learn December 29, 2008
gensparkie (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought a premium Wordpress Theme and just wanted to learn how to tweak it a bit. I also wanted some basic familiarity with some of the language used and techniques in theme design.
From my total beginner stance, it seems like this is meant for people who are really great at coding and want to make themes from scratch, and it looks very thorough to me.
But I'm finding it a great occasional reference for when I want to do something and the internet is failing at teaching me. I have to sit down and really concentrate, and look up a lot of words, but it's simple enough that anyone truly motivated could learn to customize their theme nicely, and get a lot of background info at the same time.
good book, practical and well thought out December 21, 2008
Souleye Cisse (washington, dc)
I have gone through all the book nor have I done the practical exercises, but this book lived up to its promise: to teach you how to create professional wordpress themes. I even learned how to set up a web server on my mac - which I thought would be a daunting process!
 3 stars for the raw info, minus 2 stars for the style and structure December 21, 2008
Mike (San Jose, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As of December 2008 (the time of this review), there are two readily available commercial sources for those wishing to create WordPress themes: this book, and Web | CMS Squad / Aleks Monahan's two-hour instructional DVD, How to Theme WordPress: From Blank To Beautiful in 2 Hours. I've already written a review for the Monahan DVD. I gave it five stars because she briefly sets the stage, rolls up her sleeves, and goes to work. For the next two hours, that's all she does...she works for you, the person who purchased her DVD, and she works with you, delivering on the product's promise.
I deducted two stars from what could have been a five star review of Tessa Silver's book for two simple reasons: The book is poorly structured and written and there is far too much space devoted to the personal journey of Tessa Silver as a designer / coder and her philosophy toward her clients and the Web in general.
I neither want nor need a memoir from this author. I want her to roll up her sleeves and go to work, because that's what I have to do. I bought this book and the Monahan DVD because of a client's need to have their WordPress blog themed to match their site, which I also designed. That's it. Period.
And despite all of this, there is a solid 3 stars' worth of raw material in this book. My suggestion for a second edition, if there ends up being one, is to trim the fat and chat and be of service, not a CSS rock star discussing backstage life.
You'll be on page 23 before Silver writes "Let's Get Started." For the next 89 pages, you'll get what you paid for...mocking up your design on paper, then Photoshop, then coding, then debugging, but wait...on page 113, she writes "It's time to share your theme with your client, friends, and / or the rest of the WordPress community."
Then, on page 126, you're back into the design realm again, where Silver remains for the balance of the book. Poor structure, extremely poor.
My prediction for the future is that if WordPress and the whole CMS phenomenon continues to grow, the "How to create WordPress Themes" playing field will fill up very quickly. There is a truckload of information on the Web, IF you are willing to wade through it all and separate the wheat from the chaffe (you'll find a handful of wheat and a whole lotta chaffe). Most working professionals don't have the time for this. I didn't. That's why I purchased the book and DVD.
Monahan is working on the second, "advanced" DVD. If it's anything like the first it will be killer, essential, and something I would purchase the minute her Web Site emails me the heads-up.
Silver would benefit tremendously from collaborating with a co-author on the second edition. If not, she runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle as authors who know how to deliver usable content while keeping the anecdotal chat to a minimum step up and claim their share of her turf.
I recommend that you purchase the book with the Monahan DVD, keeping in mind the caveats I've listed here.
All the information with too much chat November 7, 2008
James Sterling (Concord, MA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
*WordPress: Theme Design* has a lot of very useful information, but you have to wade through an awful lot of the Tessa Blakely Silver's opinions and her obvious irritation with her clients in order to get to it. It would benefit from a layout in which her side comments were kept on the sidelines (so you could skip them).
If you are looking for a beginning book on CSS, you would do better to look at *Stylin' for the Web*, by Charles Wyke-Smith and just skip the CSS section here. As for setting up the PHP code in your WordPress pages, I am no expert, but I am willing to bet that someone has done it better. The presentation of the material is not well organized.
This book would be improved if the text were pruned by at least 1/3, with all the chat eliminated and the text edited for logical flow. If you can get it cheap or from your public library, get it; but it's definitely not worth $40.
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