Web Designer’s Guide to WordPress: Plan, Theme, Build, Launch

2. WordPress 101

Dear Soon-to-Be WordPress Pro,

Hey there! So you’ve decided to jump into WordPress, huh? Welcome to the party. As a designer and front-end developer, I’ve had the opportunity to create countless custom WordPress themes and I’ve even designed custom themes for a WordPress theme company. My advice to you, as a novice WordPresser, can be described in one word: anticipate. Whether you’re a web designer who can code or not, you’re going to need to anticipate and design for possibility.

Possibility for what? What makes WordPress so great as a CMS is its ability to expand and evolve. The default installation is tremendous, but as you begin to work with it you’ll quickly realize that your client’s unique needs require some additions ...