Modifying A Wordpress Theme - for new users part one

About

During this series please keep in mind that I am new to blogging and especially Wordpress. I am by no means an expert in xhtml, css or php. This will continue to be a work in progress and as much a quest for knowledge, to learn, and succeed.

Here in part one I will outline the process of what you will be learning with me, which is modifying a Wordpress theme. This series will document my account and the steps taken to help me achieve getting my own domain Tshirt Scene up and running to suit my needs. At the end of each section I will list the sources and resources used during this process.


What Will Each Part In The Series Consist Of?

In part one (this article) I will outline each part in this series so you know what you will be learning and choose if this is right for you. There are many helpful tutorials and help sections for beginners, and more advanced users of Wordpress on the net, again this is the process I used that worked for me.

Part two will consist of choosing a Wordpress theme, there are many free Wordpress themes with varying styles, columns, layouts etc, and many of the new ones come widget ready. You will learn more about Wordpress widgets later in the series.

Part three will consist of making a blue print for your new site, what is it you intend to use it for, what are you offering on your site, what do you most want your visitors to see first, what do you need on your website.

Part four, theme and layout techniques, using colour. Here you will want to start thinking more creatively and define your presence on the web. Uniformity while defining a web presence is key, later you will see why I discuss idea's about consistency.

Part five, putting it altogether. This section will be quite large and will start to delve into some xhtml/html/css and starting to understand php, I may break this section up into two parts.

Part six, the final process, putting everything together so it works. We will also try to make our theme validate with W3.


Sources/Resources
W3 Schools - learning xhtml/html/css and php.
Wordpress.com - fine makers of the webs most multi functional blogging software, and it's totally free. Did I meantion that I love Open Source?
Wordpress.org


Further Resources
Get a better understanding of Wordpress. Take a peek at these books - Understanding Wordpress

note: this series may change to include more content/parts during it's course.