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How to start a blog business and Make Money in Nigeria

Blogging business in Nigeria

Blogging as a business, that is, making money from blog in Nigeria is no more a new idea, but how to make it big or how to use it to sustain your life and family, it then call for more attention like reading this blog.

I started blog as a fun, to give back some knowledge I acquired in the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria. I wrote many blogs on how to do things I was helping my company to do when I was in active service. As people started calling and asking questions on what I wrote and the joy I do sense from them after I answered their questions propel me to write more.

It is then that I values what I was writing.

More than anything, my choice to start a blog has allowed me to connect with and teach thousands of people, talented, and passionate readers (like you) every single year.

Whether you’re trying to blog for fun, build a living from blogging, launch personal brand,  or for freelance business and want to write about a certain topic, there’s nothing I would recommend more than challenging yourself to learn how to start a blog and Make Money in Nigeria.

And while it’s now easier than ever to get started with writing and publishing online in Nigeria, the last thing you want to slow you down is all the technicalities of starting a blog.

That’s why I created this guide and call it “how to start a blog and Make Money in Nigeria”. In it, I’m going to teach you everything you need to know when it comes to learning how to start a blog and actually profit from it. I’ll show you the exact techniques and strategies I’ve used for myself to go from 0 to thousand of passionate readers.

 

I will start with how you will start a blog by yourself and making blog a source of income in thousands of Naira or Dollars in year.

And because your writing deserves an audience, I’m also going to share the secrets of how to promote, market, and grow your blog that’ve helped me increase traffic in the past year alone in the subsequent posts/ blog.

 

Topics I covered on how to start a blog and Make Money in Nigeria

1. Find Your Niche and Decide What to Blog About
2. Choose your audience
3. Choose a Blogging Platform (CMS)
4. Pick Your Blog’s Name and Domain
5. Choose a Template and Design Your Blog
6. Develop Your Content Strategy
7. Keep Publishing Regularly

 

Let me address one of the important and most common questions people ask about this subject is

Can I start a blog site for free in Nigeria?

 

If you’re just getting into learning how to start a blog, you might be worried about the cost of building and hosting your own blog. Luckily, today that isn’t much of an issue. There are tons of ways you can get started blogging today (in half an hour or less) that are absolutely free.

Free blogging platforms like Blogger, Medium and Tumblr are awesome resources for testing things out.

And these options are great… if your blog is a hobby.

However, if you’re looking to build a business out of your blog or make money from blogging in Nigeria, I would highly recommend some of the paid (yet still very affordable) options that I’m going to cover below. If you’re on the fence about whether to use a free or paid hosting provider to get started… here’s why you should consider (an affordable) paid hosting provider:

  • When you go with free, you’ll have a lack of control over how your blog looks and acts: Free blogging services (like Blogger, Medium or Tumblr) will pretty much always limit the design and functionality of your blog. This means you won’t be able to make your blog look like your favorite other sites. Plus, you might not be able to do the things you want (like capture email addresses from your readers using tools like ConvertKit, include ads, join affiliate programs and other activities that’ll help you actually make money blogging).
  • Most free services have limits on monetization: If you plan on making money from your blog, a free service might limit the amount you can earn until you pay for an upgrade (which defeats the purpose of using a “Free” service in the first place!)
  • Switching or upgrading to a better service is a serious hassle: As your blog grows, you’ll quickly outgrow the free service that you started on. However, switching to another blogging platform takes time, effort, money and knowledge to do properly and not lose your hard-earned traffic.
  • There’s a lack of support if something goes wrong: While a paid blog hosting service like my favorite, Bluehost, wants to keep you happy with stellar support, there’s not as much incentive to look after you if you’re not paying for a service. If things go wrong (and they sometimes will), it might be difficult to get the help you need.
  • Free blog hosting services can disappear overnight: A free service doesn’t make a company much money and there’s always a risk that they might decide it’s not worth it anymore. The last thing you want is your hours of hard work to disappear based on something you can’t control.

All of this is to say that you should think about your plan and what you want from your blog before you get started.

While it’s perfectly fine (and insanely easy) to learn how to start a blog for free, sometimes a little investment in yourself up front can go a very long way toward paving a future that’s much more lucrative. But, that’s your choice and it’s just as admirable if you start out as a hobby blogger on a free platform today.

Like this blog of mine is not a free one.

 

Linda Ikeji, one of the foremost Nigerian Blogger.  her blog worth over $1million as at 2012,  and the recent rate  worth over $10 million. I’m still far from this monitory target, though, my blog is mainly to promote and to assist Nigerians and other foreigner to do business in Nigeria freely without entering into a wrong hands.

 

I must tell you the hard truth for those who want to start blogging today in Nigeria and looking for extremely quick results, you’re going to be disappointed.

A good friend of mine who introduces me to blogging stopped his news blogging site after one year plus. When I asked him why, he “the site was giving him very small dollar, so he can’t continue“. You need to set realistic expectations.

This isn’t to say you can’t start a successful blog and make money in Nigeria in one year or two. In fact, there are more opportunities than ever. It’s just that you need to make sure you’re not falling into certain traps early on. Traps like…

  • You think you can make a bunch of money writing about something you aren’t familiar with or passionate about
  • You’re not committed to publishing regularly and interacting with your audience
  • You want quick results without putting in the work

Here’s a dose of reality: The most popular, successful and profitable blogs in Nigeria and in the world at large are all run by people who care deeply about the subject matter they’re writing about. They’re committed and excited to post. And they know that running a blog is an investment that will only bring them bigger returns the more they keep at it.

And as long as you’re on the same page, your blog will be a success!

 

The most sure way to start your blog and make money from it in Nigeria are;

1. Find Your Niche and Decide What to Blog About

People don’t search or read a blog because it looks nice or because the blogger is their friend, relation or because they publish post frequently.

People and you that is reading this read this blog because you care about what it says.

 

This will lead us to What is a niche? And why does your blog need one?

Before you go down to start a blog, deciding on things your blog is going to do, and what it’s going to look like. Though, sometime it evolves.  Just as I said earlier, I started blog in Nigeria as a fun, but it has evolved into business.

Some questions you need to answer: Why?

Why do you care about the topic you’re blogging about?

Do you have personal interest in the area you want to blog?

Why should other people listen to what you’re saying?

Why is this a topic that you can add value to?

 

A niche is more than just a topic. It’s the approach you’re going to take, the audience you want to go after, and the way you’re going to talk to them and position yourself as an expert.

A niche doesn’t have to be your passion (although it’s definitely easier to stay committed to starting your blog when you’re passionate about it). But it does have to be an interest of yours. The best niches are exciting enough that you’ll be motivated to continually post about it, and accessible enough that you can build an audience.

So, whether that means Nigerian traditions, Native Nigeria foods, starting a Fashion designing business, or any other thing, is up to you.

It is also good to think this way “what new ideas am I going to contribute to the system”?

 

“Want to start a successful blog business in Nigeria? Consistency and genuine interest are going to be key.”

Remember, consistency is going to be key when you start a blog.
Therefore picking a niche you can keep up with and stay excited about is essential to growing a successful blog.

 

2. Choose your audience

Whether you refer to it as your target market or your blog audience, the people who read, watch, or listen to your content are the most important people in your blog world. These blog readers are your advocates, your supporters, and hopefully your customers, so it’s important that you pick the right blog readers.

 

What I mean by “choosing your blog audience” could also be described as fostering or nurturing a blog reader through a journey. It’s about whittling down a huge group of people to a targeted blog audience, because if you want a successful blog, you need the right audience.

That right blog audience is going to be different for everyone, but in general it needs to be a niched-down, loyal, dedicated, and excited group of readers.

Two reasons why the right blog audience is important

1: Choosing the right readers helps you know what kind of content to create. Defining your ideal blog reader is a major step in narrowing down your topic and creating super targeted content just for them. After all, how can you begin creating content before you know who your blog audience is? And the more targeted your audience and content are, the easier it will be to create the kind of content that establishes you as an authority on your topic.

2: Choosing the right readers means an increase in your conversions.

Again, thousands on thousands of page views don’t mean much if you aren’t making sales.

Who is your ideal reader?

Another great exercise if you’re trying to decide on a niche for your blog is to think about who your ideal reader is and who is your competitor(s)?. This is the person most likely to visit your blog and get value from your writing. For me, the easiest way to think about this is to use myself as an example. If you’re writing about an interest, then you’re most likely your ideal reader.

But that isn’t always the case. And what you might find as you learn how to start blogging, is that the audience you thought you were attracting is actually different from who’s reading you.

On who is your competitor(s), you try to find out people who have written similar topics before.

 

You don’t need to worry about the audience as you’re beginning your journey of learning how to start a blog. But do think about how much you can write for the niche you’re picking.

 

2. Choose a Blogging Platform (CMS)

Now that you know what you’re going to blog about, it’s time to think on how the site will look like and of how to start the blog.

What is a CMS?

A Content Management System (or CMS) is where you’ll be writing, designing, and publishing your blog posts. A good CMS is easy to use, let’s you organize your content, upload images and videos, and have control over how your entire blog looks using templates, themes or custom design elements.

There many CMS you can use to start. Some of them are WordPress. Drupal. Joomla!, ExpressionEngine. TextPattern. Radiant CMS. Cushy CMS. SilverStripe.

But the most used CMS today in the world is WordPress. I used it here and I recommend it to you.

 

You said “I can start a blog for free in Nigeria” Is WordPress free?

Of course, there are other CMS options you can look at, such as Squarespace, Ghost, and Wix when learning how to start a blog. However, I recommend setting up a self-hosted WordPress site for your blog as it’s the most sustainable, long-term solution—and really the only option worth considering if you’re starting a blog with the eventual goal of making money from your website in some way, shape or form.

 

I started posting thing on website with Joomla CMS, but when I tried out WordPress, I find out that it is better for me and I switched to wordpress. Since then, I’ve been running my blog on WordPress  and I couldn’t be happier with the amount of flexibility, control and long-term growth potential I have over my site.

 

Make Your Blog site Mobile-friendly

Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just good practice — it’s a prerequisite. For the first time in history, mobile has exceeded desktop Internet usage, according to comScore.

Mobile users now expect an experience optimized for their device. Nearly half of consumers say they won’t return to a website if it doesn’t load properly on their mobile devices.

On April 21, 2015, Google announced that it would begin using mobile-friendly sites as a ranking signal. That means that if a website isn’t mobile-friendly, it will soon see a decrease in search engine rankings.

If you are unsure whether or not your site is mobile-friendly, you can test whether your Websites mobile-friendly or not on this Google free platform.

 

What are some other free CMS options?

There are other free CMS apart from WordPress, some of the free CMS you can choose from that are free are K2, Joomla, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, Quora, LinkedIn etc.

However, I just have to say it again, every free blogging platform will have limitations.

And if you want to maximize your blog’s potential for earning an income. That is, blogging as a business and make it big to sustain your life and then, I advise you own your platform and go with a self-hosted that support your CMS.

 

3. Pick Your Blog’s Name

Choosing a Blogging Platform (CMS) and choosing your blog’s name, either can go first.

Choose a name for your blog and make sure that your (future) readers out there are able to find it. I will strongly suggest you choose a simple name that is easy to pronounce and remember. This will play a good role as you’re your audience increases. For example, blog sites in Nigeria names like guardian.ng, pulse.ng, businessnews.com.ng, buzznigeria.com.

Your blog name will relatively affect the name of your domain. If you are writing as a firm/ company, the choice of business name during registration will matter also. For business/ company registration in Nigeria, you can use Veraz Advocates

 

How to pick the right name for your blog business in Nigeria

The name you choose is one of the more important parts of setting up your blog. This is the first thing people see when you show up in search results and can often tell them about who you are, what you’re writing about, and even your personality.

There are tons of ways to come up with a name for your blog (you can even use your own name—or a nickname like me ).

You can derive your name your Niche. E.g You want to write on sports, you can choose a name like SportNija, LagosSport, PhSports.

 

What is a domain name?

When you type aziza.com.ng into your browser in order to visit a site, that’s the website’s domain name. In a nutshell, a domain name is like your address. It tells people (and web browsers) where to find your site.

If you’re using a free blogging service, you’ll most likely get to pick your own domain name with it. However, it will almost always have the company’s name attached to it.

So, if you use a free Wix site to make your blog, your domain name will look like this:

Yoursitename.wixsite.com

I know you will not like this. If you’re trying to build a business around your blog, or want other people to take it seriously, this isn’t a great start.

Instead, when you buy a domain name, you get to choose exactly what you want it to be as long as it’s available.

You can do a quick search using this quick search tool with any free tool to know if your domain name idea is available.

You can also choose the extension to use for your domain name, such as .com, .com.ng, .ng, .org, .net and so on. While a .com is still the preferred domain extension, it’s becoming less important as time goes on—so don’t shy away from other less common domain extensions, especially if they’re more affordable.

Domain extension like .com.ng, .ng, etc.
I want to state here the main thing about this extensions is they point that your website is from Nigeria. It has little or no effect on your blog.

 

5. Design Your Blog with Template

When you get to this stage in your blogging business, just know it is time to work.

The first place to start is with your blog theme. You can think of a theme as the template for the visual layout of your blog. If you’re not a web developer (and I’m definitely not one), having a good theme makes design and organization of your site a snap.

If you will go with a self-hosted WordPress site, you’ll have literally thousands of amazing free and paid theme options at your disposal. Plus, once you buy a theme like the one I use for my blog here. You’ll own it forever and get all the benefits of excellent support and customization options that come with premium WordPress themes.

However, if you’re using a free blogging platform, you’re most likely going to be quite limited in the themes and design options you have.

Let’s assume at this point we’re working with a self-hosted WordPress blog (like mine). Here’s what you should be looking for in a theme and your site’s design.

 

Your blog design.

“a good design isn’t just about how your blog looks, it’s about how it works.”

Even if you don’t really care about design, your readers do. Good design builds trust. It tells people that you care enough about your blog to make it look nice. This doesn’t mean you need crazy animations or tons of fonts and colors. In fact, the best designs are simple, clear, and easy to read.

A nice theme and design for your blog is one of the best (relatively inexpensive) investments you can make early on as you’re trying to attract more readers.

 

How to pick the right theme for your blog

Picking a blog theme can be a lot of fun. But it can also take up a ton of time that you could otherwise be using to write and promote your posts (and thus getting to your first blog income faster).

There are so many themes to check out, that it’s easy to get swept away by the ones that look awesome, but might not be functionally great.

Remember, design isn’t just about how your blog looks. It’s about how it works. And the easier it is to navigate and read, the better.

 

Here are a few suggestions of what to look for when checking out themes:

  • Keep it simple:At the end of the day, the goal of starting a blog is to share content that can be easily consumed (read, watched, experienced). And unfortunately, a lot of fancy blog themes get in the way of that. Don’t get too drawn in by crazy looking themes that compromise on legibility and usability. If a theme looks good, but doesn’t help you share your thoughts and engage with readers, it’s not a good theme.
  • Responsiveness is a must:Responsiveness refers to themes that make sure your blog looks as good on a laptop, as it does on someone’s smartphone. Today, more and more people use their phones to read blogs and depending on your audience, that number could be 50% or higher (like mine is). Google also favors mobile-friendly websites and ranks them at the top of their organic search results. If you’re not totally sure whether a theme is mobile friendly or not, copy and paste the URL of the theme’s demo page into Google’s Mobile Friendly Test (This test will almost always show somewarnings. But major red flags to watch out for are text too small or content wider than screen.)
  • Does it work in different browsers?Your readers won’t just be using different devices, but different browsers. Most theme developers rigorously test their themes across browsers, but sometimes mistakes slip through. Try testing on a couple different browsers just to make sure.
  • SEO friendliness:SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to how well Google and other search engines can find your information when people search for it. Some themes use bulky code that makes it difficult for search engines to read. And while no one expects you to inspect a theme’s code you should see if the developer has said it is optimized for SEO.
  • Support:Problems happen. And when they do, you want to be able to ask for help. Lots of free theme developers won’t offer support for their products. So that’s one thing to be aware of when making your choice.
  • Ratings and reviews:Look for themes with a good track record. If the theme is sold on a third-party marketplace you should be able to see reviews no problem. For free WordPress theme, you’ll see the ratings just below the download button.
  • Backup: I always advice you backup your site regularly. This will save much tears and fighting with your host.

 

If you are not a web developer

Where you are not a web developer, it will an experience person at this early stage. You can contact me and I will give you an affordable fee as a bonus for reading my blog.

The site developer needs to give your site a good structure at the beginning, this is very important. Search Engine Structure is another important this to consider while developing your blog site in Nigeria especially when it is for business. To get an affordable Nigerian that can give optimize your blog site in major search engines like Google, I will recommend Meredox to you.

 

Essential Features your blog should have.

Keep in mind some of the features will make more or less sense depending upon the type of blog you are building.

1. SEO Features (Yoast Plugin for WordPress theme).

The more people that can find your content, the better your blog will do. Yoast helps you to optimize your blog post titles, descriptions, content length and other elements across your entire blog so that you can be found easier by search engines. You can start with the free version of Yoast SEO

2. Contact Forms.You’ll want your readers to be able to get in touch with you easily. Your blog site need an easy contact Form for your readers to contact you easily.

3. Easy Content Share features

Social media plays a good role on your blog to reach your readers. Add Social shares feature to your blog site.

4. Analytics features. This can be done with a plugin or use Google tool.MonsterInsights.This is probably the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. Connect Monster Insights to your Google Analytics account (you can sign up for a free Google Analytics account right here) to find out who’s coming to your site, how long they’re sticking around, and what your most popular blog posts are.

5. Again for for WordPress theme, BackupBuddy. Again, sometimes things go wrong. It’s always smart to have a backup of all your hard work.

6. W3 Total Cache.Faster websites rank better in Google and give your readers a better experience. W3 Total Cache reduces your file sizes so that your blog loads faster for everyone.

 

To find a designer for your business blog (Bonus)

Anything doing is worth doing well. I want to give you one last option for creating the blog design you’re after: hiring a designer.

In Nigeria, many are jack of all trades master of none. Yes, it’s an additional cost. But we’re not all design-minded. And I’m a big believer that we should always play to our strengths and outsource our weaknesses. So, if design isn’t one of your strong points and you have the budget to accommodate, it might be a good idea to hire someone to help you out.

This is one of the areas Aziza Business Support support young Nigeria to get started. Our sister firm Meredox  has been given our readers a good and affordable support.

The bonus on this, contact Meredox and inform them that you are Aziza Nigeria reader.  They will give you a preference.

 

6. Marketing Your Content

Most bloggers on this topic “how to start a blog as a business” ends there point here but I think it’s important to also look at ways to grow it into something you’re proud of that will actually earn you a decent amount of income.

Over the past one year plus, I’ve grown my blog from a small side business support services in Nigeria. Providing business support services to my reader. We are now networking our services to other freelance and using our platform to help for people who need services to meet with genuine providers of such services in Nigeria.

Traffic matters when it comes to taken your blogging to something you’re proud of that will actually earn you a decent amount of income.

 

“Just because you started a blog, you’re not guaranteed readers. Here’s how to drive traffic”

 

First off, why have a content strategy?

A strategy is really just an actionable plan for all the things you’ve already figured out.

If you know your niche and understand your why…

If you know your ideal reader and what they’re looking for…

If you know the value you want to give them and your unique angle…

Then creating a content strategy is as easy as solving your readers most pressing challenges.

How To Market or Promote Your Blog

1. Get involved in social media

Be kind, be helpful. Don’t just promote your own stuff, build relationships.

2. Build your email list.

3. Make the most of your social media profiles

Craft intriguing profiles on all your social media channels. Consider the audience you’re likely to attract and tailor your profile for each.

4. Make social sharing easy on your site

Include social media sharing buttons on your content and encourage others to share.

5. Buy social media ads

Like it or not, social media is moving from “free to play” to “pay to play.” For example, gone are the days when you could create a Facebook Page and anyone who liked it would see your posts.

6. Start or find a mastermind group

A mastermind group is an excellent way to build relationships and enjoy the mutual benefits of working together to promote each others’ stuff.

7. Go to a conference or meet-up

This is one of top networking tips. If you can meet people face to face, do it. I cannot tell you how many people I’ve heard say they saw a significant uptick in traffic or business after making connections in real life.

8. Create screencasts or tutorials

A lot of people are visual learners and appreciate a step by step video to help them perform a particular task. If you can show people how to do things on your computer, use a tool like Screencast-O-Matic (free) to record your computer screen while you verbally instruct.

9. Comment on content created by others

This is an easy way to get your face or brand in front of people. It can also be a great strategy for establishing yourself as a pillar in a niche if you offer helpful advice.

10. Write for a trade magazine

If it makes sense for your topic or niche and you know your target audience reads trade magazines, write for them.

11. Get testimonials

Consider contacting people who have emailed or commented with nice things to say about you, your blog, ebook, product or service. Ask if you they’d be willing to provide a testimonial.

12. Write list posts

Think about your topic. Let’s say it’s woodworking. Now think about lists you can make related to woodworking. For example, “The 5 woodworkers to follow on YouTube” or “10 tools all woodworkers shouldn’t do without” or “The 8 best woodworking websites” or “15 woodworking tricks to save time.” You get the idea.

 

7. Keep Publishing Regularly

 

If you want readers to consistently come back to your blog, you need to give them a reason to.

Life doesn’t really like Consistency, it is the most essential tools for success in everything in life. Consistency is one of the least celebrated, yet most important aspects of starting a successful blog

There are a couple reasons why consistency is key. Writing consistently:

  1. Sets expectations with your readers: People know when to come back and check out your blog and will check in regularly for new content.
  2. Sets expectations with yourself:It can be easy to get out of the habit of publishing regularly if you miss a couple days. However, if you decide on and commit to a schedule, you know when you have to publish. We all do better with a few deadlines in our lives.

 

Now, there’s a fine line to walk when you first start a blog and want to set a rigorous publishing schedule.

You might have a ton of ideas and enthusiasm, but over-committing is the easiest way to kill both of those. Instead, you should commit to the minimum amount you want to publish—say once or twice a week—and try to stick to that religiously.

As author and blogger James Clear said in an interview on my podcast, “Sacrifice the scope, not the schedule.” If you can’t write a 1000-word post every week then write a 500-word post instead. Just make sure you’re consistent.

Perfectionism is a deadly killer when it comes to projects like this. So remember, done is better than perfect.

“Perfectionism will kill your blogging ambitions. Done is better than perfect.” Ryrob

 

This is where having a clear content calendar becomes so important. If you can spend a couple hours each month mapping out all the posts you want to write, you’ll always know what you should be working on and when it’s due.

 

Just like when you’re working out or investing money, the more consistent you are with investing time into your blog, the bigger returns you’ll get.

 

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Post Gallery in wordpress themes by momizat team

Post Gallery in WordPress themes is the most used and popular blogging platform around the web. Its flexibility, usability and customizability are the main reasons people regard WordPress so high. Another reason is the huge array of themes available for WordPress – you can create almost anything, from online magazines to advanced e-commerce businesses. wordpress themes You can either get themes for free or pay for them. Of course, you get what you pay for — yet don’t be too eager to spend your money on something you might not even need. If you’re just starting out with WordPress I suggest reading Choosing a WordPress Theme: Free or Premium? After that you might consider whether you really want to pay for that premium theme. wordpress themes If the answer is no, continue reading and check out these 80 professional, beautiful and free WordPress themes from 2012 — the best free themes that can be found!

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Design ICT

Create A WordPress Themes

WordPress themes is the most used and popular blogging platform around the web. Its flexibility, usability and customizability are the main reasons people regard WordPress so high. Another reason is the huge array of themes available for WordPress – you can create almost anything, from online magazines to advanced e-commerce businesses. wordpress themes You can either get themes for free or pay for them. Of course, you get what you pay for — yet don’t be too eager to spend your money on something you might not even need. If you’re just starting out with WordPress I suggest reading Choosing a WordPress Theme: Free or Premium? After that you might consider whether you really want to pay for that premium theme. wordpress themes If the answer is no, continue reading and check out these 80 professional, beautiful and free WordPress themes from 2012 — the best free themes that can be found!

If you started with an HTML ( + CSS) website, you don’t have to throw it all away when moving to WordPress. You can convert your HTML into WordPress and run your (now more powerful) website on the dynamic WordPress platform.

Or maybe that’s not the case. Perhaps you are just wondering how to convert a client’s HTML design into a fully-fledged WordPress theme. Or maybe you would like to learn basic WordPress (+ PHP) programming from the more-familiar HTML side.

Whatever the reason you are here today, this WordPress tutorial will introduce you to the basics of creating a WordPress theme from HTML. So, get a code editor (I use and recommend Notepad++, and SublimeText is another great option) and a browser ready, then follow this simple guide to the end.

Naming Your WordPress Theme

First things first, we have to give your theme a unique name, which isn’t necessary if you’re building a theme for your website only. Regardless, we need to name your theme to make it easily identifiable upon installation.

General assumptions at this point:

  • You have your index.html and CSS stylesheet ready. If you don’t have these files, you can download mine for illustration purposes
  • You have a working WordPress installation with at least one theme e.g. Twenty Fourteen
  • You have already created a theme folder where you’ll be saving your new WordPress theme

Let’s get back to naming your WordPress theme. Open your code editor and copy-paste the contents of your stylesheet into a new file and save it as style.css in your theme folder. Add the following information at the very top of the newly-created style.css:

/*Theme Name: Your theme's name
Theme URI: Your theme's URL
Description: A brief description of your theme
Version: 1.0 or any other version you want
Author: Your name or WordPress.org's username
Author URI: Your web address
Tags: Tags to locate your theme in the WordPress theme repository
*/
Do not leave out the (/*…*/) comment tags. Save the changes. This info tells WordPress the name of your theme, the author and complimentary stuff like that. The important part is the theme’s name, which allows you to choose and activate your theme via the WP dashboard.

Breaking Up Your HTML Template into PHP Files

This tutorial further assumes you have your HTML template arranged left to right: header, content, sidebar, footer. If you have a different design, you might need to play with the code a bit. It’s fun and super easy.

The next step involves creating four PHP files. Using your code editor, create index.php, header.php, sidebar.php and footer.php, and save them in your theme folder. All the files are empty at this point, so don’t expect them to do anything. For illustration purposes, I am using the following index.html and CSS stylesheet files:

INDEX.HTML

 

<!DOCTYPE html>	
<head>
		<meta charset="UTF-8">
		<title>How To Convert HTML Template to WordPress Theme - WPExplorer</title>
		<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="style.css"/>
	</head>
	<body>
		<div id="wrap">
			<header class="header">
				<p>This is header section. Put your logo and other details here.</p>
			</header><!-- .header -->
			<div class="content">
				<p>This is the main content area.</p>
			</div><!-- .content -->
			<div class="sidebar">
				<p>This is the side bar</p>
			</div><!-- .sidebar -->
			<footer class="footer">
				<p>And this is the footer.</p>
			</footer><!-- .footer -->
		</div><!-- #wrap -->
	</body>
</html>

 

CSS STYLESHEET

#wrap{margin: 0 auto; width:95%; margin-top:-10px; height:100%;}
.header{width:99.8%; border:1px solid #999;height:135px;}
.content{width:70%; border:1px solid #999;margin-top:5px;}
.sidebar{float:right; margin-top:-54px;width:29%; border:1px solid #999;}
.footer{width:99.8%;border:1px solid #999;margin-top:10px;}

You can grab both codes if you have nothing to work with. Just copy-paste them into your code editor, save them, create the four PHP files we just mentioned and get ready for the next part. Open your newly-created (and empty)header.php. Login into your existing WordPress installation, navigate to Appearance –>> Editor and openheader.php. Copy all the code between the <head> tags and paste it into your header.php file. The following is the code I got from the header.php file in Twenty Fourteen theme:

<head>
	<meta charset="<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
	<title><?php wp_title( '|', true, 'right' ); ?></title>
	<link rel="profile" href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
	<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo( 'pingback_url' ); ?>">
	<!--[if lt IE 9]>
	<script src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/js/html5.js"></script>
	<![endif]-->
	<?php wp_head(); ?>
</head>

Then open your index.html file and copy the header code (i.e. the code in the <div class= “header”> section) to your header.php just below the <head> tags as shown below:

<html>
	<head>
		<meta charset="<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>">
		<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
		<title><?php wp_title( '|', true, 'right' ); ?></title>
		<link rel="profile" href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
		<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo( 'pingback_url' ); ?>">
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" />
		<!--[if lt IE 9]>
		<script src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/js/html5.js"></script>
		<![endif]-->
		<?php wp_head(); ?>
	</head>
	<body>
		<header class="header">
		<p>This is header section. Put your logo and other details here.</p>
	</header>

Then add…

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" />
…anywhere between the <head> tags in the header.php file to link your stylesheet. Remember also to put the <html> and <body> opening tags in the header.php as shown above. Save all changes.

 

Adding Posts

Your HTML template is about to morph into a WordPress theme. We just need to add your posts. If you have posts on your blog, how would you display them in your custom-made “HTML-to-WordPress” theme? You use a special type of PHP function known as the Loop. The Loop is just a specialized piece of code that displays your posts and comments wherever you place it.

source : http://www.wpexplorer.com/create-wordpress-theme-html-1/

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[review]

Categories
Design

Anatomy of A WordPress Themes

WordPress themes

A while ago, we introduced to you the concept of creating a WordPress theme from HTML. We split the tutorial into two parts, and you can check out the first installation here and the second here. Today we are all about fleshing out the two tutorials, so feel free to regard this post as the third serving in the post series. My objective is to take apart the WordPress theme to give you a clear picture of how it (the theme) works.

This post assumes you have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS. I will go ahead and declare that having HTML and CSS skills is a prerequisite in designing WordPress themes. One more thing, this post will stay clear of big words and difficult concepts – it will be easy to comprehend, so be ready to have fun and learn.

A Little HTML Priming

Every HTML web page is split into different parts using the <div> tag. For instance, you can break the body (<body>) of your website into several sections such as navigation, header, main content, sidebar and footer amongst others.

Once you have your web page in sections, you can order (or arrange) the sections as you wish using CSS. This process is known as styling, and it involves adding other style elements such as color, size, borders, special effects etc. Such is the power of CSS, which – by the way – is short for Cascading Style Sheets. When you put your HTMl and CSS files together and throw in a couple of images, you end up with a complete website.

Things are not very different with WordPress themes. As we saw in part 1 of How To Create A WordPress Theme from HTML, WordPress themes are split into different files. If you cannot spot some similarity at this point, allow me to explain.

Static HTML web pages are split into divisions (what we called sections earlier on) using <div> tags (or tables if you’re really old school). On the other hand, WordPress themes are split into different php files, which are then put back together using template tags.

Therefore, instead of having all body elements (header, main content, sidebar, footer etc) living in a single file (as is the case with static HTML), each of the body elements (in WordPress themes) lives in a separate files.

So, the header will live in header.php, the sidebar will find home in sidebar.php, the main content will live in index.php, or single.php (if it’s a post) or page.php (if it’s a page). The footer section will live in footer.php and so on.

Are you following? Check out the illustration below:

Proin tristique elit et augue varius pellentesque. Donec enim neque, vulputate et commodo in, tristique sed velit. Phasellus adipiscing faucibus felis eget hendrerit. Vestibulum aliquet mauris sed felis convallis, sed tempus augue malesuada. Vivamus mauris lorem, laoreet sed suscipit nec, dapibus at elit. In in augue lobortis, eleifend tortor et, varius eros. Vivamus dignissim sed justo vitae suscipit. Mauris mi sem, malesuada sed sapien ut, sagittis condimentum urna. Nullam lacus mi, vulputate sed sollicitudin in, semper ut elit. Phasellus nec est at leo euismod placerat a porttitor est. Curabitur vel varius nunc, nec tincidunt magna. Proin eros mauris, lobortis id quam non, euismod fringilla nulla. Fusce vel nisi et turpis tempor molestie sit amet a dolor.

THEMATIC (CHILD) THEMES

Thematic uses Child Themes, these are essentially stripped down versions of a full WP theme, that needs the Thematic Framework for functionality. Upon download, Thematic comes packaged with a basic child theme, but you can download many more from the Thematic homepage. Download Thematic Child Themes.

Below, you will find a small selection of themes available for Thematic.

Acamas Child Theme

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Categories
Design

WordPress Themes Development

WordPress Themes Development Frameworks

If you build and develop WordPress themes often, you will probably be fed up of all the repetitive code writing, the constantly checking of your mark-up and all you really want to do is focus on the design and the project-specific features. The answer is a WordPress development framework. A framework is designed to speed up the process of designing and coding a WordPress theme by minimizing your time, and balancing your patience, on WordPress’ back-end code that is repeated within every theme.

This post is not about finding the best framework, it is about finding the right framework that works for you. If you are an experienced developer then you will probably go for the powerful and feature rich Thematic or Carrington, or if you are a novice, you could try the Whiteboard framework or , even easier, download a stripped out and bare bones blank canvas theme, which you will find at the bottom of the post.

Which would you use?

Thematic – WP Framework

Thematic is a highly polished WordPress Theme Framework that is built upon the 960.gs. At first glance, its backend may look daunting and complex, but you will soon realise just how well organised it is and easy to use. Its power is based upon its flexibility and its simple customisation, you would be very hard pushed to find a project you couldn’t use the Thematic WP Framework for.

THEMATIC FEATURES

  • Optional 2 or 3 column layouts.
  • Up to 13 widget ready areas.
  • Modular CSS with pre-packaged resets and basic typography.
  • Fully Search-Engine Optimized.
  • Can be used as it is, or as a blank WordPress theme.
  • Dynamic post and body classes make it a hyper-canvas for CSS artists.
  • Options for multi-author blogs.
  • Great support available from the customisation guide and forums.
  • Child Themes are available for upgrading the theme.

THEMATIC (CHILD) THEMES

Thematic uses Child Themes, these are essentially stripped down versions of a full WP theme, that needs the Thematic Framework for functionality. Upon download, Thematic comes packaged with a basic child theme, but you can download many more from the Thematic homepage. Download Thematic Child Themes.

source

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Categories
Design

The Curious Case of Specialty WordPress Themes

Have you ever needed a website that should be built with WordPress Themes, but also should push the boundaries of this beautiful content management system? Ever needed to create a WordPress Themeswebsite to share code snippets, or set up an online course to sell your knowledge, or build a support system for your agency?

Sometimes, a theme and a bunch of plugins won’t work for our project. Sometimes, we need a complete system with a decent design and solid functionality. That’s where specialty themes come into play.

What Is a Specialty WordPress Themes?

A WordPress theme must be developed to change the look of a website and avoid offering functionality embedded in its core. That’s called “invading the plugin territory” and considered as a bad practice since you basically chain the user to your theme with the functionality you offer. Luckily, there is a solution: You can provide functionality through plugins that you require your users to install. To do so, you can use a PHP library like TGM Plugin Activation.

But sometimes, a project requires that design and functionality work together. In this case, we have an exception, and the exception’s name, used throughout the WordPress market, is “specialty themes.”

How Should We Make Specialty WordPress Themes?

If you decide to make a specialty theme for WordPress, you might want to consider a few things:

Have a Very Specific Purpose

You must offer a unique approach in order to present your theme as a “specialty theme”. Go bananas if you like (if you’re certain that somebody will make use of your theme) and make the most eccentric theme the community has ever seen. Seriously, the community could use some variety in themes.

Utilize Actions and Filters to Make Your Theme Extendable

Actions and filters are part of the WordPress Plugin API, but that doesn’t necessarily mean themes can’t benefit from them. In fact, all of the most popular WordPress theme frameworks utilize actions and filters (mainly actions) so other developers can extend the frameworks. Follow their lead and make your theme extendable with WordPress action and filter hooks.

Make Your Theme Ready for Child WordPress Themes

Here’s your “A-ha!” moment if you want to make more of your theme by diversifying design options—make your theme ready for child themes! Build your base theme (like a theme framework) and create child themes to offer different designs.

You Can Use TGM Plugin Activation

If you feel that other themes can benefit from a part of your functionality, go ahead and offer it as a plugin and require it by using the TGM Plugin Activation library. But in most cases, specialty themes’ functionalities can’t be used with other themes; so it would seem like a vain effort to convert the functionality.

But keep in mind that developers might create themes after you release your specialty theme, so it’s still a good idea to separate functionality from design.

Ideas to Create Specialty WordPress Themes

There are so many types of specialty themes which can be made that it would be pointless to try to list all of them. But to get the idea, let’s write a few:

  • a job board
  • a question and answer system
  • a help desk
  • a learning management system
  • a crowdfunding website
  • a domain sale page
  • a “coming soon” page
  • a simple online wedding invitation
  • a knowledge base
  • a directory website
  • a contact manager
  • …and more

As I said earlier, any good idea could be—and should be—turned into a specialty theme. If you think you have a good idea to make an original specialty theme, go for it.

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Categories
Design Life Technology

Migrating A Website To WordPress

Now powering over 17% of the Web, WordPress is increasingly becoming the content management system (CMS) of choice for the average user. But what about websites built with an outdated CMS or without a CMS at all? Does moving to WordPress mean starting over and losing all the time, energy and money put into the current website? Nope!

Migrating a website (including the design) over to WordPress is actually easier than you might think. In this guide, we’ll outline the migration process and work through the steps with a sample project. We’ll also cover some of the challenges you might encounter and review the solutions.

WordPress Themes

About This Guide

Before we get to work, let’s establish some context. First, this guide was written primarily with beginners in mind and will be most helpful for basic websites. Some of you will likely encounter advanced aspects of WordPress migration, but they are beyond the scope of this guide. If you’re tackling an advanced migration and get stuck, feel free to share your difficulty in the comments below.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this guide is to help you with the following:

  • Plan an effective migration to WordPress.
  • Walk through the technical steps involved in migrating.
  • Get ideas and resources to solve common migration challenges.
  • WordPress Themes

ASSUMPTIONS

I assume you have basic familiarity with WordPress. Previous development experience with WordPress would be helpful, but not necessary. I also assume you have an existing website and design that you want to migrate to WordPress.

BASIC STEPS

Here are the basic steps that I recommend you follow for a typical WordPress migration:

  1. Evaluate website.
    Work carefully through the pages on your existing website, identifying all of the types of content (standard pages, photo galleries, resource pages, etc.) and noting any areas that need special attention.
  2. Set up environment.
    Set up WordPress and get ready to import.
  3. Import content.
    Bring over and organize your content, whether via an importing tool, manual entry (for a small amount, when no tool is available) or a custom importing process.
  4. Migrate design.
    Incorporate your existing design into a custom WordPress theme.
  5. Review website, go live.
    Carefully review the import, making adjustments where needed, set up any URL redirects, and then go live.
  6. WordPress Themes

With this outline in mind, let’s work through each step in detail.

Start With A Plan

The key to a successful migration is to carefully evaluate your current website. You need to figure out how to import and structure the content in WordPress before carrying over the design.

While the principles are the same across migration projects, the details often vary. So, below are two lists of questions to ask as you work out a plan.

IMPORTED CONTENT

  • How much content needs to be imported (number of pages, number of images, etc.)?
  • Is the volume low enough to be imported manually, or do you need a tool?
  • If you need a tool, does one already exist?
  • Can the content be categorized into the standard “posts” and “pages,” or does it call for custom post types?
  • Does extra content need to be stored for certain pages (custom fields, taxonomies, etc.)?
  • Will the URL structure change? If so, will the old URLs need to be redirected?

EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY

  • Does the website integrate any third-party services (data collection, reservations, etc.)?
  • Do any forms need to be migrated (contact forms, application forms, etc.)?
  • Is access to any content restricted (such as members-only content)?
  • Does the website sell products (digital or physical)?
  • Do any administrative tools need to be carried over (such as custom CMS functionality)?
  • WordPress Themes

A WORKING EXAMPLE

My brother, Joshua Wold, has volunteered a website to serve as an example; it’s for a side project of his in which he sells posters and postcards of a Vegan Food Pyramid. He built the website in plain HTML, with some basic PHP includes for the header and footer. Below is a screencast of me evaluating the website to give you a sense of how the process will work. Enjoy!

Set Up WordPress

Before importing the content, we need to get WordPress ready to go. If you’re just experimenting or if you prefer offline development, start with a local installation of WordPress. Otherwise, the next step is to install WordPress with your current hosting provider; or you could use the migration process as a great opportunity to move to a new host.

Once WordPress is up and running, you’re ready for action!

WordPress Themes

For our example, we’ve installed WordPress with the same host, setting it up in a wp directory for the duration of the migration process.

SETTINGS AND PLUGINS

With WordPress Themes installed, we’ll make a few minor adjustments:

  • Update permalinks.
    Go to Settings → Permalinks to make changes. In most cases, I’ll switch to “postname”-style permalinks.
  • Update users.
    I create an admin-level account for myself and any admin or editor accounts that are needed for clients and collaborators. I also remove the default “admin” user name if it exists (a basic but wise step for WordPress security).

Depending on the needs of the project, we might have to preinstall plugins. Here are the major categories of plugins:

  • Form management
    Migrating a form “as is” is usually a mess; simply recreating it using a forms plugin is usually easier. My current favorite is Gravity Forms ($39+ per license). Other options are Formidable (with free and pro versions) and Contact Form 7 (entirely free).
  • SEO management
    Search engine optimization (SEO) is a touchy subject. My philosophy is to build content for people, not for search engines. That being said, there is a common-sense approach to SEO that is solidly supported by the WordPress plugin ecosystem. And if your old website includes custom meta descriptions, giving them a new home during the importing process is important. I recommendWordPress SEO (free).
  • Multiple languages
    If your old website supports multiple languages, WordPress has you covered. My plugin of choice is WPML ($79 per license, free for non-profits). Another option isqTranslate (free).
  • Security
    WordPress security is a topic near and dear to me. The increasing popularity of WordPress has made it a target for security attacks. WordPress itself is rarely the problem; a poorly secured hosting environment or an outdated or poorly developed plugin usually is. I use managed WordPress hosting for the majority of my projects, which offers a good foundation for solid WordPress security. Options include WPEngine, ZippyKid, Pagely and Synthesis. In addition to managed hosting (and especially if you opt for a non-managed host), consider installing a security plugin, such as Better WP Security (free) or Wordfence (also free). Last but not least, review the “Hardening WordPress” guide in the Codex.
  • Backups
    If you opt for managed hosting, backups are usually included (make sure, though). If you’re managing backups yourself or you want an extra layer of data protection, great options are available, including VaultPress ($15+ a month), CodeGuard ($5+ a month), BackupBuddy ($75+ per license) and BackWPup (free).
  • from : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/05/15/migrate-existing-website-to-wordpress/[quote font=”verdana” font_size=”14″ font_style=”italic” color=”#474747″ bgcolor=”#F5F5F5″ bcolor=”#dd9933″ arrow=”yes” align=”centre”]This Demo Content Brought to you by Momizat Team [/quote]

    this is tags and keywords : wordpress themes momizat Tutorial wordpress templates

Categories
Design

How To Contribute To WordPress Themes Community

How To Contribute To WordPress Themes Community

WordPress is built by volunteers. People from all over the world collaborate to create the core software, write the documentation, provide support, translate WordPress, organize events and generally keep the project running. Individuals work on WordPress in their free time, and companies ask their employees to get involved.

Part of WordPress’ success is that the community consists not only of developers, but of designers, user experience experts, support volunteers, writers, users, accessibility experts and enthusiasts. This diverse input strengthens the project. It also means you have more space to get involved. Whatever your skill set, the WordPress community has room for you.


A bunch of WordPress contributors.

In this article, we’ll talk about the different contributor groups and how you can take part. I spoke with the current team reps and project leads, who have offered advice on how to get started with their contributor groups. But first, why should you get involved with WordPress?

Why Get Involved?

I had a chat with Matt Mullenweg, one of the founding developers of WordPress, about contributing to the project. We started off talking about the mix of people who contribute to WordPress. There are contributors who are sponsored by businesses that use WordPress, such as Automattic, Dreamhost and 10up, and then there are passionate individuals who dedicate their own time to the project.

“People who use WordPress are passionate about open source, want to democratize publishing and like to learn. I would say that’s the number-one biggest characteristic, because contributing to open source, and particularly the WordPress project, is probably one of the best learning opportunities on the Internet.”


Matt chats about the future of WordPress at the WordPress Community Summit 2012. (Image:konsobe)

For Matt, this is the greatest benefit you will get from contributing. You get to be part of a large, supportive community that has an impact on the lives of millions and millions of people. Something you do in an afternoon can have an effect on people all over the world.

“You can’t knock on the door at Google and say, “Hey, do you mind if I help you out with your home page? I have some ideas for you.” But you could come to us and say, “Hey, I have some ideas for your dashboard, and here are some patches.””

A number of challenges face the WordPress project:

  • Contributor balance
    Currently, the number of contributors is skewed towards people involved with code. Plenty of opportunities lie in other areas — support, documentation and marketing, for example — but not so many people are getting involved.
  • Mobile
    Not enough people are getting involved with mobile. Most of the people involved with mobile are currently sponsored by Automattic. Because mobile is fast becoming the way that people interact with the Internet, this is a crucial group and currently has a dearth of contributors.

With that in mind, let’s look at the ways you can get involved with WordPress.

Core

Mark Jaquith is an independent developer and one of the lead developers of WordPress. These days, he is a jack of all trades in the project, working closely with younger and newer developers, helping to point them in the right direction. He was also the release lead for the 3.6 release cycle. The core team comprises all sorts of developers and designers — PHP and JavaScript developers and front-end developers and designers. These are the people who build the WordPress that you install on your server.


Being a lead WordPress developer makes Mark Jaquith happy. (Image: Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine)

I asked Mark how the the core contributor team works. He describes it as a set of concentric rings:

“You have the leads in the inner sanctum, and then you have the people with permanent commit access, and then you have the people to whom we give temporary commit access for release, and then there are the people whose patches are implicitly trusted and go in without too much inspection. It just keeps going out from there. Those are very fluid boundaries, so people flow between them.”

CHALLENGES

As much as possible, the core team tries to work by consensus. Issues are discussed, publicly if possible, although anything contentious may be addressed in private discussion.

One of the biggest challenges facing WordPress is that not everyone is on the project full time. Even Automattic employees have other responsibilities within Automattic. This means that people can contribute varying amounts of time. If a lot of people see a dip in their free time, this can cause problems for the project. The core team tries to mitigate this by having more contributors and more people who can commit. However, a balance has to be struck because if there are too many committers, no one would know what’s going on.

GET INVOLVED

You can start getting involved in a number of ways:

  • Live chats
    Tap into the weekly live chats (Wednesdays 21:00 UTC, irc.freenode.net, #wordpress-dev). Before diving in, you should gauge at what point in the release cycle the project is at:
    • Early stages
      Planning the next release.
    • Middle stages
      Guiding the features and checking on progress.
    • Final stages
      Bug scrubs.
    • After a release
      Mostly an open forum, a good time to ask for advice on moving your ticket forward.
  • Firehose
    You can subscribe to trac notifications and get notified of every comment in every ticket. It’s a lot of data to process, but you should get an idea of how the project works, various people’s roles, how much authority they have, and best practices.
  • Ideas
    If you have an idea for a feature or anything else WordPress-related, a good place to start is to write a blog post about it. There is an ideas forum, but it’s not very well used. If you have a concrete idea, with a vision of how to implement it, a blog post may well get you more traction. It will give you space to flesh out the idea and provide an opportunity for other community members to comment on it.

Ready to get involved with WordPress core? Other than development skills, I asked Mark what skills someone should have:

“The number one skill you need for just about any job, but specifically working on open source, is communication skills. You need to have clarity, consistency, compassion, relatability, a little bit of a thick skin and a decent sense of humor.”

from : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/27/a-tour-of-wordpress-4-0/

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Categories
Design

Practical Tips From Top WordPress Pros

Practical Tips From Top WordPress Pros Recently I shared with you some advice from the WordPress community to beginners. But what if starting out is already a dim memory? What if you’re already so immersed in the world of WordPress that you dream of Trac and you bore your partner with talk of your latest achievement with custom post types?

Below are some tips from WordPress pros from across the community. Many of the tips cover development, but there’s also advice on business, running your website and, of course, getting involved with the community.


Image: Phil Oakley

Tips For Developers

USE EVERYTHING WORDPRESS HAS TO OFFER

WordPress’ core can do a lot for you, without you having to write a bunch of code. WordPress is much more powerful when you make use of its APIs and built-in functionality. “If you use WordPress as your framework,” says Trent Lapinski, “it will enable you to focus on developing an innovative plugin or theme.”

Matty Cohen recommends always looking for and using functionality available within WordPress before creating a function from scratch. “Examples of this include, at the higher level, using the WordPress Settings API and, at the lower level, using themedia_handle_upload() function to upload your files, rather than a custom upload routine.” Matty gives an example of this with his WooSlider plugin. In order to create a familiar and consistent experience for WooThemes users, he did the following:

  • He used the Settings API for the settings screen.
  • He added a tab to the “Upload/Insert Media” popup for creating shortcodes. This interface uses a combination of the Settings API, custom form-creation logic, and some custom JavaScript to create the HTML output and the shortcode.


WooSlider uses built-in WordPress functionality to make the user experience better.

Making use of everything WordPress has to offer results in less coding for you and a better overall experience for users. But those aren’t the only benefits. Amy Hendrix points out that the code you write will be future-proof. Writing your own scripts could eventually result in conflicts.

USE HOOKS

Hooks are the means by which you hook into WordPress and add your own code without modifying core files. There are two types of hooks: actions and filters. Action hooks are places where you can insert and run code. Filters are used to manipulate output.

If you’re working with WordPress’ core and with plugins and themes, then you should be extending by making use of all of the hooks available. Adam Brown maintains a list of all of the hooks that have ever appeared in WordPress.

IMPLEMENT HOOKS

Create your own hooks. By implementing hooks in your plugins and themes, you create opportunities for other people to extend them and create add-ons. Shane Pearlmanbelieves that by doing so, you “encourage plugin developers to make opportunities for the community to extend and also use them.”

Not only does this create opportunities for other developers, but you make life easier for yourself. “With a ‘well-hooked’ theme or plugin,” says Simon Wheatley, “you can make adjustments between clients, or between sites on a multisite setup, a lot more easily than by effectively forking your own code for every scenario.”

WRITE SECURE CODE

If you write plugins or themes, keeping the code secure is critical. How bad would you feel if your code was responsible for websites getting hacked? Brad Williamsrecommends learning how data validation pertains to WordPress. A detailed page on data validation can be found in the Codex; so, if you’re a developer, you have no excuse for writing insecure WordPress plugins and themes. Following the guidelines will ensure that your code is safe and secure from exploits and hacks. As Ryan Hellyer points out, “Having a beautiful website which does exactly what a client requires is great, but it’s not so great when it gets injected with spam links and is de-indexed from search engines!”

FOLLOW BEST PRACTICES

Ryan Duff and Brad Williams highlight some best practices that developers should stick to:

  • Make sure the data that you’re passing is always being passed in the way it’s expected to. Setting a variable on an incorrect line could result in a trickle-down effect of error messages.
  • WordPress has coding standards, so stick to them. This will keep your code in a format that all WordPress developers will recognize, making bug tracking much easier!

EMBRACE THE CODE BASE

Both Helen Hou-Sandi and Jake Goldman of 10up recommend that you spend time looking at the code base. As Jake points out, “Relying on the Codex and Google searches for solving unique problems with WordPress is like trying to tune a car’s performance without ever looking under the hood.” Rachel Baker also suggests looking at the change logs, and Silviu-Cristian Burcă points us to his advice in “How to Become a WordPress Guru.”

A good integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP — such as NetBeans, PhpStorm, phpDesigner or Vanilla Eclipse — will offer code auto-completion for WordPress functions and their arguments and will display documentation on functions inline. You’ll be able to easily jump to function and class declarations to study them. “Think the core code base is too scary?” asks Jake. “Pick a file in wp-includes and start reading — you might be surprised by how approachable it is, and how much you can learn.”

Looking at the code, as Helen adds, also increases the likelihood that you’ll find a way to contribute code to the WordPress project. You’ll also become familiar with plugins and themes, understand how people do things properly, and recognize when they get it wrong.

SHARE YOUR CODE

It’s in the nature of code in an open-source project to be shared, forked and iterated on. If you’re working on solutions, then share them with the community. “Share and publish your solutions, as a plugin, widget or theme,” says Cátia Kitahara. “Not for every project, but with most of them, we end up with a solution that could be of use to many others. So, do it as a way of giving back to the community. I know it takes time to prepare something to be distributed through the repositories, but remember the time WordPress saves for us!”

You could put your code on GitHub, which Ben Balter recommends:

“GitHub’s got a very different culture, and the ability for anyone to submit a pull request is a real game changer. It really lowers the barrier to contribute, and democratizes the entire plugin authoring experience. As a bonus, use GitHub’s built-in wiki functionality to maintain your plugin’s documentation (especially FAQ), so that anyone, even non-technical users, can contribute.

Lastly, if you have plugin tests, integrate with Travis CI so that you can automatically test pull requests before merging. To help you get started, a handful of tools are out there, such as GitHub → WordPress.org deployment scripts and GitHub wiki → WordPress readme converters.”

Eric Mann points out that if you’ve built your project in isolation, then you’re likely missing out on different approaches. Sharing your code with people gives them the opportunity to point out how it can be improved. WordPress itself is built collaboratively and is the result of hundreds of minds looking at it from different perspectives. If you want your code to excel, you should be sharing it, too.

USE CUSTOM POST TYPES

Taking advantage of custom post types for specific use cases is a great way to leverage WordPress. At the Theme Foundry, Drew Strojny has three custom post types: themes, stories and tutorials. This enables members of his team to quickly find and create content.

Drew recommends making custom post types even more flexible by adding custom meta data. This enables you to style your content and provides opportunities to reuse that meta data across your website. He provides the example of the meta data he uses with the “Story” post type in use on his “Customer Stories” page.

from : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/03/20/practical-tips-top-wordpress-pros/

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Design ICT

What would it Take for WordPress to Lose Dominance?

WordPress 4.1 Release Candidate is now available for download which includes the new default theme Twenty Fifteen, you can read about what else is new with it here. Or download it here. I love this new default theme, a huge step back in the right direction ( I thought Twenty Fourteen was awful ). A nice clean design, optimised nicely for mobile devices and good typography – this is how it should be done.

There was an interesting discussion on the WPTavern comments of this post, where Jeff asks what it would take for WordPress to lose it’s dominance. I found point 5 rather funny “A huge scandal takes place involving Automattic, the WordPress Foundation and those close to the project.” I just cant see WordPress being taken over for many years to come – it’s too far ahead at this point, sort of like the Facebook of CMS’s. Too many large companies rely on it to see it fail and I just don’t see anything at the momement that could even come close. I did a post recently about this, WordPress competitors, but none came close to what we have with WordPress. I think we’re all safe for a bit!

from :http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creating-child-themes-for-your-wordpress-theme-framework–cms-21933

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