WordPress is based on the use of templates for specific purposes.
There are templates for different types of situations, like a blog
posting, a regular page, a 404 error or to display blog postings for a
certain category. The default templates are “single.php”, “page.php”,
“search.php”, “author.php”, “404.php”, “category.php”, “archive.php” and
“index.php”. There is a
hierarchy to all these template pages which follow an order depending on what the visitor wants to see.
Whenever you are in the WordPress admin and you’re creating or
editing a page or blog post, you will see what template is currently
being used:
The “Default” will either use the “single.php” template page for
posts or will use “page.php” for pages (WordPress 3.0+). You can add
your own template relatively easy, below are the steps to creating a
custom template.
- Create a template file
- Customize your template file
- Apply your template to the desired page
Creating a template file
To create a template file you will need to first create a php file in your themes root directory:
wp-content/themes/mytheme/
At the very top of the php file you will need to name your template
page. For example, if I wanted my “services” page to have a different
layout I would write the following at the top of my template page:
<?php
/*
Template Name: Services
/*
?>
Next, save the file and name it something that is easy to associate
with, like “services-template.php”. The next step is customizing the
layout of the page.
Customizing your template file
To customize your template file you will first need to, at least,
know what the purpose will be. Will it be to show dynamic content (like
the a blog posting) or static content like most pages are used to
display.
You can look at the other template pages in your theme directory to get some ideas (page.php or single.php).
The default page templates will start with:
<?php get_header()?>
This will appear right after the template name at the very top. You
can either use this code snippet to keep the same header as the other
template files or create your own header. If you will only wish to
change your header slightly from the other pages, just copy the header
contents (from header.php) and alter what you wish.
For the rest of the page you can either use create your own static
content (using XHTML and CSS) or use a loop to display content added
through the WordPress admin.
To display content added through the WordPress admin, simple copy the
loop section from the default page (page.php). See below (using the
default TwentyTen theme):
<div id=”container”>
<div id=”content”>
<?php if ( have_posts() ) while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<div id=”post-<?php the_ID(); ?>” <?php post_class(); ?>>
<?php if ( is_front_page() ) { ?>
<h2 class=”entry-title”><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<?php } else { ?>
<h1 class=”entry-title”><?php the_title(); ?></h1>
<?php } ?>
<div class=”entry-content”>
<?php the_content(); ?>
<?php wp_link_pages( array( ‘before’ => ‘<div>’ . __(
‘Pages:’, ‘twentyten’ ), ‘after’ => ‘</div>’ ) ); ?>
<?php edit_post_link( __( ‘Edit’, ‘twentyten’ ), ‘<span class=”edit-link”>’, ‘</span>’ ); ?>
</div><!– .entry-content –>
</div><!– #post-## –>
<?php comments_template( ”, true ); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</div><!– #content –>
</div><!– #container –>
You can comment out any areas that you don’t want to display, like
the comments section, or you can simply remove sections that don’t apply
to your template page. For example, if your custom page will never be
used for the home page you won’t need the following:
<?php if ( is_front_page() ) { ?>
<h2 class=”entry-title”><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<?php } else { ?>
After you have completed the page customization of the main body, you
can determine if the page will have the same sidebar or footer as your
other pages. By default, the bottom of every blog post or page ends
with:
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>
You may not need a sidebar for this particular “Services” page but
wish to keep the footer the same, you can just comment out the sidebar
area (you may wish to add it later).
<?php // get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>
You can always comment out both the default sidebar and footer snippets and create custom ones.
That’s basically it! You’ve created a custom template page for your
WordPress theme. The next step is to actually apply it to the page(s)
of your choice.
Apply your template to the desired page
This template name “Services” will now appear in the drop down
selection under the “Page Attributes”. (after uploading the template
page to your online server).
Simply apply the template and you’re set.
