Support » Themes and Templates » too many files

  • Does anybody else think the latest version of wordpress has you editing too many files? It used to be that I could just edit index (content) and style.css (layout) to get the page I wanted, but now I have to have header, index, style, footer, etc etc open to figure out where everything goes. It seems like too much to me.

    Does anyone have any suggestions for getting around this? Would it be possible to create my own theme that runs like the old wp, with an index for everything and stylesheet for the index?

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Thread Starter retardedjimmy

    (@retardedjimmy)

    I’ve just read through this, which helps in creating a theme that’s a little more simple to work with than the default. Could be that Kubrick just is too complicated to dive in and work on code for.

    I’m using my own index and stylesheet from a pre 1.5 release when upgrading I just leave my index and stylesheet and replace everything else.

    I’m not sure if this is going to cause problems in the future but right now it seems to works. Especially since I write infrequently and have no traffic to the site. (I’ve been working with the design and dealing with a chicken and an egg issue: do I post with a design I’m not happy with or fix the design before a post. Or it’s just an excuse to procastinate.)

    Good luck.

    johnmarron.com

    There is also possible to have a theme that has only an index.php and a style.css. Note, in this case the comments template(s) will be called from the default theme.

    I would have to agree. I’m not to sure of the benefits of having all items on sepreate pages, and calling them with incudes. I also agree the default theme included is a little consfusing as other themes use different structures, and the styles sheets are not to cumbersome to grasp.

    I’m still debating weather to use the new seperate page structure or combine it togther. Sure, I have and seen many explanations, but still seems a little too much for a website template.

    With that said I’m still glad I found WP, and hopefully with time I can finish my stuff.

    At the beginning I was confused, too, by all those files in a theme. (@retardedjimmy: the Default is definitely not for the beginners to tweak it…) But after I figured out how the templates work – I’d never go back to the old system. For me it is much easier to create a category template, a special Page template and so many other things than to try to achieve the same effect with plugins, code and stuff that I don’t understand 🙂

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    I prefer the new separate file theme structure. And, as a frequent supporter in these forums, I can also say the current system is widely preferred by veterans and new users alike. Simply put, it keeps things organized. If you want to edit the sidebar, edit sidebar.php. If you want to edit the footer, edit footer.php. The days of “look in index.php for the start of the sidebar code” are over, and I do not miss them.

    *nods at moshu in agreement*

    The old style works fine for simple layouts, but what a pain it’d be to have to use that style for the more complex sites.

    I mean, I use the old style at one of my sites, but it has no Pages or anything.

    There’s no shame in using simpler structures. I could never keep my sidebar or footer in place using the new way, so I went back to index, comment, and stylesheet only files on my sites. Works for me and I don’t see me using multiple files anytime soon. It’s just what you prefer.

    You can use the new format you know and not use all of the files. For example, if you don’t want an archives.php, it’ll revert to using index.php.

    Just don’t use a footer.php and don’t call to it and you can still use sidebar.php or whatever you want. 😉

    The new structure is much better organized. How much simpler could it get than calling the header “Header”, the sidebar “Sidebar”, the main content “Main” and the footer “Footer”.

    Like I said I dont see the benefit, other then seperating the code for eaiser editing like mentioned above. If this is what you mean, ok I can see your points. Is there any processing benefit? Is there a speed improvement?

    But to add to the subject, I think its the CSS that really throws ppl off.

    I seen the blank stylesheet, and currently using that as my base. But I have also seen others with less code in it, and this is where you may get confused. The default one has a ton of “id’s/classes” and if you do not know where these items have been “div’ed” in your .php files this is what makes things harder to open up all pages instead of one (index.php) to edit the div’s.

    At this time, this is the only thing I see if you attemp to use it as your baseline. But none-the-less you have to hack-away, and learn it. Your visual anatomy is nice, but I dont see any mention of “default classes – or must have classes.”

    Learning how to get this together is fun (for me at least). I undestand the structure now and now Im off to the css part of the template design. Many thanks to all to the Urban Giraffe for the info, and all of you who post about theme setup & design.

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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