Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
I
Introducing Themes
Themes are a critical part of your WordPress blog. The theme determines not only the look of your
blog, but also much of its functionality.
A theme is a mix of a visual look for your blog—a visual design—and a container for specific func-
tionality, what many web designers would call a template.
Because they include both look and feel functionality, WordPress themes are powerful, but also a bit
dangerous, as they can allow you to make big mistakes on your page. A theme that isn't properly
constructed can be “blown out” by some kinds of content, distorting the web page containing the
blog.
For this reason, Automattic offers 70-plus carefully selected themes from which WordPress.com
users can choose. Even this limited number of choices is overwhelming for most people, who don't
necessarily understand all the implications of what they're choosing. Most people quickly choose a
safe-looking theme and get down to what most of us think a blog is all about: writing posts.
The most popular theme for WordPress blogs is called Kubrick, the name of the director of
2001: A
Space Odyssey
and other films. Kubrick is the default theme for WordPress.com blogs. It's shown in
Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1
Kubrick is a
safe choice
for your
cyberspace
odyssey.
Users of WordPress software have many, many more choices: choosing from about a thousand free
themes directly available from the WordPress.org Free Theme Directory; choosing from many other
free or paid-for themes; starting with an existing theme and tweaking it; or creating a more or less
