Custom WordPress Theme Design

Although the majority of my time is spent creating new, original, custom WordPress themes that is not the only WordPress related work that I do. One service that I have been providing more and more often is what I like to call WordPress theme rescue.

Steve Kudela, who makes kick ass handmade bass guitars contracted another company to create him a WordPress theme, and it would be generous to say that they dropped the ball. They left him with a half finished theme full of mis-spellings and content that he didn’t want, a WordPress installation that he couldn’t access, and a overall bad taste in his mouth for web developers and WordPress.

That’s where I came in. I transfered his domain to my server, got his previous web-dev company to send me the files that they had of his, and I proceeded to rescue his failed WordPress project.

Keep in mind that I did not design this site, I just took it from a non-functional state that he was very un-happy with to a site that he is very pleased with. If you have a WP site that is in need of rescue I can do the same for you, just bounce on over to my contact page and tell me how I can help.

Over the past few years I have done literally hundreds of WordPress setups and installations, it’s one of the only things in life that I am positive that I am truly competent in…

So it should be no surprise that I provide it as a professional service - I can set up your WordPress installation for you for $99. I’ll get WP and the database setup, install a theme, setup the permalinks, and install what I consider the most appropriate plugins.

Turnkey WP installations done right for $99. For $45 more I’ll host your domain for a year.

Just a heads up - I am not starting any new custom Wordpress theme design projects for 30 days. I have unintentionally overbooked myself a little and the turn around time just increases…

So if you want a custom WordPress theme and and can wait 30 days, feel free to contact me. If you want to co-brand a creative commons Wordpress theme by all means get in touch.

But if you need a new theme by Tuesday, need Wordpress consulting right this minute, or any other service that puts my current time-line in jeopardy I’ll have to pass this time.

P.S. all baby gerts are lost…

Hey Now, if you are a current or potential custom WordPress theme client and you can’t get me on the phone it is because my damn palm treo has died! I am doing my best to get this cleared up, but until then feel free to call 229.299.4420 during normal east coast business hours.

That number is my skype line at the office and I’ll be happy to speak to you.

Update: cell phone is back in working condition - so feel free to call either number or head on over to the contact page.

The Smile Guy from over at Time for a Smile recently hired me to create him a fun, green, WordPress theme, and this was the result. I really like the way it turned out and so did Paul:

Thanks it is very nice and web 2.0ish. I like it a lot, you have been great to work with. I hope you enjoyed the project!

I did enjoy it Smile Guy, and you were great to work with as well.

If you find yourself working on a WordPress theme and come to the conclusion that you want to only show a WordPress page’s subpages ( a very CMS type of thing to do ) here is a little code that I wanted to share with you:

<?php

$children = wp_list_pages('title_li=&child_of='.$post->ID.'&echo=0');

if ($children) { ?>

<ul>

<?php echo $children; ?>

</ul>

<?php } ?>

Cameron has taken has one of my free themes as modded it to suit his needs and he did the right thing - he credited me for the original design and he released his version to the public

Was: JTk - Right Sidebar Mod is a modified version of the Was: JTk theme by JTk and Doc5. The theme has been modified to have the sidebar on the right instead of the left. It is my first publicly available theme modification.

You can get the the original here - and if you are interested there will be a 1.5 version of this theme release later this month.

I’ve made a couple of slight improvements to the Independence Day WordPress theme and have decided to call it version 1.5.

Hey Now, I am happy to announce version 1.2 of the Blue Meanie free WordPress theme. Blue Meanie is a free theme that Conlan and I released about a year ago - and it needed some attention… It’s a variable width, liquid layout, stretchable type theme that I’ve always liked and judging by the number of support questions I get about it - it’s fairly popular.

Check it out here.

When I “meet” prospective WordPress clients I often get asked the same questions, so I decided to do a little Q&A where I interview myself and post the answers in the hopes that they can get to know me a little better before they hire me to create their custom WordPress theme.

Q: Where are you located?
A: On Main Street in a small town in South Georgia - just North of the Florida border. The web development company that I co-founded in 2000 was sold a couple of years ago and we decided to move back to the old home town so that our children ( boy 6, girl 1.5 ) could get to know their extended family.

Q: Do you just do WordPress themes?
A: The short answer is yes, custom WordPress development is what I do day in and day out for a living. I also own a small store on the square here on Main Street but custom WordPress theme creation is what pays my bills and what I spend the vast majority of my professional time doing.

Q: What is your WordPress theme development process?
A: I’ll get some general info from the client such as suggested color schemes, colors to avoid, styles or sites that the client likes, number of columns, etc. I’ll do a mock up and the client tells me what he likes, doesn’t like, wants changed, etc. I don’t mind making changes, going back to the drawing board, whatever is needed within reason.

Eventually we get to a design that gets approved. I then cut it up and build a template on a staging site. Once we agree that the test site looks good we’ll settle up and I’ll zip up the theme and send it to the client so that he can install it on his installation of WordPress. If a client needs assistance setting up the theme I am happy to help with that as well.

All the WordPress themes that I create are valid xhtml with css layout assuring that my clients sites are created with the latest web standards, are highly accessible, and render correctly on the vast majority of platforms and browsers.

Q: Why WordPress?
A: WordPress is what you use when you want to create a dynamic website that is standards compliant, easy to use, and relatively simple to customize. While WordPress may not be the right solution for a huge enterprise, it is more than capable of managing the vast majority of web sites on the interweb. It seems to me that it is the right tool for the job most of the time.

Q: How long have you been doing this?
A: I have been creating custom WordPress themes for 3 years, I have been creating websites professionally, non-stop, for 14 years.

Q: What is the turn around time for a custom WordPress theme?
A: This fluctuates based on my workload, but the current timeframe is 14-17 days.

Q: Can you host my WordPress site for me?
A: Sure, and it will be hosted on the same machine that I host my own sites on so you can be assured that if there is a problem I will address it asap. I do hosting for WordPress clients for $45/year.

If you have any additional questions feel free to use the comments form below and I’ll answer and ad them to this Q&A.