[wp-hackers] newbie question on custom page templates

[Andrew Gray]

My thoughts on purchasing pre-made themes.

They are like a manufactured home.  It is great if you want one that looks just like that, but to try and get it to change to much is an uphill battle.

If you need something custom, build it yourself, and if you can't figure it out, hire someone who can.  Start with a PSD mockup and cut it up into HTML, then add the wordpress code.

We just got done building a website for a national bank that had 40 different page/ category/ archive templates,  four different contact forms, and nine custom post types.

It was like building a custom home,  we had to plan, sketch and design every piece ourselves.  WP is a great platform, but it is not magic.  Theme designers are looking to sell as many copies of their theme, so they can not plan for you specific requirements.

Wordpress sites only have to look like a blog if you let them.


Andrew



> Thanks Mike.
> 
> The theme I'm using also serves category pages, but they're lame. Just
> lists of posts. Doesn't look professional or interesting at all. The tech
> people who made that theme suggested developing custom page templates.
> 
> 
There are many themes that don't look lame. It sounds like you just need a
better theme. Many do not require you to build a custom page template just
to get your category archives looking good.