Things I Wish I Had Known Before Developing a WordPress ThemeKonstantin KovsheninAutomattic

K

Publish

Expound

Get Organized

WordPress Coding Standards

wp_enqueue_script()wp_enqueue_style()

Don’t Bundle Scripts Which are Available in

WordPress

Use Subdirectories

get_template_part()

get_template_part( 'content', get_post_format() );

query_posts()

Stop query_posts

query_posts() is bad and you should never use it

“”

— Andrew Nacin, WordPress Lead Developer

pre_get_posts

new WP_Query()get_posts()

Theme Options

Weaver

Decisions, not Options

Feature Bloat and Plugin Territory

Portfolio Post Type

Implement CoreFeatures

add_editor_style()

Localize Your Theme

Default Widget Styles

Monster Widget

if ( function_exists( 'register_sidebar' ) ) {

dynamic_sidebar()is_active_sidebar()

Be a Good Parent (Theme)

Simple Structure

!important

BackwardsCompatibility

Pluggable Functions

if ( ! function_exists( 'foo' ) ):function foo() { ...}endif;

Actions and Filters

Listen

Be a Good Child(Theme)

Speed is Everything

Optimize Your Images

smushitoptipng

pngcrushjpegtran

Cache ComplexQueries

function _s_categorized_blog() { $c = get_transient( 'cool_cats' ); if ( false === $c ) { $c = count( get_categories( … ) ); set_transient( 'cool_cats', $c ); } return $c > 1;}

10x Faster!

get_option( 'sticky_posts' )

Benchmark

Security

wp_kses()esc_html()esc_attr()esc_url()

...

Don’t Use TimThumb

set_post_thumbnail_size()add_image_size()

WordPress.org Themes Directory

make.wordpress.org/themes

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme?

Great DesignEase of UseSimple StructureFlexibilitySpeedReliabilitySecurity

Konstantin Kovsheninkovshenin.com/wcsf2013