This is a guest post by : Web Hosting Search.
The problem with free and lately even premium Wordpress themes is that you will certainly not be the only one using them. You can forget about the whole concept of unique web design. What stimulates your web design censors probably attracts many others as well. But there are still ways to obtain a cool theme with guaranteed uniqueness. To remind you, here are the optional three.
It is easy to settle for one of the many free themes that are offered online for free. But it is also about time to realize that unique web design might end up costing a few bucks and some of your time. Accept this reality and we’ll show you a whole new world of obtaining hi-quality Wordpress themes.
1. Hire A Wordpress Developer
Our first suggestion is to do the theme web design yourself (using Photoshop, Fireworks or any other graphic editor. Then have a developer create the theme. In the wake of Wordpress you’ll have no problem finding programmers with great experience in developing WP themes. Go to any freelancing portal, Elance.com is recommended, and locate a developer. Pay $100-$200 and send them your theme designs with specifications. Within a couple of weeks you should have you absolute own theme ready for use. If you end up not using the theme, you can get you money’s worth by labeling it as a Premium Wordpress theme and sell it for $50 per single license.
2. Create Everything Yourself
This option requires no financial investments but your full cooperation in time and effort. Start off by finding a good Wordpress hosting package that includes pre-installable scripts for Wordpress installation and database set up and a proper website hosting FTP client (Five Best FTP Clients). Alternatively, you can even choose to install a server on your local computer (read this for instructions: Installing Xampp and WordPress). Uploading files locally will require no internet connection and work much faster than a remote web server.
Now, rather than only doing the web design, you’ll have to learn the whole process of building a Wordpress theme – from creating the template files to building the stylesheet. This is not only a useful lesson to help you understand how a theme is created, but the only real way to gain total creative freedom. As time passes your design will need to be tweaked, learning WP development would save you considerable money in the long term, rather paying an expert, you do the work yourself.
A Wordpress theme is based on template files and the script language PHP. For example, a classic theme consists of four template files; header.php, index.php, sidebar.php and footer.php. All these files contain PHP scripts that determine the content and a connected css stylesheet to determine how it looks. To create a Wordpress theme yourself programming is thus required. However, by tweaking theme code you should have become familiar with the file structure and content by now.
Try these tutorials to get you started:
Wordpress Codex – Every WP developers bible.
Top 50 Wordpress Tutorials – From the well respected NETS TUTS+.
Wordpress TV Launches – A great new resource for new tutorials.
100+ Wordpress Video Tutorials, from Basic to Advanced.
155 Wordpress Resources, Tutorials, Plugins, Themes, AJAX, Podcasting…WP Monster List.
3. Hire A Professional Wordpress Theme Designers
Ever heard of premium Wordpress themes or hi-quality free Wordpress themes? Both theme types are often designed and developed by professional web designers. They are made either as an effort by the designer to market his/her skills or as a source of potential income. These dedicated Wordpress theme designers often also offer their services for a fixed fee. Hiring a professional Wordpress designer will cost you anything from $800-$2500. This is most expensive option of our listed three, but is perhaps the only one that will guarantee a professional and well-made theme.
Share your ideas, how did you get your unique WP theme?
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27 Feb, 2009
Learning how to manipulate and work with your own wordpress blog/site is quite important in keeping costs low, which is quite important for a number of users on the web nowadays!
18 Mar, 2009
Chili with shredded beef and a six-pack sounds good. Make mine Dos Equis, please
1 May, 2009
The best way is buying a premium WordPress themes and hire a developer to modified each one.
29 Dec, 2009
Design your own theme and hire a developer to integrate your design.
2 Jan, 2010
Look around at the web design and webmaster forums and you will most likely see “services wanted” subforum.
There start a new thread wanting a new wp theme and designers would contact you via PM.