WordPress Theme Design – style.css

In this post we're just going to discuss some of the basics for putting together a WordPress stylesheet. When we get into the specifics of the theme pictured at the start of this series we'll talk about some of the CSS needed, for now we're just looking at some basics for creating a stylesheet that can be used when starting any new theme.

WordPress has a very basic set of rules for defining a theme's stylesheet. If you're interested in starting to design your own themes it might help to create a few template files that can be used anytime you want to start fresh. In the last post I listed a few files that you could create for getting started - in this post we'll start filling out the style.css file to get it ready for later customization.

The Required Header

CSS doesn't specifically require any type of header when you're putting together a stylesheet - WordPress, however, does. Besides simply allowing you to use your theme, the header is great for setting up an organization structure for your stylesheet. The basic WordPress header looks like this:
/*
Theme Name:
Theme URI:
Description:
Version:
Author:
Author URI:
*/
It's all pretty straightforward and simply adding the text above to your style.css file is enough to get WordPress to accept your theme.