Small Potato has written a really interesting post listing the things that he intends to include within his paid WordPress themes from now on. I want to consider what free themes should include.

Like Small Potato I am not keen on the term ‘Premium’ when it comes to themes. Everyone seems to have a feel of what it means, but opinion varies widely on how that feeling actually corresponds to concrete features.

With paid themes I think you get what you pay for, just make sure you know what you are paying for before you pay.

With free themes however their value is craftily hidden behind the absense of cost and so I think the distinction is more important than it is for paid themes.

The free themes arena seems similar to where web design itself was a few years ago. The quality of both code and design vary wildly from garbage to genius, a significant minority at the lower end being minor variations on previous themes with varying degrees of finesse, and at the high end a few ‘freemium’ themes that really capture the imagination.

What I want to do is set a baseline which, when I develop a theme, represents the minimum levels of thought necessary, but more that that I want a checklist that serves as confirmation that the template is minimally complete.

So what do I think is important in a theme?

Web Standards

It goes without saying that it should be cross browser, that html and css should validate, and that there should be a base level of accessibility (WCG-A). Aiming to produce everything to this standard before beginning makes it much easier to do that.

Layout

Every part of the theme has to fit into whatever layout framework is put in place so a theme needs to take into account certain uses.

With 125 ads so popular at least one sidebar needs to be wide enough to accept two, side by side, with a 5px border either side and between. This gives a minumum sidebar width of 265px plus margins. However, for tabbed sidebars, something even wider may be desirable and so it is worth considering a 395px sidebar, to allow 3 125 ads, with margins, and a suitable space for tabbed content. I believe the smaller option would be best for an
770px width theme, and the wider for a 990px width theme.

I still don’t discount 770px pixel width themes, these work best where there is little extraneous content. My preference though is for 990px wide, fixed width themes. I don’t like fluid themes so I won’t expressely produce one.

It is debateable whether the layout of pages should change between the home page, pages, and single posts. I don’t think magazine options are important for minimum standard; although, they are a nice to have.

Type

Something I am particularly keen on is typography. I have, in the past, designed WordPress themes with no content except text purely so I could concentrate on the typography.

Font size, consistent line height, padding, and margins to ensure a vertical rhythm are all important before getting on to the specific styling of individual elements.

CSS Styles

Individual styling of content elements is essential:

• Links, links within lists, links within headers;
• Lists: ordered, unordered, definition, nested;
• Blockquotes, paragraphs within blockquotes for author and quote;
• images, floated left, floated right, inline;
• figures - structures that include both image and caption;
• form styling - labels, textboxes, textareas, surrounding divs, hints;
• Tables (very often forgotton);

A key to a lot of these is documenting them. Most require classes to be applied to elements and users that are not familiar with the css work that has come before will not even know these exist.

Template pages

Finally, once all that is done, it is worth considerng how things should differ between page types. This mostly involves template tags and loops but may include alterations to the fundamental layout of each page.

Not every page type must be included, but it must have been considered.

• General Index (Applies to anything without an overriding page);
• Home Page;
• Single Post page;
• Page Page;
• Archive Page;
• Category Page;
• Tag Page;
• Search Results;
• Author page;
• 404 Page;
• Database Error Page

These are my basic requirements, although, as with any development process, prior planning is essential and will probably add to these. I would consider features beyond these things to be the beginnings of a ‘freemium’ theme.

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