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I am, although still extremely n00by, a semi-competent web designer and developer and I have decided to start a blog. I have heard all about this WordPress phenomena and I am really excited to give it a try!

Now, I really want my blog to stand out, and from what I can gather, installing WordPress locally gives me full customizability as I have the freedom to 'create my own theme' so to speak. Is that the correct terminology, first of all?

Also, I've heard that by installing WordPress locally, it removes the limitations of having a 'paid' or 'free' version. This would make sense since it is on your own PHP server.

How difficult is this to do? I'm assuming you create a design, and integrate the WP features through PHP?


Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

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1 Answer

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Hi welcome to the world of WordPress. :)

My answer is a bit indirect...

I think before you even start thinking about creating a theme, you should really understand how to create content in WordPress through writing blog posts, pages, how to edit the navigation bar, how to activate themes/plugins, and how to use the settings like the permalinks. A great site to learn all this stuff relatively cheap are the video tutorials WP101.com.

Before you can really start creating a them you'll want to know what it takes to make a good theme and the only way to do that is to use a WordPress for what it was meant for: to create and publish content.

When you're ready to create a theme, I've heard the following free WordPress framework packages make a great start: Thematic, Theme Hybrid, and Carrington.

Good luck and great to have you on board!

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Although perhaps a little indirect, very helpful! That's a great point, I think I will take your advice, thanks! – BOSS Mar 5 '11 at 5:24
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+1: Great Answer. I'd add to just start with the Twenty Ten theme and learn things incrementally. And when Google fails when trying to figure out how to do something new, ask another how-to question here. – MikeSchinkel♦ Mar 5 '11 at 6:45

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