Finding the ideal WordPress theme for a particular project isn’t easy, and sometimes it’s simply impossible. If you’ve got a static site that you need to add a blog to, you won’t find a theme that matches exactly, and even finding one that “fits” can be a chore to say the least. I found myself in that situation this past week, and found the perfect solution: Empty Canvas, the perfect WordPress theme.
Adrian Diaconescu created this theme as an “empty canvas” to build on. If you’ve got a custom job to do, but you don’t feel like (or know how) to build a theme from scratch, Empty Canvas is perfect. You don’t have to spend hours trying to undo or modify a theme’s graphics and CSS. With Empty Canvas you really do have a blank template to quickly customize however you like.
Don’t know how to customize a theme? It’s really not difficult. Check out the WordPress Codex on Templates to learn how. Let’s take the sidebar as an example (which doesn’t show by default in the Empty Canvas theme). The Customizing Your Sidebar link on the WordPress Codex on Templates page will show you what to put in the sidebar.php file to pull the data you want there…or how to add custom static code. For instance, to get your “pages” and “categories” to show up in the sidebar, all you need to do is add this code:
<?php wp_list_pages('title_li=<h2>Pages</h2>'); ?>
<li id="categories"><?php _e('Categories:'); ?>
<ul><?php wp_list_cats(); ?></ul>
</li>
If you want to change the way the sidebar looks, or any other part of the theme, just modify the CSS file.
Adrian has also done some incredible work on styled themes. Check out Visual for example…an incredibly cool theme for only $25. Enjoy!
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