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Hi, I have self taught myself right up to the stage of being able to change css and completely change the look of genesis which I am happy with. I am very eager to start being able to create my own home.php and portfolio.php and all the rest of it. I am more than happy to watch hours and hours of tutorials or read through pages and pages to get to where i want to be. I have no other commitments so I can spend 12 hours per day learning this stuff. However, as much time as I have, I do still value my time and don't want to accidentally go down the wrong path learning something that will be of no use to me.
Can anybody direct me?
I really want to know. In the child themes that you can buy for example. There will be a file called home.php. I can look in the code and get an idea of what is happening. I recognise code like..
genesis_widget_area(
etc etc.. and understand that this is displaying the widget area that was created in the functions.php. I know there is code snippets on this website which allows me to slightly change things such as adding an authorbox, changing comments, gravatars by adding to the functions.php.
But beyond this, it feels like I am still a mile behind. Perhaps this costs money to learn. Do I need to study php in its entirety? Or is creating these functions and then placing them in files such as home.php, single.php something that is specific to wordpress only? Or do I only need to look at functions that apply to Genesis specifically? If so where would I need to go to find this information? I don't want to spend a year studying something and then find out I only needed 10% of it. I will most likely only ever be working inside of a genesis child theme.
I have googled how to create a child theme of genesis from scratch, but it pulls up some very basic information on just creating the files and goes into very little detail on how to actually do some interesting stuff. It is always assumed that you know something that I don't to be able to continue.
Anyway I hope some of you remember being at the stage that I am at and can advise me on the best route that you took to further your skills and knowledge. Thanks guys!
I love helping creative entrepreneurs build epic things with WP & Genesis.
PS When I said "I don’t want to spend a year studying something and then find out I only needed 10% of it. I will most likely only ever be working inside of a genesis child theme."
This really isn't out of laziness. If i have to learn it all then so be it. But I have always thought it is better to be really good at one specific thing than to try and be a jack of all trades. I just want to be able to create genesis child themes that are completely how i want them to be. Functions, styling and everything else. That is all.
I love helping creative entrepreneurs build epic things with WP & Genesis.
I was in a similar position to you not too long ago. You actually don't need to know that much PHP in order to work with themes. A lot of it is understanding hooks & filters along with functions. I would recommend reading an into PHP book or take the course on lynda.com. Lynda also has several courses on theme development, and web design in general. You also should read Professional WordPress Design and Development, which goes into great depth. Genesis itself has its own version of the WordPress loop, but if you have an understanding of how the WordPress loop itself works, you'll have an idea of how to modify the Genesis loop. There are also tons of blogs on WordPress development that can help you do almost anything.
WordPress being open source, by nature there is a ton of information in around and there is a very robust community that is willing to help. You should also consider attending a WordCamp in your area, as well as a WordPress meetup if there is one around.
Hope this helps
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Zach Russell
President, ProTech Internet GroupYou Sir are a gentleman! Thanks!
You have not only pointed me in a good direction, but you have also kind of explained why I have had trouble finding documentation on creating child themes. I seems that most people who attempt to start creating a genesis child theme from scratch already have sufficient php knowledge from wordpress and then have no trouble at all adapting to the genesis framework. I came in from the wrong angle.
I am actually in my 7-day trial at Lynda.com so this works out perfectly.
I shall now move to the cheapest country I can find (with fast internet connection) and hide out for the next 6 months while I learn php. Then maybe one day I will be able to help somebody else who finds themselves in my current situation.
Thanks again!
I love helping creative entrepreneurs build epic things with WP & Genesis.
I too am new. My advice- start by using an existing child theme. You will learn 10x faster because you will have breakthroughs every day. Once you see the steps in making a site work, making your own changes and once you see how Genesis works in conjunction with the child theme you may not need to create your own from scratch and additionally you will have a foundation that will give you at least a chance to do so. I have made some really good progress in just a couple of weeks.
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