Commonly used WordPress theme files

This post will go over some of the major WordPress theme files. I took this from my book Digging into WordPress. I don’t recommend many books, but this is one that I would recommend you take a look at.

Just incase that was too small to read for you here is the same info written out but doesn’t look as nice

404.php (STANDARD)

Error page, served up when someone goes to a URL on your site that doesn’t exist

archive.php (STANDARD)

Page that displays posts in one particular day, month, year, category, tag, or author

archives.php (Special)

Page template that includes search form, category list, and monthly archives (requires page using it)

comments-popup.php (Junk)

If you enable popup comments (obscure function), the comments link will use this template

comments.php (STANDARD)

This file delivers all the comments, pingbacks, trackbacks, and the comment form when called

footer.php  (STANDARD)

Included at the bottom of every page. Closes off all sections. (Copyright, analytics, etc)

functions.php (Special)

File to include special behavior for your theme.

header.php (STANDARD)

Included at the top of every page. (DOCTYPE, head section, navigation, etc)

image.php (Special)

If you wish to have unique pages for each of the image on your site (for credits, copyright)

images (STANDARD)

FOLDER – Keeps all the images that make up your theme in one place

index.php (Core)

This is typically the “homepage” of your blog, but also the default should any other views be missing

links.php (Special)

Special page template for a home for your blogroll

page.php (STANDARD)

Template for Pages, the WordPress version of static-style/non-blog content

rtl.css (Special)

A special CSS file for your optional inclusion to accommodate “right to left” languages

screenshot.png (STANDARD)

This is the image thumbnail of your theme, for help distinguishing it in the Appearance picker

search.php (STANDARD)

The search results page template

sidebar.php (STANDARD)

Included on pages where/when/if you want a sidebar

single.php (STANDARD)

This file is displays a single Post in full (the Posts permalink), typically with comments

style.css (Core)

The styling information for your theme, required for your theme to work, even if you don’t use it

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Wordpress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.