How to Create a WordPress Theme Part 5

Here are some additional resources that can really help you out with finishing up your theme and to make it look professionally done.

If you do not have Adobe Photoshop and do not want to spend for one, I highly recommend that you get GIMP, which works like Photoshop and is free.

There are plenty of places where you can find tutorials online on how to use Photoshop, but my personal favourite is <a href=”http://pixel2life.com”>Pixel2Life</a>. You can find a tutorial of almost anything you want there, including how to create different types of banners step-by-step from scratch.

Many of the tutorials will ask that you use different types of brushes to create effects, but not all of them will tell you where to get them. One of the best resources for brushes is DeviantArt. It’s also a great place to find texture and stock images.

A simple banner with a light gradient background works for virtually any type of blog and looks clean and professional. All you really need is one single image, and you can find plenty of royalty free images at sites such as iStockphoto.

Always opt for an image with either no background or a white background, which you can easily clean up to use on your banner. Just select your “Magic Wand” tool, click on the white background and hit delete. Unless you have the patience to clean up the image manually, never go for photo images.

Using the right fonts also affects how your banner will turn out. Avoid using the default set of fonts and go for something that has a different style. You can search and download new fonts for free from sites such as 1001FreeFonts.com and dafont.com.

Here’s an example of a simple banner image that I made in less than 5 minutes after finding a good image to use:

You can download the psd file for that banner here: Download header psd file

So, what does the final result of the theme looks like?

Here’s a screenshot:

You can download this theme directly from here and edit it any way you like: Download Free Action Theme

If you want to see a live blog running this theme, head on over to my upcoming Diablo 3 blog. I did a bit more editing to basic design of what we’ve created here and the result is as you can see it.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a WordPress Theme Part 4
2. How to Create a WordPress Theme Part 3
3. How to Create a WordPress Theme Part 1
4. How to Create a WordPress Theme Part 2
5. Create Your Own Wordpress Theme for $10