Comments on: WordPress Themes: A Twelve-Step Program for Easy Installation

By: Steve of Snowlark

Steve of Snowlark — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:12:45 +0000

I’m with ‘pops’ in that I do all my tweaking on a local instance running on my localhost. You don’t need to be running linux at home to do this – I just grabbed an old Win2k3 box and put Apache, MySQL, and then WP2.3.1 onboard. A couple of minor tweaks to the apache server to help WP work, and you’re in business.

Plus, this way, if you use this process, you can add a source control tool or even use VanDyke Software’s SecureFX to manage your files and keep the live site up to date! Most everything is free, except SecureFX.

Well worth the money, though.

Oh, and for really easy comparisons between files you can download WinMerge, which is free! I like WinMerge for that reason … heh-heh-heh

By: lissie

lissie — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:21:41 +0000

I recently wrote this review of free WordPress themes which may be of interest too. Testing is critical – especially in ALL the common browsers: IE6, IE7, firefox not just the one you happen to use!

By: pops

pops — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:40:40 +0000

@Neil, that’s a nice plugin. I usually like to do my development on a testing server or subdomain but I occassionally do a bit on a live theme (although I know better). I’ll add Theme Test Drive just for those occassions.

By: Matt Ellsworth

Matt Ellsworth — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:16:41 +0000

great overview. I have often explained to several people all that is involved and then they get flustered. But you layed it out nicely.

By: Neil Duckett

Neil Duckett — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:01:02 +0000

I have found the plugin “Theme Test Drive” very useful for testing the edits to a new or existing theme.