Back in February, the folks at Automattic released a fresh new starter theme for the WordPress community, lovingly titled _s. _s was designed to pave the way forward for some great new themes, but getting started was a bit of pain. Enter the new site for the _s starter theme, Underscores.me. Underscores.me not only tells you why you should consider using _s to build you next great theme, it also provides a super-simple way to download your own copy, complete with your new theme’s name, slug, author, author URL, and description already set! So, if you’re itching to get your name out there by launching your first theme, there has never been a better time to give _s a try!

There has been a lot of talk lately about using starter themes to build your own unique WordPress themes, especially now that the new _s starter theme is available, but many are asking just how to get started in the first place. Fortunately, the same folks behind _s have released a quick starter guide for their starter theme. At its most basic, pretend that you’re building your theme just like you would a new house, but in this case you’re hiring someone else to lay the foundation for you. Without a good solid foundation, it doesn’t matter how well you construct the frame or paint the walls, that house will fall down eventually. This is exactly what a good starter theme is, it’s the foundation, with just about everything you need to start a good theme. When starting with a starting theme, the first thing you’ll need to do is […]

There are many folks out there who would love to make their own WordPress theme, but it’s often hard to get started without a reliable template. Sure, you could grab the Toolbox theme, but it’s a bit out of date, so it wouldn’t be the best platform to get started on. This brings us to the new _s starter theme from the Automattic Theme Team. _s is a complete starter theme, it’s free, open source, and ready to be used by you today. Unlike Toolbox, _s is not designed to just serve as a parent theme for a mere child theme, it is really designed to be used as a template for your next great theme, or as described a “1,000 hour head start.” _s will always be in flux, upgrading and adapting to the latest web technologies, so that you’ll always have the tools you need when you’re ready to start your […]