Creating a Wordpress theme with a page builder plugin

Envato Authors Code Authors
1

Hi, guys. First of all, I am a complete beginner when it comes to building Wordpress themes, and I am sure that my question may seem a bit ridiculous, but I thought here I will get an answer I am looking for, because google search didn’t gave me a straight up answer, or i don’t know to google it right.

Anyway, I wanted to ask about a process of designing a Wordpress theme with a Page builder, like Visual Composer or any other. Do you just make a Wordpress theme with some basic CSS styles and functionality, maybe default footer and header as well, and then you build more complex layouts and styles with the Page Builder plugin from the admin area? And when are done you can just export that layouts/theme options so that buyers can later import it and get the look like from the demo?

Or do you have to code the layouts into the theme and the Page Builder is just used by customers that modify those layouts with it? Because I am not sure how the customers can later modify the coded layouts with the Page Builder, if that is the case.

I hope that the questions were clear enough, like i said, I am quite a begginer at this and I hope you will have the understanding for this probably naive questions.

Best regards.

2

It rather depends on the purpose

If you just want to edit a theme that uses VC then you can do so more or less using the different compnents and then configure CSS and options via option panels or stylesheets etc.

If you are talking about creating a theme to sell here then that is totally different and a lot more complicated. You would need to create bespoke features in VC to make it stand out, configure theme options and customisation settings amongst a whole load more.

Creating files to sell here is something for WordPress experts or at very least competent amateurs as it is not only about initially building a theme - there are things like updates. Support and bug fixing etc. To consider.

1 Like
3

Hi, thanks for the answer, i appreciate it.

And to clarify, i was talking about creating a theme to sell here, and I do understand that you need to be an expert to pull that out. I was just curiuos about the process and can you use (and is it allowed to use) a Page Builder to design the theme and the layout without coding it directly into the WordPress files.

4

We first see the design requirements. Most of the things we have to build manually to integrate with Page Builder. Page builder helps us with some elements. All it is up to the design requirement.

1 Like
5

You can use the builder to create your pages etc. but there is a whole load of things to do first before you would be at that stage for example you need to know how to set the theme up so it meets all these requirements which is going to be tough for a beginner

2 Likes
6

its not just a page builder plugin, you will have to add custom meta boxes for post types, code plugins to duplicate the post types functionality into a plugin, blog display styles, menus, variations, color combinations, custom page builder templates, demo data importer etc etc :slight_smile:

2 Likes
7

Hi,

Welcome to the amazing world of WordPress Theme Development. :smile:

First of all, you need to be a Creative Designer if you going to do it one man army. You should understand the market needs and themeforest design standards. Creative and Unique items get approved easily.

Then, You need to be proficient with HTML, CSS, WordPress, WordPress Theme Development, PHP, JavaScript/jQuery Basics, Visual Composer, Revolution Slider, Redux Framework

  1. Get started using a starter theme Underscores.

  2. For building pages, we use Visual Composer. Now, when you start to develop a theme, there are many different elements which come up where we need to either use a VC addon to accomplish those. And, even after using the addons, we need some more different elements, we need to develop these ourselves.

  3. For theme panel, we use the mighty Redux Framework. Theme panel is the very important part as most of customers will be customizing their websites using that. So, we need to give all customizable options wherever possible. Buyers will love them.

  4. For slider, we use Revolution Slider. I think they have the best documentation in place which will help you get started to make beautiful sliders.

  5. Theme Check to check our theme after development if it meets all the WordPress codex requirements.

  6. W3C Validator to validate the code if there are any issues, we need to fix before upload to review.

  7. Then, uploading on Themeforest. Review times are sometimes 4-5 days. Sometimes 14 days. You gotta be lucky. If soft rejected, then again 2 days for review. :smiley:

  8. Then comes Support, updates, bug fixes, adding new features on the go.

If you are really serious learner and want to develop themes, you can PM me and I will help.

3 Likes
8

Thanks guys, you have all been great. And thank you crelegant for such detailed explanation. I will surely PM you in a bit.

9

Hi TheeWiz I am serious about learning, do you have a dummy guide that I can follow on building a custom theme with your steps outlined above