A handy guide on building WordPress theme using Bootstrap

As one of the widely used responsive frameworks, Bootstrap has been utilized for creating fully responsive websites and applications. But that's not all. Lately, developers have been using the framework for creation of responsive WordPress themes that can suit the requirements of different websites that are powered by WordPress CMS(Content Management System). Stay on this post as you'll be walked through all the steps that are associated with development of an eye-catchy WordPress theme using the Bootstrap framework. So, let's begin our journey about exploring the creation of a WordPress theme with Bootstrap.

Knowing the prerequisites for building WordPress theme using Bootstrap

• Get WordPress installed in your system
• Download and unzip Bootstrap files/folders
• Install the Theme Test Drive plugin

Please note the third pre-requisite mentioned above is required only if you're building your WordPress theme using an already live website and hence don't want the public to view the theme while you're busy working on it.

Step 1- Within your WordPress admin panel, navigate to wp-content-> themes and open the directory which contains all the WordPress files. Here, create a new folder and name it as “wp-bootstrap”. Within this folder, paste the bootstrap folder which contains files like: css, img and js. Now, within the bootstrap folder, create a new file and name it as index.php.

Step 2- As per the second step, go ahead with copy pasting the source code fetched from the site into the index.php file(the one created in step 1 above).

Step 3- Build the main CSS page

Here, WordPress would require a specially formatted comment to be visible on top of style.css page. This comment would fetch all the meta information pertaining to the WordPress theme. Now, within the folder containing index.php page, create a new file and name it as style.css.

This simple theme was built using the example Bootstrap theme "Basic marketing site" found on the Bootstrap web site 
*/

Step 4- Upload a suitable image that would be displayed along with the WordPress theme

Here, opt for uploading the image that would be visible with the theme in WordPress admin area. You may choose an image with dimensions as 300 x 225 px or create a new one on your own.

Step 5- Login to your WordPress admin panel and go to Appearances-> Theme. Here, you'll be able to spot a new theme named as WP Bootstrap. Click on 'Active' link for this theme to make it your site's current theme.

Step 6- Transform the Bootstrap files into WordPress templates

Start off by creating empty files for header.php, sidebar.php and footer.php. Now, copy and paste all the HTML that's included at the top of every page, into header.php file. Follow the same procedure for the HTML that appears at every page's bottom and paste it into footer.php file. Next, use two tags viz: get_header() and get_footer() which will find the header.php and footer.php files and include the same to the top and bottom of page respectively.

The index.php file would now look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<!-- Main Message unit for a primary marketing message or call to action -->

<div class="message-unit">

<h1>Hello, world!</h1>

<p>This is a template for a simple marketing or informational website. It includes a large callout called the hero unit and three supporting pieces of content. Use it as a starting point to create something more unique.</p>

<p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-large">Read more &raquo;</a></p>

</div>

<!-- Example row of columns -->

<div class="row">

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4 ">

<h2>Heading</h2>

<p>The dummy text is being used as Lorem Ipsum which is used simply for the printing of various dummy texts and typesetting industry. This is been the top standard dummy text which is ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a type of galley and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. </p>

<p><a class="btn" href="#">View details &raquo;</a></p>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 7- Within the same folder as the header.php file, create and open the functions.php file and paste the below mentioned code in it:

<?php 

function wpbootstrap_scripts_with_jquery()
{
        // Register the script like this for a theme:
        wp_register_script( 'custom-script', get_template_directory_uri() . '/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.js', array( 'jquery' ) );
        // For either a plugin or a theme, you can then enqueue the script:
        wp_enqueue_script( 'custom-script' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpbootstrap_scripts_with_jquery' );

?>

Step 8- Create the WordPress Homepage

With the basic static template being setup appropriately, go ahead with creating a WordPress homepage. For this, just go to your WordPress admin area and click Pages-> Add New. Here, provide a suitable title for the page like “Home” and finally click on HTML tab available above the default Content Editor. After this, cut the rest of markup from index.php file and paste the same into this new 'Homepage' followed by clicking the “Publish” link. The Homepage would now look like this:

Next, we'll be using the popular WordPress function called the Loop for including the Home page content(the one added in WP admin area) into the template. The structure of this loop would be like this:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

The index.php file with the above loop would now look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched '); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 9- Add the WordPress code that pulls in page's title and content

Code for title would look like the_title() and code for content would be like the_content(). The altered loop structure would now look like this:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched '); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

Step 10- Add extra pages and navigation

In this step, you'll be required to add new pages like About, Contact and News in your WordPress admin area. Additionally, in order to replace the website's static navigation menu with the one where pages just added in the back-end are displayed, just follow a simple process. Get on with finding unordered list with the class as “nav” and delete list items. The updated markup within the div with calss “navbar” would now look like this:

<div class="navbar navbar-inverse">

<div class="navbar-inner">

<div class="container">

<a class="btn btn-navbar" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".nav-collapse">

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

</a>

<a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>

<div class="nav-collapse collapse">

<ul class="nav">

</ul>

</div><!--/.nav-collapse -->

</div>

</div>

</div>

Next, just add the below code into the empty unordered list with the “nav” class:

<ul class="nav">

<?php wp_list_pages(array('title_li' => '')); ?>

</ul>

In the above code, wp_list_pages() will create a list item along with a link for each web page.

Step 11- Create templates for posts and pages

For creating the pages template, just save the index.php file as page.php file. Firstly, change the text “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.” to “Sorry, this page does not exist.”. Next, create a two column layout by adding some Bootstrap markup as shown below:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

In the above code, the “col-md-8” class is for the page content and “col-xs-6 col-md-4” class is for the sidebar content.

Next, go to your page.php file and add get_sidebar() in the “col-xs-6 col-md-4 ” div as shown below:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Now, in order to create the template for a single post, just save your page.php file as single.php file. After adding the hr tag and content page, the single.php template will look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<p><em><?php the_time('l, F jS, Y'); ?></em></p>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<hr>

<?php comments_template(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 12- Adding finishing touch to the responsive WordPress theme

In order to have the name of page or post in the title and name of the website, just use the WordPress tag called wp_title() which must be customized in the below mentioned format:

wp_title('|',1,'right');

Finally, get on with widget theme by simply adding the below code to the theme's functions.php file:

<?php

function wp-bootstrap_scripts_with_jquery()

{

// Register the script like this for a theme:

wp_register_script( 'script', get_template_directory_uri() . '/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.js', array( 'jquery' ) );

// For either a plugin or a theme, you can then enqueue the script:

wp_enqueue_script( 'custom-script' );

}

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wp-bootstrap_scripts_with_jquery' );

if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') )

{

'name' => __('Widget Name Here'),

'description' => __('Widget Description Here'),

'id' => 'widget-id',

'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="%2$s">',

'after_widget' => '</div>',

'before_title' => '<h3>',

'after_title' => '</h3>'

));

}

?>

After this, simply go back to the sidebar.php file and replace the static content with the text shown below:

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>
<?php endif; ?>

With that you're theme is ready for a quick download!

Conclusion

So, that was an elaboration on building a fully-functional WordPress theme using the Bootstrap framework. Hope you'd have followed the steps covered in this tutorial. If you've found some issues, do let me know using the below comments section.

Hopefully, you had enjoyed this post but some times while moving from the static files which are specially in Photoshop and to move from PSD to WordPress Conversion also matters with bootstrap technology which helps to maintain a best criteria for Bootstrap themes.