There are many different ways you can develop your own custom theme. Below are three of the most common ways:
Block Themes
You can build a theme using the Gutenberg Block Editor. Rather than creating a theme using traditional PHP files, you can create a theme with block editing, where layouts are entirely composed of blocks. You can export this theme either by using a plugin (like Create Block Theme) or with the WordPress Site Editor.
Starter Themes
There are many starter themes to build off of. Some examples are: Gantry, Cherry Framework, Hybrid Core, and Genesis. These include standard template files and CSS, serving as a blank canvas for you to add to.
Starting from Scratch
Building the theme completely from the ground up in a blank directory by creating the required core files (index.php and style.css) and manually creating every template and function.
Core template files
style.css:
The required stylesheet for your theme. It contains the main CSS rules for styling the site’s design and includes the required theme header comment block (which tells WordPress the theme’s name, author, and version).
index.php:
The main template file. It is required for all themes and acts as the ultimate fallback file if no other specific template file (like single.php or page.php) matches the requested content.
functions.php:
This file acts like a plugin for your theme. It allows you to add custom PHP code to define theme features (like post thumbnails or navigation menus), scripts and styles, and modify core WordPress functionality.
header.php:
Contains the visual and code header of your website. It typically includes the HTML <head> section, links to stylesheets, the site logo, and the opening navigation tags. It is called into other templates using the get_header() function.
footer.php:
Contains the closing HTML tags and the footer area of your site. This is where footer widgets, and copyright text are placed. It is loaded into other files using get_footer().
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