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WordPress Themes
The New Theme system of WordPress provides two convenient features in the form of physically separate components and quick change in layout and design. The WordPress Modular Template Files System makes it possible to define separate physical PHP files for different components of the site. This then allows the creation of unique designs and functionality for many special pages like category archives, monthly archives and individual entry pages. The quick change in layout and design allows users with appropriate permissions, to change the layout of the entire site by uploading a new theme and flipping a switch in the admin panel.
Using the WordPress theme is not only about “skinning” or merely changing the design of the site. It is all about providing much more control over the look and presentation of the material on one’s website. The collection of files called the template files work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. A theme can modify the way the site is displayed without necessarily modifying the underlying software. The powerful control over the look of the different pages and categories on a site is only limited by one’s imagination.
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Before themes came to be, WordPress generated content using a single file – index.php and files to support comment display and submission. It was a single style sheet that controlled the presentation. All the other pages were generated by passing parameters to the index.php design including the category and archive pages.