Wordpress is a very powerful and customizable web publishing platform. It has endless possibilities if you know how to exploit it. One of the hidden features is wordpress page template. Many people are looking for how to change the look of their front page or how to create custom wordpress page which is different from the default page style provided with the wordpress. Here is where wordpress page template feature comes in handy. It is so easy to use wordpress page template that you will be surprised. Once you master wordpress page template, you will be able to create pages which are essentially different in look and feel of your other pages or even entire website or blog. This is a small tutorial on how to create a basic wordpress page template.
What is WordPress Page Template
Wordpress page template is a simple additional template in your already existing template hierarchy. It performs the same function of presenting your content. However, they are bit different in the aspect that they will appear only when you decide to show them. And essentially, they will be different from other templates available in your theme. Almost all themes have a page file called page.php. This is the default page template of any theme. This is the wordpress page template that loads your pages and displays their content. There are many other wordpress themes which have other page templates. However, you can use this page.php file to create all new wordpress page template according to your requirement and need.
It may, however, be noted that a wordpress page template is not about styling a page. It is about creating a page which is somewhat different from the default wordpress page template.
How to Create a WordPress Page Template
The first thing you need to do to create is to copy the page.php file. This file will be available in almost all the themes. If you are using a theme which does not have this file, then it is strongly advised that you change your theme immediately. You will see that at the top of the file there will be line like this:
<?php get_header(); ?>Change this file to look like this:
<?php /* Template Name: Example */ get_header(); ?>Where example is the name of the page template you want to create. Save this file as example.php. This is all about creating a wordpress page template.
How to select wordpress Page Template
Page templates are not automatically selected. In fact you will need to select them while creating a new page. You need to click on meta part with label Attributes. You can select the newly created template from the drop down template box here. This was the tutorial on creating a basic wordpress page template. You can edit different parts of the you new example.php file to customize it according to your requirements.
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