WordPress Cheat Sheets: Template Heirarchy Map

Next in line for our WordPress Cheat Sheet series, The Template Hierarchy Mapl! If you haven’t seen the first posts in this series, this is a new batch of these quick pocket guides that you guys n’ gals can download, save to your phones for a fast reference, or even print out and keep next to your desk while you’re working on customizing WordPress to do your bidding.

This particular cheat sheet is a glossed up version of the WordPress Template Hierarchy. It shows the full priority list of how template files within your theme are loaded. Do you need all of these files? No, of course now – you really only need the index.php file, but for individualized layouts for each type of content, you’re probably going to want to use at least a handful of these in your theme. This cheat sheet pairs nicely with the last one in the series as well: The Theme Anatomy Model.

The idea here is simple: A quick visual model that can be a great helper when trying to wrap your brain around what goes into a WordPress theme for the first time (or the thirtieth!). It doesn’t include everything that you’ll need to know, but it’s a simple model that should pair nicely with coded tutorial on the site, like this one we just started: WordPress Theme Development Training Wheels .

Don’t Miss…

Don’t miss out on our full Developing Your First WordPress Theme series, or our Guide To Creating a Child Theme in WordPress, which plays right into the content of this cheat sheet.

Oh, and we’ll be doing our best to keep these sheets updated as WordPress grows into new versions, but if you spot an error (or just want to send some love), let us know in the comments!