Implementing Custom Page Templates in WordPress Themes

Posted on 19th June 2023

Introduction

One of the great things about WordPress is its flexibility. This is especially true when it comes to themes. A WordPress theme can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. In this article, we will discuss how to create and implement custom page templates in WordPress themes.

Creating a Custom Page Template

The first thing you need to do is create a new file in your theme directory. The file should be named something like “page-template.php”. The exact name is not important, but it is a good idea to use a name that will be meaningful to you and other users of your theme.

Next, you need to add the following code to the top of your new file:

This code tells WordPress that this is a custom page template. The “Template Name” is the name that will be displayed in the WordPress admin interface when selecting a page template.

After the code above, you can add any HTML, CSS, and PHP code that you want. This is the code that will be used to generate the content of your custom page template.

Implementing a Custom Page Template

Once you have created your custom page template, you need to implement it in your WordPress theme. The easiest way to do this is by adding a “Template” field to the “Page Attributes” box when editing a page in the WordPress admin interface. The “Template” field will let you select the custom page template that you want to use for that page.

You can also implement custom page templates by adding code to your theme’s “functions.php” file. The following code will add a “My Page Template” page template to your theme:

function my_theme_add_custom_page_templates( $page_templates ) {
$page_templates['page-templates/my-page-template.php'] = 'My Page Template';
return $page_templates;
}
add_filter( 'theme_page_templates', 'my_theme_add_custom_page_templates' );

This code adds a “My Page Template” page template to your theme. The “My Page Template” page template will use the “page-templates/my-page-template.php” file. You can add this code to your theme’s “functions.php” file or you can add it to a plugin.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed how to create and implement custom page templates in WordPress themes. Custom page templates are a great way to add flexibility to your WordPress theme. They can be used to create unique layouts for specific pages or posts. We hope this article has been helpful to you.

Assuming you have a basic understanding of PHP and WordPress, let’s jump right in and take a look at how to create a custom page template in a WordPress theme.

Creating a custom page template is actually quite simple. All you need to do is create a new file in your theme’s directory and name it page-template-name.php, where template-name is the name of your template.

For example, let’s say we want to create a custom page template for a contact page. We would name our file page-template-contact.php.

Once you have created your file, the next step is to add a template header to the top of the file. A template header is a special comment block that tells WordPress what type of template this is and what template it should use as a fallback if this template is not available.

Here is an example template header for our contact page template:

As you can see, all we have done is add a template header to our file. The first line of the header is the opening PHP tag. The second line is the actual template header, which consists of the template name followed by a colon and the name of the template file.

The third line is a closing PHP tag.

Now that we have our template header in place, we can start adding our template code. For our contact page template, we might want to include a contact form and some contact information.

Here is an example of what our template might look like:

As you can see, we have added a simple contact form and some contact information to our template. You can add any type of content you want to your template.

Once you have finished adding your template code, you can save your file and upload it to your theme’s directory.

Now that your template is in place, you can edit any page in your WordPress site and select your template from the dropdown menu under the Page Attributes section.

And that’s all there is to it! You have now successfully created a custom page template in WordPress.

The article should start with the following:

A WordPress theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. WordPress themes are what make a weblog look and function in the way that it does. A theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software.

There are two ways to create custom page templates in WordPress. The first way is to create a file called page-{slug}.php, where {slug} is the slug of the page you want to target. For example, if you want to create a custom page template for a page with the slug “about-me”, you would create a file called page-about-me.php.

The second way to create a custom page template is to create a file called page-{id}.php, where {id} is the ID of the page you want to target. For example, if you want to create a custom page template for a page with the ID “123”, you would create a file called page-123.php.

If you want to target a specific page template for a WordPress page, you can do so by using the page_template filter. This filter allows you to override the template that WordPress would normally use for a given page.

To use the page_template filter, you need to add the following code to your functions.php file:

function my_custom_page_template( $page_template ) {
if ( is_page( ‘about-me’ ) ) {
$page_template = dirname( __FILE__ ) . ‘/page-about-me.php’;
}
return $page_template;
}
add_filter( ‘page_template’, ‘my_custom_page_template’ );

In the code above, we are using the is_page() function to check if the current page is the “about-me” page. If it is, we are then overriding the default page template with our custom page template.

You can also use the page_template filter to target a specific page template for a WordPress page by ID. To do this, you would use the following code:

function my_custom_page_template( $page_template ) {
if ( is_page( ‘123’ ) ) {
$page_template = dirname( __FILE__ ) . ‘/page-123.php’;
}
return $page_template;
}
add_filter( ‘page_template’, ‘my_custom_page_template’ );

In the code above, we are using the is_page() function to check if the current page is the page with the ID “123”. If it is, we are then overriding the default page template with our custom page template.