WordPress Template Structure (2025 Edition)

A lightweight, modern starter theme for WordPress developers. This skeleton is built on 2025 standards, combining the flexibility of Classic PHP templates with the power of theme.json.

Designed to be bloat-free, it utilizes the WordPress Template Hierarchy to reduce file count while maintaining full functionality.

Features

• Hybrid Classic Structure: Traditional PHP templating paired with theme.json for modern block editor control.
• Zero Bloat: Redundant files (like category.php, tag.php, attachment.php) are removed in favor of a robust archive.php fallback.
• Modern Organization: Assets live in assets/ and partials in template-parts/.
• Developer Ready: Includes standard .gitignore exclusions and a FUNDING.yml.

Directory Structure

├── .github/             # GitHub funding configurations
├── assets/              # CSS, JS, and Images
├── inc/                 # Custom PHP functions & template tags
├── languages/           # Translation files (.pot)
├── page-templates/      # Custom page layouts (e.g., Full Width)
├── template-parts/      # Reusable components (Header, Footer, Content)
├── 404.php              # Error page
├── archive.php          # Universal handler for Cats, Tags, Dates, & Authors
├── footer.php           # Footer component
├── front-page.php       # Static Homepage template
├── functions.php        # Theme setup & Enqueue
├── header.php           # Header component
├── index.php            # Main fallback template
├── page.php             # Single Page template
├── search.php           # Search results
├── single.php           # Single Post template
├── style.css            # Theme declaration
└── theme.json           # Global settings (Colors, Layout, Typography)

Installation

1. Clone or Download:

   git clone https://github.com/mgks/wordpress-template-structure.git wp-content/themes/my-theme

2. Activate: Go to your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Themes and activate the theme.

Configuration

Styles & Scripts

• Global Settings: Edit theme.json to control typography, color palettes, and layout widths. This is the modern replacement for many add_theme_support calls.
• CSS: Main styles are located in assets/css/main.css.
• Theme Info: Update the theme name and author details in style.css.

Template Parts

We follow the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle.

• header.php and footer.php load the outer shell.
• The Loop content is handled via get_template_part( 'template-parts/content', ... ).

License

MIT / GPL-2.0-or-later