Best Resource or Book to Learn Theme Development

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I stumbled upon this article. The articles are pretty old but they do seem to be very thorough.

Apart from this I would suggest that you download the default theme. Have a look at the code on all the template files and Google anything you do not understand. The learning curve could be pretty steep for a newbie but it is rewarding. You just keep hammering away at it and soon you will be stunning us all with your own themes.

I began with bones – a blank WP theme with everything commented. Then developed my own theme from scratch.

https://themble.com/bones/

The above tutorial is from 2011 and probably outdated as much has changed!

There are a number of good starter themes. _s (“underscores”) is another one. There are some basic themes in the repository that would be suitable to build upon. Starting with a blank slate would be quite the learning experience, but getting a head start is important when time is of the essence.

WordPress’ own Theme Handbook is a must read IMO. I suggest you try to comply with the WP Coding Standards. These are meant specifically for core code contributions, but they are good to follow in any WP project.

Most important is to enjoy the process and be rewarded by your incremental successes, no matter how small.