Do i need to keep all the default WP templates files in a theme ?

1. 

   Gilles Vauvarin (Member)
   Posted 5 months ago | Permalink

   Hello,

   I have a general question about the themes development.

   When I develop a theme for distribution (free or commercial) is it a better practice to keep all the default templates file in my theme even though I do not use all of them ?

   For exemple if i develop a theme with a static home page, i will use the home.php file instead of index.php. Is it a good practice to keep index.php in my theme ?

   Another exemple: if there is no blog in my theme, do i need to keep single.php, comments.php ... files ?

   I ask this question because when i test my themes with theme-check plugin, all the default templates files seems to be mandatory to pass the test.

   What do you think, what is the best practice ?

   Thanks for your advices.

2. 

   Galin (Member)
   Posted 5 months ago | Permalink

   Hey,

   I don't see why you wouldn't want to keep them. They serve as fallbacks. I can't suggest other arguments at the moment but since themehybrid themes have all basic templates, I've accepted that they should be there :) .

   I think they are needed to ensure compatibility with any plugins that presume those templates are existent. A public plugin would't know if you use post.php instead of single.php. For example plugins that register custom post types.

   Hopefully someone would give additional insight on the topic.

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