Developersd Custom Theme Templates

Normally, WordPress theme templates are created by adding PHP files to the active theme. Developersd Custom Theme Templates lets administrators build custom templates directly from wp-admin, with a visual drag-and-drop builder, and have them appear in the native Template dropdown when editing Pages, Posts, or supported Custom Post Types.

The plugin never creates or modifies theme files. Templates are stored as structured JSON and rendered dynamically, so they survive theme switches and updates.

Key Features

• Visual drag-and-drop builder — every row is one HTML element
• Safe, whitelisted structural tags only (div, section, header, footer, article, aside, main, nav, headings, p, span, strong)
• Unlimited nesting with drag-and-drop re-parenting
• Content types: Static Text, Dynamic Title, Dynamic Content, Dynamic Featured Image (choose Background — for hero/banner sections — or a Normal inline image), Shortcode, and Button (text + URL + optional new-tab)
• Hero/banner sections: use a Featured Image background with a “center content” option to vertically/horizontally position a title, text, and button stacked on top of it
• Per-element spacing (margin/padding), alignment, colors, width/max-width/min-height, and container controls
• Independent Desktop / Tablet / Mobile responsive overrides, with the breakpoints themselves configurable site-wide from Settings
• Assign each template to Pages, Posts, or specific Custom Post Types
• Optional Sidebar — its own drag-and-drop element tree, positioned left or right of the main content, with an adjustable width percentage (main content automatically fills the rest) and its own configurable responsive stacking breakpoint
• Optional “global default” per post type — e.g. every blog post automatically uses the same template without picking it individually, while any single post can still override it explicitly
• Templates take priority over other plugins’ template logic — enforced as early as possible in the request so nothing else can override an assigned template
• Enable/disable any template with a toggle switch, from the list table or the edit screen, without losing its configuration
• Group templates into Categories (with WordPress’s native, clickable Categories column)
• Templates always render fully closed, valid markup — never broken HTML
• Live preview while building
• Duplicate templates with one click
• Clean uninstall — removes all plugin data when you choose to delete it

Security

• All output is escaped; all input is sanitized before storage
• Every admin action is nonce-verified and capability-checked (manage_options)
• No inline <script>, <style>, <iframe>, or PHP is ever permitted inside a template
• Custom attributes go through a strict whitelist — no on* event handlers, no style/src/href overrides

Developers

Every function, class, hook, option, database key, and AJAX action is prefixed with developersd_ to avoid naming collisions. The codebase follows WordPress Coding Standards and an OOP, single-responsibility architecture:

• Developersd_Post_Types — CPT + taxonomy registration, meta boxes, saving
• Developersd_Template_Manager — data access, recursive sanitization
• Developersd_Renderer — JSON → HTML rendering, template_include hook
• Developersd_Admin — settings screen, list table, plugin links
• Developersd_Assets — scoped script/style enqueueing
• Developersd_Ajax — preview + duplicate endpoints
• Developersd_Database — prepared-query helpers, cache management

Extend the builder via filters:

• developersd_allowed_tags — add/remove permitted HTML tags
• developersd_content_types — add new content type handlers
• developersd_rendered_template — filter final template HTML