BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL?WHERE TO BEGIN WHEN BUILDING A THEME

– P R OSP E C T I V E C L I E N T

“Do you do custom theme development?”

SOME DEFINITIONS - MY DEFINITIONS

F IR S T …

• “...a drop-in code library used to facilitate development of a theme”

“A front-end web development framework is simply a collection of production ready HTML/CSS/JavaScript components that we can use in our designs.”

FRA M E WO R K

• Requires a parent theme

Hint - many WordPress “frameworks” are parent themes

CH I L D T H EM E

• Scares the crap out of you

Little to no CSS

S TA RT ER T H E M E

–EV E RYON E I N T H I S R OOM

“So how do you choose?”

– EV ERY DEV ELOP E R E VE RY W HER E

“It depends.”

FRAMEWORKSPROS

• Base CSS • Grid system• Responsive• Classes defined• Typography

• Defines stuff you’d forget about

• Broader than WordPress

FRAMEWORKSCONS

• Not a stand-alone theme

• Usually included in a theme’s functions.php file or folders

• http://www.punkchip.com/why-dont-you-use-bootstrap/

BOOTSTRAPFRA M E W O R K S

BOOTSTRAP

• HTML, CSS, & JS

• 12-col grid

• XS, S, M, L screen sizes

• “Mobile-first” (mostly min-width)

• Media queries based on pixels

• LESS (ported to Sass)

BOOTSTRAPFRA M E W O R K S

FOUNDATIONFRA M E W O R K S

FOUNDATION

• HTML, CSS, & JS

• 12-col grid

• S, M, L, XL, XXL screen sizes

• “Mobile-first” (min-widths & max-widths)

• Media queries based on ems

• Sass

FRAMEWORK COMPARISON

FRA M E W O R K S

CHILD THEMEPROS• Quickest and easiest

choice• DO THIS rather than hack

the theme• Parent theme can carry

the weight• Bork the child and the

parent is OK• Works immediately• 80% of the work is done

for you• Lowest cost

CHILD THEMECONS

• At the mercy of the parent theme’s code • Quality• Security• Upgrades• Compatibility

• Not the leanest strategy

GENESISPA R E NT T H E M E S

GENESISPA R E NT T H E M E S

JUMP STARTPA R E NT T H E M E S

JUMP STARTPA R E NT T H E M E S

RESPONSIVEPA R E NT T H E M E S

RESPONSIVEPA R E NT T H E M E S

STARTER THEMEPROS

• You control (and are responsible for) updates

• One and done• It’s your code• Lean and mean code

STARTER THEMECONS

• You control (and are responsible for) updates

• You have to build the theme

• 20% of the work is done for you

• Most time intensive

_S (UNDERSCORES)STA RT ER T H E M E S

_S (UNDERSCORES)STA RT ER T H E M E S

_TKSTA RT ER T H E M E S

_TKSTA RT ER T H E M E S

SOME LIKE IT NEATSTA RT ER T H E M E S

SOME LIKE IT NEATSTA RT ER T H E M E S

SO HOW DO YOU CHOOSE???

SO HOW DO YOU CHOOSE???

QUESTIONS TO ASK• How will it (the site /

framework / parent theme) change?

• Upgrades?

• Redesigns?

• Improvements?

• Budget?

• Timeframe?

• What will you be asking the site to do?

• Heavy traffic?

• Heavy database use?

• Who’s going to support it?

• What are you comfortable with?

– AN YON E WH O’ S S T I L L W I T H M E

“So what do you recommend?”

MY ADVICE

• Research the differences between frameworks

• Choose one parent theme and build several child themes on it

• When you’re ready, find a starter theme that you like and use it for everything

RIDE YOUR OWN RIDEIN T H E EN D , YO U H AV E T O

THANK YOU!QUESTIONS?http://www.juliekuehl.com/wcomaha-2015/

J UL I E@J UL IE KUE HL .C OM@J UL I EKUE H L

s t r a i g h t f o r w a rd w e b s o l u t i o n s . c o m@