I’ve finally set my new WordPress theme live. It’s taken about a month and a half to build, and during that time I’ve learned a few things. Allow me to share for your enlightenment.
#1: Never build a custom theme from scratch
Holy crap, I should have known this, but I only figured it out five weeks in and now I know better. WordPress builds a new theme each year (for instance, the latest one is called “Twenty Sixteen“), and each theme has every element required by WordPress best practices. It’s a simple theme with limited customizability, which is why I was confused at first about the posts I was reading.
Turns out, that whole “child theme” isn’t just for small tweaks and modifications. I can style an entire theme however I want, and Twenty Sixteen can serve as my template, legally and for time-reasons. I spent six weeks doing everything wrong all the time when I could have spent two and styled my template with ease.
#2: WordPress is not for beginners
Yeah yeah, I know CSS (some) and I can modify code when I see it (usually) and that’s basically all I need, right? Haha! No!
If you’re building a WordPress site from scratch (again, you should not do this), you’ll need an intermediate knowledge of PHP at least, then an understanding of WordPress’s changes and recommended procedures, and THEN you need to spend a whole lot of time tinkering until you get used to the system.
So really, for the first time building a theme, that six weeks of torment was well-spent. Now the next one I make will be quicker, more efficient, and hopefully better.
#3: WordPress.org is actually helpful
You know how, when you want to find great material and peer help on CSS, you check StackOverflow. Well, I’ve found that the majority of the answers to my theme questions were found directly on their site. When it wasn’t part of the official codex, it was a workaround developed by other users and buried in a SO-themed thread. The amount of content and help available for WordPress developers in magnificent.
My next few website builds will definitely be WordPress, and I’m looking forward to continued experimentation with child themes, e-commerce plugins, and the fantastic group of people who continue to help make this platform amazing.
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