CHILD THEMES, STARTER
THEMES, AND FRAMEWORKS…
OH MY!
J U L I E K U E H L
– W O R D P R E S S W I S D O M
“Don’t hack core.”
(or themes)
– P R O S P E C T I V E C L I E N T
“Do you do custom theme development?”
SOME DEFINITIONS - MY
DEFINITIONS
F I R 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.”
F R A M E W O R K
• Requires a parent theme
Hint - many WordPress
“frameworks” are parent
themes
C H I L D T H E M E
• Scares the crap out of
you
S T A R T E R
T H E M E
– E V E R Y O N E I N T H I S R O O M
“So how do you choose?”
– E V E R Y D E V E L O P E R E V E R Y W H E R E
“It depends.”
FRAMEWORKS
PROS
• Base CSS
• Grid system
• Responsive
• Classes defined
• Typography
• Defines stuff you’d forget
about
• Broader than WordPress
FRAMEWORKS
CONS
• Not a stand-alone theme
• Usually included in a
theme’s functions.php file
• http://www.punkchip.com/w
hy-dont-you-use-bootstrap/
BOOTSTRAPF R A M E W O R K S
BOOTSTRAPF R A M E W O R K S
FOUNDATIONF R A M E W O R K S
FRAMEWORK COMPARISONF R A M E W O R K S
CHILD THEME
PROS
• 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
CHILD THEME
CONS
• At the mercy of the parent
theme’s code
• Quality
• Security
• Upgrades
• Compatibility
• Not the leanest strategy
GENESISP A R E N T T H E M E S
GENESISP A R E N T T H E M E S
JUMP STARTP A R E N T T H E M E S
JUMP STARTP A R E N T T H E M E S
RESPONSIVEP A R E N T T H E M E S
RESPONSIVEP A R E N T T H E M E S
STARTER THEME
PROS
• You control (and are
responsible for) updates
• One and done
• It’s your code
• Lean and mean code
STARTER THEME
CONS
• You control (and are
responsible for) updates
• You have to build the
theme
• 20% of the work is done for
you
_S (UNDERSCORES)S T A R T E R T H E M E S
_S (UNDERSCORES)S T A R T E R T H E M E S
_TKS T A R T E R T H E M E S
_TKS T A R T E R T H E M E S
SOME LIKE IT NEATS T A R T E R T H E M E S
SOME LIKE IT NEATS T A R T E R 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?
– A N Y O N E W H 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 RIDEI N T H E E N D , Y O U H A V E T O
THANK
YOU!QUESTIONS?
J U L I E @ J U L I E K U E H L . C O M
@ J U L I E K U E H L
