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