8 Best Starter Themes that support self-designing themes

When making a new theme of your own, the first thing to avoid is to rewrite the entire code from A to Z because you may miss a lot of functions, or organize the file structure is not optimal. superior. Series Programming my WordPress theme is self-coding from start to finish but the purpose of that series is for you to understand the theme making process, but if there is a need to make a new theme for individuals or clients, I always use starter theme.

Why use Starter Theme

The Starter Theme is a WordPress theme that already has the necessary functions but not much CSS (or no CSS) so we can easily use it for the purpose of making our own themes.

• That means we will have benefits when using a starter theme such as:
• Save time coding. More time to focus on design.
• Follow the guidelines for the ultimate WordPress theme.
• You can use it as your own theme or commercialize it.
• It’s easy to create new themes, because almost only need to edit very little code available in the starter theme.

And if you ask designers or developers who specialize in WordPress, they will also say using a starter theme is always better than coding it yourself, unless you can code a starter theme for yourself and make sure it works. works well.

Steps to use starter theme

Using the starter theme personally, there are some processes as follows:

First, you should read through the code structure of the starter theme to see if it is suitable or not, usually the themes are available on Github so you can read it without having to download it. After that, if you find this theme suitable for your abilities, you will proceed to test and optimize it. Of course, the first thing I should do after installation is change the theme information in style.css, then add the necessary functions to functions.php, edit the templates if necessary and finally design with CSS and Javascript .

List of starter themes

Explore more:

first. Underscores

Newly installed interface of Underscores

This is one of the starter themes I like the most and is also the starter theme that many people recommend for both beginners and professionals. The reason it is highly appreciated is that it was developed by the Automattic team, has most of the standard features in a theme such as Custom Header, Custom Background, Post Format, .. and is optimally structured according to WordPress standards. .

Advantages:

• Easy to use.
• The code is neatly laid out.
• There are many codes available to optimize the theme.
• SASS support with SMACSS structure.
• Can customize the textdomain in the theme easily.

Defect:

• Takes time to read the original structure.
• No Responsive.

2. HTML5 Blank

New interface of HTML5Blank

This is a pretty good starter theme for anyone looking for a starter theme with a simpler structure that almost anyone can understand. The HTML structure of the theme is completely used HTML5, only the basic CSS.

Advantages:

• Easy to use.
• Does not contain a lot of complicated code.
• Use the standard WordPress template structure.

Defect:

• It takes a bit of time to manage the template because it doesn’t use the optimal template structure like Underscores.
• The code in functions.php is a bit confusing.
• No Responsive.

3. Bones

The interface of Bones

If the other starter themes don’t have CSS that you have to write yourself, then Bones is the choice if you need to make a blog theme because it already has CSS to divide columns and format the necessary elements. Especially, it also includes a horizontal dropdown menu so you can use it without having to do it yourself from A to Z.

Advantages:

• The necessary CSSs are available.
• SASS support.
• There are Post Format, Custom Background, Custom Post Type.
• HTML5 Schema.
• Has Responsive.

Defect:

• Must use textdomain bones.

4. Sage

Sage .’s homepage

This is one of the most advanced starter themes out there, but it’s also quite easy to use, as long as you know how to use the Linux command lines as it uses NPM Package, Gulp and Bower to build the theme. The CSS in this theme is also completely in SASS, so you have to write in SASS and then build the CSS.

However, its advantage is that it uses a very compact structure that you do not need to create many different templates, just use the template according to its principle and your theme will be more optimal than ever.

Advantages:

• SASS support.
• Support build with Gulp, Bower, NPM Package.
• Bootstrap integration.
• Optimized templates.
• Has Responsive.

Defect:

5. JointWP

JointWP interface

Foundation Zurb is one of my favorite CSS Frameworks because of its simplicity but extremely powerful, and JointWP is the most complete starter theme integrated with Foundation Framework suitable for rapid prototyping or designing a complete WordPress theme. .

Advantages

• Integrate the latest Foundation Framework version.
• Updated frequently.
• Support dropdown menu and mobile menu.
• Optimized template structure.
• SASS support.
• Has Responsive.

Defect

• Only Foundation Framework is supported.

6. Compass

If you are an experienced WordPress developer with Hybrid Core, Grunt, Bower, SASS with Bourbon and Neat then this theme is the best choice for you. Currently, I am also doing some projects using this theme and feel it is very suitable for my abilities because Hybrid Core is an extremely good framework for WordPress Theme to add some features, and use SASS. to write professional CSS. It also has Javascript available.

Advantages

• SASS integration with Bourbon and Neat.
• Build with Grunt, Bower.
• Increase power with Hybrid Core.
• Built-in Hook Alliance Theme.
• Powerful template structure using Hybrid Template.
• Has Responsive.

Defect

• Need to know how to use Hybrid Core. To view Hybrid Core documentation, you must be a member of HybridTheme.
• Difficult to use for beginners.

7. _tk

_tk’s interface

Best choice for those who want to use Underscores integrated with Bootstrap Framework. The advantages of Underscores are almost the same, only the interface of the latest Bootstrap Framework has been integrated, with full menu support.

Advantages

• Using Bootstrap Framework.
• Inheriting the advantages of Underscores.
• Has Responsive.

Easy to use.

• Defect.
• Bring the disadvantages of Underscores and Bootstrap :D.

8. Hybrid Base

Hybrid Base’s sketchy interface

At first glance, Hybrid Base has a rather sketchy interface and we will need to rewrite the CSS quite a bit. However, its strength lies in the Hybrid Framework. Because it has a built-in Hybrid Framework, it has a lot of features that developers like. It also has built-in CSS structure support, so when you write CSS you write according to that to make sure your interface displays well on all features.

Advantages

• Neat template structure.
• Use Hybrid Framework.

Defect

• Depends on Hybrid Framework.
• No Responsive.

Epilogue

Of course, in addition to the 8 starter themes above, there are many other starter themes, but the 8 above are what I have used, so I feel it deserves to be called the best starter theme. If you know any more optimal starter theme that you have already used, please help me to add it.