[ad_1]
[ad_2]
I'm planning to build a WordPress site for a friend's startup. I'm coming from a background in UX Design and Front-End. I've never worked with WordPress, only Wix and fully-custom site-building. I'd love to give them something completely customized so it stands out. Is there a good way to do this? I am proficient in HTML/CSS, competent in JS.
I've heard that building a custom theme is time-consuming. Is it better to modify an existing theme? Is it possible to build the front-end from scratch and use WordPress only for content management?
Find a theme you like, make a child theme, and customize that to your hearts content.
Last time I did something like this, I used Bootscore (bootstrap starter theme). There’s lots of others that you can use as your base
Building a fully custom theme can be time consuming, but only once. I’m a firm believer in hand-rolling.
Create a great a flexible base theme, then replicate and customize functionality, UX, and design per installation/domain. Uniqueness counts.
Another option to look into would be to use WP as a headless CMS.
Since you have worked with wix and other page builders.
Buy bricks builder one time license. Install that on WordPress and you can build Almost anything.
When in few months you have mastered using bricks, if you wish, you can purchase one time bricks related tools such as , bricks forge (great for making any animation, or powerful forms) and others, if you need. You also know front end, so if you use core framework (for css) along with bricks builder it will make it even easier for you.
You can DIY a theme and make WP look *mostly* like anything you can imagine. A couple years ago, WordPress introduced “full site editing” and there are newer block-based themes available that might be helpful starting points (I dug a three-year-old intro to this out of my bookmarks, it’s [here](https://webdevstudios.com/2021/09/14/wordpress-fse-and-block-based-themes/)).
But this all also requires you to become knowledgeable on WP-specific stuff. Since the mods in this subreddit have decided to take a vacation for a week, I think I can get away with suggesting that you might also look at some non-WP options, since you already have a background in frontend. Presumably you could whip up something in Tailwind that looks pretty slick and be up and running in less time than it would take to wrestle WP down to the ground. CraftCMS and GravCMS might be worth looking at.
One of the strengths of WordPress is that you can glue a bunch of off-the-shelf stuff together pretty quickly (if you’re familiar with its ecosystem) to fit lots of different needs. If you want something more custom UI-wise, WP doesn’t offer any advantages there.