If I build my sites the exact same way every time, is it worth it using a child theme, or is it better to just make my own theme?
For example, the header, top bar, and hero of my websites are all usually exactly the same. Header is full width navigation evenly spaced, top bar is contact info/promo offers/call to action, hero section is some marketing mumbo jumbo designed to hook users in and get them to scroll, with some call to action buttons beneath the text. This can easily be templated out since it’s the same every time.
I also use the same CSS for all of my sites. I set up :root pseudo classes and make global variables for my spacing, colors, fonts, drop-shadows, animations, etc. Then I just call them whenever I need them while designing.
So far I’ve just been copying and pasting all of this over from site to site, but after doing it for a while I’m beginning to think that it may be better to make a child theme, or even my own theme.
I usually build on generatepress, but being completely honest, for all the lauding it gets for being super fast, it is NOT easy or quick to customize (at least not how I want to). If you’re just building using the block editors it’s okay. But when you want to introduce a lot of your own CSS like I do, it quickly becomes a three hour session of debugging while you try to find which class it is that you need to override that is somewhere in the nine levels of divs that generatepress natively applies to everything. (If you aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, inspect element on any generatepress site and click any child element, for the parents you’ll see something like: “generate-wrapper-13aj68o29jf” “gb-grid-8384” “generate-alignleft” “gb-flex-global” “generate-main-croissant-baghdad-ferrari” “generate-twin-towers.exe” ok I may be exaggerating slightly but you get the point..)
Tbh, the ONLY reason I’m even sticking with WordPress at this point is it’s plug-in ability, I’m confident enough in my skills that I wouldn’t have an issue moving to full custom work using Vue, Angular, etc and creating templates for my designs, however WordPress does save a lot of time when you need several different functionalities. For instance, creating a user registration portal, with an account dashboard page, that auto-populates a users most recent purchases, shipping information, as well as other relevant info. This would take a couple of days minimum from scratch, but on WordPress it’s two maybe three plug-ins max and all you have to do is configure and style.
So based on what I’ve said so far, what do you guys think would be the easiest/most painless transition, while allowing me to design a little bit more custom?
Child theme? My own parent theme? Custom on another platform using my own templates?
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The worry I would have about using the same theme parent theme for all your sites, is if the theme author releases an updates that causes an issue across all of your sites. At least if you develop your own theme, you can have total control over that.
And it depends how you are with code. If you know HTML/CSS and some PHP, then you can build much better, faster websites. A great tool for the frontend is Webflow, and then you can export the code as a static HTML site, and convert it to a WordPress theme using PHP.
I’d always say go with your own custom theme, as it gives you more control. But again, it depends how comfortable you are with the code side.