When you're about to start developing a WordPress starter theme from scratch, you are indeed given full freedom to create whatever you want. However, this process often takes a significant amount of time.
Therefore, it's not surprising that the initial tasks can feel very time-consuming, even though they play a crucial role in building the foundation of your theme.
As a solution, there are now WordPress “starter” themes or frameworks available often referred to as blank themes. In other words, these themes are specifically designed to help you skip the more time-consuming early stages.
Additionally, starter themes typically come with a basic code structure that can be immediately used and further developed.
These themes also offer essential functionality that simplifies organizing your project and applying best development practices.
That’s why, in this article, we’ll review what a starter theme is, its benefits, and explore some of the best starter theme examples you might want to consider.
First, it's important to understand that a starter theme is different from a regular WordPress theme. Essentially, a starter theme provides just enough basic code structure to get the theme running but doesn't include any visual elements or full features.
As such, it allows you to build a parent theme tailored to your project’s specific needs.
Using a starter theme offers several advantages during development. First, you can begin with a basic structure and have complete control over the entire workflow.
Second, this type of theme gives insight into proper coding practices. Moreover, you still retain the flexibility to create custom code based on an already stable foundation.
That said, there are certainly a few things to consider before deciding to use a starter theme. For example, you still need to follow the rules and structure defined by the theme’s creator.
In other words, you may come across pieces of code that aren't always relevant to your specific project needs.
Furthermore, understanding how the starter theme works and how its code is structured also requires its own learning curve. However, for developers who don't rely on pre-built themes like Divi or Avada, starter themes remain a very worthwhile option.
Now, let’s take a look at some recommended starter theme options to consider for your next project. Most of these themes are freely available, and each comes with its own set of advantages.
Underscores is one of the most popular starter themes, developed directly by the team at Automattic. In fact, many default WordPress themes since Twenty Twelve have been built on the Underscores framework.
As a result, you get to enjoy WordPress best practices in one neat package. However, due to its minimal visual styling, this theme is best suited for developers who are already comfortable with manual coding.
Next, is FoundationPress, an open-source starter theme built on the Foundation 6 framework. Since it uses Sass and Grunt, you'll find many modern features built in.
In addition, FoundationPress is often used for building professional and corporate websites. That said, because there aren’t many ready-to-use theme examples available, you may need to dig into the documentation first.
Bones is a lightweight starter theme that’s already optimized for mobile devices. In addition, Bones comes equipped with many development features such as support for custom post types and dashboard functions.
However, due to the number of built-in default features, experienced developers might feel the need to clean up unnecessary code. Even so, Bones remains a solid option for those who want to quickly understand the structure of a WordPress theme.
Next, Genesis is the only premium theme on this list, with pricing starting at $60. It’s worth noting that this theme requires you to build a child theme rather than editing the framework directly.
That said, Genesis is known for being a very stable framework with comprehensive documentation. For this reason, Genesis is widely favored by professional developers seeking full control over their themes.
HTML5 Blank is a simple yet effective open-source starter theme. While there isn't much third-party documentation available, the code structure in HTML5 Blank adheres to WordPress standards.
In other words, this theme can serve as a good starting point if you want to convert a regular HTML file into a fully functional WordPress theme.
In conclusion, using a starter theme in your WordPress projects can significantly speed up the development process. Additionally, these themes help you gain a deeper understanding of WordPress's internal structure.
If you have any questions about using starter themes or if you’d like to recommend another theme feel free to reach out via our contact page!
