Theme

Ha! Yes, those creative designers can be a challenge 🙂 In my experience, it’s almost impossible to find a theme that fits a designer’s vision. I once had the strategy of finding a theme that is as close as possible, then customizing it as required. I found that customizing a lot of themes is a lot more difficult than they should be. I’m now of the mind that I’m better off with a basic starter theme like _s (underscores) that doesn’t do anything design-wise, but provides all the boiler plate for basic theme functionality. Then I implement the design from the ground up.

YMMV, but I’ve found starting from the beginning with my own code is a lot easier than trying to modify someone else’s code. Yes, I’m really modifying the _s code, but there is little there to start with, it doesn’t get in the way. I’ve built many themes from _s, so I’m familiar with what it does and doesn’t do. There’s little to figure out like I had to do with supposedly “turn key” themes, which were largely exercises in frustration.