If you are a developer and want to create custom WordPress themes, you can start easily with the help of WordPress starter themes.
These tools make it easy to create themes faster. And you don’t have to know too much coding. Knowing HTML, CSS, little JavaScript, and basic PHP will be enough for starting. These themes are great if you want to learn WordPress theme development.
Also Read: Why You Should Use Premium Theme
There are a handful of starter themes out there. Most of them work similarly. So, if you learn one, you can use another very easily.
If you have never used a starter theme, they all have documentation. You can easily iu\\understand the ecosystem, how it works, and create your custom WordPress themes.
Table of Contents
What Are Starter Themes
In simple words, a starter theme is a pre-made WordPress theme that only needs styling, custom functions, and templates. Hard work is already done. Add your custom CSS and style how you want it to look.
Instead of creating a theme from scratch, you only need to add your templates for pages and add some custom functions. It already has a header, footer, etc.
It is an easier and quicker way to create custom WordPress themes. You can say that it is a WordPress framework.
Why You Should Use A Starter Theme
The reason to use starter themes is very simple. They allow you to skip all the hassle and start designing your theme immediately. Don’t worry about structure, template hierarchy, etc.
It is already done for you. You just add your CSS, templates, and custom functions. These themes are made for WordPress and you won’t have any technical issues.
If you don’t use starter themes, then you have to start from scratch – create all the files, default functions, etc. It can be a long process. With a starter theme, it is much faster and easier to create awesome, modern WordPress themes.
Now let’s see what are the best starter themes and choose which fits your requirements.
1. Underscores
Perhaps the most popular WordPress starter theme is Underscores. Made by Automattic, the team behind WordPress itself. So, it means that this is a very high-quality product that will work with WordPress without problems.
Underscores is a very clean and well-structured theme. Has great features like a custom header option, CSS samples, etc. Very easy to use, and a free starter theme for your project. Many popular WordPress themes use the Underscores framework and they are built with it.
2. Sage
Sage is another popular and modern WordPress starter theme. It has many features not found in other products. I really love this theme and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to create custom themes or learn WordPress theme development.
This theme works with Sass and different CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, Tailwind, Bulma, etc. And another great feature is that it uses Laravel’s blade template engine. So, if you have worked with Laravel, it might be the best framework for you.
3. Understrap
One of the most popular starter themes among WordPress developers is Understrap. Very easy to understand and great for beginner developers. Built with Underscores and Bootstrap. A very powerful tool.
Understrap works great with WooCommerce, so you can create eCommerce themes easily. Also, works with NPM and Sass. It also has high-quality already made WordPress themes. Using Understrap will make your work much easier.
4. Bones
Bones is a fast, minimal, and mobile-first WordPress starter theme. Also, it’s a very clean theme. You can remove what you don’t need or add anything you like. Works with Sass.
It is very easy to create templates, custom post types, and custom dashboard functions if you want. Bones them is free to use and great for beginners too.
5. WP Rig
WP Rig is a modern WordPress starter theme with great features. It allows you to create fast, lightweight WordPress themes that meet modern web standard requirements.
It uses Gulp and BrowserSync for a better experience. Works great with VS Code and needs PHP 7.0+, NPM, and Composer in order to work. Very powerful and modern tool. Creating custom themes for WordPress is easy with WP Rig.
6. Nebula
Another cool starter theme for development is Nebula. You can easily design, develop, and analyze WordPress websites. Easy to use and powerful tool.
It includes great features and options such as custom functionality, admin options, security, optimization, analytics, and many more. Also, a very great theme for starters. Nebula starter theme is very fast.
7. Tonik
And the last on this list is Tonik. It looks modern and is very powerful. Tonik starter theme Supports WordPress 4.7+ and PHP 7.0+. Needs Node.js and Composer to work. You need modern tools to work with Tonik.
Some options and features Tonik offers are enhanced templating, web pack support, centralized configurations, etc. Works great with Sass and frameworks like Bulma, Foundation, Bootstrap, and Vue.
Conclusion
So, if you want to become a WordPress developer and want to be able to create custom themes, starter themes are a great way to start. It makes work easier and faster. Also, these themes are great resources for learning WordPress and web development in general.
