Most people using WordPress do not really get the distinction between creating a custom WordPress theme and customizing an existing one. If you fall in this category, there’s no need to be hard on yourself. You, like most users, are basically focused on anything that just makes your site run smoothly and that’s just fine, but more knowledge doesn’t hurt though. So, what’s the difference?
Creating a custom WordPress theme is like designing a website from scratch. It’s the process of creating an entirely new, unique look and feel for your website by coding it yourself or working with a professional designer to craft something beautiful that reflects what you and your brand are about.
Design customization involves taking an already existing WordPress theme and making changes to it in order to make it look the way you want it. This could mean changing fonts, colors, layout, images, adding elements etc. Customizing themes is more cost effective than creating one from scratch. If you have the technical know-how and time on your hands then this can be done yourself using HTML/CSS code or using plugins such as Elementor page builder.
Building A Custom WordPress Theme
When creating a custom WordPress website theme, the designer starts from scratch and creates the design components, such as page layout, typography, images, colors etc. from scratch by coding it in HTML/CSS. This process is also known as hard-coding or hand-coding a website.
The process of coding a new theme can be time consuming and difficult for people who are not familiar with code. It’s best to leave this job to professionals who have experience in web development and coding. Professional designers will take your needs into account and create something that is unique to you and your brand identity.
Prebuilt Theme Customization
When it comes to theme customization, almost everybody can do this, even the very beginners. This is the easier way to make your WordPress website look beautiful, since you don’t need to code anything. All you have to do is find a prebuilt WordPress theme that you like, and customize it with whatever changes you see fit. You can use plugins such as Elementor page builder or Visual Composer to customize themes.
So, when deciding between custom design and designing customization, consider what will be best for your website and goals. If it’s important that your site looks unique, then creating a custom WordPress theme may be the way to go. On the other hand if time and money are factors in your decision then customizing an existing theme might be more suitable.
There are those who cannot conceive an idea from scratch, but once they see an existing idea or theme, they can make it their own with a few tweaks and enhancements. Whichever route you decide to take, your website will still look amazing in the end!
Both creating a custom WordPress theme and design customization offer an excellent way of making your website look exactly the way you want it to be. It all depends on what suits your needs best. So determine what works for you, create something beautiful (or customize an existing one), and share it with the world.
