Custom WordPress Theme Development

I engineer custom WordPress themes using modern development practices: translating your high-fidelity designs into production-ready code with rapid prototyping, clean architecture that separates presentation from functionality, Tailwind CSS for maintainable designer-friendly styling, and Playwright for code-based testing.

Rapid Prototyping for WordPress Themes

I believe in getting working code in front of you as quickly as possible – actual functioning WordPress themes you can click through, edit content in, and test with real users. My rapid prototyping approach for WordPress themes reduces risk and accelerates delivery.

Unstyled Experiments

Early iterations of experiments and WordPress theme prototypes are deliberately unstyled. This forces focus on information architecture, user flows, and content structure before visual design.

Early Feedback

Working experiments and theme prototypes can be shared with stakeholders, tested with users and validated with real content. Discussion points will be raised earlier, when they’re easier to address.

Tailwind CSS for WordPress Themes

I use Tailwind CSS as my default styling framework for WordPress themes because it integrates well with design teams and produces maintainable, performant CSS. But I adapt to your requirements – any framework, or vanilla CSS, is also an option.

Designer-friendly

Using an established framework such as Tailwind allows designers to use various starter templates in design tools such as Figma.

Designers who know CSS can also easily read and contribute to the Tailwind styling of the theme.

BEM + Tailwind

I combine semantic BEM class names in HTML with Tailwind utilities.

This approach keeps markup readable and more WordPress-friendly, whilst retaining the utility-first benefits of Tailwind.

Testing & Code Quality for WordPress Themes

Professional WordPress theme development includes automated testing and code quality tools. I use the same standards expected by enterprise WordPress hosts, including WordPress VIP.

Code Quality Checks

Code quality checks using WordPress VIP coding standards. Security scanning, performance anti-patterns, and WordPress best practices. The same checks used by major publishers and enterprises.

Playwright E2E Tests

End-to-end tests that verify your WordPress theme works correctly in a real WordPress install, in real browsers. Visual regression tests catch unintended CSS changes. Functional tests verify navigation, forms and interactive features.

CI/CD Integration

I create CI/CD workflows to run tests on every pull request. Code that fails tests doesn’t get merged. Passing code can deploy automatically to staging, with additional checks and approval steps added for production deploys.

Clean Architecture for WordPress Themes

Your WordPress theme will focus on presentation logic only. Custom post types, blocks, shortcodes and business logic will be moved into a plugin. This separation ensures your content can survive theme changes.

Theme = Presentation

Templates, styles, block patterns and theme.json configuration. Everything that controls how content looks. Nothing that defines what content exists or how it behaves.

Plugin = Functionality

Custom post types, taxonomies, blocks, shortcodes, REST endpoints and business logic. If switching WordPress themes would break it, it belongs in a plugin. Your data stays intact regardless of design changes.

Child Themes

When modifying an existing WordPress theme (a starter theme, or a parent theme from a vendor), I build child themes that inherit safely and override cleanly.

WordPress Block Theme Development

I build my WordPress block themes following an “everything is a block” mantra – navigation menus, header, and template parts all use blocks, and custom blocks are added in a partner plugin so the functionality for the blocks can easily be retained if the theme is ever switched.

Template Parts

I build reusable headers, footers, sidebars, and content sections that are editable in the Site Editor. This provides consistency across your site and single locations to update site-wide content.

Block Patterns

I can provide pre-designed layouts of blocks as block patterns. Your content team can insert a block pattern to customise your site content with ease and consistency.

Who Needs Custom WordPress Themes?

Custom WordPress theme development is right for businesses that:

Need a bespoke design that off-the-shelf WordPress themes can’t provide
Want Full Site Editing with custom blocks and block patterns
Require maintainable code that internal teams or future developers can extend
Value quality assurance with automated testing and code standards

Frequently Asked Questions

A typical custom WordPress block theme takes 1-3 months from kickoff to launch. This includes rapid prototyping, iterative refinement, testing and deployment setup. Complex WordPress themes with many custom blocks or extensive design systems may take longer.

I build WordPress block themes (Full Site Editing themes) as the default approach. Block themes are WordPress’s modern architecture, offering better editor integration and easier content management. I can build classic WordPress themes if you have specific requirements, but I strongly recommend block themes for new projects.

Yes. I work with design teams regularly on WordPress theme development. Tailwind CSS maps directly to design tokens, so designers who understand CSS can contribute to the codebase. I can work from Figma files, design systems, or collaborate directly with your designers on rapid iterations.

The WordPress theme files I hand over are clean, well-documented and maintainable by any competent WordPress developer. I can provide ongoing maintenance, or hand off to your internal team with documentation and optional knowledge transfer sessions.

Yes. All my WordPress themes use WordPress i18n functions correctly and are translation-ready from day one. I have experience using Multisite/Network, WPML and Polylang for multilingual sites and I can provide RTL language support. Two of my largest WordPress projects have been multilingual builds with multiple language versions.

Say Hello!

hello@pressingspace.com