Panel: How To Get Started Building Custom Websites with WordPress

Belinda DarceyTippi Tholeshannon smithJulie Cloutier

Creating a custom website on WordPress can be daunting for designers new to WordPress. It’s common to sink a lot of time into a theme or process, only to discover a major limitation — or to be overwhelmed by the learning curve. Our panel of designers will discuss which methods they’ve found to be the easiest/hardest, as well as the limitations and prerequisites of each approach. Before & After slides will demonstrate what can be achieved via a range of methods such as:

  • child themes with Official WP themes (TwentyFourteen, TwentyThirteen, etc)
  • premium themes (Thesis Theme, Canvas by WooThemes, ThemeTrust, Envato, etc)
  • Underscores by WP and other roll-your-own custom starter themes.

Each panelist runs an indie web/graphic design shop and currently makes a living designing custom sites with WordPress. You can too.

Prerequisites: For Beginner to Intermediate-level web designers. Basic understanding of HTML & CSS.

View the slides.