What exactly is the difference between a custom WordPress website and a WordPress theme? Think of it like this, do you like to customize your pizza entirely or purchase one that is already on their menu? That’s typically what a custom WordPress site is in comparison to a WordPress theme. Although they both result in a fully functional WordPress website, there is a difference between utilizing a theme to build a website for your business in comparison to creating one from scratch. Depending on the needs of your business and what your current budget is, White Canvas can help you determine which option would be recommended for you.
WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme is a group of files such as style sheets, graphics, and code, that dictate the overall appearance of your website.
Using a WordPress theme is like buying a frozen pizza and adding a few toppings before you throw it into the oven. In a WordPress theme, certain elements such as text and image placeholders are already embedded into the code and shown on the page for you to fill in, making it easier and quicker to input content. If you do not have prior coding knowledge or do not have the time to learn about it, you will find a WordPress theme to be less stressful and more straightforward. In comparison to a custom WordPress site, it is less time consuming to make and is more budget-friendly. If you find a theme that aligns with your business, you might be more inclined to choose that over a custom WordPress website.
The process for choosing a theme from White Canvas would begin by reviewing the goals of your website and working together to pick a theme from the library that would best help you accomplish them. We then proceed to work on the site architecture, create a menu structure, along with writing copy for the website and coming up with a plan for imagery. After that, our in-house designer will utilize Adobe XD to create a prototype sample of your website’s homepage prior to being submitted for development. Once the prototype is approved by you, our in-house developer will build the site with all the content you provided and ensure it is also implemented with the best SEO practices. They will also create a link for you to view what it will look like before it is live. The final step in the process is to publish your website if there are no further edits and ensure it is working on a variety of devices and browsers.
Custom WordPress Site
What is a custom WordPress website? A custom WordPress website is a site that is fully crafted and customized to your specific business needs and is not available or achievable with a premade theme. In other words, it is the special pizza you customized yourself. The dough is prepared from scratch, all the ingredients are handmade with your own creative recipe. This is the fun part for our in-house designers and developers as they truly get to take full control of the blank canvas and help you make your website dreams a reality. Custom WordPress sites are 100% designed and developed uniquely for your business only. You can always make image or copy edits post launch easily and post launch training is part of every package.
With a variety of plugins to choose from, custom websites can also integrate Commerce7, WooCommerce, Mailchimp, Calendly, MemberPress, client portals and dashboards, Learndash online courses and much more. It’s also important to note that our custom WordPress sites are all created with the user/customer in mind so they can find everything they are looking for easily.
We begin by mapping out your primary user experience journey to help inform the UX/UI process of creating wireframes and designs for each page for both desktop and mobile views as an Adobe XD prototype. You will then review the prototype in a series of proofing rounds and once approved, will be submitted to our in-house developers to code into our test server so you experience no down time. The custom site will then be tested thoroughly across all major browsers as well as desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. Finally we transfer the files to your hosting server and facilitate a training call to show you how to use your new site.
If you are ready to get started on creating a website using a White Canvas WordPress theme or a fully customized WordPress website, we’d like to hear from you! Let’s chat!