Just something I’ve been thinking about, I was wondering how best to make a custom theme or customise.
I have a classifieds site, which is doing OK and making some money but the theme I used is very dated with no support from the developer, needing developers to add do basic stuff., its also has some issue with other updates and seo, I’m thinking to update to something modern but this type of theme is not available, the ones that are available are also dated or lacking. feature.
The site is not making loads of money so I cant go out and hire someone and go full custom,
No matter how you approach this, like everything, it will require resources. That means either time or money. It sounds like you have a limited budget so be prepared to put in the time.
I would start by finding a theme that suits your needs. Of course there are seemingly infinite themes out there so do some research. There is no single great theme. It depends on what you want to do with it and other personal preferences. Some people might tell you to use Divi or something similar, but other would say these themes are too bloated and try to do to much. You must decide, but bottom line…find a theme.
Then you have to move from your current theme to the new one.
I guess the bottom line is to keep doing what you’re doing and ask question, do research and learn how to do it mostly yourself.
Maybe you can be creative and find someone to help you for trade.
My problem is I don’t have the knowledge to develop, I have tried to learn in the past but things just don’t stick, its like learning a language I remember bits but most is random and goes in one side out the other, Other then basic alterations I never got far but i did get the very basics of CSS,
I was thinking the same, I don’t have the funds to get what i need so I need to spend the time and cover the bases.
I have been doing my research on theme for my needs but in most cases they are dated or limited, the other major issue with newer themes is they are built by stacking multiple plugins to get the features and having a lot of extra paid plugin to add required features in a directory/classifieds style themes, take for example plugins like woo commerce and wp jobs manager.and themes built using them.
What I’ve been thinking is try and find a modern theme that does at least the basics of what I need but is not built on loads of plugins,
All off the market themes will only have what the developer is interested in adding and the time he wants to spend, so on top of the theme I’ve been thinking I may need some custom features and how I could add them, new features will take time and money, not possible to add all of them at once, so prioritise some features over other.
I would want to make it in a way which would be separate to the original so nothing is overwritten, not risking conflict or breaking the site.
Here are some questions I thought,
Is it possible to folk a theme ?
How do i choose a developer, what to look out for what questions to ask, what not too choose ?
everyone thinks they can develop mostly offering off the shelf stuff as custom or slapping something together that will have issue and have signs of problems soon after,
Doing the work correctly would require someone with real knowledge.
3.Should I try and hire the original developer if possible or hire a developer that will work with theme creator.
if I cant hire the original developer Hire someone that will be able to get advice from the developer
It’s a challenge, but it still comes down to either pay a dev or put in lots of time learning. Every dev out there has put in years of study and work, and thousands upon thousands of hours learning so you either have to pay them for their knowledge and skills or put in the years yourself.
Some places you might go looking for a WP dev is on freelancer.com or on Facebook group WP: Working Gigs Only.
Here is what I believe will be your biggest challenge. A good dev will want ‘scope of project’. This means she/he will want to know EXACTLY what you expect for the price. Most problems between dev’s and website clients arise due to a lack of clear scope. The client will ask for endless revisions feeling they haven’t gotten what they want yet. The truth is that they often aren’t all that clear on what they want in the beginning. Sometimes when I build a site, I agree to set up a very basic WP site and then all work after that is by the hour. People seem to get much clearer on what they really need when every revision equals additional cost.
Maybe read this page Article on pricing a website.
Hopefully this will give you something to get you closer to your goal.