Custom WordPress Website vs Theme: Which Is Best?

May 10, 2020 | Website Design, WordPress

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Custom WordPress Website vs Theme: Which Is Best?

Posted by Kevin Fouche, Pixel Fish Director

Kevin handles the planning, design, launch and training of every website that Pixel Fish creates. He ensures that every website is highly engaging and aligned with our client’s goals. With over 20 years of design and web industry experience to draw upon, Kevin aims to pass on his knowledge to our clients and like-minded businesses wanting to grow their online presence.

In today’s digital world, websites are a guaranteed requirement for any business that wants to extend its customer base. A business looking to start a website has many things to consider, such as the type of website and price.

Depending on what type of website the business decides on, there are two prominent ways that websites are generally built today: a fully custom website design vs a website theme.

Custom WordPress Website vs Theme: Which Is Best?

Custom Website Design

Custom design was developed first. It means designing a layout for the entire website from the ground up that will be applied to each page. Each page may use the same colour scheme and font, but the content will be individualised to each page.

This is usually done using some sort of web design software, as that is easier than just coding the site by hand. But it is not much of a step up from just coding the site by hand.

All one gains is that the software writes the code and applies it to each page as they are created, and then the content is added in as though one was writing a document and adding pictures and movies as they went. While custom design is better than just writing HTML or CSS, and it allows for a more vibrant web page, it does still have its limitations.

Utilising a Website Theme

Website themes are created to be used for a specific type of website, but are still customisable by the theme designer or website developer, the theme just gets the design started. If you are in the business of selling flowers, there are thousands of themes already created to build you a website to sell flowers.

All you need to do is add the content. The website will still be custom in the sense that it is your business website, but you will be using a theme built by someone else who gets paid to design themes for a variety of purposes.

Website themes are the future of web design. Instead of having to think about the colour scheme and where everything will fit on the page, put all of that into the software, look at it on the web, change it, repeat, repeat, repeat, a business – or individual – can simply find a theme that matches what they want their website to demonstrate, and maybe change a few of the parameters, fill in the content, and publish.

They can see what it will look like on the Internet when they select the theme and as they are editing it, either on their computer or on the theme website.

The Internet will continue to change, that is part of the beauty of it. And as it changes websites will change and how those websites are created will change. Right now a business has the choice to custom design and build a website from scratch or find a theme that has already been created which represents what they want their business to look like on the Internet.

It makes more sense to go with a website theme that has already been created. It cuts down on the amount of work that goes into putting the website together, and the result is often much better than anything a business could put together in a custom way without hiring someone else to do it – and they would probably choose a website theme, anyway.

Pixel Fish specialises in well-crafted website design, utilising some of the very best website themes available such as DIVI and Elementor. They are highly functional and visually vibrant and really make an impact when viewed on the Internet. And that is what a business wants: to make an impact on the Internet.

By using website themes, especially those that we use, your business will stand out online.

Watch our video Custom vs Pre-made Themes for WordPress Websites: Pro’s and Cons