150 Best Theme Frameworks and Starter Themes for WordPress Development

For our 150th episode, we discuss a busy week in WordPress news and our main topic, the best starter themes and theme frameworks for WordPress development.

Our panel this week:

Carrie Forde https://carrieforde.com/

Kim Shivler https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

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Episode 150 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:06 WordPress News Story #1: State of the Word 2016: Mullenweg Pushes Calypso as Future of WordPress’ Interface, Proposes Major Changes to Release Cycle

https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2016-mullenweg-pushes-calypso-as-future-of-wordpress-interface-proposes-major-changes-to-release-cycle

11:21 WordPress News Story #2: Pantheon’s $100K WordCamp US Sponsorship Revoked the Night Before the Event

https://wptavern.com/pantheons-100k-wordcamp-us-sponsorship-revoked-the-night-before-the-event

25:53 WordPress News Story #3: GoDaddy Acquires WP Curve: What This Means For Customers Of The WordPress Services Provider

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/187902/20161206/godaddy-acquires-wp-curve-what-this-means-for-customers-of-the-wordpress-services-provider.htm

38:45 What are the pros and cons of developing with a theme framework?

46:39 What are the learning curves of working with a theme framework?

52:32 Some of the other theme frameworks that aren't named Genesis.

1:03:58 Why do many agencies lean so heavily on ThemeForest themes instead of building custom themes using a theme framework? What are the considerations that go into this business model?

1:09:38 How long does it actually take to develop a basic theme framework?

1:11:39 More theme frameworks we've seen people using for building WordPress themes.

1:13:18 The trouble with "Swiss army knife" themes.

1:17:33 A quick discussion about ecommerce sites.

1:23:20 Thanks to the rest of the panel members not here today.

1:24:40 Podcast outros.

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Links mentioned during the show:

Siteground: PHP 7 available on all servers

https://www.siteground.com/blog/php7-available-on-all-siteground-servers/

CNN: Google will soon call out websites for not being secure

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/technology/google-chrome-flag-non-secure-sites/

The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective

https://wptavern.com/the-value-of-sponsoring-a-wordcamp-from-a-business-perspective

WP Curve joins GoDaddy

https://wpcurve.com/wp-curve-joins-godaddy/

What is a WordPress theme anyway? — Draft podcast

https://poststatus.com/wordpress-theme-anyway-draft-podcast/

Underscores - A Starter theme for WordPress

http://underscores.me/

Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes

https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz

Genesis Framework by StudioPress

http://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/

Divi by Elegant Themes

https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/

Hybrid Core: A WordPress Theme Framework

http://themehybrid.com/hybrid-core

DIYthemes - Thesis

http://diythemes.com/

Visual Composer

https://vc.wpbakery.com/

Cherry Framework

https://www.templatemonster.com/properties/features/cherry-framework/

Carrie Forde's talk on Atomic Design - WordCamp Sacramento 2016

https://2016.sacramento.wordcamp.org/speaker/carrie-forde/

Bootstrap

http://getbootstrap.com/

Foundation by Zurb

http://foundation.zurb.com/

Roots.io (Sage starter theme)

https://roots.io/sage/

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Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/150-frameworks-starter-themes-for-wordpress/

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Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

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WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and also the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.