Built by hand, on WordPress

Custom WordPress
Development

Custom WordPress development means a WordPress site whose theme is written for your business, rather than bought, dragged together in a page builder or assembled from plugins. Mine start from a bare-bones theme and two plugins, everything after that has to earn its place, and a store is usually the reason to be on WordPress at all. Designed and built in Raleigh, North Carolina, for businesses across the Triangle and nationwide.

The same rule

Only what
it needs.

The reputation

WordPress isn't the problem.

WordPress earned its reputation from what it makes easy: a bought theme, a page builder and twenty plugins nobody chose on purpose. That site is slow, it breaks on update day, and it looks like every other site built the same way.

Built with discipline it is a different product. It runs a huge share of the web because it is genuinely capable, and keeping it running is the full-time work of whole teams. To the people using it, a well-built WordPress site is indistinguishable from a fully custom one. A site without a CMS will always be faster and safer, and hand-coded website development is that road; this page is for when WordPress is the right one.

What gave WordPress its reputation Four crossed-out panels: a bought theme built for anyone, a page builder holding the layout, twenty plugins nobody chose, and an update day where something breaks. BOUGHT THEME built for anyone PAGE BUILDER the layout, in a plugin 20 PLUGINS nobody chose them UPDATE DAY something breaks

The usual reason

Stores, with WooCommerce.

An online store is where WordPress earns its place most clearly. WooCommerce and its payment gateways carry years of work on checkout, tax, shipping, stock and refunds: the parts that take months to build from a blank file and carry real liability once they are live.

So the store runs on that, and everything around it is built by hand: the design, the product pages, the way your catalog is organized. For a handful of products, a hand-coded site with a hosted checkout can be the leaner answer, and I will say so when it is. Should I move off WordPress? covers where that line falls.

What WooCommerce handles for a store A panel labeled WooCommerce, years of edge cases already handled, above four panels: checkout, from cart to confirmation; payments, through Stripe, PayPal or Square; tax and shipping, rates and rules; and orders, with emails, refunds and stock. WOOCOMMERCE years of edge cases, already handled CHECKOUT cart to confirmation PAYMENTS Stripe, PayPal, Square TAX + SHIPPING rates and rules ORDERS emails, refunds, stock

Where a build starts

Close to empty, on purpose.

Every WordPress build starts from the same bare-bones theme, barely more than WordPress needs to count it as one. The design is written on top of it by hand, around your business, exactly as it would be from an empty file.

Two plugins go in from the start. Advanced Custom Fields, if you want to edit your own content, so you do it in fields made for your site instead of a page builder that can wreck the layout. Gravity Forms, for forms that behave consistently and connect cleanly to the tools you already use. Everything else goes in only when the job needs it, and wherever my own code does the job better, it gets my own code.

What a WordPress build starts with A panel labeled bare-bones theme, barely enough to count as one, above two panels for Advanced Custom Fields, your content in your fields, and Gravity Forms, forms that behave, with a panel across the bottom reading everything else, only when the job needs it. BARE-BONES THEME barely enough to count as one ADVANCED CUSTOM FIELDS your content, your fields GRAVITY FORMS forms that behave EVERYTHING ELSE only when the job needs it

The other side

The trade, said out loud.

WordPress costs something in weight and in care, and pretending otherwise is how the bad version gets sold.

Which way your site gets built is never decided ahead of time. I look at what you need and what you want to spend, recommend the approach that fits, and either way the site is designed and written by hand around your business.

  • It carries more weight

    WordPress itself, its database and its plugins run on every visit. That weight is chosen and kept small, but a plain hand-coded site will always be lighter.

  • It needs looking after

    Core and plugin updates arrive whether you want them or not. I handle them on a care plan, and two plugins means far fewer of them than twenty.

  • It is still yours

    Your domain, your content and your site. WordPress is open source, so if you ever leave, any WordPress host can run what you take with you.

WordPressFAQs

Is a custom WordPress site slower than a hand-coded one?

A little, and it always will be: WordPress runs on every visit. Starting from a bare-bones theme and two plugins keeps the gap small, and the gap is the price of what WordPress does for you.

Can I edit my own content?

Yes, if you want to. Advanced Custom Fields gives you fields made for your site, so you change the words and images while the layout stays the way it was designed.

Which payment gateways can my store take?

Stripe, PayPal and Square all connect to WooCommerce, along with most others a business already uses. Which one fits depends on your fees and your customers, and it is settled before the build.

Who keeps WordPress and its plugins updated?

I do, as part of a care plan, along with hosting and a direct line to the person who built the site. Keeping the plugin list short is what keeps that work small.

Can you rebuild my existing WordPress site?

Yes. Your content carries over, every page keeps its address or is permanently redirected, and the new theme replaces the old one without the plugins it leaned on. Whether it stays on WordPress at all is part of that conversation.

Do I own a WordPress site you build?

Yes. The domain is registered in your name and the content is yours. If you ever leave you get a copy of the site, its theme and its database, and because WordPress is open source any WordPress host can run it.

Two plugins to start

Tell me
the job.

WordPress isn't the problem; what it makes easy is. Built with the same discipline as everything else I make, it is the right tool for a lot of businesses, and a store most of all. If you want the detail, here is how I work, here is the road without a CMS, and Should I move off WordPress? answers the opposite question honestly. The FAQ covers money and maintenance, this is me, and the front door is open. Have a store in mind? Start a conversation.

The Better Website

The Better Website is a one-person web design studio in Raleigh, NC, serving the Triangle and clients nationwide. Every site is hand-coded: plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript by default, or a custom WordPress theme when that is the better fit.

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