Frameworks are usually designed to be rapid development tools. Often, however, they end up being little more than over-complicated, bloated code. So, why is there such a buzz surrounding the popular WordPress theme frameworks?
I venture to suggest that most theme designers have their own "framework" of sorts. It makes sense to reuse code to cut down development time. Justin Tadlock explained on his post, "Why I created a WordPress theme framework" that he, "…wanted something that was flexible enough to use over and over in any number of projects. Reusing code is a foundation of good development practice." I'm sure every theme developer recognises the sense in this.
However, it seems to me that many of the WordPress users who have jumped on the framework bandwagon are not developing multiple themes and are simply looking for the holy grail in customisation without knowing PHP, XHMTL, or getting into the nitty gritty of CSS.
Frameworks for WordPress theme development are not new. The first started appearing in 2007, with the release of the Sandbox. This spawned countless other themes and seems to have inspired the development of most subsequent theme frameworks. Many promising frameworks have come and gone since then while others, such as OnePress, have evolved into applications that extend WordPress by adding features such as forums. There is even a PSD "framework" for fast development of Photoshop designs for WordPress.
The most popular free WordPress theme frameworks appear to be:
- Alex King's Carrington
- Justin Tadlock's Hybrid
- Ian Stewart's Thematic
- Brian Purkiss' Whiteboard
- Ptah Dunbar’s WP Framework
There's no doubt that people are doing some great design work with theme frameworks. Chris Pearson’s commercial Thesis Theme framework showcases some great looking sites and if you have the design skills to customise it your site could have a unique design too. But most blogs sporting the Thesis Theme link seem to have done little more than install the theme. I'd guess this is because the blog owners don't have the very PHP, XHTML & CSS skills that had them seeking out frameworks in the first place!
Without those skills, purchasing a theme framework to build a theme for one's own blog may end up costing more in both time and money than contracting a theme designer to build you a custom theme. If the job postings on freelance sites are anything to go by, there are quite a few people contracting designers to customise their sites using theme frameworks (one example here). Seriously - what's the point? WordPress 2.7 provides for child themes and any good designer can create a robust child theme without needing a framework to interface with WordPress.
One argument I keep seeing for why we should use frameworks is that they are easily upgraded. That's a valid point - if you are happy to keep upgrading with each release of WordPress. They often also have custom functions and hooks that are useful. That's fine, but these functions are just as susceptable to security holes as any other plugin. If queries are not properly sanitised, blogs will be hacked. (Tip: If you use a framework or theme that includes custom functions, always subscribe to the developer's mailing list or feed so you can be sure of getting notification of any security issues.)
At its most basic, a WordPress theme needs just two files - index.php and styles.css. Splitting index.php into various templates, such as header.php, footer.php, sidebar.php, and comments.php is simply a convenience that adds modularity to the theme, allowing you to include them (or not) in particular pages.
Compare this to the number of files included in theme frameworks. Whiteboard has the lowest, at 15, with no custom functions included. Others have in excess of 30, plus custom code, plus JavaScript files.
Before you decide to use a framework for your theme just ask yourself what it is you are trying to achieve. More is not always better.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or jump to the comment form to add your thoughts }
Hey! This is Brian Purkiss - from plainbeta.com and the creator of Whiteboard.
I agree wholeheartedly with your post. Crowding frameworks/themes/etc with features and features and features is just excessive! Furthermore, it dilutes from the original purpose of a framework.
That is what I strived for with Whiteboard. Just the basic framework - no custom styling, or built in anything.
Filling frameworks with plug-n-play features, styling, and such isn't what frameworks are for. Frameworks are for removing the need to type the exact same code on every single design. They're just to speed up the design process - not be the design process.
Simplicity is nice.
and...
that was quite a ramble...
I hope you follow my meaning.
Hey Brian!
Thanks for stopping by. I'm relieved there is at least one other person who agrees with me
I will be doing a follow-up post about the tendency of these frameworks to include custom functions, and the dangers these pose. Yours was the only one I looked at that didn't impose on users with loads of PHP and queries that most users don't understand. Good job!
i chose to use a framework when i was still struggling with CSS, PHP and wordpress customization in general, but needed/wanted to transfer a website to Wordpress quickly. using the thematic framework, i managed to learn CSS and wordpress PHP (at least the basics). results: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net, http://www.creatine-blog.com and http://www.litebiology.com-under construction). I'm pretty pleased with the results and could continue using the framework. BUT, because of my inexperience, i messed with the code, often breaking them in the process, and can no longer update wordpress OR my framework for fear of shutting down my website! (happened already with wordpress 2.8). My requirements are also really really basic (i think) and most of the changes/mistakes I made were in the process of trying to switch off features not useful to me. Because of this, I'm thinking of re-doing my websites with a simpler framework (some widgets would be sufficient :D) and am looking at whiteboard (shame i didnt find it earlier...) I find it pointless having to add more code to huge framework codes, more css to huge css files. i dont know how it affects page loading but it just seems inefficient (that's the engineer in me speaking). my only fear with changing my framework now is that the website goes down, SEO gets screwed up and I have to restart the google ranking game again (which happened when i moved HTML website to wordpress...). Anyway the point of this post is: I agree with you that basic is all a beginner needs.
@chia - WordPress theme frameworks are really just themes (+ plugins in some cases) combined into one package. Changing themes now should not cause your site to go down - it will just work a little differently without the functions that are inbuilt into some of these frameworks.
If your framework hasn't messed with your permalinks then your URL's should remain the same if you switch themes, so SEO should not be affected.
Hey Lynne...
Well my mistake was making certain changes directly in the parent theme instead of my child theme (e.g. function.php file... it was too confusing at the time to insert hooks and filters). Thematic also has some inbuilt SEO features; i changed that too ;P So making the new Thematic upgrade would mean having to hunt down these changes. Obviously i used it the wrong way but I didnt know any better!!!!
Recent Wordpress 2.8 upgrade messed up my website (white screen error), but that could have been due to incompatible plugins.
Last night I started fiddling with Whiteboard. I like it already! I will have to handcode the extra widget areas that came with Thematic (single bottom, inter-post inserts) but that's not too difficult (in fact ,easier than dealing with hooks and filters...).
I can still see why web designers/developers would want to use advanced frameworks such as Thematic. But for simpler needs, it's best to stick to simpler frameworks - fewer chances for mistakes.
Thanks for Whiteboard, Brian!
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