You must have heard developers preferring theme framework rather than using simple WordPress theme. There are numerous hits related to best frameworks available over internet but a few actually explained what exactly a theme framework is. This article sheds light over your queries related to theme framework.
What is a WordPress Theme Framework?
In a general way, WordPress theme framework is actually a library of code which is used for development of theme. During the inception period of WordPress, developers were struggling to keep all the customizations intact for the themes while upgrading them. All the functionality get copied and pasted in all the underlying themes. Sometimes it happened that developers released the code to the public (as WordPress is open source), some unwanted changes and customizations done by other developers may lead to a security breach that too in all the themes.
This lead to the conceptualization of frameworks which made all themes to work under the principle of child and parent theme.
How WordPress theme Frameworks Work?
All the frameworks come in a single folder. The next step followed by developers is to drop the framework into the parent theme. This parent theme is to be created new. Now load the framework. The users will now create a child theme which is based as per the parent theme and all the customizations will be housed. This will ensure updation of both parent as well the child theme. All the functionality resides with the parent theme.
Look at another advantage. Suppose you need to deprecate any function or there is a bug found in the parent functionality. So without even touching the child theme you can easily update parent theme by sending an update. This certainly boosts the performance and security of the framework.
Types of theme frameworks
Many types of WordPress theme framework exists which can be either free or paid… some of the examples include drag and drop ones. Headway theme framework helps to develop almost everything without any knowledge of the code. Some of frameworks are pseudo drag and drop such as Thesis and Pagelines. Some of the frameworks such as Genesis are exclusively built for the developers.
Reasons for using theme framework over simple WordPress theme
Developers and website owners prefer WordPress theme framework over simple WordPress theme as framework boosts the performance as well as speeds up the development process. The reason behind incredible performance is improved functionality and customization options. It includes a wide variety of features such as drag and drop, SEO functionality, sliders etc and many more. Now, rather than creating a theme file from scratch and modifying it all over you just need to create a child theme nad can customize the functions in functions.php file.
Have a look at some of the common pros of using a WordPress theme framework.
1. Amazing Support: As it has a huge development community behind every framework, instant answers are provided to the queries asked.
2. Speedy Development: As it supports drag and drop and also requires no technical knowledge from the user, the development process becomes much easier and faster.
3. Built-in functionality: These frameworks come with built-in widgets, slider and other added functionality.
4. HTML validated: As a huge group of developers is responsible for development, code quality is defiantly remarkable.
5. Easy Updating: Every update released does not interfere with the child themes but directly interacts with the parent theme. so you can easily update without losing and designing and styling functionality.
If you are planning to develop a website and your developer recommends WordPress framework over simple WordPress theme, then go for it. I hope you have understood the thing and are ready to inculcate in your website.