Building themes "from scratch" is a waste of time

I frequently hear WordPress developers boast about how they refuse to use any sort of starter theme or framework when building out their sites.

When you say “I build WordPress sites from scratch” you’re basically telling people “I love wasting time and am too prideful to use tools to make me more efficient.”

By the way, you’re not actually building it from scratch

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

Nobody makes anything from scratch.

It’s inefficient and unsafe to not use a framework

Users have grown to expect themes support certain things. A boneheaded example would be a theme not including a wp_head() hook. Poorly coded themes can very easily become an attack vector for hackers.

All right, you convinced me, what should I build from?

I prefer Underscores. The Sage theme is an interesting choice. Many swear by Genesis.

This post isn’t about advocating for any particular starter theme. It’s about convincing you to find one that works for you and sticking with it.