Question: Do I really need a theme? Can’t I just create it myself?
Answer: At present, Yes, WordPress requires a theme in order to work. You can try to create it yourself but…
there’s more to it than that.
- You could start with a completely empty unstyled theme but it wouldn’t look nice and you wouldn’t be able to just start writing.
- By providing templates and template parts a theme can help your visitors navigate your site.
- And the styling in the global styles file (
theme.json
), which may be supported by additional styling in `style.css`, should save you having to style everything yourself. - A theme may also provide patterns to help you create your content.
You wouldn’t want to create a fully functional eCommerce site without a little bit of help. So pick a FSE theme you like the look of and extend it or change it to satisfy your needs.
There’s an awful lot a theme can do to make your life easier.