Create theme from scratch or make child theme [closed]

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I am currently about to start on my first Wordpress site. At first I thought of extending the default twenty thirteen wordpress theme which is the closest theme on my design requirements. However I was advised to check on how to create a theme from scratch. Now I am undecided whether I should continue on extending the default theme or create a theme from scratch. Which path should I take? In terms of security and efficiency? TIA

Answer 1

It's obviously easier to start with extending an existing theme, but I also find it limiting, in that you sometimes spend extra time writing CSS to override the existing styles to get the theme to do what you want. In the end, you are stuck with someone else's work.

Rather than start completely from scratch, consider using a base starter theme. I use _s (aka Underscores), but there are others (Bootstrap, Bones, Root, etc) You start all the necessary parts of a theme, but no styling at all. From there, you make it your own.