Question
My mission is to improve my company's front-end and "design system," which includes branding, design, photography and front-end for all its properties. We have a desktop software and I redesigned all of it's front-end by modifying its front-end framework and implementing and adapting google's material design. We want to make things consistent, but I have terrible fear of creating so many custom things that I will spend the rest of my time fixing bugs, so my manager suggested using the top seller templates such as Avada or BE theme, which I think are modified versions of bootstrap. Those themes have lots of templates and drag editors, and also also maintained by professional companies. After I establish good design system (I'm trying to follow an atomic design philosophy) , I want to focus more on UX and improving the user experience. So instead of multiple versions of buttons, or tables, we will just one component, and everything will have a consistent look, this will help us build the right design components we need and save time in the future. We might have other smaller applications (such as a member's only area) with custom code, but should I design from scratch a wordpress theme using google's material design lite CSS framework, use a modified version of a famous wordpress theme that probably is using bootstrap, or should I design from scratch using foundation? I know there are no silver bullets in programming, but I need to make a decision on what will be more maintainable and we will give us the ability to maintain a good and distinct design system. We already have our software UI all designed in photoshop with a good design grid, consistent icons (around 120).
Answer
Of course, "is it worth it" is a fairly loaded question because a lot of that depends on the goal of your project, your budget and skill set, and the timeline for what you're working on.
If your #1 goal is to promote (and sell) your company/product on a WordPress website then I recommend starting with a pre-built theme and using a page-builder (like https://siteorigin.com/page-builder/) to create the functionality and design you're looking for.
Most people spend way too much time and energy on version 1.0 of their site, when they would be better off creating a simple user experience, promoting their product, and upgrading their site as needed once their product is generating sales.
Done is better than perfect!
