For years, page builders have made WordPress development faster and more accessible. I’ve used several of them in my work at Spears Tech Solutions, and they remain useful tools.
But as I continued building websites, I wanted to explore a different approach.
What if we started with WordPress itself?
Not a blank theme every time. Not another large framework. And not a page builder controlling the entire design.
Instead, I wanted a lightweight foundation that could give every project a solid starting point while still allowing each website to develop its own identity.
That idea became STS Starter.
Starting With the Foundation
Before designing Built by STS, we built the foundation underneath it.
STS Starter is a native WordPress block theme designed around a few simple principles:
- Use WordPress core whenever possible.
- Keep the foundation lightweight.
- Separate design from functionality.
- Make accessibility and responsive behavior part of the starting point.
- Avoid dependencies unless they solve a real problem.
- Give each project room to become something different.
The goal wasn’t to create a finished website.
In fact, STS Starter was intentionally plain.
It established the architecture—templates, design tokens, spacing, typography, accessibility considerations and Gutenberg support—without deciding what the eventual website had to look like.
That distinction became important.
From STS Starter to Built by STS
Built by STS did not become a child theme sitting permanently underneath STS Starter.
Instead, we used STS Starter as the starting point for an independent theme.
That means Built by STS could inherit the principles and architecture we had already established while developing its own identity.
And that’s exactly what happened.
The neutral starter became the dark interface you see here, with oversized typography, electric-blue and cyan accents, product-focused layouts and a completely different visual personality.
The foundation stayed familiar.
The design didn’t have to.
That was one of the biggest things we wanted to prove.
No Page Builder Required
The Built by STS website was created as a native WordPress block theme.
The homepage is composed primarily with WordPress core blocks and reusable patterns. The design system is defined through the theme, while Gutenberg remains the editing experience for content.
There isn’t a page builder sitting between WordPress and the design.
That doesn’t mean page builders are bad. Spears Tech Solutions can still choose the right tool for the right project.
It simply means we no longer have to depend on one.
That’s an important distinction.
Building a Design System Instead of Individual Pages
One of the biggest changes in this process was thinking less about building a homepage and more about building a system.
Before creating the finished homepage, we established the site’s colors, typography, spacing, content widths, buttons, cards, responsive behavior and accessibility expectations.
Those decisions became the rules of the project.
The homepage then became an application of those rules.
This approach gives us something more valuable than one attractive page. It gives Built by STS a visual language we can continue using as the site grows.
Native WordPress Still Gives Us Flexibility
Building without a page builder doesn’t mean giving up the WordPress editing experience.
Content still belongs in WordPress.
Navigation still belongs in WordPress.
The site logo can still be managed through WordPress.
Posts can still be written with the block editor.
And reusable sections can be assembled from native blocks and patterns.
The theme controls presentation without unnecessarily taking control of the content.
That’s a principle we want to carry into future Built by STS projects.
Performance Starts With What You Don’t Add
Performance wasn’t approached as something to fix after the website was finished.
We started by asking what the site actually needed.
No JavaScript framework was introduced just because we could use one. No external font service was necessary for the first release. No page builder was loaded. No collection of plugins was installed to reproduce functionality WordPress already provides.
That doesn’t mean Built by STS will never use additional tools.
It means additional complexity should earn its place.
Sometimes the best optimization is simply not adding something you don’t need.
This Site Is the First Test
BuiltBySTS.com isn’t just the website for Built by STS.
It’s also our first real-world demonstration of the approach.
We started with STS Starter.
We created an independent theme from that foundation.
We developed a completely different visual identity.
We built the homepage using native WordPress architecture.
And now we’re publishing this article through the same content system we built.
That’s the point.
The foundation shouldn’t determine what every website looks like. It should make it easier to build what the next website needs to become.
What Comes Next
Built by STS is just getting started.
We’ll use the Workshop to share what we’re building, what we’re testing, lessons we learn along the way, and resources that may help other people create and build better digital experiences.
Some experiments may eventually become templates. Others may become tools, components or resources. And some may simply teach us something useful for the next project.
That’s what Built by STS is for.
Create. Build. Grow together.