{"id":168,"date":"2026-08-11T21:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionpulse.in\/blog\/?p=168"},"modified":"2026-08-12T14:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:56:19","slug":"i-struggled-to-build-a-custom-wordpress-theme-so-i-built-a-gpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionpulse.in\/blog\/i-struggled-to-build-a-custom-wordpress-theme-so-i-built-a-gpt\/","title":{"rendered":"I Struggled to Build a Custom WordPress Theme \u2014 So I Built a GPT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Problem I Faced<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The generated live preview wasn’t actually complete
The generated design didn’t properly match the existing website
I had to repeatedly explain the same requirements
The output could look good but still not be production-ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Way I Started<\/strong>
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you know, we had already completed the setup of the WordPress blog page, but that was not the main challenge. The real problem started when we began building the custom WordPress theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, it seemed simple. We just needed to create a WordPress theme that matched the design of the existing website. But as we started implementing it, we realized that creating a theme that was not only visually similar but also properly structured, responsive, functional, and actually installable in WordPress was much more difficult than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest challenge was getting the generated theme to behave like a real WordPress theme rather than just looking like a static HTML page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before getting into the solution, let’s understand the two ways I initially approached the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two Ways to Create a WordPress Theme<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are generally two approaches:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Choose an existing\/predefined WordPress theme<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Build a custom WordPress theme<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    For a website that needs its blog to look exactly like the existing website, I needed the second approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n


    1. Choosing an Existing WordPress Theme<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    If you are already inside the WordPress Admin Panel, you can easily choose from the themes available in WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 1:<\/strong> On the left-hand side of the WordPress Admin Panel, find Appearance<\/strong> and click on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 2:<\/strong> Open Themes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 3:<\/strong> Click Add New Theme<\/strong>. You will see several themes that you can choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 4:<\/strong> Select a theme you like and use the preview option to see how it will look on your website. If the design works for your requirements, activate the theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This approach is perfectly fine when you are happy with an existing design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But that was not my requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I already had an existing React website, and I wanted the WordPress blog to feel like a natural extension of that website. Using a random WordPress theme would mean spending a lot of time modifying it\u2014and even then, it might not perfectly match the original design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That is where the second approach came in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    2. Creating a Custom WordPress Theme<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Now I wanted to create a completely custom theme for the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A WordPress theme is not just a static HTML page. It needs to work with WordPress itself. That means the theme has to properly handle PHP templates, WordPress functions, dynamic posts, menus, featured images, archives, search, categories, tags, and other WordPress functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I knew that creating all of this manually would take significant time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So I decided to use AI to help generate the theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At first, this seemed like the perfect solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I could give an AI coding assistant my existing React project, explain what I wanted, and ask it to convert the design into a WordPress theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But this is where the actual problems started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The First Problem: The Theme Looked Like a Website, Not a WordPress Theme<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The AI could generate HTML that looked visually impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But looking good was not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I needed the theme to actually work inside WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, blog posts needed to come dynamically from WordPress instead of being hardcoded. The theme needed proper templates such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • header.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • footer.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • single.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • archive.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • search.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • 404.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • functions.php<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      It also needed proper CSS and JavaScript, WordPress functions, asset loading, menus, featured images, and responsive behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      So I realized that there was a difference between:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cGenerate a webpage that looks like my website.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cBuild a complete WordPress theme that reproduces my website’s design.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The second one was much more complicated.
      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      The Second Problem: The Live Preview Wasn’t Really Complete<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Another major problem was the live preview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Sometimes the generated preview contained the HTML structure, but the actual styling or JavaScript behavior was missing or incomplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The result could look something like a basic HTML page instead of the polished website I was trying to recreate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This made testing difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I didn’t just want to see a static representation. I wanted to verify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • CSS styling<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • responsive behavior<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • animations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • navigation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • buttons<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • hover effects<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • mobile menu<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • blog cards<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • links<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • WordPress functionality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        A preview that only showed HTML was not enough<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n\n\n\n
        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        The Third Problem: Matching the Existing Website<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        This was probably one of the biggest challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        My goal was not to create a beautiful blog from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The goal was to make the WordPress blog look like it belonged to the existing website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        That meant the AI needed to understand things such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n