Context
WordPress remains the most widely deployed CMS in the world. Clients know it, editors are comfortable with it, and the ecosystem is mature. The challenge with custom WordPress builds is finding the right balance between giving content editors meaningful flexibility and maintaining enough guardrails to keep the site looking intentional. Too much freedom and editors break layouts; too little and every content change becomes a developer request.
Role
Process
- 01
ACF Flexible Content for pages, Gutenberg for posts
The stack makes a deliberate distinction between two kinds of content. Marketing pages like homepages, service pages, and landing pages are built with ACF Flexible Content blocks. This allows for highly custom, visually controlled layouts without the overhead of developing a fully refined native Editor experience. Editors can build pages from a defined set of blocks, but the guardrails are tight enough to prevent presentation issues.
- 02
Native Editor for posts
Blog and news content is handled with the native Editor, which is well-suited to straightforward text and image content. It's also where editors spend most of their time. Clients are far more likely to be publishing posts regularly than redesigning their homepage.
- 03
TypeScript and SCSS for maintainable front ends
TypeScript keeps the JavaScript layer predictable and easier to maintain across projects with similar patterns. SCSS handles styling with the organizational benefits of partials, variables, and mixins, keeping stylesheets manageable as projects grow.
- 04
Gravity Forms for complex form needs
Gravity Forms handles contact forms, lead capture, and any more complex form requirements. Conditional logic, multi-step forms, third-partyintegrations and more. It's a reliable solution that clients can manage themselves without developer involvement.
Outcome
A repeatable, proven stack that delivers polished, maintainable WordPress sites across a variety of industries. The ACF/Native Editor split in particular has held up well -- clients get the flexibility they need where they need it, without the risk of breaking carefully designed layouts.
Reflections
As the WordPress editor experience matures, it hasn't seemed to translate into editors actively wanting to use it more. Most clients are comfortable with the ACF block approach and don't feel a strong pull toward the default editor. That said, if a client has a specific desire to work in the WordPress editor or move toward full site editing, that pivot can be accommodated. It just requires more time to develop and refine the editing experience properly.
On the styling side, CSS has matured significantly — nesting, custom properties, and other modern features have closed much of the gap that made SCSS essential. For newer projects, a CSS-only approach is increasingly viable and worth the reduced tooling overhead.