For sixteen years, I’ve never launched a website without a custom theme.

Not once.

Every WordPress site I’ve launched has been custom-coded from scratch or heavily modified.

So why is Marcus.Blog running on the default WordPress Twenty Twenty-Five theme?

The answer requires understanding my history with custom development:

• 2009 — Arras for BuyRIC: I rewrote so much PHP and CSS that the original Arras theme users barely recognised it. Late nights dissecting template files, learning by breaking and rebuilding.
• 2010 — “Beta” by AJ Clarke: This one changed everything for me as a theme developer.
• 2011 — TPL v1: Built on Beta’s foundation, this became The Pinnacle List’s first custom theme—launching what would grow into a global luxury real estate and lifestyle media brand.
• 2019-present — Multiplex: My own framework, built from the ground up, amalgamating ten years of experiments distilled into code. Soft-launched December 2019, fully rolled out January 2020, and still powering our Solespire website today.

The Theme That Changed My Trajectory

In 2010, I was twenty-one and had already been coding for a decade—starting with Microsoft FrontPage in 2000, moving to Macromedia Dreamweaver in 2004, as I would later switch to Coda by Panic in 2008 when my dad bought me my first MacBook Pro for BCIT. Today, I’m using Nova by Panic.

Anyway, back in 2010, I’d been exchanging emails with AJ Clarke from WPExplorer when he sent me an unreleased theme he called Beta. Not for sale. Not public. Just a ZIP file with a simple message: try this.

And my coding style has always been trial and error. Break it, fix it, learn from it. No tutorials, just experimentation.

So, for a developer who learned by doing, this was gold for me. Template hierarchies clicked. Semantic markup made sense. The code taught by example what no tutorial could explain.

Even today, The Pinnacle List still shows traces of Beta’s influence. Those floating captions and gallery behaviours—while now completely rebuilt in Multiplex—are influenced by AJ’s design language.

With AJ, every question I sent got a thoughtful response. I was careful not to abuse his generosity, but he never made me feel like I was imposing. Always patient. Always teaching.

AJ, if you’re reading this: Thank you. You didn’t just share code. You shared possibility.

Why Default, Why Now?

So why, after sixteen years of custom builds, am I publishing on a stock theme?

Because this time, the constraint is the feature.

Every WordPress developer knows the temptation. You start a blog, but first you need the perfect theme. Then custom post types. Then that slider needs work. Then the typography isn’t quite right. Then…

Months pass. The blog never launches.

By choosing Twenty Twenty-Five—no modifications, no tweaks, no “just let me fix this one thing”—I removed every excuse between me and publishing.

The developer in me screams. The strategist in me knows better.

Constraints as Catalysts

Here’s what choosing the default unlocked:

• Speed over sophistication: Three days ago, I decided to just start. Today, you’re reading post #4. With a custom theme, I’d still be coding.
• Voice over veneer: When you can’t hide behind beautiful design, your words must carry the weight. This forces clarity.
• Practice over perfection: Every post published on this “imperfect” theme is a rep. By the time I may eventually redesign, I could already have 50, 100, or maybe 200 posts informing that design. In that case, the theme will fit the content, not the other way around.
• Presence over polish: Readers don’t subscribe to themes. They subscribe to thinking. Daily presence beats sporadic perfection.

The Design Debt I’ll Pay Later

Don’t mistake this for design nihilism. I have wireframes dancing in my head, begging to be built. The Solespire sites showcase what I can create.

But here’s the sequence I’m using here:

1. Ship content on default
2. Build audience through consistency
3. Let content inform design
4. Redesign with purpose, not procrastination

When that day comes—when Multiplex’s younger sibling gets coded for Marcus.Blog—it will wrap around a living, breathing body of work. The design will serve the content, not stall it.

Your Move

What are you postponing because it doesn’t look “finished”?

Maybe it’s a blog waiting for the perfect theme. A course needing “just one more” feature. An idea that feels too raw to share.

Ship it default. Ship it now.

The best code is the code that ships. The most beautiful theme is the one with content in it.

You can redesign tomorrow. But you can’t get back the compound effect of starting today.

Pick the default. Let constraint become your catalyst.

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What default will you embrace today to finally ship what matters?