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Personal Portfolio – Custom WordPress Theme Development

This portfolio was built as a fully custom WordPress theme, developed locally and then exported to a production environment. The project reflects my approach to building scalable, performance-focused websites without relying on page builders or pre-made themes.

The site was developed primarily using PHP, HTML, and CSS, with a clean, structured theme architecture. Instead of modifying an existing framework, I created a custom theme to maintain full control over layout structure, performance optimization, and long-term maintainability.

To manage content efficiently, I implemented custom post types for projects. This allows each portfolio piece to be structured with consistent fields and formatting while remaining easy to update through the WordPress dashboard. The goal was to separate content from design, ensuring that new projects can be added without disrupting layout or styling.

On the front end, I integrated GSAP to create smooth, scroll-based animations and subtle motion effects that enhance the user experience without overwhelming it. These animations are performance-conscious and designed to guide attention rather than distract from content. Lottie animations were also incorporated to add lightweight, scalable vector-based motion elements that maintain visual polish without sacrificing load speed.

Takeaways

The entire workflow began in a local development environment, allowing for controlled iteration and testing before deployment. Once finalized, the theme was migrated to production, ensuring consistency between development and live environments. This project demonstrates my ability to build custom WordPress solutions from the ground up, combining structured backend architecture with refined front-end interactions to create a professional, high-performance web presence.