When it comes to developing a WordPress site, the choice of a starter theme significantly influences the development process, site performance and the overall user experience. Having worked with many themes and frameworks, Roots Sage stands out for several reasons. Here is why we start almost every custom WordPress project with it.
1. An advanced starter theme
Sage isn’t just any starter theme; it integrates seamlessly with Tailwind CSS and Laravel Blade, giving developers modern tooling while building WordPress themes. There is no going back once you have tried this combination — the ease of development and the beauty of Blade templating are unmatched.
2. Gutenberg support and theme.json
Sage’s support for the block editor is deep, not superficial. When you set up Sage it generates a theme.json file from your Tailwind configuration, and that file configures the WordPress editor itself:
- Consistent styling — fonts, colours and spacing defined in Tailwind are instantly available in the editor. What you see in the editor is what you get on the front end.
- Less CSS — instead of overriding default styles, you define theme defaults directly in
theme.json. Fewer overrides, smaller files, faster pages. - Rapid development — Tailwind’s utility classes work directly in templates and components.
For custom blocks, libraries such as Poet by Log1x combine with Sage to make creating a call-to-action block, a testimonial slider or any other element a quick, structured job.
3. Flexibility in CSS frameworks
Sage is not restrictive. Tailwind is the default, but Bootstrap, vanilla CSS or SCSS/SASS all work. Sage uses the bud.js build tool, which supports Babel, React, PostCSS, Sass, TypeScript, esbuild, ESLint and Prettier as add-ons, so adding a preprocessor is a small configuration change and bud build compiles everything to ./dist/.
4. Laravel Blade templates in WordPress
Classic WordPress themes mix PHP logic and HTML markup in the same files, which gets hard to manage on larger projects:
<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<p><?php the_content(); ?></p>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>Blade, Laravel’s templating engine, separates logic from presentation, supports template inheritance and reusable components:
@foreach ($posts as $post)
<h2>{{ $post->title }}</h2>
<p>{{ $post->content }}</p>
@endforeachThe result is more readable templates, DRY code, seamless use of PHP where needed, and automatic output escaping that reduces the risk of XSS. A reusable button becomes <x-button href="{{ route('profile') }}">View Profile</x-button> — defined once, used everywhere.
5. Bud assets manager — forget about webpack issues
Asset builds are handled by bud.js, a high-performance build system on top of webpack, with Hot Module Replacement enabled by default. yarn dev watches for changes and rebuilds assets automatically.
6. Longevity and reliability
Roots Sage has been maintained for over twelve years, which speaks for its reliability, community and continuous improvement. Many developers consider the roots.io toolkit the most rational approach to WordPress development today; some say that without it they would have moved away from WordPress altogether.
Conclusion
In a fast-moving landscape you want tools that meet today’s demands and are future-proof. Sage, with its modern integrations, flexibility and track record, is a top choice for WordPress developers — whether you are building for a client or for yourself. If you need help with an existing Sage theme or want a new professional theme built on it, get in touch.