CUSTOM THEME DEVELOPMENT · カスタムテーマ開発

ブランドと編集チームのために設計された、カスタムWordPressテーマ.

Ignited Nepal builds custom WordPress themes for Japanese and international organisations publishing in Japanese, English, or both. Design token systems, Gutenberg block libraries with CJK typography care, ACF field groups for bilingual content streams, SCSS architecture, and performance-first builds that handle the specific demands of Japanese character rendering and font loading.

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Bilingual JP/EN Gutenberg block library with separate content streams · CJK font loading: self-hosted vs Google Fonts vs system stack · Vertical text (縦書き) consideration for cultural and literary content · WCAG 2.1 AA accessible HTML
This is for you if

Who This Is For

Your current WordPress theme was built several years ago, predates the Gutenberg editor, and is maintained by a combination of plugins and workarounds. Your content team works in the Classic Editor because the block experience was never built for your content types. You need a theme built around how your team actually publishes, in Japanese, with the typographic care that Japanese content requires.

You publish a WordPress site in English and you are building a Japanese-language version, either as a separate site or as a multilingual installation. Your English theme was not designed with CJK typography in mind. Japanese character sets have different font loading requirements, different optimal line lengths, different spacing conventions, and potentially different layout expectations than a Western site. You need a theme that treats Japanese as a first-class language, not a translation layer.

You publish literary, cultural, or traditional content in Japanese where vertical text presentation, 縦書き, is appropriate for some or all of your content. This is a specialised requirement that most WordPress theme builders do not address. It requires deliberate CSS writing-mode implementation, font selection that supports vertical layout correctly, and editorial tooling that gives writers control over when vertical text is applied.

What's broken

What's Broken

Your CJK Font Loading Is Slowing the Site Down

Japanese character sets contain thousands of glyphs. A full Japanese web font file can be several megabytes. Loading a full Japanese font from Google Fonts or a CDN on every page load is a significant performance liability. Most WordPress themes built without Japanese-specific consideration do not address this. The correct approach, whether subsetting, self-hosting, using a system font stack for body text, or using a progressive loading strategy, depends on your typeface choices and your performance targets.

Your Line Lengths and Spacing Are Wrong for Japanese

Japanese typography has different optimal line length and line spacing conventions from Latin text. A stylesheet tuned for English body text will produce Japanese paragraphs that are either too wide or too narrow for comfortable reading, with line heights that feel either cramped or loose. These are not minor aesthetic issues; they affect reading comfort and the perception of editorial quality.

Your Bilingual Content Has No Architecture

If you publish in both Japanese and English, the question of how those two languages relate to each other in the content model is a structural decision, not an editorial one. Are Japanese and English versions of the same content stored as post translations, as separate fields within a single post, or as entirely separate post types? Each approach has different implications for editorial workflow, URL structure, and SEO. Most sites that publish bilingually have never made this decision deliberately.

Your Block Library Was Not Designed for Japanese Editorial Workflows

Custom Gutenberg blocks built for English-language publishing often assume text lengths and layout proportions that do not hold for Japanese content. A pull quote block designed for a three-line English quote may not accommodate the different visual weight of the same content in Japanese. A card block with an English character limit may overflow or look sparse with Japanese text. Block design needs to account for the language it will hold.

What we engineer

What We Do

Design Token System

We define your colour palette, typography scale, spacing system, and border values as SCSS variables and CSS custom properties. The token system includes separate typography tokens for Japanese and Latin character sets where your site uses both, so the correct font, size, line height, and letter spacing are applied to each language without manual overrides.

CJK Font Loading Strategy

We evaluate your typeface requirements and implement the correct loading strategy for your performance targets. Options include self-hosting a subsetted Japanese font for critical display text, using a system font stack for body text to eliminate the loading overhead entirely, using Google Fonts with the text parameter for subsetting, or a combination. We document the decision and the tradeoffs so your team understands the strategy.

Gutenberg Block Library for Japanese and Bilingual Publishing

We build a custom Gutenberg block library designed for your content patterns and tested with Japanese text. Block proportions, text containers, and layout logic are calibrated for CJK character sets. For bilingual sites, blocks are built to hold both Japanese and English content cleanly, with separate field inputs for each language rather than relying on a translation plugin to handle structural differences.

Vertical Text Support Where Required

For literary, cultural, or traditional content where 縦書き is appropriate, we implement CSS writing-mode: vertical-rl on designated content areas, select fonts that render correctly in vertical layout, and build editorial controls so writers can apply vertical text to specific blocks or sections without modifying code. This is a considered implementation, not a CSS novelty.

ACF Field Groups for Bilingual Content Streams

We build Advanced Custom Fields field groups to support your bilingual content architecture. Whether your Japanese and English content is managed as post translations, parallel custom fields, or separate post types, the ACF implementation is built to match your editorial workflow and to make publishing in two languages as straightforward as publishing in one.

SCSS Architecture

We organise the theme's stylesheet as a modular SCSS codebase with partials for tokens, typography, layout, components, and utilities. The naming convention and file structure are documented so any developer, whether in Nepal, Japan, or elsewhere, can navigate and extend the codebase without a lengthy orientation.

Performance Optimisation

We optimise the complete asset load: CJK font loading strategy implemented, no unused JavaScript, CSS scoped per component, images in modern formats with correct srcset attributes, Core Web Vitals verified before handover. We pay particular attention to font-related performance since this is the primary liability on Japanese-language WordPress sites built without specialist knowledge.

Accessible HTML

We build to WCAG 2.1 AA with attention to the specific requirements of Japanese-language accessibility: correct lang attributes for Japanese content, appropriate reading direction markup, sufficient contrast across all colour token combinations, and keyboard navigation that works for users of Japanese input methods.

Git Handover and Editorial Documentation

We hand over the theme on Git with a README covering the token system, font loading strategy, block library, and bilingual content architecture. Editorial documentation is provided in both Japanese and English, written for the editors who will use the theme daily.

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What changes

What Changes

Before
After
Before Japanese character sets contain thousands of glyphs. A full Japanese web font file can be several megabytes. Loading a full Japanese font from Google Fonts or a CDN on every page load is a significant performance liability. Most WordPress themes built without Japanese-specific consideration do not address this. The correct approach, whether subsetting, self-hosting, using a system font stack for body text, or using a progressive loading strategy, depends on your typeface choices and your performance targets.
After Typography calibrated for CJK character sets, correct line lengths, appropriate line spacing, and a font loading strategy that does not compromise performance means your Japanese content presents with the same quality you put into writing it. Typography is not decoration; it is legibility and trust.
Before Japanese typography has different optimal line length and line spacing conventions from Latin text. A stylesheet tuned for English body text will produce Japanese paragraphs that are either too wide or too narrow for comfortable reading, with line heights that feel either cramped or loose. These are not minor aesthetic issues; they affect reading comfort and the perception of editorial quality.
After A content architecture that handles Japanese and English as first-class parallel streams, rather than treating one as a translation of the other, produces cleaner URLs, better editorial workflow, and a site that is structured for how search engines understand multilingual content. The architecture decision made at theme build time is expensive to change later.
Before If you publish in both Japanese and English, the question of how those two languages relate to each other in the content model is a structural decision, not an editorial one. Are Japanese and English versions of the same content stored as post translations, as separate fields within a single post, or as entirely separate post types? Each approach has different implications for editorial workflow, URL structure, and SEO. Most sites that publish bilingually have never made this decision deliberately.
After A correct CJK font loading strategy means your site can use beautiful Japanese typefaces without paying a multi-second load time penalty. The difference between a thoughtless font include and a properly subsetted, self-hosted, or progressively loaded font can be three to four seconds on mobile. That difference is visible in your Core Web Vitals and in your user retention.
Before Custom Gutenberg blocks built for English-language publishing often assume text lengths and layout proportions that do not hold for Japanese content. A pull quote block designed for a three-line English quote may not accommodate the different visual weight of the same content in Japanese. A card block with an English character limit may overflow or look sparse with Japanese text. Block design needs to account for the language it will hold.
After Blocks sized and proportioned for Japanese text, with bilingual field inputs where the content requires it, mean your editorial team can publish without constantly working around layout problems introduced by a block library that was not designed for their language.
How it works

Process

  1. 01

    Discovery and Language Architecture Review

    We review your current site, your brand guidelines, your content types, your editorial team's publishing workflow, and your requirements for Japanese language, Latin, or bilingual content. We audit font loading, typography settings, and any existing multilingual configuration. We make a recommendation on bilingual content architecture before development begins.

  2. 02

    Token System, Typography, and Component Design

    We define your design token system including separate typography tokens for Japanese and Latin text where both are used. We specify the CJK font loading strategy. We design the component set that will form your block library, calibrated for your content language. You review and approve before development begins.

  3. 03

    Theme Development

    We build the theme: SCSS architecture, CJK font loading implementation, custom Gutenberg blocks, block patterns, ACF field groups for bilingual content, vertical text implementation if required, and performance optimisation. We develop against your staging environment so your live site is undisturbed.

  4. 04

    QA and Testing

    We test every block and template with actual Japanese content, not placeholder text. We test font rendering on Japanese OS environments, verify vertical text presentation where applicable, run Core Web Vitals audits, and check WCAG 2.1 AA compliance including Japanese-specific accessibility requirements.

  5. 05

    Handover, Documentation, and Launch

    We deploy to production, hand over on Git with a full README in English, and deliver editorial documentation in both Japanese and English. We remain available for two weeks after launch for questions that arise in real editorial use.

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Common questions

Frequently asked questions about Custom Theme Development

What is the best approach for loading Japanese fonts on a WordPress site?

The best approach depends on your typeface requirements, your performance targets, and your hosting. For body text, a system font stack, using Hiragino Sans on macOS and iOS, Yu Gothic on Windows, and Noto Sans JP as a fallback, avoids the loading penalty entirely and produces clean results on the majority of Japanese-language devices. For display text and headings where a specific typeface is required, self-hosting a subsetted font or using the Google Fonts text parameter for character subsetting reduces the load size significantly. We evaluate the options during the discovery step and document the strategy we implement.

How do you handle bilingual Japanese and English content in WordPress?

There are three main approaches: a translation plugin such as WPML or Polylang that stores translations as related posts, a custom field approach where each post stores both languages as parallel ACF fields, and a multi-site network with separate sites for each language. The right approach depends on whether your Japanese and English content is always a direct translation of each other or whether the two languages sometimes carry different content. We make a recommendation at the discovery step and build the ACF field groups and block library to support whichever architecture is correct for your situation.

Is 縦書き (vertical text) practical for a WordPress site?

Vertical text is practical for specific, bounded content areas, such as article headers, pull quotes, sidebar content, or literary passages, where the cultural and aesthetic context makes vertical layout appropriate. It is implemented using CSS writing-mode: vertical-rl and requires careful font selection, since not all Japanese typefaces render well in vertical layout. Full-page vertical text is a significant design and development investment and is rarely the right choice for a general-purpose site. We advise on where vertical text adds genuine value for your content type and implement it as an editorial option rather than a default.

Do you build themes for Gutenberg or the Classic Editor?

We build for Gutenberg as the primary editorial experience. The Gutenberg block editor is the present and future of WordPress content editing, and a custom block library built for your content patterns gives editors significantly more capability than the Classic Editor. If you have a specific reason for maintaining Classic Editor compatibility, we can discuss it, but our default recommendation is to build a Gutenberg-first theme with a block library that makes the Classic Editor unnecessary.

What hosting do you recommend for Japanese-language WordPress sites?

We work with your existing host. For Japanese-language sites where performance and low latency to Japanese visitors matters, a host with data centres in Tokyo or the broader APAC region is preferable to a European or North American data centre. Kinsta has Tokyo infrastructure. WP Engine has an APAC region. SpinupWP with a DigitalOcean Tokyo droplet is a cost-effective option for lower-traffic sites. We advise on hosting as part of the discovery if you are open to changing hosts.

Start here

日本語コンテンツには、日本語を理解したテーマが必要です.

Typography, font loading, bilingual content architecture, and block design all have Japanese-specific requirements that a generic theme build will not address. We build themes that treat Japanese as a first-class language from the first line of CSS. Send us your brief and we will show you what that looks like for your site.

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