How we built the DEV3 Corvane: a photo-led WordPress theme with a no-WebGL build gate

DEV3 Corvane is a WordPress theme for consulting firms and business services. There is no 3D or WebGL in the theme at all.

Stack: a classic PHP theme with theme.json on DEV3's shared theme core in its flat mode, plus the DEV3 Theme Toolkit for post types and widgets, with Elementor and WooCommerce support.

Decisions that mattered

• A "flat": true token stamps a WebGL-free boot (smooth scroll, header, motion), and a build gate fails the theme if any three.js or WebGL code reaches its assets. The always-loaded JavaScript is about 12.5 KB gzipped.
• The Photo Hero widget opens every page with a photo, a slideshow or a background video, with overlay, Ken Burns drift, a split headline, buttons and chips.
• Case studies store their challenge, approach, results and quote as fields, so one single template lays them out consistently and the results count up.
• Booking uses the toolkit's appointment request form with topics taken from the services. Submissions are stored as private requests and emailed.
• The demo uses free-licence CC0 photos with a credits file.

Limits: there is no public live demo, only a video tour, screenshots and a one-click demo import.

Trade-off we chose: a build gate is a blunt tool, but it keeps a "no 3D" promise verifiable.

Questions are welcome.