“The way that themes have evolved within WordPress has made creating them easier,” wrote Tammie Lister in the opening line of her article titled Theme creation is now easier. “That feels like a bold statement, but it’s true.” It is not a stretch to say that many would be asking for this secret-sauce recipe of easy theme creation. If anything, …
Next Phase of the WordPress Theme Review Overhaul: Open Meeting and Call for Feedback
The WordPress.org Themes Team announced an open discussion and date for a Zoom meeting with theme authors. The team is proposing a new set of guidelines that reduces and simplifies what is currently in place. Comments on the proposal are open through July 26, and the meeting is set for July 28, 2 pm CET. This is the next step …
Clove: A Showcase of Block Patterns by Anariel Design
Clove theme homepage. Earlier today, Ana Segota tweeted and announced via the Anariel Design blog that her company had submitted its second block-based theme to WordPress.org. Clove is a more well-rounded follow-up to her first such theme, Naledi. It is currently under review for inclusion in the official directory, but anyone can give it a test run by snagging the …
WordPress Theme Lock-In, Silos, and the Block System
For many years, I was a hardcore advocate of separating any non-design functionality from themes into their own plugins. I wrote extensively on the issue. Whether it was shortcodes, custom post types, user metadata, and any number of things related to a user’s content/data, I drew a deep line in the sand. This belongs in a plugin. If you have …
A Throwback to the Past: Refreshing Old Twenty* WordPress Themes With Block Patterns
What began as a project in August 2020 has now become a reality. All past Twenty* default WordPress themes now have their own unique block patterns. In recent weeks, Twenty Ten through Twenty Fifteen received updates. Designer Mel Choyce-Dwan kick-started tickets for all previous 10 default themes before the WordPress 5.5 release, the first version to support patterns. Twenty Twenty, …
Automattic Launches Mayland Blocks, Its Second FSE Theme on WordPress.org
Automattic released its second block theme to the WordPress theme directory last week. Mayland Blocks is geared toward photographers and other users who want to showcase their projects. It is the child of Blockbase, a sort of starter/parent hybrid the company’s Theme Team recently announced. I had high hopes for Mayland Blocks going in. I have kept a loose eye …
Breaking Down WPMarmite’s 127-Shop Full Site Editing Study
Earlier today, the WPMarmite team released a massive study of 127 WordPress theme shops. It primarily focused on integration with the block editor. The team also surveyed 22 of the shops directly to dive deeper into what the future might look like when the Full Site Editing (FSE) project is entirely bundled into the core platform, which could be around …
The Automattic Theme Team Announces Blockbase, Its New Block Parent Theme
Blockbase WordPress theme as seen from the site editor. Any WordPress company that builds and maintains themes worth its salt is already doing at least some preliminary work as WordPress inches ever closer to bundling its upcoming block theme system. Automattic’s Theme Team is no exception. Ben Dwyer announced the team’s new Blockbase parent theme on the Theme Shaper blog …
Blocksy Theme Expands Free Starter Site Collection, Plans to Create New Suite of Blocks
When Sergiu Radu and Andrei Glingeanu launched their free Blocksy theme nearly two years ago, they were surprised by how quickly their business grew during a global pandemic without any investment in marketing. Blocksy is now active on more than 20,000 WordPress sites and its commercial version, launched in October 2020, has grown to where both founders are now working …
Anariel Design Launches Naledi, a Block-Based WordPress Theme
Naledi theme homepage. Over the weekend, Anariel Design co-founder Ana Segota tweeted that she was nearly ready to submit the company’s first block theme into the WordPress directory. There are only five such experimental themes available for download in the repo right now, and I have been patiently awaiting more. The Naledi theme is in the review queue, but those …