It’s here and there’s no turning back – and I couldn’t be more excited.

For way too long, WordPress themes caused confusion. Some of them gave us the flexibility we wanted, but it came with a cost.

That cost is the phrase “AHHHHH WordPress is soooooo complicated!”

This is what we call Classic Theme Irritation Syndrome.

In most instances where WordPress is too complicated its because it’s a mix-mash of settings, page builders, post editors, and functionality all dispersed in difference places.

What’s worse is every designer/developer you meet with gives you conflicting advice. The issues get more and more complicated, so you figure it’s time to start from scratch and choose a new WordPress theme.

Of course, they all look great, and say “Build your website in just a few clicks!”

These Classic themes feel like a bait and switch for many people I’ve talked to. They go into it feeling optimistic about the nice layouts in the demo. But activating the theme basically breaks their website. “What happened to the theme I just bought? Why can’t I just edit the text and images and use the theme?”

Even if there is a way to edit the template, the site eventually starts to look distorted – like a Frankenstein of different layouts and elements.

It’s all changing.

There are some hidden benefits to a block theme – which we can go through in more detail another time. The most significant to me is that block themes shift the market toward interoperability.

For the past decade or so there’s been a market incentive to create a bespoke interfaces that layer on top of WordPress – changing the experience to keep customers.

Take Elementor for example…

They’ve built this interface on top of WordPress, but it’s so different it’s not even really WordPress. For one, if you change themes or de-activate the Elementor plugin, your website completely breaks. If you ever want to make a change you need to find a developer who specializes in Elementor specifically. Still, themes like this aren’t as bad as a platform like Wix, which is even more proprietary.

As cofounder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg said of Wix “a roach motel where you can check in but never check out. Once you buy into their proprietary stack you’re locked in, which even their support documentation admits is by design”

The vision for WordPress, and I believe block themes, is this interoperable model where themes help us achieve the design we want, but waste our time and resources by locking us into a high-risk proprietary system.

2. Block themes unlock design sharing.

Since the entire website uses the blocks framework, patterns (pre-made layouts made from a bunch of blocks) can be copied and pasted into your website. This creates an open exchange of templates, without the need to upload them and have special plugins installed.

A block theme includes styles and layouts you can use right away.

In a conversation with developer Chris Hufnagel (co-creator of Rockbase), I learned that this could be what makes block themes so exciting. We’re still in the early stages of block themes being normalized, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

The themes I’m most interested in will not change WordPress in a big way. I’m looking for themes that gives helpful style presets and a beautiful and thoughtful pattern library. In the meantime, I feel finally empowered to create them!

3. Block Themes give us Patterns that uphold design consistency.

The theme you choose can have a library of patterns, all designed and ready to use on your website. Creating pages is easier, fun, what I’ve always wanted.

When you work with a developer on a website, you should expect them to leave you with a custom pattern library of your main layouts. Here’s a demo of a recent website, and the patterns I customized for them, with Rockbase as a starting point.

What will you do about it?

In another post I’ll share my favorite block themes. Right now I have just two; Rockbase, and Ollie WP, but in the coming months I’ll try more.

To embrace these changes, many clients are contacting us about block theme rebuilds.

Lets say you have a website and the design is fine. What you really need is better performance, simplified editing, and the ability to grow your website knowing that it’s compatible, accessible, and meeting best practices.

Rebuilding your website with a block theme is a simpler project than a re-design, because it doesn’t require any big decisions, long meetings, or revision processes. It’s basically a big sweeping upgrade that gives you more options as WordPress continues to evolve.

How are you embracing the future of WordPress? Let’s talk about it.