YITH, a WooCommerce plugin development company that was acquired by Newfold Digital in March 2022, has released its first block theme on WordPress.org. YITH Wonder is now listed among 122 other block themes that support full-site editing and have recently gained their own menu link in the directory to improve their visibility. YITH Wonder includes…
Last month, WordPress design contributors proposed creating a new kind of default theme that would bundle a curated set of style variations, instead of creating a new theme from scratch. This idea resonated with participants in the discussion and plans are now underway to use a stripped-back version of Twenty Twenty-Two as the base for…
The WordPress Themes team is poised to change its guidelines on remote hosting Google Fonts and is once again strongly urging theme authors to host their fonts locally. Yoast-sponsored contributor Ari Stathopoulos published an update today to answer some questions the team has been receiving about fonts in themes: Historically, WordPress themes hosted in the w.org…
Meta contributors have turned on a new feature in WordPress.org theme listings that allows visitors to preview themes’ bundled patterns. A grid displaying the patterns is now shown underneath a theme’s description and tags. These are automatically fetched from any theme that registers patterns and works for both block and classic themes. Clicking on a…
Brian Gardner, founder of StudioPress and co-creator of the Genesis Framework, has a new block theme in the directory called Bright Mode. The theme features a vibrant color palette with tasteful gradients, 14 beautifully designed block patterns, and so many fun variations tucked into custom block styles. It’s difficult to nail down a niche for…
WordPress design contributors are cooking up a new idea for this year’s default theme release that would put the spotlight on style variations instead of the theme itself. The idea is rooted in comments that Twenty Twenty-Two designer Kjell Reigstad made last year when introducing the theme: Themes are in a transition period today, and…
The WordPress Themes Directory is sitting at 99 block themes today and will soon cross a major milestone. This momentum has been driven in part by independent designers like Brian Gardner, Anders Norén, and Rich Tabor, to name a few, who have fully embraced the new era of block themes and are leading the way…
This week has been heavy with theme news, as the discussion around improving block themes’ visibility in the directory became heated before the Themes Team landed on a course of action. Meta contributors added a new “Block Themes” menu item to the filter menu on the directory homepage, a solution that some classic theme developers…
Axton is a beautiful new addition to the WordPress Themes Directory from the team at Catch Themes. Those who have been waiting for more full-site editing-enabled themes that go beyond a simple blogging layout should have a look at Axton, as it is suitable for a portfolio, photography showcase, or even a business website. The…
Seven weeks ago, WordPress Theme Team contributors proposed several ideas for improving block themes’ visibility on WordPress.org. These included the possibility of changing the popular themes algorithm to more prominently feature block themes, and/or adding a new “Block” menu item next to Popular and Latest on the themes directory home page. The directory is going…
WordPress theme author Anders Norén has remade his popular Davis theme to support full-site editing. The new theme, Davis Blocks, is sporting the same clean design as its predecessor, and can be used as a starter theme or a lightweight blog theme. Norén said he built Davis Blocks to be as small as possible, while…
Two weeks ago, WordPress theme author Rich Tabor tweeted, “Even with my theme developer hat on, I’m finding it easier and easier to create block themes ~ within ~ WordPress. I’m positive one day (soon) this will be the norm.” It looks like that day has arrived sooner than expected, as Automattic has had a…
WordPress theme authors and contributors from the Themes team are exploring ways to make block themes more prominent on the official directory. These are themes that are specifically tagged with support for full-site editing. Despite WordPress having a block theme for its most recent default theme, authors have been slow to create more. There are…
Rich Tabor’s new Wei theme is one of the most well-designed contributions to hit WordPress.org’s free themes directory this month. Wei is a minimalist block theme that keeps things simple while offering users a range of artfully selected accent color combinations. It also includes support for full-site editing and Global Styles for a wider range…
And another theme shop hops on the block bandwagon. Catch Themes’ first block-based theme, Catch FSE, landed on WordPress.org over the weekend. The company is one of the most prolific authors in the official WordPress theme directory, touting a total of 109 themes. There are only a few others with such an impressive body of…