What is a WordPress ‘Theme’?

WordPress claims to have thousands of free WordPress themes available in its Theme Directory and thousands more from third-party theme directories and online theme shops.

Types of WordPress Themes

All WordPress themes can be categorised into ‘Block’ or ‘Classic’.

‘Block’ WordPress Themes

‘Block’ WordPress themes are the modern way of building a WordPress theme, they follow the current HTML standard, and as you can probably guess by their name, the design slots together on a page like blocks.

This gives you an infinite number of block combinations to help you build your website content and look how you want.

‘Classic’ WordPress Themes

‘Classic’ WordPress themes use a PHP-based system which was how WordPress first started.

Classic themes have fewer standards to follow but can require some PHP, HTML, and CSS knowledge to fully get the look that you want from your website.

How to Work with Themes

Given that it is a huge part of the look and function of a website, we recommend taking your time and choosing the right one for you and your business.

Any theme you use or create by modifying an existing theme should not add critical site functionality. Doing so means that you may lose that functionality should you change your theme. Critical site functionality should be either within the core WordPress platform or as a result of the Plugins that you introduce - learn more about plugins here.

Many themes can be edited and customised further, but you will need to know HTML and CSS. This can make the customisation of themes tricky for the average Joe – developers like Digital Nachos are best placed to handle this for you.