Are Block Themes Better Than Classic Themes? Here’s What People Think

Twenty Twenty-Two was the first official default block theme that was released with WordPress 5.9. Ever since then, WordPress aficionados have been going back and forth on whether block themes are better than classic themes or vice versa.

It seems that fans from both camps feel pretty strongly about their side being “the best.” However, as is often the case, those who are the most passionate also tend to be the most vocal. You’re unlikely to find someone posting a rant on a topic they feel moderately neutral about.

This makes it challenging to get a true sense of how people really feel about the topic.

Moreover, those who work with WordPress professionally – and developers in particular – also tend to be more opinionated than the casual WordPress user.

I have my own thoughts, which I’ll share, but I didn’t want this to be yet another one-person opinion post. To gain a wider perspective, I combed through Reddit threads and reached out to my colleagues and other WordPress professionals. I also ran a survey on our sister site and collected the results of another survey that the head of WordPress YouTube ran on his X account.

The goal was to gain a nuanced understanding of what is sometimes presented in an oversimplified way.

Here’s what I discovered…

Editing and customization 🔧

There’s no better subtopic to kick off this battle than probably the main thing that most people think about when the idea of building a website comes to mind: editing and customization.

How can I get my website to look the way I want it to?

It’s an important question, but the way you answer it is also dependent on your background and skillset.

If you’re a developer, you’re more likely to use code.

If you’re a casual website builder or someone who builds websites as an additional offering to your main skill set (e.g., a graphic designer, SEO specialist, etc), then you use whatever features and functions are available to you by the website building tool of your choice.

UX / UI designers are one group that might use either approach or a combination of both.

When you think of it in those terms, it’s easy to see why developers tend to dislike block themes, while the opposite holds true for casual website builders.

Even though block themes have made it easier for non-developers to customize websites with the full site editor (FSE), they’ve also imposed many restrictions on granular level customization that could previously be achieved through custom code.

As one developer on Reddit put it:

This developer is only one of many who shared similar opinions in this thread and in other threads. There were also some humorous takes. One of my favorites was this one:

To be fair, there were a few contra-opinions in those threads:

These voices were definitely a minority, but I’m willing to bet that as time goes on, they will grow larger in number.

For a professional opinion, I tapped my colleague, veteran UI/UX designer John Fraskos. Here’s what he said:

I’m not a big fan of Gutenberg’s trajectory, especially regarding professional workflows. Currently, I find the setup for the core block theme somewhat confusing from a UX perspective, and I can only imagine how difficult it might be for entry-level users.

I really want the Gutenberg project to succeed, but I believe it lacks a unified vision and best practices for web designers, freelancers, and agencies. It’s challenging to build a proper layout using only core blocks. A third-party plugin is almost always necessary. The same applies in the context of themes.

I prefer to manage the foundational aspects of my design using a well-structured Customizer setup with a classic theme more so than using the full site editor (FSE) and theme.json file.

My hot take 🔥

I think the “winner” in this area comes down to the aforementioned divide of developers versus non-developers with designers being the wild card.

For non-technical site owners / administrators, block themes offer way more flexibility in design. They allow users to effortlessly add, remove, and rearrange blocks to create unique layouts without the need for coding skills. Additionally, they get site-wide control over colors, typography, and layouts, and full site editing enables customization of all site elements, including headers, footers, and template parts.

With classic themes, theme developers largely determine the degree to which regular users can customize any or all of these things, thus empowering developers over end users.

For developers and those who are comfortable with code, block themes can feel extremely limiting because classic themes are a lot easier to customize through direct code manipulation. Hence why we see the large volume of complaints about block themes from developers on Reddit and elsewhere.

For designers it can go either way. In the case of my colleague, as you saw, he happens to prefer classic themes over block themes.

Learning curve 👩‍🏫

If we jump back into those Reddit threads, besides the general developer sentiment of being angry with the Gutenberg project, there’s another underlying theme that can be seen. That theme is directly tied to at least some of the frustration that these developers feel toward block themes and it’s due to…

Simply put, working with block themes at an advanced level requires partially different skill sets and as the saying goes: “old habits die hard.”

For those who want to embrace block themes and learn how to develop them, WordPress offers a course you can take that will teach you the fundamentals. It’s called Develop Your First Low-Code Block Theme:

Regular users who aren’t interested in developing their own themes but rather in using them to build a website, will probably find that block themes provide an easier learning curve due to their visual, intuitive interface. The ability to see changes in real-time and the consistency across different parts of the site make it more approachable than some aspects of classic themes.

My hot take 🔥

For developers, particularly those experienced in PHP, CSS, and JavaScript, classic themes still have an edge over block themes when it comes to first-time users.

However, it’s important to note:

• The gap is narrowing as more developers become familiar with block theme development.
• Newer developers entering the WordPress ecosystem might find block themes more intuitive as they align with modern web development practices, such as using CSS Grid and Flexbox.
• Long-term, proficiency in block theme development is likely to become increasingly important as WordPress continues to evolve in this direction.

Taking everything into consideration, I tip my hat in favor of block themes here by a thin margin. If we exclude developers and only take into account regular users, then it’s block themes by a long shot.

Performance and loading speed 🚀

To gain some professional-level insight on this, I reached out to Péter Molnár, a developer from SWTE Group with more than a decade of experience. He had this to say:

I also reached out to Jennifer Stout, Senior UX Designer at WebDevStudios, and she had this to say:

Many individuals and companies turn to [classic themes combined with] page builders as a solution without realizing how much bloat those can add to a website.

Using native WordPress with a starter block theme, like WDS BT, provides those same advantages while still delivering amazing performance.

Looking around the web, you’ll find plenty of “it depends” opinions similar to Péter’s. The same can be said for what Jennifer expressed. In fact, I’ve probably said my own variations of their statements in private conversations before.

But if you dig around enough, you’ll also find some more technical explanations which provide a deeper understanding of the difference between the themes. For example, a YouTube user with the handle @thomassaunders225 had this to say:

One of the main takeaways I gathered from his comment is that sites with a lot of static content may actually see more noticeable performance gains by using a block theme on budget hosting. This is because block themes reduce the server-side PHP processing load, which is often a bottleneck on cheaper hosting plans. The reduced number of database queries and PHP requests can lead to faster page load times and better overall performance, especially for sites that don’t heavily rely on dynamic content.

My hot take 🔥

When it comes to the performance of your website, the theme you choose is probably not going to be the most important factor. Don’t get me wrong, some themes are faster than others, but for most users, other things like using a good hosting provider and optimizing images will play a bigger role in loading time than whether or not you go with a block theme or a classic theme.

Having said that, and all other things being equal, block themes can offer some minor performance advantages. This is primarily due to how they approach asset management.

For example, they usually use something called conditional loading, which means that assets are only loaded when required. Like if a page uses a specific block for a gallery, only the CSS and JavaScript necessary for that gallery block will be loaded. This contrasts with classic themes, which might include more comprehensive stylesheets and scripts that cover a wide range of features, even if they are not used on every page.

However, despite some of these potential advantages, the fact remains: there are still too many variables at play on this issue to make a definitive statement in favor of either block themes or classic themes.

Plugin compatibility and integration 🔗

There are currently about 59,000+ plugins in the WordPress repository and the vast majority of them were designed before the first block theme was ever even conceptualized. This gives classic themes a huge upper hand when it comes to plugin compatibility because most plugins were built with them in mind.

However, because block themes are part of the growing WordPress ecosystem, many developers have started adapting their existing plugins to make them block-compatible. With that said, you might still come across plugins that may not fully support full site editing (FSE) features just yet – though according to our Head of Content, Karol Krol, this isn’t as important as you might think.

Here is what Karol had to say:

A plugin doesn’t necessarily have to be updated recently to be compatible with block themes. If it’s a plugin that just deals with the backend, or the database, or works based on some hook or action then it will just continue to work for as long as the core, years-old codebase of WordPress doesn’t change. Plus, all the main big plugins are compatible already.

My hot take 🔥

If you’re currently using a classic theme and have a site with numerous existing plugins, switching to a block theme could pose some challenges if any of those plugins haven’t been updated for compatibility. In short, proceed carefully.

For brand new sites, it mostly won’t matter. The exception being if you need some very specific niche plugin that just hasn’t been made block-theme-friendly. You can check that out ahead of time and move forward accordingly.

Security 🔒

When considering the security implications of classic themes versus block themes, there are several important factors to consider.

To begin with, classic themes have been around longer, which means their security vulnerabilities are well-known and often well-documented. This can be both a benefit and a drawback. On the one hand, many security issues have been identified and patched over time. On the other hand, older themes that aren’t regularly updated may harbor known vulnerabilities.

In comparison, block themes, being newer, have had less time to be thoroughly tested in real-world scenarios. This means that some security vulnerabilities may not have been discovered or exploited yet.

The standardized approach of block themes, with more reliance on core WordPress functionality, can potentially reduce the likelihood of theme-specific vulnerabilities. There’s less custom PHP code involved, which can minimize the risk of developer-introduced security issues.

In contrast, the reliance on PHP in classic themes means that security largely depends on the quality of the code written by the theme developer. Poorly written PHP can introduce vulnerabilities like SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. With that said, experienced developers who follow WordPress coding standards can create very secure classic themes.

The use of JavaScript in block themes introduces a different set of potential security concerns compared to PHP-based classic themes. While this doesn’t necessarily make them less secure, it does mean that developers and site owners need to be aware of JavaScript-specific security best practices.

Overall, the security of a WordPress site depends more on how well you maintain, update, and protect it than on whether you use a classic or block theme – despite some differences in their security implications.

Responsive design 📱

The WordPress block editor offers inherent responsive design advantages that benefit both block themes and classic themes. This means that regardless of the theme you choose, the editor helps streamline the process of creating responsive designs by offering features like device previews and responsive blocks.

However, block themes still have an edge when it comes to responsiveness. This is due to their design and integration with the block editor. Unlike classic themes, which often need additional customization to fully utilize the block editor’s responsive capabilities, block themes are designed with a mobile-first approach from the ground up. Thus they inherently support responsive design principles across all elements.

Accessible design ♿️

Accessibility features follow a similar pattern to responsive design, meaning that developers can make any theme highly accessible. This is due to the fact that the WordPress core team puts a strong emphasis on accessibility in the block editor, which both theme types benefit from.

For example, in the old classic editor, you could write a blog post that has an <h2> heading somewhere and then introduce an <h4> below it, without ever having put an <h3> between them. The classic editor wouldn’t care, but the block editor will actually flag this and prompt you to change it.

Features like these encourage a more structured approach to content, which often results in better semantic HTML. This is crucial for screen readers and other assistive technologies. Many blocks also come with built-in ARIA attributes, making it easier to create accessible interactive elements.

Again, both block themes and classic themes inherit these benefits because they are derived from the block editor itself and not the themes.

However, block themes might still have a slight edge. This is because they often extend these block-based accessibility benefits to more areas of the site – such as headers, footers, and sidebars. In contrast, classic themes typically handle these areas with more traditional PHP templates. While these can absolutely be made accessible, it often requires more manual effort.

SEO 📈

The difference in SEO benefits between block themes and classic themes is not dramatic. Both can achieve strong SEO results with proper optimization. In that sense, the SEO impact is not much different from the performance impact (i.e., it’s minimal).

However, block themes offer a slight edge due to their built-in features that align with current search engine preferences. Most of these features are what I already discussed above. These include better out-of-the-box mobile optimization, which aligns with Google’s mobile-first indexing preference, and a leaner, more efficient approach to asset management, which can reduce page loading times.

When you combine these factors together, they improve the user experience. In turn, this sends positive signals to the Google Gods to bless your website with higher rankings. But to reiterate, other factors will rank much higher on the SEO hierarchy than your choice of theme. Namely: content quality, backlink profile, and overall site structure.

Long-term viability and maintainability ⏳

And this brings us to the future, or rather thinking about the future. We know that right now classic themes still dominate the web. But will we ever reach a point where the adoption shifts in favor of block themes over classic themes?

In theory, it will happen someday, but that day is probably not going to be anytime soon. Not only that, but because WordPress powers a significant portion of the internet, developers and users are unlikely to completely abandon classic themes. You’ll see this opinion expressed on Reddit:

And you’ll also see it expressed by people like Kathryn Presner, who is an official contributor to the WordPress training team:

Beyond individual opinions, there is also the fact that historically speaking, WordPress has always made it a strong point to maintain backward compatibility. They even have an entire page dedicated to the subject.

In summary, while block themes are clearly the direction WordPress is heading in and where you’ll find most of the fun new stuff happening, it’s unlikely that any of us will see the day where classic themes will completely die.

My hot take 🔥

I think that as a non-technical user, if you really love a particular classic theme then by all means use it. However, if you’re new to WordPress and just starting to poke around, I would suggest getting comfortable with a block theme.

My recommendation to newbie developers or developers that are transitioning into WordPress would be the same. The sentiment is echoed by @jamiewp (who is now the head of WordPress YouTube):

The survey results ☑

In the introduction of this article, I mentioned that I ran a survey on our sister site and collected results from another survey that Jamie Marsland (the same Jamie from above 👆🏻) ran on his X account. Let’s dig into the results to see what respondents had to say.

Jamie’s survey

Jamie’s poll, which gathered 805 votes, shows block themes slightly leading the pack with 54% of users preferring them over classic themes (46%).

This is also probably at least partially reflective of Jamie’s audience and his focus on YouTube, which is (understandably) geared more toward block themes and the block editor than it is towards classic themes and the old school classic editor. I’d also venture to guess that developers make up a relatively low percentage of his dedicated audience compared to other user categories. Based on the kinds of videos he makes, it’s a reasonable assumption. To be frank, I’m actually surprised that block themes didn’t win by a larger margin in his survey.

My survey

The survey I ran had five questions and received a little over a hundred responses. It revealed some fascinating nuances about what’s really driving these preferences.

The questions I asked were:

When choosing a theme, what are your top three considerations?

Taking everything into consideration, do you prefer block themes or classic themes?

How would you primarily describe yourself?

How many years have you been using WordPress?

What's your overall mood about the direction WordPress themes are heading?

The responses revealed that when choosing a theme, WordPress users care most about three key factors:

• 😇 ease of use (27.59%),
• 🚀 performance/loading speed (21.72%),
• 🛠️ customization potential (18.62%).

And when it came to overall theme preferences?

It was an almost perfect three-way split:

• block themes (34.29%),
• no theme preference (34.29%),
• classic themes (31.43%).

The data also gave some extra context to those Reddit threads I mentioned earlier – the majority of my survey respondents actually identified as developers (41.24%), with many having 9 to 15 years of WordPress experience (28.26%). So despite some of those passionate developer critiques we saw on Reddit, these numbers hint at a quieter group of developers who might be warming up to block themes.

As for the overall mood about WordPress themes’ direction, the survey showed that the largest segment (35.96%) gave a middle-ground three-star rating. But also noteworthy is that the four and five star ratings received more votes than the one or two star ratings. This signals that overall we’re seeing a gradual shift towards acceptance of block themes.

My final take 💭

As someone who’s used both theme types extensively, I have to say that I slightly prefer block themes. However, I can absolutely appreciate the viewpoint of those who prefer classic themes. I actually think that the framing of this entire conversation needs to be viewed through the lens of how the two theme types function. Here’s what I mean:

With classic themes, it really is all about the theme itself and what the theme developers put into it to make it what it is.

In contrast, block themes themselves are partially irrelevant. It’s less about the theme and more about using the full site editor along with templates and patterns to customize your website. This is why you see block themes like Variations by Tyler Moore that have a default design, but that default design can easily be swapped out for one of his other templates. You can even mix-and-match parts of one template with another.

The same thing is true for our block themes here at Themeisle. Technically we have Raft, Neve FSE, and a few others, but you can use our FSE Design Pack with any of those themes to build whatever kind of website you need. The theme itself doesn’t even matter anymore.

My colleague Hardeep Asrani probably summarized it best when I asked him his thoughts on the subject:

I will say one thing about them, which is that classic themes aren’t one thing. All classic themes work differently, and each one has its own learning curve. In contrast, most block themes work the same way. If you know one, you kind of know the rest.

This is a generalization though and it depends on the theme. The lines aren’t as neatly binary as “block themes vs classic themes.”

So if you buy into the idea that block themes are better than classic themes, what you’re really buying into is the FSE system, whereas if you believe the opposite is true, it’s because you either really like some specific classic theme(s) or you’re a developer who prefers to use custom code in the “old way.”

And that’s my hot take. 🔥

If you read this entire article then you must be as passionate about the topic as I am. You probably have your own opinion as well. I’d love to read it. Add your voice to the conversation in the comments below and let’s chat.