Classic theme or block theme: which should you choose for WordPress?
In short: If you're building a new site, a block theme makes more sense in most cases: you change the header, footer, templates and styles in the Site Editor without code, and most of the design tools WordPress has added in recent years only work with block themes. A classic theme can still be the right choice if you have an established site built on Customizer settings, widgets or custom PHP templates, or if a plugin you rely on doesn't support block themes.
The difference between them
A classic theme draws pages with PHP template files such as header.php, single.php and footer.php. Color, logo and layout options live under Appearance › Customize, sidebar content under Appearance › Widgets and menus under Appearance › Menus. A change the theme doesn't offer usually means writing code.
A block theme defines its templates as HTML files holding block markup (the templates and parts folders), and its colors, fonts and spacing in a theme.json file. All of it changes with blocks under Appearance › Editor, the Site Editor. This model arrived with WordPress 5.9 in January 2022.
The post and page editor is the same in both kinds of theme. Your posts, pages and media stay where they are in the database; what changes is how you build the layout around them.
What changes day to day
- Editing the header: with a classic theme you're limited to the options it gives you in the Customizer. With a block theme you open the header part and add, remove or move blocks.
- Menus: in a block theme the menu is the Navigation block. You can import a menu from your classic theme into it.
- Sidebar: instead of the Widgets screen, it's a template part made of blocks.
- The Customize screen: with a block theme it doesn't appear under Appearance; the Site Editor and Styles do its job.
- A different layout for one page: in a block theme you create a new template and assign it to the page, with no file to write.
What a block theme gives you
The biggest difference is that changing the layout doesn't depend on code or on the options the theme allows. Changes you make in the Site Editor aren't written to the theme's files but to a layer in the database on top of the theme. That's why theme updates don't wipe them, and you can reset any template to the theme's original when you want.
With block themes, WordPress loads stylesheets only for the blocks used on the page. That alone won't make a site fast; images, plugins and hosting matter more. But it cuts unused CSS from the start.
Tools such as the Site Editor, Styles, template parts and style variations only work with block themes, and upcoming design features are expected to build on the same model.
When a classic theme still makes sense
- Your site has been running for years, with dozens of Customizer settings, lots of widget content and PHP changes in a child theme. Switching means rebuilding all of it.
- A plugin you use depends on a particular classic theme's hooks or on the Customizer, and doesn't work with a block theme.
- You build every page with a page builder and the theme is just an empty shell. Then the kind of theme hardly matters; most page builders work with both.
If none of these applies and you're building a new site, there's little to gain from starting with a classic theme today.
Moving from a classic theme to a block theme
- Take a full backup and try the switch on a staging copy first.
- List your Customizer settings, widgets, menu locations and child theme changes. None of these carries over to a block theme on its own.
- Check on the staging copy that your plugins work with the block theme.
- Activate the block theme; rebuild the header, footer and sidebar in the Site Editor and import the menu into the Navigation block.
- Check the front page, a few posts, archives and the search page on a phone and a desktop, then repeat the steps on the live site.
Your posts, pages, categories and permalinks don't change. As long as you keep the same SEO plugin, meta descriptions and structured data stay as they are.
Where Wiozen Theme fits
Wiozen Theme is a block theme. It has five ready-made designs for news, technology, finance, food and guide sites; you pick a design in the theme panel, then change colors, type and layout in the Site Editor. Templates you change are kept when the theme updates and when you switch designs.
The theme leaves SEO, forms, caching, security and backups to plugins, so you keep your settings if you change themes later. It has "Full width" and "Blank canvas" templates for page builders. Use a child theme or the Site Editor rather than editing the theme's own files; on an install with modified files, the theme panel and updates lock.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a child theme with a block theme?
Yes. A child theme can change styles with its own theme.json and templates with its own templates folder. The Site Editor covers most changes; a child theme helps when you need changes at the file level.
Will my posts be deleted when I switch from a classic to a block theme?
No. Posts, pages, media, categories and comments stay in the database. What changes is the theme's layout, the widgets and where the menu sits.
Are block themes faster?
Not by themselves. With block themes WordPress loads styles only for the blocks in use, which cuts CSS. Page speed depends more on images, plugins and hosting.
Will classic themes keep working?
WordPress fully runs classic themes today. New design tools only come to block themes, though, so starting a new site on a block theme saves you a switch later.
If you're building a new site on a block theme, download Wiozen Theme for free and start with one of its designs.