WordPress Block Themes Vs Classic Themes: Everything You Need to Know

WordPress gives its users the comfort of choosing pre-designed themes to help them achieve their preferred look for their websites. After the introduction of the Full Site Editing facility in WordPress, users can enjoy the advantages of block themes. In simple words, users now have the options to use either block themes or classic themes for their website.

However, determining which is better might be challenging. To help you make an effective decision for your website, we have come up with this WordPress block themes Vs classic themes article, in which you will learn about their features in details and their comparison.

Let us begin with a brief introduction to the WordPress blocks themes and classic themes.

Introduction to blog themes and classic themes

1. Block themes

Block themes were invented in 2022 with the release of WordPress. These are the advanced WordPress themes that are mainly designed for Full Site Editing. As the name suggests, in block themes, each website element, including header, footer, etc is built using blocks. This allows users to customize pages using a visual drag and drop facility with Gutenberg block editor without any coding.

Key features of WordPress block editors include:

• Offers Full Site Editing facility to enable users to edit each part of their website.
• The Site editor in WordPress block themes eliminates the need for traditional theme customizers.
• It makes the process of modifying website typography, layouts and color combination effortless for users.
• Users can easily change their website templates without coding.
• Speeds up the page building process with block patterns and templates.

Now that you have a clear idea of block themes, let us focus on the classic themes.

2. Classic themes

As mentioned above, classic themes are traditional WordPress theme that support PHP templates. The work with widgets for site designing and requires WordPress customizers for customization. They are compatible with a wide range of WordPress plugins and page builders.

Key features of classic themes

• It enables users to modify site colors, settings and layouts using theme customizers.
• It is compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, Divi etc.  
• Classic themes rely on widgets for side bars and menus to customize navigation.
• They follow PHP template files like footer.php, function.php and more.

In a nutshell, WordPress classic themes follow the typical rigid WordPress theme pattern.

Let us have a look at the competitive study between the duo in WordPress block themes Vs classic themes detailed comparison.

WordPress block themes vs classic themes: detailed comparison

1. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Editing & customization

The first thing that comes to mind while building a website is editing and customization.  

When it comes to WordPress block themes Vs classic themes in terms of editing or customizing, blocks themes are more flexible than the traditional WordPress classic themes. This is because, the classic theme users can edit only using WordPres customizer but block theme users can use the customizer as well as Full Site Editor to make your preferred changes to the website.

Creating a website that looks just the way you want can be a challenge. Whether to opt for block themes or classic themes mostly depends on your idea and skills. If you are a developer, you can use code to achieve your preferred look, whereas non-techies need to rely on the features and functionalities that the tool they are using offers. On the other hand, UI/UX designers are the ones who probably use both the approach or any one of them.

2. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes:

The next differentiating feature in our WordPress block themes Vs classic themes' competitive study is the storage space of both the tools. Classic themes save your template files directly in your website's root directory. In contrast, block themes store temples in the templates folder.

Moreover, template parts in the classic themes can be kept in any directory, but the block theme template parts are stored in particular "parts" folder.

Classic themes can work with theme.json but with manual efforts to ensure that the styles appear the same way in the frontend and editor. Conversely, block themes are natively compatible with theme.json. As a result, styles are displayed perfectly in the frontend and editor without any manual effort.

3. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Website speed

It is worth mentioning how both the themes affect a website's speed in this block theme vs classic themes study. Block themes are generally based on WordPress core blocks and a standardized styling method supported by theme.json. It completely eliminates the need for additional code which ultimately results in a consistent loading style.  Such themes also reduce CSS bloat as designs are mostly managed centrally.

This reduces the need for extra custom code and heavy dependencies, resulting in cleaner output and more consistent loading behavior. Since styles are managed centrally, block themes can also minimize CSS bloat.

Unlike block themes, classic themes rely on custom PHP templates, CSS, and even in some cases third-party tools or page builders. A properly built classic theme can be fast, but the performance majorly depends on the coding structure or how well it is coded, and the number of external CSS scripts it loads.

4. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Security

Classic themes are comparatively older than block themes, which means their security vulnerabilities are known to the users. So it is anticipated that most security vulnerabilities of classic themes are already addressed and patched, but older themes are usually not updated on a regular basis, which bear the risk of known vulnerabilities.  

In contrast, block themes are new in the market, which means its security vulnerabilities are yet to be found. As these themes are dependent on the WordPress core functionality, the chances of theme related vulnerabilities are less.

Moreover, there is a little involvement of custom PHP in block themes, which decreases the scope of developer specific security issues. Considering the security factor in the block themes Vs classic theme context, we could say that both types of themes are equal in quality.  A poorly coded classic theme can be as dangerous as Javascript related issues in block themes.

5. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes:Responsiveness

When the factor of comparison is responsiveness, both the themes score the same. Thanks to WordPress block editor which provides the feature of responsive designs to both block themes and classic themes.  However, block themes are slightly more advantageous than classic themes because of their integration with the block editor. Classic themes require the support of additional customization to utilize block editor's responsive capacity.

Above everything, block editors are developed with the mobile-first approach, which signifies that responsiveness is their native feature.

6. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: PHP and HTML

Classic themes have a heavy reliance on PHP to showcase content. Besides this, they are also dependent on PHP for text translations and making conditions. On the other hand, page templates in block themes are built as HTML files that has block markup instead of traditional PHP template files.

Note: WP Event Manager offers a set of WordPress event themes that you can rely on for your events website.

Wrapping up

The invention of Full Site Editing with block themes has given birth to the confusion of whether to choose block themes or classic themes among users. We hope that our Block themes Vs Classic themes guide, you will help you understand both the concept and choose the most suitable one for your business.