Jul 2, 2026, 4:58 AMThe State of WordPress Themes — An Analysis of 14,800 WordPress.org Themes (June 2026)
"One of the most-asked questions in WordPress 2026 is whether block themes — the architecture WordPress’s core team has championed since the Full Site Editing project began in late 2021 — have actually been adopted. The directory gives a remarkably clear answer: theme authors moved. Users didn’t."
https://wp.md/blog/state-of-wordpress-themes-2026/
#wordpress #blockthemes
@hgg interesting 🧐 100 themes would be more than enough for people to choose from, and block themes (as much as I enjoy them) have largely been a waste of time and effort 😭
I guess it’s too late now, but quality over quantity would be a solid approach to the number of themes available.
Jul 2, 2026, 6:32 AM@mikehindleuk
I don’t see it that way: block themes offer, amongst other things, incredible flexibility. However, many agencies and private users stick with traditional themes because it’s more convenient for them and they don’t want to have to adapt to a new way of thinking. 🤷🏻♂️
@hgg Completely agree, and I love using them as much as you do. But if they're not being widely adopted, there's a bit of an issue...
Jul 2, 2026, 1:50 PM@mikehindleuk
Of course, you’re absolutely right about that 👍🏻
@hgg @mikehindleuk
At the moment block themes are ideal for people who know WordPress and are not developers.
They can customize templates and we even get along with the (awful) experience of setting up a decent navigation.
But unfortunately WordPress has lost the way in the last couple of years: Futile law suits eat up the energy, and what energy remains is used for features like RTC (that could well be a plugin).
When what would be imo really be needed is to make FSE beginner-friendly.
@pmmueller @hgg Well said, Peter. The block themes and editor are actually a perfect solution for me.
But yes, you're absolutely right. It's not a good look. All it really needs is better management and a stronger vision of what it actually is (or wants to be).
Jul 2, 2026, 1:51 PM@pmmueller @mikehindleuk
Absolutely 👍🏻
For me, the biggest hurdle was to convert all my "classic" content (<500 posts/pages) to "block" content. I took this first step quite early (2018-19?) with UKU by Elmastudio (as an hybrid magazine theme). After the conversion it was quite easy to switch to #TT4 end of 2023 (including post formats).
BTW, a great conversion tool is the plugin "Find my blocks" to find old classics.
Anyway @hgg I'm looking forward to watch your keynote at #WCMA via WordPress.tv.
@NickBohle @hgg Thanks for the tip on the plugin, Nick.
I bet it felt good finally getting that many pages and posts converted over.
To be honest, my game changer was the query loop with post formats (and respective templates).
It was such a relief to get rid of the categories image, quote, aside, etc.
@hgg
I still believe that something like a Customizer for block themes is missing making it easy for beginners to change basic settings per click.
Jamie Marsland compares classic and block themes and suggests exactly that as a solution.
Some block themes like Ollie Pro and Twentig One are going that way, but it really should be an additional layer in the Site Editor itself.