WordPress themes are facing a significant crisis. The rapid evolution of Full Site Editing (FSE) has introduced complexities that make it increasingly difficult to create and sustain a successful theme product. As a result, the number of new high-quality, well-maintained themes remains limited.
Compounding this challenge is an ongoing debate about the very nature of themes. Questions like “What is a theme?” and “Do we even need themes anymore?” have sparked confusion within the WordPress ecosystem. This lack of clarity has led to hesitation among developers and users, slowing the adoption of new theme paradigms.
The consequences are clear: While investments in WordPress tooling continue, themes, the core components that users interact with, have seen little external innovation or funding. This stagnation threatens to undermine WordPress’ appeal, especially compared to competitors offering more structured, user-friendly solutions.
Even WordPress.org acknowledges this issue, phrasing the problem as themes being too similar. In a post from Jan 2nd, 2025, they claim “WordPress Themes Need More Weird”, directly suggesting to “Design for specific use cases”.
To address these issues, we must first understand what themes are meant to accomplish and why they are currently fallingshort of user needs.
What Is a Theme?
The definition of a theme varies depending on perspective. Traditionally, a WordPress theme has been understood as the visual presentation layer that controls the look and feel of the content. This technical perspective is widely acceptedamong developers, the Gutenberg team, and professional agencies operating within the WordPress ecosystem.
However, this perspective does not necessarily align with how most users see themes. Casual WordPress users do not think about presentation layers or content structuring; instead, they view themes as a means to solve a problem. For them, a theme is not just about design. It is a ready-made solution that helps them achieve their goal of launching a functional website as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Over the years, WordPress themes have moved toward becoming flexible, design-agnostic tools, focusing on customization and modularity rather than pre-built solutions tailored to specific industries or user needs. While this shift has given developers greater control, and with the introduction of the Site Editor, even designers, it has also diminished the practical utility of themes for everyday users simply looking for an easy way to set up a website.
This growing disconnect between the technical and user-driven definitions of themes has led to an identity crisis within the WordPress ecosystem. Are themes merely frameworks for design, or should they be packaged solutions that address specific user needs? Until this question is answered, themes will continue to struggle with adoption and relevance.
The User Experience: A Realtor’s Journey
To understand the gap between WordPress themes and user expectations, let’s take a practical example: Imagine a realtor based in rural America who needs a website. Numerous platforms promise a simple, do-it-yourself website creation experience. How do these platforms cater to the user’s needs?
Competitor Approaches:
- Squarespace: The homepage prominently features a “Templates” link, leading to an interactive wizard recommending templates based on user needs. Even without the wizard, users can easily navigate to a “Real Estate & Properties” category showcasing templates designed explicitly for realtors.
- Wix: Although not as streamlined as Squarespace, Wix places “Templates” as a secondary item in its main menu. The templates page is utility-driven, offering clear filtering options. A “Real Estate” category under “Business & Services” provides realtors with pre-designed templates tailored to their industry.
- Elementor: The “Elementor Kit Library” is slightly harder to find but still embraces a utility-first approach. While Elementor does not yet have a dedicated “Real Estate” category, it features filters like “Business” and “Agency.” Users can find templates such as “Personal Chef Website Kit” or “Real Estate Agency Website Kit” that directly solve their specific needs.
The WordPress Theme Repository:
Now, let’s compare this experience to the WordPress theme repository. If our realtor searches for a real estate theme, their primary method is keyword-based, yielding inconsistent results. There is no structured filtering system that immediately presents industry-specific themes. Instead, they are met with a mix of classic and block-based themes, many of which are not clearly designed to solve their problem.
The only remotely structured listing in the WordPress theme repository is under “Subject,” but even this categorization is chaotic. For instance, in the “Food and Drinks” category, users will find themes such as “Holiday Quest,” “Newspaper Flash,” and “Travel Quest,” none of which clearly address the needs of a food business. This lack of clarity creates a frustrating experience for users who simply want a theme that aligns with their business.
A look at the most downloaded block themes reveals a similar issue. The “Twenty-X” themes may be familiar to long-time WordPress users, but for newcomers, they do not indicate their purpose. Popular block themes like “Extendable,” “Yith Wonder,” and “Ollie” also fail to communicate their utility to non-technical users. These themes do not offer a clear answer for a realtor simply looking for a quick and effective website solution.
The Path Forward: Fixing WordPress Themes
To address these challenges and restore themes as essential problem-solving tools for users, WordPress must take several crucial steps:
- Reframe the Purpose of Themes: Themes should be more than just aesthetic frameworks. They should be solution-driven, providing users with ready-made options that cater to specific industries and use cases.
- Improve Discoverability: The WordPress theme repository needs a complete overhaul to introduce structured categories and utility-driven filtering. Users should be able to browse themes by industry or business type, just like on competing platforms.
- Enhance Accessibility for Casual Users: The theme selection process should be intuitive, guiding users toward the best choices for their needs. A wizard-style recommendation engine, similar to Squarespace, could be an effective solution.
- Prioritize Ease of Setup: Full Site Editing (FSE) must become more user-friendly, reducing complexity and making it easier for new users to build and manage their websites. If WordPress insists on FSE as the future, it must match the usability of traditional, classic themes.
Conclusion: Making WordPress Themes Relevant Again
If WordPress wants to remain a dominant force in the website-building space, it must rethink the role of themes. The current theme landscape is unfocused, failing to address the practical needs of users looking for simple, industry-specific solutions.
The shift towards Full Site Editing has complicated the onboarding process for new users, making it harder to find and implement themes that solve real-world problems. Meanwhile, competitors have doubled down on ease of use, ensuring their template libraries offer immediate value and clear solutions.
For WordPress to regain its competitive edge, it must make themes relevant again. By emphasizing utility over flexibility, improving discoverability, and prioritizing an intuitive user experience, WordPress can ensure that themes serve as powerful tools rather than confusing obstacles.
I agree with the analysis of the challenges in the WordPress ecosystem, but I see two major crises emerging clearly.
The first concerns themes, and it is directly tied to the evolution of the WordPress core. With the introduction of Full Site Editing (FSE) and native FSE themes, it is now possible to globally or specifically edit every element of a webpage (header, footer, content, sidebars, etc.). This evolution meets the fundamental expectations of users: easily customizing global elements while also creating specific templates (homepage, landing pages, posts, archives, etc.). While necessary, this shift inevitably disrupts the ecosystem of classic themes.
The second crisis I foresee concerns site and page builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder. The integration of Gutenberg blocks into the WordPress core, along with their continuous improvement, makes the site-building experience increasingly seamless and coherent. This presents a real challenge for these third-party builders, as WordPress is now natively providing what these tools used to offer as a key advantage.
These two crises, revolving around themes and page builders, seem unavoidable to me. They represent a significant transformation in the WordPress ecosystem, which will need to adapt to maintain its balance between innovation and stability.