A couple of weeks ago, Ellen Bauer (co-founder of theme shop ElmaStudio) asked this question on Twitter:

It got lots of interesting responses. But what jumped out to me was this response from Keith Devon.

This post hit a nerve with me because Keith builds websites for clients (and talks about it on the WP Café podcast). So, it was interesting to hear that this question aimed at premium theme creators also stood out to him.

And I can see why: people involved in the Gutenberg project have commented about “the end of themes,” at least as we know them.

This reply came to my mind this week when Rich Tabor, who works for Automattic, posted this:

I recommend watching the short video included in the post, as it will help you understand the rest of this post.

Because what I want to dive into are three topics:

1. What is a theme?
2. What might themes look like in the future?
3. What does this mean for professionals building websites for clients.

But before we get to themes, we need to first look at WordPress itself.

There isn’t one WordPress

With WordPress’s vast market share, it’s clear people do not just use it for a particular purpose. WordPress powers everything from personal blogs, attracting only a few visits to sites like NerdWallet.com, which serve millions of page views per month.

The approaches to building these websites also vary with such different use cases.

People who start a personal website on WordPress like to tinker with technology. Unlike in the past, most do not know how to program.

Companies that run WordPress, on the other hand, have developers on staff or rely on freelancers and agencies to maintain and extend their websites.

So we have people who want to change everything on their website and who don’t mind if they break something. After all, that’s how you learn.

And we have companies that depend on their website for survival. Consistency, stability, and reliability are paramount for them.

Until the introduction of the block editor, WordPress managed to bridge the gap by not doing much. Essentially, the strategy was “if you don’t do anything, you can’t do anything wrong.”

Over the last few years, WordPress has changed rapidly to make up for lost time. I’m all in favor of this. While some WordPress professionals look down on “end-user features,” I know that we need this audience.

I want to keep this email short, so I won’t go into details on why freelancers and agencies should support and encourage WordPress’ Do It Yourself focus. I’m happy to expand on that if you’re interested. Just reply and let me know!

Next, let’s look at why the needs of professionals and end users are so different when it comes to themes.

WordPress.com: A different world

From 2013 to 2015, I worked at Automattic, where I created, maintained, and supported themes on the WordPress.com platform.

As such, I gained unique insights into what end users expect from their websites, and many of these were very surprising.

In the world of client services, things are clear:

1. Whatever our clients need, we can deliver, whether that’s a full-on custom theme or an adaptation of a free or premium theme.
2. Clients change themes only when needed. Websites stay the same for years with only minor design changes.
3. We safeguard our clients against potential issues by using backups and keeping code in source control.

But the DYI crowd is different:

1. Customizations are difficult or even impossible unless the theme supports the site editor. But even with block themes, customizations are not always easy. Therefore, clients are very attached to any changes they manage to make.
2. People like to change themes often. For some, that’s part of letting their creativity work. For others, their requirements change, as they don’t do any discovery the way professionals do. Often, they are also disappointed by the actual theme compared to the demo and, therefore, want a different one.
3. End users only deal with what they can see in the WordPress admin. They are not concerned with whether their changes are stored in source control.

When we consider these different needs, we can see that classic and block themes work well for freelancers and agencies but not for end users.

What is a theme?

When we look at a theme, it’s:

• Templates that control which data and functionality is displayed on the frontend and how (either through PHP and HTML or blocks).
• Styles that decide how templates look (CSS and block styles).
• Helpers to assist users with creating content (shortcodes, meta boxes, patterns…).
• Configurations stored in the database (menus, widgets, customizations done through the interface…).

All of these elements are bundled together in a package called a theme. How these things are packaged together doesn’t pose an issue when activating a theme.

However, it causes issues when deactivating a theme because all configurations and customizations are tied to that specific theme.

This means that end users lose the hours they spent fidgeting with WordPress to get the theme to look how they want it, which is a very frustrating experience.

It also causes issues for theme creators. Users want a theme that looks exactly like they want it to look. Now, the same design can work well with different use cases.

But that means designers either need to have a bunch of themes based on the same design, one for each use case, or they build a big “all-purpose” theme that contains all the elements needed for each use case.

What will a theme be?

We can only guess based on the current explorations that the Gutenberg team is doing.

And this is where a lot of WordPress professionals get confused. Without insight into how end users deal with themes, it all seems very strange.

When I was at Automattic, we had many active themes to maintain, and it was very hard to do anything besides maintenance. Lots of themes also mean lots of choices, and users get overwhelmed by the sheer number of available themes.

We couldn’t use multipurpose themes because they are hard to set up unless you import a ready-made site. Once you have content and a live site, this is impossible, as you’ll mix dummy content and real content and risk overwriting critical settings.

The idea is to decompose the package that makes up a theme. With block themes, this is now technically possible.

Block themes are made up entirely of blocks. Every block type shares the same system for settings and style management. You can keep the same block and switch out the styles and settings.

In addition, we’re relying less on templates, as there are only so many available. It’s common to use pages to manage entire sections of the site, and page templates and patterns play an important role here.

So the idea is to have different parts that are then put together, or composed, into what we would today call a theme—essentially the behavior and look of a website. And that’s then a “composable theme.”

This removes the need to create one theme for each use case and allows users to keep their customizations when they switch themes, which is a key factor for WordPress’ success.

To go beyond, the project has identified the need for more portability—not only for theme customizations but also for data. This is what the Data Liberation project is all about. In an ideal scenario, users can switch between themes and plugins and not lose any data.

Of course, such a system doesn’t solve the issue of being overwhelmed. It’s nice to have lots of styles and patterns to choose from. But there’s a solution for this: an onboarding assistant.

Themes like OllieWP are already experimenting with such a system. Right now, it’s limited, but it’s an improvement over the default no-onboarding.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Automattic didn’t also introduce an assistant powered by artificial intelligence. Offers like ZipWP already allow you to “generate” a website through an AI tool. I used quotes here because ZipWP doesn’t create the theme, only the content.

But there’s no reason an AI couldn’t build a theme. Given WordPress.com’s investment in AI, it is a logical next step.

What does this mean for freelancers and agencies?

Whenever WordPress changes, it impacts the people using the software, including us, the professionals building websites for clients.

But there is no need to panic. In Luxembourg, we have a saying: “Nothing gets eaten as hot as it is cooked.” I don’t know whether it translates well to English, but the idea is that you should sit and wait. Because after a bit of tumult, things will simmer down, or they won’t be as bad as they initially appeared.

I try to remember this in my daily life, especially when it comes to WordPress “drama,” which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that important.

There’s also no need to get upset. I try to focus on the things I can control and learn to live with those that I can’t.

I have little influence over WordPress’s direction, so my approach is to make the most of what it gives me.

And if we get to the point of composable themes, then there will be a means to make them work for client projects. I’m even excited about themes becoming more interoperable. Because it will help standardize and speed up project delivery.

The more choices there are, the more people will be overwhelmed. Whenever people are overwhelmed, they start looking for a trusted guide—which could be you!

However, I wouldn’t recommend ignoring all this. Many plugins and themes pretend that you can ignore all of Core WordPress and just use their system.

I don’t consider that to be realistic. First of all, if you don’t like where WordPress is going, then why continue using it? Second, you are making your entire livelihood dependent on one company—a company that can be sold, change direction, sunset a product, or close down at any moment.

WordPress is still a good option for building simple websites for clients, and it is the best option for creating more complex and custom ones.

If you want to continue to use WordPress in the future, you need to learn block theme development.

And my Block Theme Academy course is there to help you. It provides all of the knowledge and tools necessary to start building block-powered websites for clients.

Tom, a student of my Block Theme Academy course, recently shared these two websites that his agency, BlueBee, built: MV Milk and Food Service and P&K Lacey.

I’ll send you a more detailed case study in a future email, but I wanted to give you a glimpse at what’s possible now.

So now it’s your turn!