20 WordPress Block Themes for Full Site Editing

When the block editor (Gutenberg) was released in Version 5.0, the response was just lukewarm. WordPress, however, kept improving the block editor in its every release and with newly added features, it has now become very competent. The ultimate objective is to enable full site editing in WordPress using the block editor. There are WordPress Block Themes for Full Site Editing available now for making your editing process more efficient, and this article will cover everything you need to know about it. 

What is Full Site Editing?

Full Site Editing (FSE) is nothing but a collection of WordPress features that focus on using blocks for all parts of your WordPress site. Blocks initially helped users to work around the content area but with full site editing, a lot of challenges would be encountered easily. FSE had a brief introduction in version 5.8, and in WordPress 5.9 that released in January 2022, there are more features added, making it more competent and convenient to use. 

WordPress Block Themes Explained

You know what WordPress themes are and you probably are using one. WordPress block theme is a fairly new concept. These make use of WordPress block editor and enables full site editing. With WordPress block themes, you can edit and customize any aspect of your website and are not limited to the theme features.  WordPress block themes used to use a Gutenberg plugin to work, but with the integration of FSE in version 5.9, it is no longer required. 

Difference Between WordPress Block Themes and Conventional Themes

What makes block themes different from the conventional ones is that while the latter only supports block editor and block-based plugins, block themes allow full site editing as mentioned earlier. A conventional theme has a Customizer under the ‘Appearance’ tab, while a block theme has an Editor instead. 

WordPress Block themes also offer better performance than conventional themes. With block editor being part of the WordPress core, using blocks to style your website adds minimal CSS overhead when compared to the CSS used by popular page builders. 

Another important advantage of the block theme is its flexibility. While only a developer could edit theme files earlier, with the release of version 5.9, you can edit any template of the block theme including header, footer, page or post easily, and you don’t really need to be a developer to do so. You can also have complete control over the styling including colours, layout, typography and more. 

It would have been clear to you by now that WordPress Block themes are truly advantageous and are one of the best things to have happened in WordPress. It is about time we switched to them and make complete use of their features. To make your work easier, here are the best WordPress Block Themes for Full Site Editing. 

1. Twenty Twenty-Two

This theme was shipped with version 5.9, so basically it is the default theme for WordPress 5.9. It is of course completely free and can be enabled once you switch to the new version of WordPress. It is in fact the official WordPress block theme for full site editing built by WordPress core developers. 

This theme works with FSE, meaning, you could make changes to your website’s typography, colour, layout and even header and footer to every aspect of your website as you need it, with the help of the editor. You can also access block patterns, templates and template parts that help you build a website from the scratch, be it a blog, portfolio, business site or a single page! 

2. Frost

Using the power of the WordPress block editor, Frost is a Full Site Editing theme that implements site-building and publishing media-rich content. The Frost theme is well-designed and filled with functional patterns such as hero and portfolio sections, call-to-actions, testimonials, and more.

Frost was developed by Brian Gardner the brain also behind the Genesis themes and has been available as a premium theme only. Frost was later acquired by WP Engine and it is now available for free. 

3. Wabi

If you are a writer or a publisher looking to build a website, Wabi is the best theme for you. This is one of the most elegant WordPress block themes for full site editing and foregrounds the simplistic design language of storytelling through clean lines, beautiful typography and a dynamic accent colour system.

The accent colour feature helps writers to pick a different page title background colour, making it unique from other pages or posts. With multiple style variants including light, dark, and dynamic colour schemes, Wabi is the most expressive and adaptable writing theme available. 

4. Bricksy

This one is a free, modern block-based WordPress theme. It offers timeless design elements with a modern layout and easy-to-use features. It has ready-to-use block patterns that make building a website an easy affair. With its full site editing feature, Bricksy offers website customisation with ease. 

The theme is lightweight, loads fast and is beginner-friendly. It offers a drag-and-drop function, making it easy to build a website from scratch. Bricksy also supports integration with WooCommerce, which allows you to establish an e-commerce site quite easily. 

5. Tove

Tove is a colourful and fun multi-purpose block theme built for full site editing. The theme is primarily designed for cafes and restaurants, but with FSE integrated into it, Tove can easily be used for any other type of website as well. 

Tove has over 40 block patterns, including six different header designs and seven-footer designs. It is lightweight and does not contain JavaScript, making it simple and small. Tove is a completely free block theme for full site editing and is available on WordPress.org for download. 

6. Blockbase

Blockbase by Automattic is a simple theme that supports full site editing. With minimal templates and design settings, you could build something beautiful with this block theme. This one undoubtedly is one of the best WordPress block themes for full site editing. 

Once you active the Blockbase theme, a site editor appears which helps you to edit various templates including Index template, front page, 404 page and search page. You can also add template parts such as header, footer and sidebar. Blockbase is an experimental full site editing theme that comes for free and can be downloaded from the WordPress repository. 

7. Aino

One of the most popular WordPress block themes for full site editing, Aino is a freemium theme that comes with flexible as well as creative page layouts using responsive grid and grid item blocks. Its detailed block settings help you build a website that works perfectly on every device. 

Aino block theme works in combination with the Aino Blocks plugin and can easily create advanced page layouts using Aino’s pre-designed block patterns. The block patterns enable you to add unique sections to your site and the theme also has templates for various pages.

8. Bai

Bai is a WordPress block theme that comes with Dark Mode option. The theme is responsive and is compatible with all popular browsers. The design of its block templates is best suitable for blog sites. 

Bai theme contains several typography and colour style options that suit every aspect of a website that including buttons, tables, lists, quotes and images. This one is a theme available for free from the WordPress repository. 

9. Naledi

Naledi is one of the simplest WordPress block themes for full site editing. The theme is inspired by nature and travel and is designed for blogs and personal websites. It comes with a set of templates and design settings that can be manipulated through Global Styles.

Naledi is pretty much the same as Blockbase, except that it offers a few more templates to play around with. The theme has an interesting default homepage template that is beautifully designed. Overall, Naledi is a free block theme that adds value to your full site editing. 

10. Jace

Jace is a black and gold full site editing block theme that is primarily made for blogging sites. If you are a fan of dark-themed websites, this theme would suit you best. This one is a responsive theme with clear typography and styles on its templates.

Jace comes with a hamburger menu for any screen size including desktop devices. The theme contains multiple block patterns under the category of featured, button, text and more. It is up for download in the WordPress repository and is completely free. 

11. Armando

Armando is a WordPress block theme with multiple block styles and block patterns including site headers, site footers and page layouts. It enables full site editing and is suitable for blog and sports teams’ websites. The theme comes with a variety of templates including About, News, Sidebar, Testimonials, and more. 

You can edit blog pages and posts directly from the site editor panel in this theme. Armando is a great theme to try out full site editing and is available for free at the WordPress repository. 

12. Ona

One of the most efficient WordPress block themes for full site editing, Ona is based on a minimal design style.  It comes with various pre-defined block patterns and is easy to customize colours and fonts via global options. This theme is perfect for fast optimized websites that have an instant impact on Core Web Vitals performance. 

Each template of Ona contains pages that are necessary for a website including about, contact and 404. It offers a user-friendly drag and drop interface to build a site quickly. The theme is free and suits best for travel, lifestyle, and fashion websites.

13. Hansen

Hansen is one of the most popular WordPress block themes for full site editing with various block styles and patterns. You can build beautiful, responsive and efficient websites with Hansen theme. 

This theme offers a lot of page templates and block patterns and is extremely efficient. Hansen was released in January 2022, quite close to the release date of WordPress 5.9 and is so far one of the best block themes available. 

14. Elyn

Elyn is a clean, minimal block theme that supports full site editing. It is elegant with eye-catchy designs and is suitable for building blog sites for cafes and restaurants. However, with FSE, you can easily customize it to suit your needs for any website that you want to build.

With this theme, you can choose to display blog posts in two formats – grid and centred. It also contains two full-page block patterns for the home and about page. The theme is free and can be downloaded from WordPress.org.

15. Alara

Alara is a modern WordPress block theme with a hint of vintage styling. It comes with a plethora of patterns that suit many varieties of websites. The theme is fully responsive in any device including mobile, laptop and even desktop devices. 

Alara aims to provide a new design, pattern or child theme every week for an entire year. The theme consists of two full-page patterns that combine multiple patterns. This one is also free to download from the WordPress repository. 

16. Rick

Rick is one of the easy-to-use WordPress block themes for full site editing and has clean, simple and elegant designs for building a site. The theme contains single post, 404 page and index page as templates and template parts include header, footer and main. 

Rick is beginner friendly and is also lightweight. It offers great readability with basic typography and colours. This theme is free and can be availed from WordPress.org.

17. Responsive FSE

This one is an experimental block theme for full site editing and as its name suggests, is fully responsive. Using this theme, you can easily change the complete layout of the post or page of your site by editing templates. There are also useful blocks to play around with like Site Logo, Post Title, Post Author, Query, etc. 

Responsive FSE is WooCommerce ready so that you can build an e-commerce site with the theme. The theme also allows users to add template Parts like header, footer, sidebar, etc. and also create new template parts. Like most of the previous block themes, this one is also free to download. 

18. Clove

Clove is a simple, beautiful and versatile block theme designed for artists and is inspired by nature and retro illustrations. Since Clove supports full site editing, it comes with a set of templates and design settings that can be manipulated through Global Styles. 

The theme is free to use and contains beautiful block patterns. It also has a feature to integrate to social media using social media icons. It also supports WooCommerce which enables artists to sell their artwork online. 

19. Mebae

A fun and interesting WordPress block theme – that is Mebae. It comes with a two-column layout and a vertical navigation menu along with a dark colour scheme and lime green gradient colour headings. 

Mebae has six block patterns, including the cover header with the background of the stars and the feature images with fun round shapes. It is free and can be availed from the WordPress repository. 

20. Emulsion

Emulsion is a universal theme that allows you to use both WordPress Customizer and the functions of Full site editing. This means you can use both features generously to edit your site. You can use them by enabling the theme scheme option in the customizer.

Wrapping Up

Full site editing is a breakthrough feature in the history of WordPress. If you haven’t used it yet, you should as it will do wonders for your website. The WordPress block themes for full site editing helps you customize the website the way you want. Try them out and let us know your experience in the comment section.