Introduction
I have written this course about full site editing for theme developers to help you learn how to use the new WordPress features, as well as their limitations.
Who is this course for?
This course is an overview of block themes and full site editing for both experienced and beginner theme developers. Advanced users may also find these pages useful as references and by answering common questions.
Are there any prerequisites?
I recommend that you have basic theme development knowledge, such as basic PHP, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Having experience with and knowledge of the block editor is also helpful.
In parts of this course, I make references to classic PHP-based themes, and I make comparisons between classic themes and block themes. Without going into detail, I will discuss concepts like functions.php, theme support, enqueuing, and the template hierarchy. If these concepts are new to you, everything in the lessons might not be perfectly clear, but you should still be able to use the code examples to create your first block theme.
You also need a WordPress installation and a code editor to edit your files.
What you will learn
You will learn how block themes work and how to create a basic theme. You will learn how to use the Site Editor and theme.json to achieve the design you want for your theme.
My goal with this website is for you to gain enough information and knowledge about block themes and site editing to decide if you want to use and create block themes.
Recommended learning path
Complete the lessons in the introduction and then use the following chapters as references for continuing to improve your block theme.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Theme.json
- Theme.json color options
- Theme.json typography: Font family
- Theme.json typography: Font size
- Theme.json typography: Line height, font weight, and text decoration
- Theme.json layout and spacing options
- Theme.json elements
- How to add hover and focus styles using theme.json
- How to add box-shadows with theme.json
- How to use custom CSS in theme.json
- Style variations
- How to filter theme.json with PHP
- Cheat sheet: Every setting that you can remove using theme.json
Chapter 3: Templates, parts and patterns
Chapter 4: Child themes, hybrid themes and gradual adoption
Chapter 5: Miscellaneous
- Accessibility in full site editing themes
- Block style variations and section styles
- Block variations
- Block variation examples for full site editing
- Locking blocks and templates
- Community resources and how to stay up to date with changes to Site Editing
- Block reference with block supports, attributes, and links to documentation
- Troubleshooting block themes
- How to remove default block styles
- How to add default blocks to the block editor