WordPress themes explained
Understand what a WordPress theme is, the difference between classic and block themes, and what changing a theme actually means for your site.
A WordPress theme is the design layer of your website — it controls the overall look, layout, fonts, and colors. Think of it as the clothes your website wears. Your content stays the same; the theme changes how everything is presented.
Quick summary
Every WordPress site has one active theme at a time. The theme controls how your site looks and where things appear. There are two types: classic themes (the traditional kind) and block themes (a newer, more flexible approach). Changing a theme is possible, but it's a significant change that requires planning. We handle theme changes for our clients.
What a theme controls
Themes handle the visual and structural layer of your site:
- Page layout — headers, footers, sidebars
- Typography — fonts, sizes, line spacing
- Colors — background, text, buttons, links
- Navigation — where menus appear
- Widget areas — where sidebars and footer columns live
- Overall spacing and visual style
What a theme does NOT control: your actual content (pages, posts, images, products). That content lives in the WordPress database and moves with you if you ever change themes.
Classic themes vs block themes
WordPress has two distinct generations of themes, and they work very differently.
Classic themes
The traditional approach used for most of WordPress's history. They use PHP templates to control layout and the WordPress Customizer for settings like logo and colors.
Examples: Divi, Astra, GeneratePress, OceanWP, Avada, Flatsome, most themes built before 2022.
You edit via: Appearance → Customize, Appearance → Menus, Appearance → Widgets.
Block themes
The newer approach introduced with WordPress 5.9. Everything — including the header, footer, and layout — is built with blocks and edited in the Site Editor.
Examples: Twenty Twenty-Two, Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Four, Kadence (block version), GeneratePress (block version).
You edit via: Appearance → Editor (the Site Editor).
Most sites built by Chykalophia before 2024 use classic themes or a page builder on top of a classic theme. Newer builds may use block themes. If you're not sure which yours is, check Appearance in your dashboard — if you see "Widgets" and "Menus," it's a classic theme; if you see "Editor," it's a block theme.
What is a page builder?
Many WordPress sites use a page builder — a plugin that adds a visual drag-and-drop editor on top of the theme. Popular page builders include Elementor, Divi Builder, and Beaver Builder.
When a site uses a page builder, much of the visual design is controlled by the page builder rather than the theme directly. The theme still provides the global framework (header, footer, overall settings), but the content areas are built in the page builder.
See What is Elementor? for more on how page builders work.
How themes are installed and activated
Themes are installed from the WordPress.org theme directory, purchased from third-party marketplaces, or built custom. Only one theme can be active at a time.
To see what theme your site is currently using: go to Appearance → Themes in your dashboard. The active theme is highlighted.
Don't activate a different theme without consulting us
Switching to a different theme can break your site's layout, menus, widgets, and page builder content. It's not like changing a background color — it can require significant rebuild work. Always discuss a theme change with us first.
Keeping your theme updated
Your theme receives updates from the developer — for security patches, bug fixes, and new features. Outdated themes are a security risk.
- Updates appear in Dashboard → Updates when they're available.
- Before updating, we recommend having a recent backup.
- See how to update plugins safely — theme updates work the same way.
- We handle theme updates as part of our care plan.
Child themes
A child theme is a copy of a parent theme that you can customize without touching the original code. If your site was set up by us, we may have created a child theme for your custom design changes.
Here's why child themes matter: if you edit a theme directly and then update it, your changes are overwritten by the update. A child theme protects your customizations. Never modify a theme's code directly without a child theme in place.
Common questions
Related guides
- Using the WordPress site editor
- How to edit your navigation menu
- Editing your footer & widget areas
- Changing your logo, site title & favicon
- WordPress updates explained
Need a hand?
Learn more
Changing your logo, site title & favicon
Learn how to update your WordPress site's logo, display name, tagline, and the small icon that appears in browser tabs (the favicon).
Using the WordPress site editor
A practical guide to the WordPress Site Editor (Full Site Editing) — how to navigate it, edit your header and footer, and make site-wide design changes.