September 25, 2022 — Block Themes have introduced more versatility to our site design than ever before. With the highly customizable theme.json file, themes can now hold multiple design styles, giving users flexibility to quickly change their site’s aesthetic. From there, individual blocks can be further customized to a site owner’s design needs.

In this session we will discuss the global styles feature and explore editing block styles for a personal site.

Target Audience
Beginner -> Intermediate

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September 16, 2022 — Learn the basics of building the simplest functional block theme possible from scratch using a text editor and local development environment.

September 16, 2022 — Being able to edit a theme in the Site Editor is handy, especially if you’re using it as the base for a new theme. But where do those changes get saved? What happens when you make changes to Global Styles, Block styles, Theme template files, and template parts? What happens when you make changes to the theme files, and changes to the Site Editor; which take precedence? In this session, we’ll be answering these questions.

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September 15, 2022 — What goes into deciding which font(s) to use? Where might you get your fonts? How do you hook your font up within a block theme? What are variable fonts, and should you use them?

In this workshop we will explore:

– Some considerations for choosing a font
– Where to find fonts and how to download and convert to proper formats
– A brief overview of variable fonts and when to consider using them
– How to hook up a font in a block theme (hint: theme.json)
– Discuss the future of fonts in WordPress full site editing

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September 12, 2022 — One of the concerns that developers voiced regarding Block Themes and the Site Editor is that it gives users too much freedom to edit the site design, select colors, or modify blocks. More complex websites with many editors and departments who produce content need guardrails to enforce publishing standards and adherence to brand color schemas and design systems.

In this session, we’ll be looking at the Block Locking options available in WordPress, and show you how you can restrict your Block Themes from user interference.

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August 28, 2022 — Have you ever wondered how block themes are developed from an idea, through a Figma file, into WordPress, and beyond? If so, this social learning space is for you! Join Sarah Snow as she walks intermediate WordPress users through the high-level process many theme developers take to design a theme from start to finish.

August 19, 2022 — In Block Theme Builders: Design in Figma, we got familiar with Figma, made a copy of the Theme Template, made it our own, and many of you asked: how do I make this into a theme? Well, let’s do it!

Join us, as we take our Figma design file and convert it into a block theme. We’ll show you how to set up colors, typography and maybe some more (if we have time).

August 17, 2022 — Block themes represent an existing shift in how WordPress themes are developed. It’s now possible to create an entirely new WordPress theme in the Site Editor and export it to be used wherever you need it.

In this session, we’ll be looking at a new WordPress plugin called Create Block Theme, that allows to you export your newly designed theme over your existing theme, as a new custom theme, or even as a child theme.

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August 10, 2022 — Are you a theme builder looking to transition to the new era of block themes? Or maybe you’re new to Figma and curious about how you might go from zero to hero with your block theme design? Join us!

Some areas we’ll explore:

A brief overview of Figma and why you might use it.
Use the WordPress.org Figma community’s Theme Template file to kickstart your block theme design.
Discuss considerations for block theme designs and best practices.
In this workshop, we will work exclusively in Figma. However, there will likely be a follow-up workshop where we convert our Figma Block Theme prototype into the workings of a Block Theme. Stay tuned.

We’ll leave ample time for questions and discussions. I hope to see your smiling faces!

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August 2, 2022 — Welcome to Part 2 where we will revisit building a custom WordPress theme without the need for any coding. This workshop will follow the previous session with more time for questions. We will also explore the new Create Block Theme plugin.

During the session, we will take the Twenty Twenty-Two theme and fully customize it using the Site Editor and Global Styles. This will include template changes, updates to the theme color palette, layout, and more. You will then learn how to export these changes into a complete custom theme. While this functionality is still under development, it’s incredible how close we are to low-code/no-code theme development in WordPress!