Although Gutenberg has been a quite controversial project from its start, the project is maturing into a very powerful editor that’s shifting towards page builder capabilities. Theme creator are starting to take advantage of the new features by creating WordPress FSE themes that allow for full-site editing, slowly turning it into a serious competitor for the likes of Elementor and other page builders.

For now, only a tiny minority of WordPress themes are compatible with full-site editing, but these numbers should grow quickly, as it is a very promising feature. If you are a theme developer, you should definitively incorporate FSE into your next WordPress themes. For now, you can already getting familiar with it by testing some high-quality full-site editing themes for WordPress.

What are full-site editing WordPress themes?

Full-site editing, commonly referred to as FSE, is the term used to group the new features that allow users to edit all parts of their WordPress website on their own. These include the site editor, block themes, global styles, new site blocks, and theme.json.

Full-site editing WordPress themes are themes that support these features and make it possible for users to built their entire website (almost) independantly from a developer. The site editor can be used to edit template pages, such as the homepage, archives or search results page. The global styles give you control over the colors and typography on the site. The block themes turn everything on the page into a block. The theme.json file defines the default settings for all sorts of components.

Some popular full-site editing themes for WordPress

At the time of writing this article, there aren’t too many WordPress FSE themes, so it’s well worth giving the existing ones a heads-up.

Neve FSE

Neve FSE is the full-site editing version of the popular Neve WordPress theme by ThemeIsle. It comes with all the features you’d want from an FSE theme:

• Style variations: to create combinations of color and typography that fit your branding.
• Full-site editing templates: for all the website’s main pages, in adherence to the latest WordPress block editor standards.
• Fast and responsive: Neve FSE was optimized for performance, as all WordPress themes should.
• Optimized for SEO: thanks to clean and well-structured code.
• Translation-ready: they even thought of properly implementing RTL languages support.

Abisko

Abisko is a stylish WordPress FSE theme designed by Anders Norén. It comes with a very clean look, smart use of whitespace and a heavy emphasis on bold typography.

Features:

• Theme styles: five different theme styles to choose from.
• Block patterns: over thirty block patterns included.
• Responsive: adapts very well to all screen sizes.

Raft

Raft is a lightweight theme built for speed and easy customization. It will fit your needs whether you are a small business, a startup, an agency, a firm or an e-commerce shop.

• WooCommerce-ready: you can build an e-commerce website safely with it.
• Page-builder compatible: works with Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, or… the Block Editor.
• Responsive and translation ready.

Armando

Armando was the first full-site editing theme, so we should give it credit for that. Initially designed for blogs or sports teams.

Features:

• Multiple block styles
• Block patterns: including site headers, site footers, and page layouts.

Jace

The Jace theme was designed with features showcasing in mind, so it’s filled with full-site editing functionalities. This theme is best used for a business, porfolio, or store.

The features:

• E-Commerce ready: works perfectly with both WooCommerce and WooCommerce blocks.
• Patterns included: the theme includes over 60 patterns and all the patterns from the WordPress pattern directory.
• Color variations: includes an optional light color scheme.
• Multiple layouts

Bricksy

Bricksy is a modern block-based full-site editing WordPress theme. It combines a timeless design with easy-to-use features, making it the perfect companion for your web design needs.

Features:

• Block patterns: Bricksy is packed with ready-to-use block patterns.
• Beginner-friendly: create anything on your site with a simple drag-and-drop.
• Mobile-friendly: the theme is fully responsive.
• E-Commerce support: supports WooCommerce out-of-the-box.

Poe

Poe is a full-site editing WordPress theme with a clean design, thanks to excellent typographic and color choices. It comes with plenty of customization options, making it ideal for portfolios.

Features:

• Global styles: customize anything you’d like in terms of colors, typography, or spacing.
• 30+ block patterns: get a great head start with patterns including anything from headers to footers.
• Style variations: ten prebuilt color schemes are included in Poe, use them to customize the look-and-feel of the site with a couple of clicks.
• Fast & efficient: Poe was built with speed in mind and weighs only 8K of CSS, no JavaScript included at all. Talk about a contrast compared with bloated page builders.