WordPress Full Site Editing: The Future Beyond Page Builders

Until recently, there have been two primary schools of thought when it came to the design and development of the frontend of WordPress websites. Designers would either use a parent and child theme framework, such as Genesis, or use a Page Builder like WP Bakery, Beaver Builder or Elementor. With Full Site Editing now in WordPress, are these methods still needed? Let’s explore this with some background.

Parent and Child Themes

In parent and child theme frameworks, the parent theme offers a strong, updatable foundation, while the child theme allows custom code changes without altering the parent’s code. When used with WordPress’s Gutenberg block editor, it gives admins a simple, powerful interface to create page layouts and make updates.

WordPress Page Builders

Page Builders are typically purchased packed with features and emphasize a visual WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, often requiring less coding knowledge. However, this comes at the cost of a lot of features that most websites do not use and can add significant load time to your website. In our experience, Page Builders can have a greater learning curve than expected and make us search for how parts of the website were implemented. For most websites, using a Page Builder isn’t necessary, especially with the recent introduction of Full Site Editing and block themes in WordPress.

Advantages of Parent and Child Theme frameworks

• Flexibility and Control: Parent and child themes offer greater flexibility and control over website structure and code
• Performance: Parent and child themes can result in cleaner code and better website performance
• Updates: Parent and child themes allow for easier updates to the parent theme without affecting child theme customizations

Disadvantages WordPress Page Builders 

• Code Bloat: Page builders can generate excessive or poorly optimized code, which can slow down page load times and negatively impact SEO rankings.
• Limited customization: Page builders might not offer the exact customization options you need
• Learning curve: Page builders are easier than coding, but they still require learning
• Compatibility and updates: There can be issues with WordPress updates and plugin compatibility
• Limited Control over HTML Structure: Some page builders might not allow for fine-grained control over HTML structure and elements
• Vendor Lock-In: Some page builders can make it difficult to migrate content away from their platform

Current State of the Genesis Framework for WordPress

For the last five years, we have been developing almost exclusively on the trusted Genesis Framework from StudioPress. This framework can be easily set up in a parent and child relationship and offers a solid starting point for code and SEO.

However, in January 2025, the main Genesis theme hasn’t been updated in over a year. Although support for the framework is likely ongoing, a lead at WP Engine, the company maintaining it, mentioned that “we have been careful about our investment in this area, given that WordPress is moving fast and furious in the direction of block themes and full site editing…it is unclear how much new feature innovation we should do for Genesis at this time.” ¹

While Genesis will likely remain popular for a while, Full Site Editing and Block Themes are clearly the future of WordPress. After updating our own website, we are fully onboard. To learn more about our recommendation, read our article on WordPress Full Site Editing and block themes.

How To Get Started with WordPress Full Site Editing

First, it’s crucial to understand that block themes, needed for Full Site Editing in WordPress, support parent and child theme relationships. Many free and paid WordPress block themes exist, but remember that the theme you choose may not always be updated by its developer. If a theme stops receiving updates, it could create security risks for your website.

Selecting a Block Theme

The need to code in block themes has significantly decreased, allowing many websites to avoid writing or editing PHP. Although there is still a learning curve with Full Site Editing, building and maintaining WordPress websites has become easier. When choosing a block theme as your parent theme, opt for one with minimal features. With plenty of options in Full Site Editing, you or your designer won’t require every layout and block available. Instead, focus on selecting a reliable foundation theme from a vendor committed to maintaining and updating it, especially for any security issues that may arise.

In 2025, we recommend using the default WordPress theme Twenty Twenty-Five as the parent theme. It might not match your desired website look, but a skilled web designer can use the Editor to add styles, page templates, and custom blocks as needed, without adding unnecessary features before the design begins.

Designing in the new Editor might take some getting used to, but it will be worth it. After switching to Block Themes, we expect that regularly updating your website to modern themes will become easier and quicker, as much of the front-end code is now included in WordPress core.

Conclusion

With the new features in Full Site Editing and Block Themes, WordPress is making editing easier and more user-friendly, reducing the need for Page Builders like WP Bakery. Although Page Builders have more built-in tools, you might end up with many features you don’t actually need. Most users can build their website pages effectively with standard block themes and Full Site Editing, allowing for easy updates and custom changes while keeping a good parent and child theme structure.

We’re excited about the future of WordPress and the significant advancements the latest version has for business owners and agencies alike. As WordPress continues to evolve, be sure to stay informed about the latest developments to ensure that your website remains modern, secure, and user-friendly.