Categories
Create A Blog Software Engineering

WordPress TwentyTwenty Theme vs. Other WordPress Themes

Why WordPress TwentyTwenty Is Still the Best Default WordPress Theme in 2022

WordPress TwentyTwenty Theme: A Review

As a long-time WordPress user, I have had the opportunity to try out a wide variety of themes over the years. From the sleek and modern to the downright quirky, I’ve seen it all. But recently, I had the chance to try out the all the latest WordPress themes and in the end I picked on: TwentyTwenty. And I have to say, I liked it. I liked it enough I chose it for this blog!

I know it is the theme from 2020 and this article is from 2022, but let’s talk a little about the simplicity of the theme, why 2020 was a standout year for mobile first design, and how that ended up impacting the quality of TwentyTwenty on a technical level.

Why is TwentyTwenty a Standout Theme?

The typeface choices and mobile-centric design of the WordPress TwentyTwenty theme are the first year the theme was so simplistic that the text was front and center. It makes for a great blog. The background color not being a hard white also helps it go easy on the eyes, a trend with darkmode and things that were really made popular in 2020.

Is the TwentyTwenty Theme Easy to Use?

First and foremost, the TwentyTwenty theme is incredibly user-friendly. Setting it up on my WordPress site was a breeze, and I was able to customize it to my liking easily. The default color scheme looks nice. Additionally, the theme is fully responsive, which means that it looks great on any device, from desktop computers to smartphones.

But don’t let the ease of use fool you – the TwentyTwenty theme is packed with powerful features that make it a great choice for any website. For starters, the theme offers a wide range of customization options. From changing the layout of your site to adjusting the font and color scheme, there’s almost nothing you can’t change with this theme. Additionally, the theme includes a variety of built-in widgets that make it easy to add extra functionality to your site, such as social media buttons, search bars, and more.

Why Is It Superior?

One of the standout features of the TwentyTwenty theme is its support for block-based editing. With this feature, you can easily create beautiful, complex layouts for your website without any coding knowledge. Simply add blocks for text, images, videos, and more, and then arrange them however you like. This makes it easy to create unique and engaging content for your site, and the results are truly impressive.

Most WordPress themes support this but the TwentyTwenty theme was the first year that the simplicity of the design really allowed the block editing to stand out and shine. If the design is simple and straightforward the blocks always work well.

Choosing a Default WordPress Theme Has Perks

Another great thing about the TwentyTwenty theme is its support for a wide range of plugins. Whether you want to add an e-commerce store to your site, a contact form, or a social media feed, you can easily do so with the help of a plugin. This means that you can add almost any type of functionality to your site, without the need for any technical knowledge. The simplicity of the design means most plugins will look OK out of the box.

What Makes This Different Than Other Themes?

Very specifically in 2020 the TwentyTwenty theme was the first theme that did an excellent job stripping down the WordPress block components into big, bold, simple design elements. This was because of a focus on mobile but it ended up making the theme a lot less complex than TwentyNineteen or TwentySeventeen, (both popular themes). The TwentyTwentyone and TwentyTwentytwo themes both expanded on the original Twentytwenty design concepts, offering alternate layouts and ultimately in 2022 a lot more complexity reminiscent of the 2019 theme.

Any Downsides or Negative Things About TwentyTwenty?

There are a few things that are a little weird. For example the default site title does not include the site title written in text, I had to add that ,it was just trying to use the image logo. Strange. I also thought that the index page was a little intense. I ended up toning down the title font size and rearranging things on the title page to make all the articles fit a little bit better. I recommend turning on using article summaries or your homepage will become a massively long scroll.

TwentyTwenty Theme: Is It Worth It?

Overall, I was extremely impressed with the WordPress TwentyTwenty theme. It’s user-friendly, customizable, and packed with powerful features. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Categories
Create A Blog

WordPress Themes – Testing New Themes & Pardon the Mess

As part of moving this blog and setting it up again I’m testing various WordPress themes. Please pardon the mess and the visual intensity as I adjust a few things.

Review of PopularFX Website Templates WordPress Themes

I initially started with the base selection offered by default to a new Bluehost hosting account and selected a very nice WordPress theme and from the “PopularFX Website Templates” plugin.

The PopularFX Website Templates does have some very nice WordPress themes and a lot of them are structured to fit specific small business or small website verticals and that could be really helpful for a lot of people. I also enjoyed how those themes used some really nice improvements on the content blocks for things like the WordPress index page.

The WordPress theme I chose also prompted me to download some temporary stock photos to fill out the design and it has some warnings about the licensing of the images it wanted to download. I didn’t want those images so I chose not to download the stock photos and images. The theme I chose looked *really* nice in the sample but ended up being very plain when I tested it and applied it to my website. That was a little disappointing that it did not look as good with fake stock graphics.

I also got in to the Theme Files editor for that particular PopularFX Website Template WordPress theme and I found that the PopularFX Website Templates theme files themselves were laid out in a very straightforward and clear file structure. The files themselves had simple naming convections and followed most of the best practices and common file locations. The more complex PHP functions and methods, including things like content tags, were easily found and edited and the code itself was concise.

I Didn’t Try Pagelayer

The new Bluehost WordPress hosting came bundled with a plugin called “Pagelayer” which I have not yet tried 🙁 Sorry Pagelayer. As a software engineer I prefer a more hands on approach to complex layouts for blog articles and pages so that I can control the HTML, Javascript, and CSS. I disabled the Pagelayer plugin.

I eventually wanted a more simple WordPress theme and started activating and deactivating the themes.

Activating, Deactivating, Changing or Switching WordPress Themes

It is very easy to change or switch themes in WordPress, go to “Appearance” and then click on “Themes”. Hover over any theme and click “Activate”.

Default WordPress Theme Review

I tried a number of different themes looking for something that would easily & tastefully fit a few of the existing WordPress posts I already have. I tried all of the default WordPress themes from “Twenty Fifteen” all the way up to “Twenty Twenty Three”

As of the time of writing this article I disabled PopularFX Website Templates and I have currently chosen the default WordPress theme of “Twenty Twenty” because I like the look of the <hr> and I also like how the <code> tag style looks inline. I am not a fan of how that style looks when broken up in blocks. The previous iteration of this blog used WordPress 2015 (yikes!) so I also have had good experience with the longevity of the built-in WordPress themes. Once I pick a permanent WordPress theme for this blog I probably will not want to change it for many years.

WordPress Themes and Better Styling of Code Blocks

I will probably be looking for a better CSS solution for WordPress themes with multi-line code blocks.

The Internet’s Original Under Construction GIF

If you are looking for the original “Under Construction” GIF from the early days of the Internet in the 1990’s here it is. The Original Under Construction GIF From the early Internet in the (the GIF of a person shoveling on a yellow sign):

Original Under Construction GIF, Animated Image ofRoad Sign of Person Shoveling