Choose the editing workflow that matches your WordPress theme
The editing route for a WordPress site depends on its theme type. A classic theme uses its established theme controls, while a block theme brings site structure into the Site Editor. Understanding that difference helps you find the right place to change a page, a shared header, or a visual style.
WordPress documentation on block themes explains that block themes became part of WordPress with version 5.9. They use blocks throughout the site, including navigation, headers, page content, and footers. Blocks can be placed and edited outside a post's content through the Template Editor or Site Editor.
This means the editing model extends to site structure. WordPress describes templates for such pages as archives and error pages, as well as the ability to create custom templates. Template parts organize groups of blocks for shared structure, such as headers and footers. Before changing a visible element, decide whether you mean the page's content, its layout, or a shared part of the site.
Classic themes use PHP templates and features such as widgets, a dedicated Menus section, and the Customizer. They do not work with the Site Editor. In block themes, blocks take the place of widgets, and the Customizer is generally unavailable unless a plugin or theme requires it to be activated.
Both approaches concern appearance and structure, but their controls live in different places. A Customizer guide remains useful for a classic theme; a block theme follows the Site Editor route. Match the instructions to the active theme type before looking for a panel. The presence of block editing for page content is a separate question from whether the theme supports editing the entire site through the Site Editor.
The WordPress Site Editor guide says to open Appearance > Editor after installing and activating a block theme. Its sections help separate the kinds of changes you can make:
Choose the section that matches the task. For example, begin in Pages for page content and review Templates for its surrounding layout. For a shared header or footer, look at the relevant template part. This keeps decisions about words, structure, and presentation easier to follow as you work.
Styles in a block theme provide controls for colors, typography, layouts, and individual blocks. WordPress 7.1 extends responsive styling through Global Styles and individual block settings. Theme authors can also define mobile and tablet breakpoints in theme.json, giving a block theme its own boundaries for responsive styles and block visibility.
The WordPress 6.8 release notes describe a structured Style Book that also works with classic themes when they have editor-styles or a theme.json file. In that classic-theme workflow, it appears under Appearance > Design and previews changes made through CSS or the Customizer.
A Style Book in a classic theme does not change the documented requirement for a block theme to use the Site Editor. Identify the theme type first, then use the preview tools available in that workflow. When considering a style change, compare the affected elements together rather than choosing each heading or control in isolation.
WordPress 7.1 adds styling at different screen sizes within the Site Editor without custom CSS. You can work through Global Styles or individual block settings and preview different viewport sizes. It also provides Button block styles for hover, focus, and active states, applied to one button or across buttons.
WordPress 7.0 introduced device-based controls to hide or reveal blocks without affecting other viewports. Consider visibility and styling as separate decisions: first decide what content a visitor needs, then examine how it fits. Preview the layout at different sizes and check that essential information and controls remain easy to find. Review focus styling as part of that check, alongside the layout.
WordPress 7.0 introduced a dedicated font management page for installing, uploading, and managing fonts, with support for block, hybrid, and classic themes. The same release added custom CSS at block level within a post or page. These are WordPress features, so use the active theme's editing route when deciding where to work.
Start with the visual control that matches the intended change, then consider CSS for an adjustment that needs it. Keep a clear distinction between styling one block and planning a site's overall typography. Review the result with surrounding content and at different screen sizes, so the decision serves reading and navigation as well as the appearance of an individual element.