Many changes have come to WordPress in the past few years, including a whole new editor, fresh ways to build your website pages, and more. Whether you’ve used the platform in the past or are completely new to it, this glossary of definitions will help you understand what’s what and help you better build your website.
BLOCK
Individual units that, together, form the content for a website page. Examples include: heading block, paragraph block, list block, columns block, and more.
BLOCK Styles/Settings
You are able to control the appearance of each block at an individual level when building your page/post. Available styles and settings vary depending on the type of block, but typically include options to change the color and typography.
FOOTER
The section that appears at the bottom of (most) pages. This can include a variety of content. Common elements are contact info, a sublogo, a secondary menu, social media icons, and copyright info.
GLOBAL STYLES
Global styles are used across your website, and are used if block-specific formatting or styling isn’t added (see “block styles/settings”). The theme you are using defines your global styles initially, and you can update the color palette, typography settings, and layout using the site editor.
HEADER
The section that appears at the top of (most) pages. This typically includes your logo and navigation menu.
PATTERN
A predefined layout, consisting of multiple blocks. These can be inserted as starter content, and from there you can edit everything from the copy and media to the colors and typography used. Our website themes include patterns for complete pages as well as shorter chunks of content, like a testimonial pattern. Building your pages is faster and easier thanks to patterns!
TEMPLATE
Within WordPress, a template is a pre-defined arrangement of blocks that provide basic instructions for how the content is to be laid out on the page that is using that template. For example, several of our WordPress themes include 1) a “Transparent Header” page template, and 2) a “Transparent Header with Light Header Links” page template. If using template 1, the header on the page will be displayed with a transparent, rather than solid color, background. If using template 2, the header background will be transparent and use light colored links.
Templates are also necessary to control the layout and formatting of your main blog posts page (called “Index”), single blog posts, and category pages.
TEMPLATE PART
These help set structure for reusable bits of content on your website, like a header or footer.
SITE EDITOR (OR FULL SITE EDITOR/FSE)
The entire experience that lets you edit and navigate between templates, template parts, styling options, and more. The site editor allows you to do things like customize your header and footer, update your color palette, and even create your own templates that you can use on individual pages.