We sometimes meet potential clients that use a default WordPress theme on their websites. And of course, they ask us if it’s a good idea. While there are many themes out there, the default WordPress theme can make sense in some situations. While it’s not our preferred approach, it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad one. We’ll explain why.

A fresh installation of WordPress will come with at least one default theme. Often, your hosting company may add some additional themes. And some installers will even give you the option to choose a theme as part of the WordPress installation. But should you use them?

What is a default WordPress theme?

A WordPress default theme is created by the WordPress team and included with major updates to WordPress. So if you’ve had a WordPress site for many years and haven’t looked that the “Themes” section under “Appearance” in your dashboard in a while, you may notice you have several of them. One of the key goals of the new theme is to showcase new WordPress features. For example, when full site editing became available, WordPress included a new default theme that took advantage of it.

Are default WordPress themes any good?

Since default WordPress themes are created by the WordPress team, you can have some confidence in them being well put together. These themes are also regularly updated as needed, so that’s another good sign. There are legitimate websites that use these default themes and with the right skills, one can make a decent website using a default theme.

Does JVF Solutions recommend using the default theme?

We typically don’t as our clients need something more powerful so we only use premium WordPress themes for them. However, if you’re just learning WordPress, many beginner tutorials are easier to follow when using a default theme. The default theme also uses the Gutenberg block editor which many other themes use. So if you decide to switch themes, it’s easy to adapt your site.

Another advantage of the default theme over other free themes is that you know it won’t be abandoned. Some free themes looked amazing in WordPress 4 but weren’t compatible with WordPress 6 because the developer stopped making updates. So if you’re going to go with a free theme, at least make sure that the developer has been in business a few years and has other premium themes to stay in business.

If you have any questions about WordPress themes (or anything WordPress at all), please join us for a complimentary consultation. You get 30 minutes where we answer your questions and give you suggestions to help improve your online presence – all at no charge!