WordPress full-site editing provides a great opportunity for anyone looking to develop a responsive and customizable website. Thanks to the integrated Site Editor in the latest WordPress versions and the effectiveness of visual editing it provides, using FSE themes may be your next step to a better browsing experience for your potential customers.
In today’s post, we’ll compare and analyze 3 top-notch free full-site editing themes to help you pick the best solution with site blocks for your website.
What are FSE themes?
Full-site editing approach to theme design allowed developers to create more flexible themes. Since they are based on blocks and patterns, WordPress users can use such themes to easily modify their site’s look without needing to pay for an extra customization tool.
Moreover, due to their block-based structure, website owners can choose any fitting color scheme or create new layouts without needing to code anything. Such themes are also relatively small thanks to HTML used in block patterns, resulting in faster loading times. To put it simply, full-site editing themes provide the following:
- Better design control;
- Streamlined customization & content creation with pre-made page patterns;
- No need for extra page builders;
- Improved performance.
Raft
With full-site editing becoming popular, more theme developers have begun providing their solutions for easier customization. One such theme is Raft, developed and designed by ThemeIsle. It is a great starting solution for those who have little experience with WordPress. It will also fit those users who are just discovering Full Site Editing. Unlike traditional WordPress themes, it relies mostly on global styles and patterns that can be edited visually. This allows users to modify any page or create new ones without using code by combining diverse parts of the theme in the Site Editor.
| Name | Developer | Price | Avg. Demo Speed Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raft | Themeisle | Free | Mobile 94
Desktop 99 |
Ollie
The second full-site editing theme on our radar today is Ollie. Built as a performance-first and highly customizable solution, this theme is a great choice if you need to create a pixel-perfect & responsive website fast and without paid third-party plugins. With 5+ layouts and multiple patterns, this theme provides lots of space for presenting your corporate or personal projects and services, showcasing your skills, and creating a spectacular online presence.
| Name | Developer | Price | Avg. Demo Speed Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ollie | OllieWP | Free | Mobile 74
Desktop 79 |
Prime FSE
Finally, we’ll talk about Prime FSE as one of the contenders for the best FSE theme. Being an easy-to-use solution loaded with features, this theme provides everything to help you get started with FSE for free. With over 50+ patterns and a pre-packed Getwid plugin for Gutenberg, Prime FSE delivers a bunch of tools to create a responsive and customizable place for your content. As a result, you get a reliable and user-friendly solution allowing WordPress users to create highly functional and content-rich sites with just a few clicks.
| Name | Developer | Price | Avg. Demo Speed Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prime FSE | MotoPress | Free | Mobile 46
Desktop 98 |
| Raft | Ollie | Prime FSE |
|---|---|---|
| 52 block patterns | 66 block patterns | 55 block patterns |
| 16 global style variations | 7 global styles | 5 global style presets |
| 9 pre-designed page templates | 8 included page templates | 10 page templates |
| Built-in knowledge base | Integrated Getwid plugin | |
| Mega menu plugin for easier navigation | ||
| One-click demo import | ||
| Free | Free | Free |
1. Block Patterns
If you’ve already worked with a WordPress FSE theme before, you know that block patterns stand at the core of such solutions’ functionality. By combining various patterns in unique ways, you can easily create a new experience for your site visitors. Thus, with a greater selection of patterns and blocks, modern FSE solutions provide an outstanding opportunity for new & experienced WordPress users.
How Raft WordPress Theme Handles Block Patterns
All three themes in today’s comparison have diverse patterns to offer. For example, Raft WordPress theme may seem like quite a simple and even minimalist theme for WordPress. However, it comes with a blazing amount of 52 patterns that range from an image gallery section to testimonials. So, right after installing the theme and opening the Site Editor, you get to add these patterns to enhance the looks and layouts of your site. Other patterns include:
- Frequently asked questions;
- Calls to action;
- Content & text columns;
- Hero section.
Patterns in Ollie and Prime FSE WordPress Themes
As for the Ollie theme, it provides an even wider range of pre-designed patterns as we mentioned in the table above. Similar to Raft, it allows you to choose any of the supplied patterns to create new pages or duplicate existing patterns to edit them and replace the default content. With 66 ready-madepattern variants, you can choose what fits your website best when using this spacious and responsive theme. For example, you can choose from patterns displaying a team member profile, pricing, FAQ, or any other category, such as:
- Blog posts;
- Headers & footers;
- Feature boxes;
- Contact cards;
- Testimonials.
Prime FSE theme, in turn, offers even more variety when it comes to patterns and WordPress core blocks. Thanks to the integrated Getwid plugin for Gutenberg, it provides not just the usual patterns but also additional blocks that you can use when creating content and pages for your site. Among the 55 blocks and patterns you can choose from, there are several variations of calls to action, pricing tables, Google Maps, sliders, galleries, and other website elements. Here are some of the extra patterns and sections featured in this theme:
| Patterns | Raft | Ollie | Prime FSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call to action | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cards | No | Yes | Yes |
| Contacts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cards | Yes | Yes | No |
| FAQ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Features | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Header & footer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hero section | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Latest posts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Page titles | Yes | No | No |
| Pricing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | No | Yes | Yes |
| Projects & Galleries | Yes | No | Yes |
| Team | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Testimonials | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text with image | No | Yes | Yes |
| Text with tables | No | Yes | Yes |
| Text columns | Yes | No | Yes |
| Video popup | No | No | Yes |
2. Global Styles
Global styles are integral to the full site editing theme design. They allow a WordPress user to easily switch between varied color options included with nearly every modern FSE solution. For example, the Raft WordPress theme comes with 16 global styles. They combine multiple color schemes as well as light and dark design modes. Switching to any of these styles impacts the whole website rather than just individual blocks or sections. As a result, you don’t need to spend time on manual CSS styling of every page to fit your needs.
In comparison to Raft, the Ollie WP theme provides fewer global style options. However, even with just 7 of them, a WordPress user of any experience level can easily use them to change the look of their site with a few clicks. Unlike the traditional way of color customization that may require adding CSS code, the new approach to design in WordPress full-site editing themes saves you time. This is also true for Prime FSE, which comes equipped with 5 global styles. This theme has a lesser range of color schemes but makes up for it by offering a wider choice of patterns. They can be used without any extra configuring. Moreover, thanks to the built-in style book you can preview any global style setting before applying it. This is true not only for Prime FSE but for any WordPress full-site editing theme that has more than one color option.
| Global styles | Raft | Ollie | Prime FSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dark | Yes | No | No |
| Gray | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Blue | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Green | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Orange | No | Yes | No |
| Pink | No | Yes | No |
| Red | No | Yes | No |
| Teal | No | Yes | No |
| Violet | Yes | No | Yes |
| Brown | Yes | No | No |
3. Templates & Available Pages
Finally, let’s talk about page templates that are supplied with each WordPress FSE theme. These are similar to what you can find in the traditional WordPress themes, both premium and free ones. Templates combine various blocks and theme parts (menus, footers, and headers) to provide you with ready-made pages right after you install and activate the theme. The Raft WordPress theme, for example, features 7 templates. From blog archives to pages for single posts and search results, these templates are perfect for establishing your site and customizing it via Site Editor.
Viktoriia VolkovaThe Ollie theme for WordPress provides a more varied selection of page templates if compared to Raft. For example, it includes not only default WordPress pages but also some additional templates that range from the About Us page to Blog and Pricing. Moreover, Ollie also provides the style guide, which can help developers and designers who aim to heavily modify the theme for their websites. This is unique to the mentioned solution since neither Raft nor Prime FSE themes provide anything similar. The latter, in contrast to other solutions, puts an accent on patterns, WordPress core blocks, and their diversity. So even if you need more pages for your content, you can easily create them by combining multiple patterns that already contain necessary blocks & content. Still, with Prime FSE you get access to About, Blog, and Contact pages to help you get started with your site right away.
| Templates | Raft | Ollie | Prime FSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| About | Yes | No | Yes |
| Blog | No | No | Yes |
| Blog archive | Yes | Yes | No |
| Contacts | Yes | No | Yes |
| Front Page | Yes | No | Yes |
| Index | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 404 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search results | No | Yes | Yes |
| Single post | No | Yes | Yes |
| Download | No | Yes | No |
| Features | No | Yes | No |
| Pricing | No | Yes | No |
| Profile | No | Yes | No |
| Portfolio | Yes | No | No |
| Services | Yes | No | No |
| Style guide | No | Yes | No |
| Canvas | No | No | Yes |
| No footer | No | No | Yes |
Raft vs. Ollie Vs. Prime FSE: What to Choose?
With all such diversity in options and features, you may still wonder what to choose: Raft, Ollie, or Prime FSE. The answer to this question is simple yet it depends on your preferences and expectations from WordPress FSE theme. In case you need more styling options for your site’s patterns that you can switch freely, the Raft WordPress theme will be of great use. However, if you need more variety in patterns and site blocks, we recommend choosing the Ollie WordPress theme.
For a balance between both, the Prime FSE theme is one of the best options. Still, due to all 3 themes being free and easy to install, why not check all of them? Note that we only recommend doing this on a separate WordPress installation. Also, if you decide to replace your current theme with a full-site editing solution, it is strongly advised to back up your current site’s database and content files. This will ensure easy & secure website restoration if anything goes wrong.
| Features | Raft | Ollie | Prime FSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patterns | Yes (52) | Yes (66) | Yes (55) |
| Global styles | Yes (16) | Yes (7) | Yes (5) |
| Templates | Yes (8) | Yes (8) | Yes (10) |
| Setup wizard | No | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledge base | Online | Yes | Online |
| Extra plugins | Otter Blocks | No | Getwid, Navigation Block |
Conclusion
We hope this overview & comparison of popular full-site editing themes for WordPress has helped you pick the best solution for your current or future site. Whether you’re planning to build something corporate or personal, rest assured that any of the presented themes will help you craft the proper online experience for your visitors and soon-to-be clients. If you are still unsure whether or not these themes are the right choice for you, here are some of the advantages you may benefit from:
- High flexibility: One of the main benefits FSE themes provide is their ease of customization. Additionally, the top-notch flexibility assists in transforming any FSE theme according to your needs.
- Performance: As we’ve already mentioned, many FSE themes are performance-oriented and optimized for SEO. This is possible due to their moderate size since the WordPress core blocks used by such themes are quite lightweight.
- Global styles: Thanks to the global style system introduced with full-site editing technology, the design of any modern FSE theme can be changed easily without editing individual parts of a website.
- Simplified content creation: Due to Gutenberg being block-friendly, you can use various patterns and blocks to streamline content creation and publishing processes.
- Pattern variety: Lastly, there are usually multiple pre-designed patterns and layouts available with WordPress full-site editing themes. They can be quickly edited, replaced, or used as core elements for your site’s pages.
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