Full Site Editing (FSE) arrived in WordPress 5.9 and has been maturing rapidly ever since. In 2025, with WordPress 6.9, it’s no longer experimental technology — it’s the direction WordPress is heading, and WooCommerce has been building to match. Here’s what store owners need to understand.
What Is Full Site Editing?
Full Site Editing means using the block editor not just for post and page content, but for every part of your site — headers, footers, sidebars, archive templates, single product pages, 404 pages, everything. Instead of editing theme files in PHP, you edit templates visually in the Site Editor (Appearance → Editor).
This only works with block themes — themes built specifically for FSE. Classic themes (most older themes, including many WooCommerce themes) don’t support the Site Editor.
Block Themes vs Classic Themes
The key differences:
- Classic themes use PHP templates, CSS files, and the Customizer. Familiar, widely supported, but increasingly limited.
- Block themes use HTML block templates, theme.json for global styles, and the Site Editor. More flexible, but requires learning the new paradigm.
Both continue to be supported in WordPress. But new WordPress features are being built for block themes first — including many of the WordPress 6.9 improvements like Zoom Out mode and Section Styles.
WooCommerce and Block Themes
WooCommerce now provides block templates for every store page — shop archive, single product, cart, checkout, account pages. These templates are editable in the Site Editor on block themes, giving you visual control over your store layout without touching PHP.
The WooCommerce block checkout (available on block themes) also loads faster than the classic shortcode checkout and supports more payment methods natively.
Should You Switch to a Block Theme?
Honest answer: it depends on where your store is in its lifecycle.
Switch if:
- You’re building a new store from scratch
- You want visual control over product page and checkout layout
- Your current theme is outdated and you need a redesign anyway
- You have a developer who’s comfortable with the block ecosystem
Stay on a classic theme if:
- Your store is running well and a theme migration would be disruptive
- You rely on heavily customized PHP templates
- Your key plugins don’t have block theme compatibility yet
Recommended Block Themes for WooCommerce
- Storefront (block version) — WooCommerce’s official theme, optimized for commerce
- Twenty Twenty-Five — the current default WordPress theme, excellent starting point
- Kadence — popular freemium option with strong WooCommerce integration
- GeneratePress — lightweight and performance-focused
Plugin Compatibility
Before switching to a block theme, verify your key plugins are compatible. Shipping plugins, payment gateways, and page builders are the most common friction points. Plugins built on modern WordPress APIs — like the TheForge EasyPost Shipping plugin — are fully compatible with block themes and the WooCommerce checkout block, so your shipping configuration carries over without changes.
Testing Before You Switch
Use WordPress Playground to test a block theme with your plugins before switching on your live store. You can verify the entire checkout flow — including shipping rate display — without risking live orders. Questions? Reach out to our team.