Over the years, we have all known to be highly intrigued by a default theme released with every major WordPress version. The WordPress Twenty Twenty theme has already piqued the interest of every WordPress enthusiast out there. Today we come with all the details of the WordPress Twenty Twenty Theme, set to be introduced right before the major WordPress 5.3 release.

Background

It’s been about a year since Gutenberg has already been the default editor for WordPress. Over this time, we have already seen the perspectives evolve around Gutenberg. The WordPress Twenty Twenty theme is repurposing the popular Chaplin theme developed by Anders Norén. He has also been leading the design of the WordPress theme along with collaboration from Carolina Nymark from the theme review team. Ian Belanger is leading the development team. The WordPress community who have known Norén’s work and the Chaplin theme welcomed this collaboration with enthusiasm. 

The WordPress 5.3 update is set to release around 12th November. According to a recent post in WordPress Make portal, the Twenty Twenty theme is based on the Chaplin theme rather than completely building it from scratch. This was confirmed by seeing the initial look of WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. We can understand that the theme is repurposed on Chaplin but follows a different style.

About the Chaplin Theme

Among the 20 themes that Anders Norén has designed over the years, Chaplin is one of the recent releases. It takes the possibility of block editing to new heights by giving users to customize every aspect of the theme. Chaplin is inclined more towards the business and agency theme but can be easily personalized to suit other niches as well. The Chaplin theme users can easily create a number of advanced layouts using the “Cover Template” option. Users can then add a featured image and further define the page structure using the block editing options. That way Chaplin is the perfect theme for WordPress 5.3 release as it alleviates the potential of Gutenberg editor.

WordPress Twenty Twenty Theme: First Impressions

One thing that’s very clear from the first look of WordPress Twenty Twenty theme is that it has its own individualistic style. It sure looks different from its base theme, Chaplin. Norén himself has said the same that having a base theme helps increase the pace of development. 

There are quite a few typography changes in the theme along with font style changes. However, the center content column is what makes the style of WordPress Twenty Twenty even more distinct. 

All things considered, below are some of the features that stood out in the theme based on first impressions.

Flexibility

Straight off the bat, you will experience the flexibility of the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. For bloggers, the center content column is already set up. If you’re an organization, agency or business, there are loads of options to customize your site. Include columns, groups, media with your preferred alignment to build dynamic layouts altogether.

Readability

The focus on readability and clarity is very apparent on the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. The typeface Inter designed by Rasmus Andersson is included in the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme. Inter is a great choice as the smallest of fonts are made to look legible in it. Additionally, it uses x-tall height which improves the legibility of fonts in general and makes headings look more distinct. The Variable Font version comes inside the theme because of the Inter typeface. This is the first time a default theme by WordPress has come with the variable font version feature.

Full Block Editor Support

As you might have already guessed, the Twenty Twenty theme will support block editing full on. The theme actually comes with block features with which you can build real websites. The Chaplin theme has actually been rated pretty high because of its enhancement of the Gutenberg editor. Playing around with the initial version of the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme actually confirms that purpose.

Want to check out the designs for yourself? Here are a few mockups we found from the WordPress post of Anders Norén himself.

• Sub page (Desktop)
• Sub page (Mobile)
• Blog post (Desktop)
• Blog post (Mobile)

If you want to be a part of the core team, you can still join and make your suggestions.  You can get involved by joining the weekly meetings on Tuesday, 10 September 2019, 01:00 GMT+6 in #core-themes.

Endnote

The WordPress Twenty Twenty theme has definitely been worth the hype. If you want to try out the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme straight away, you can download it from Github. As soon as the stable version of the theme is created, they will try to merge it with the WordPress core. The initial beta release of WordPress 5.3 is set for 23rd September so it might be around that time. According to the timeline, the first release candidate for WordPress Twenty Twenty theme is targeted for October 15th. The first impression of the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme has been great so far and we can’t wait to see the end result!

Share your thoughts on the WordPress Twenty Twenty theme and let us know your feedback if you have already tried it!

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