Harbour
A clean, confident theme for local businesses and services: a bold colour hero, three service cards, a "why choose us" band and latest news.
Free WordPress theme builder and plain-English guides
Design your own WordPress theme, then learn to run your site with confidence
Answer a few questions, add your logo and photos, and our free builder makes a block theme .zip you can upload straight into WordPress. Our step-by-step guides cover everything after that: launching, updating, backing up and keeping your site safe.
- Block themes for the latest WordPress
- Fonts bundled, nothing from Google
- Every theme tested before release
- Guides that cite official sources
How the theme builder works
From a blank page to a theme you can install in about ten minutes. Your pictures stay on your device: the theme file is made right there in your browser.
- 1
Tell us about your site
Blog, business, shop, portfolio, restaurant or club.
- 2
Pick colours and fonts
Eight colour schemes or your own, six font pairings.
- 3
Choose a layout
Header style, corners and a colour or photo hero.
- 4
Add your pictures
Logo, home page photo and card images.
- 5
Download and upload
Get the .zip, then Appearance › Themes › Upload Theme.
Free block themes
Ready-made starting points. Download one as it is, or open it in the builder and make it yours.
Notebook
A calm, readable blog theme with a sage and blush palette, editorial serif headings and a grid of your latest posts.
Market Street
A warm, centred shop theme for small makers and online stores. Works with WooCommerce for products, basket and checkout.
Studio
A minimal charcoal portfolio theme with square corners and a single coral accent, so your work provides the colour.
Olive and Thyme
A friendly theme for cafes, restaurants and pubs, with a menu section, opening times and a "book a table" button.
Community
A bold, accessible theme for clubs, charities and community groups: dark header, ocean-blue hero and "get involved" cards.
What is a WordPress theme?
A WordPress theme is the set of files that controls how a WordPress website looks: its layout, colours, fonts and page templates. Your words, pictures, pages and products are stored separately in WordPress, so you can change theme without losing your content.
Modern block themes are built from a style.css file, a theme.json file of settings and styles, and HTML templates made of blocks. You edit them visually in Appearance › Editor, with no code. Older classic themes use PHP templates and the Customizer.
A theme arrives as a .zip file. You upload it in Appearance › Themes › Add Theme › Upload Theme, then activate it.
Learn WordPress, one topic at a time
Four topics that cover the life of a WordPress website, from the first day to the fifth year.
Start a website
Choosing hosting, picking the right kind of WordPress, installing it and the settings to change on day one.
Build a theme
How themes work, how to install one from a .zip, and how to make one of your own, with or without code.
Maintain your site
Updating WordPress, plugins and themes without breaking anything, backing up properly, and a routine that keeps your…
Security, speed and SEO
Keeping your site safe, making it fast, helping people find it, and fixing it when something goes wrong.
Most useful guides
Clear, step-by-step answers to the jobs every WordPress site owner faces.
01
Install a theme from a .zip
Upload a theme .zip in a couple of minutes, install it by FTP if the upload fails, and…
02
Start a WordPress website
Seven steps from no website to a live WordPress site: a domain, hosting, installing…
03
Update plugins safely
A safe routine for plugin updates, when to turn on auto-updates, and exactly what to do…
04
Block vs classic themes
Block themes are edited visually in the Site Editor; classic themes use PHP templates and…
05
Update a theme
Which customisations survive a theme update and which don't, plus three ways to update a…
06
Back up WordPress
A WordPress backup has two parts: the files and the database. Here is how to back up…
07
Fix common errors
Plain-English fixes for the critical error message, the white screen, 500 errors…
08
Make your own theme
Three routes to a theme of your own: an online theme builder, designing in the Site…
WordPress: the key facts
Short, sourced answers to the questions people ask most.
W3Techs reported that WordPress was used by 39.5% of all websites, and 58.2% of websites whose content management system it could identify, on 1 November 2026.
WordPress.org recommends hosting with PHP 8.3 or greater, MariaDB 10.11 or greater or MySQL 8.0 or greater, and HTTPS support.
Source: Requirements – WordPress.org
A WordPress block theme needs only two files: style.css and templates/index.html.
Full site editing and the first default block theme, Twenty Twenty-Two, arrived in WordPress 5.9 in January 2022.
Since WordPress 3.7, most sites install minor and security updates of WordPress automatically in the background.
Since WordPress 5.2, a fatal error makes WordPress email the site's admin address a link to recovery mode, where the faulty plugin or theme can be deactivated.
Source: WordPress 5.2 fatal error recovery mode – Make WordPress Core
Free printable WordPress checklists
A launch checklist for new sites, a safe update routine and a monthly maintenance list. Print them, tick them off, and keep your site healthy.
How WordPress themes got here
Twenty-three years of releases, from a blogging tool to full site editing.
27 May 2003
WordPress is born
Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little release WordPress, a fork of the b2/cafelog blogging software.
January 2004
WordPress 1.0
Version 1.0, "Miles", is released on 3 January 2004. Release names honour jazz musicians, a tradition that continues today.
June 2010
WordPress 3.0
Version 3.0, "Thelonious", arrives on 17 June 2010, helping WordPress grow from a blogging tool into a full website platform.
October 2013
Automatic security updates
From WordPress 3.7, most sites install minor and security updates automatically in the background.
December 2018
The block editor
WordPress 5.0, "Bebo", released on 6 December 2018, replaces the classic editor with the block editor.
Latest articles
All articles
Themes ·
How to Choose a WordPress Theme: 10 Checks Before You Download
A good theme makes everything easier for years; a bad one makes every change a battle. Ten checks to run before you commit.
Themes ·
Choosing Colours and Fonts for Your WordPress Theme
Three colours and two fonts are all most websites need. Here is how to choose them so your site looks right and stays easy to read.
How to ·
Cookies and Privacy Policies on UK WordPress Sites: The Basics
If your WordPress site uses analytics or advertising, UK law asks you to explain the cookies and get consent first. Here is what the ICO says, in plain English.
Questions people ask
Is the theme builder really free?
Yes. The theme builder and the themes in our catalogue are free to download and use, on as many sites as you like. We ask for an email address before downloads, which you only enter once on each device, and you choose separately whether to get our newsletter. Open the builder.
How do I install a WordPress theme from a .zip file?
In WordPress, go to Appearance › Themes › Add Theme › Upload Theme, choose the .zip file, click Install Now and then Activate. Upload the file as it is; don't unzip it first. Step-by-step guide.
Why does WordPress say "The link you followed has expired" when I upload a theme?
Usually the file is bigger than your host's upload limit. Ask your host to raise the PHP upload_max_filesize and post_max_size settings, or upload the unzipped theme folder to /wp-content/themes/ by FTP or File Manager. More fixes.
Can I change the design after installing a theme?
Yes. All our themes are block themes, so you can change the header, footer, templates, colours and fonts in Appearance › Editor without code. You can also go back to the builder, change your choices and upload the new version.
How often should I update WordPress plugins?
Check at least monthly, and install security updates as soon as you can. Since WordPress 5.5 you can switch on automatic updates for individual plugins; update important ones, such as shop plugins, by hand after a backup. Safe update routine.