Twenty Twenty-Two is a bad choice for default theme

  • My hosting provider’s WordPress installer (Softaculous) is set up such that the default theme for new installations is Twenty Twenty-Two. Since this theme contains BETA features and has clearly not settled into its final form, and because it works in a way for which there is as yet very little documentation or articles online, I think this is a poor choice as a default to shove into the faces of site administrators who are mostly not developers, and never asked to be on the bleeding edge.

    The hosting provider’s support claims that “the default themes come bundled with WordPress and we can’t change them”. I’m not an expert on Softaculous, but I’m willing to bet there’s a way they can configure it to specify which theme is suggested to the user as the default. I’m not saying Twenty Twenty-Two shouldn’t be installed with WordPress (though whether to do so is arguable at present). I just want the hosting provider to select a different default — say, Twenty Twenty-One.

    Two questions:

    1. Do the support folks know what they’re talking about? Isn’t it possible to configure a different theme as the default active theme when they install WordPress?
    2. Do y’all agree it’s a bad idea to expose the typical site admin to 2022 just yet?
Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    You don’t have to use twentytwentytwo theme

    It comes bundled with other default themes that does not mean you have to use it.

    I use twentytwentyone.

    You don’t have to even use twentytwentyone.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    Isn’t it possible to configure a different theme as the default active theme when they install WordPress?

    Ish but short answer is “No, the default is the default”. There has to be a default or it breaks things at WordPress install time.

    The ish part is that outside of installer code like Softaculous, many hosts use home grown tools or wp-cli to bulk provision new installations.

    A user can always install additional themes and use that post-installation and at that install time they can and often do use a different theme.

    Do y’all agree it’s a bad idea to expose the typical site admin to 2022 just yet?

    No, not at all. Why would anyone agree to that?

    Thread Starter Tyler Tork

    (@tylertork)

    Do y’all agree it’s a bad idea to expose the typical site admin to 2022 just yet?
    No, not at all. Why would anyone agree to that?
    I’m a little disappointed that you asked rather than responding to the points I already made, but I’ll elaborate.

    I’ve been a professional software developer for over thirty years. Never in all that time did we roll out beta code to customers as the default installation. Beta code is by definition not ready for the big time. It’s the province of people who have chosen to put their lives in their hands, figuratively speaking, and play around with stuff that has a high probability of not working correctly. These are people who stand to gain some advantage by understanding new features early and helping to make sure they are actually usable when the product is delivered for real, or who just love the product so much that they’re willing to donate time to improving it. People like us.

    The vast majority of users are not in that mindset. They just need the code to freakin’ work. They aren’t particularly technically inclined, they just need a website and are bumbling along getting it together the best they can. They could do with some hand-holding, so if something is not brand new and there are a lot of articles and tutorials about it online, that’s great.

    So: Full Site Editing still has BETA stamped on it in red. I myself have reported a few bugs. It’s still evolving a lot. It hasn’t been around long enough for there to be tutorials and helpful blog posts and plugins to take advantage of its features. Even if it worked perfectly today, it’s a huge departure from what people have gotten used to and totally different from what beginners are expecting from reading articles in wpbeginner, for instance. Folks who try this are on their own.

    I think it’s too easy for software developers to lose sight of the fact that we are the 1% of users who are completely comfortable with just trying out undocumented stuff, coming up with workarounds, adding bits of code because the basic product doesn’t do what we need. Developers can’t develop for developers. They have to develop for the below average users who put their faith in us and hope we don’t hurt them.

    That’s why.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    I’m a little disappointed that you asked rather than responding to the points I already made, but I’ll elaborate.

    I literally replied to your two points. I get you’ve an axe to grind but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make claims that are demonstrably false.

    So: Full Site Editing still has BETA stamped on it in red.

    Great! Now were getting somewhere. You have an issue with Full Site Editing being not ready for primetime and officially in beta. My mistake was that you wrote

    Twenty Twenty-Two is a bad choice for default theme

    Fair enough. It’s still a good default theme but perhaps some won’t like using or testing a new feature.

    Thread Starter Tyler Tork

    (@tylertork)

    You have not really addressed any of the reasons I brought up for saying “Twenty Twenty-Two is a bad choice for default theme”. You just contradicted me and said it was a good default theme. That’s not engaging with my points.

    I don’t “have an issue with Full Site Editing being not ready for primetime and officially in beta.” I’m fine with it being in beta. It can be in beta as long as it needs to be to assure quality. My issue is that it was made the default while still in beta.

    I don’t know what you mean when you say I have an “axe to grind.” This suggests some ulterior motive, and I don’t know what you imagine that is, but I resent your implication. If I have an axe, it’s the axe of making WordPress accessible to more people, of lowering the barriers of technical expertise required to use it.

    You blithely wave away the millions of people who “won’t like using or testing a new feature”. This isn’t just any old new feature. It’s not a new built-in block or an added styling option. It’s a whole new paradigm.

    The WordPress developer community signed up for taking their machete and hacking away at the unexplored wilderness of how to apply new features and reporting the bugs they run across. The WordPress user community, which is hugely larger, did not.

    This is my last response on the subject. I don’t feel I’ve been listened to and my points considered. Your arrogant attitude and refusal to engage with constructive feedback is really making me question whether there’s any point in my doing any more WordPress development. If you don’t listen when people are telling you you made a wrong turn, you’ll just drive deeper and deeper into the weeds. I don’t insist on you agreeing with me, but I don’t feel I’ve been heard.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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