Where are Classic Themes?
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They no longer appear under https://wordpress.com/themes/all/filter/classic-theme in the Theme Showcase or in Dashboard>Appearance>Themes.
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Hi folks, still need an answer to this.
How can I find and activate a free Classic theme?
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Hi there, @2020testjj! 🙂
Classic themes don’t show up under the “Classic Themes” filter or in the main theme listings. However, they are still available if you search for them by name.
Here are a few examples you can check out:
https://wordpress.com/theme/scratchpad
https://wordpress.com/theme/rebalance
https://wordpress.com/theme/edin/
https://wordpress.com/theme/radcliffe-2If there’s a specific Classic theme you’re looking for, just let me know and I’ll be happy to help you find it!
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There’s not much point in still having that “Classic Theme” link then if it doesn’t go anywhere.
I think that as long as there are even a few classic themes then that link ought to do something. Dead links just look unprofessional.
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Thanks, @elcristofue That helps and I get why they no longer appear in the Theme Showcase (but still…). Why not hide them from new signups rather than from everyone? I would think that new signups are expecting that their theme choices will be block-based using the Site Editor. Older accounts currently using Classic themes might still be using the Classic Editor and/or struggling to use the Block Editor (let alone the Site Editor).
@themagicrobot but is it really a “dead link”? I see promotions for both the web design services and upgrading to Business to upload a theme.
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One quick followup question:
If older themes are no longer displayed in the Theme Showcase, how can we know if a theme has been retired?
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Just as a quick FYI, Dyad2 is a Classic Theme.
As for retired themes, I use a retired theme for my current blog which I’ve had since 2015 and have always used the Classic Editor. When I first started the blog I used the Chateau theme and of course at that time there was no Block/Site editor and that theme was free. TBH, I don’t remember why I decided to switch to a different, purchased Classic theme (the original Olsen) in 2021 but I did. That’s the one I still have and intend to keep, even though it’s now retired (I believe there is a version now called Olsen Lite but I’m not sure if that is still a Classic Theme or whether it is a Free or Paid one.)
If while logged in I go to the Themes tab, I see as the first theme the one that I currently have (the original Olsen) but with an alert that it is now retired and that if I decide to try out any other theme – even temporarily – I will permanently lose access to the retired original Olsen, even though I did pay $79 (IIRC) for it in 2021.
That’s the thing with themes here on WordPress.com; even when you “buy” a theme, you are only buying the rights to USE that theme here on WordPress.com. Unlike when you buy a theme from that theme’s creator directly, you are only ‘renting’ that theme here. If you want to take your purchased WordPress.com theme with you and use it on a self-hosted site, you can’t. It’s not like when you buy a lifetime license to a piece of software; it’s more like a one-time subscription payment instead of a monthly or annual one. The theme is only “yours” if you have your blog here; it still belongs to WordPress.com who can discontinue (retire) it any time they want. But users who have “bought” it are grandfathered in, as long as they keep using THAT theme and no other.
This is why we can’t search for retired themes. Once retired/discontinued by WordPress.com, they only exist for users who have bought it (if it was a Paid theme) and even then, it is a “continue to use it, or you will lose it” situation.
(If I wanted to self-host a blog and still use the original Olsen, I would need to buy it from CSSIgniter on either a static license or a subscription model. )
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Uh, thank you for your lengthy discourse, but it’s not clear to me how it relates to my follow up question to Staff from our previous discussion in this thread about the disappearance of all Classic Themes from the Theme Showcase. Those themes are not retired.
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Your follow-up referenced “retired” themes and their status/availability; I was responding to that.
Sorry if you find background information annoying. Feel free to disregard it anytime.
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Edited from the above:
One quick followup question for Staff: If Classic themes are no longer displayed in the Theme Showcase, how can we know if a theme has been retired?
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Hi @2020testjj,
If a theme has been retired, it will no longer appear or be searchable in the main theme directory. So if you’re searching for a Classic theme and can’t find it, it’s likely that the theme has been retired.
I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions.
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