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You can build a WordPress publication with a visual, section-based homepage and distinct story layouts by choosing a theme that fits your editing workflow, organizing posts into editorial sections, and designing templates around those sections. A block theme lets you use the Site Editor for site-wide areas; it won’t reproduce BuzzFeed’s brand, content operation, or business model by itself.
1. Choose how you want to edit the site
Start by deciding whether you want to edit the site’s structure and presentation with blocks or work within a classic theme’s PHP-based templates and customization workflow. A block theme is needed for the standard WordPress Site Editor workflow. After activating one, the editor lets you work on site areas such as templates and template parts. WordPress describes the Site Editor as a way to design the site, including its header and footer, with blocks (WordPress.org: Site Editor; WordPress.org: Block themes).
Neither editing model is universally better. A block theme is a natural fit if you want to adjust layouts visually in WordPress. A classic theme may suit a project that already relies on a custom PHP theme or an established classic-theme workflow. Compare actual themes against the templates and editorial patterns you need rather than choosing on a “best theme” label.
2. Plan the publication’s sections
Decide what your publication covers and which sections readers should be able to browse—for example, technology news, explainers, entertainment, or reviews if those fit your editorial plan. Treat these as your own taxonomy decisions; WordPress documentation does not prescribe BuzzFeed’s categories.
Use section names consistently in your navigation and post organization. Before building the homepage, check that you can identify which posts belong in each section and how a reader will reach its archive. This keeps the navigation, homepage listings, and article context aligned.
3. Design a homepage from post listings
Think of the homepage as a template made from distinct editorial modules, not simply a list of the latest posts. You might reserve one area for leading stories and use additional areas to feature selected sections. WordPress’s theme documentation specifically uses a news-magazine layout with multiple post queries and sections as an example of what templates can support (WordPress Developer Resources: Templates).
In a block theme, use the Query Loop block to present groups of posts and adjust how each listing appears. Separate queries can give different homepage sections their own post selections and presentation. Preview the result with real posts: titles of different lengths, varied image proportions, and posts with or without excerpts can expose layout problems that empty placeholders will not.
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Plan the page types the publication needs before polishing individual pages. Templates define the layout used for a type of page; a theme can provide separate templates for the homepage, archives, and individual posts, among others. WordPress’s theme handbook explains template concepts and the range of page layouts themes can use (WordPress Developer Resources: Theme Handbook; Templates).
- Homepage: Arrange the post listings and editorial sections readers should see first.
- Section archive: Make it clear which section is being browsed and provide a consistent list of its posts.
- Single post: Give stories a readable structure for the headline, article content, and imagery.
- Other useful templates: Consider search results and an error page if they are part of your publication’s needs.
With a block theme, the Site Editor manages templates and template parts, so shared areas such as a header or footer can be reused instead of rebuilt on every page. Use a Navigation block to create the site’s menus, then inspect the homepage, an archive, and a post to ensure the shared elements and page-specific layouts work together (WordPress.org: Site Editor).
5. Set visual styles once, then check the layouts
Establish a consistent system for typography, colors, spacing, and the appearance of repeated blocks. Applying these choices at the theme or site level helps multiple templates and homepage sections feel like one publication rather than unrelated page designs. Block themes use blocks across site areas, including navigation, headers, content, and footers (WordPress Developer Resources: Themes – Block Editor Handbook).
Review the layouts at the screen sizes your readers are likely to use. Check navigation, headline wrapping, image crops, and the transitions between homepage modules. No responsive or speed test is established here, so treat those as checks to perform on your own site rather than assumed theme results.
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Write posts in the block editor and use blocks for the content each story needs: headings, text, images, lists, video, or galleries. WordPress documents these common block workflows and notes that plugins can add further blocks (WordPress.org: Work with blocks).
Add a plugin only when you can name the specific editorial function it provides and native WordPress tools do not meet that need. The sources establish that plugins can extend available blocks, not that any particular paid plugin or commercial theme is required.
7. Check the publishing workflow before launch
Use representative posts and pages to walk through the site as both an editor and a reader. Confirm that section labels, navigation, archives, article templates, images, and homepage listings behave as intended. Check that an editor can place a story in the right section and that a reader can move from the homepage to a story and back into related browsing.
When comparing themes, assess their editing workflow, template coverage, control over post listings, and fit for the kinds of images and media your stories use. Also evaluate accessibility, responsive behavior, loading performance, update history, documentation, support, and portability against your own requirements. Those are criteria to investigate; no candidate theme was tested or compared here.
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