Block themes have evolved rapidly since their introduction. Comparing newer themes like Twenty Twenty-Four with older ones like Twenty Twenty-Two shows how much the development approach has changed.
Modern block themes eliminate style.css entirely for styling, skip index.php files, and use automatic pattern registration instead of manual PHP registration. File organization follows strict conventions with templates in /templates, parts in /parts, and patterns in /patterns.
Style variations live in the /styles directory, allowing multiple design variations of the same theme through theme.json overrides. The /assets directory stores images, fonts, and other media files.
These conventions enable WordPress’s auto-registration features and create a more standardized, maintainable block theme structure.