WordPress.org has republished a blog post by a former Automattic employee advocating for “more weirdness” in WordPress theme design.
Nick Hamze, who was Automattic’s Chief Swag Officer from March 2012 to Apr 2016, critiques the trend of uniformity in modern web design, arguing that too many websites now look the same—identical layouts, structures, and visual language. This, he argues, stifles self-expression.
“When every blog has the same hero section, when every portfolio follows the same grid, when every restaurant site looks interchangeable, we create an echo chamber of sameness,” he writes.
“The cost isn’t just visual monotony – it’s the slow erosion of the web’s ability to surprise, delight, and showcase truly individual perspectives.”
Hamze says he spent “countless hours” searching the WordPress.org theme repository for themes that broke the mold and sparked excitement but couldn’t find any that were daring, had personality, or were unexpected. He calls for more themes that have a strong point of view, embrace specific aesthetics boldly, and design for specific use cases—while breaking rules thoughtfully.
“WordPress desperately needs your creativity, your weird ideas, your willingness to break the visual rules. The future of the web shouldn’t be a monochrome landscape of identical layouts. Let’s make WordPress themes exciting again. Let’s make the web weird again,” he says.
Hamze originally published the post on his site, weirdo.blog, on December 23, 2024. In his version, he says he recently worked with Automattic to design and submit the collection of themes featured at the bottom of his post, which he believes “represent the kind of creative energy WordPress needs more of.”
After leaving Automattic, Hamze joined creative agency Gumshoe, where he now serves as Chief Creative Officer Gumshoe, and runs Rewind Kicks, a company offering custom shoes for companies.
In October 2024, Hamze published a series of posts focused on the fallout after WordCamp US and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg’s controversial keynote address, sharing his views on hosting companies’ contributions to WordPress, the threat he thinks they pose to the WordPress ecosystem, and his thoughts on why people should acknowledge their jealousy of Mullenweg, and WP Engine’s “trademark tango.”
In May 2024, he posted that he would never make another WordPress.org theme after a dark version of Twenty Twenty-Four that he submitted was rejected. At the time, he wrote, “It seems [theme reviewers] believe that keeping things out helps the user, thinking their job is to protect users from people creating things. In reality, their job should be to help bring more cool stuff into the WordPress world. How do we change this mindset?”
On LinkedIn, he has been critical of WordPress design, posting two years ago that “the lack of themes is really scaring me away” and that items for sale in The Mercantile, WordPress’s now-closed merch store, “screamed, ‘someone told me to make new merch but I really didn’t want to.’”
“Design is such an important part of the website experience for me that I always go back to Webflow as it seems like the only platform that can really get designers excited. If someone would give me 6 months and a few designers I could turn the entire WordPress theme world on it’s head,” he posted.
Matt Mullenweg says accessibility expert “tipping into net negative contribution territory”
Shortly after Hamze’s post went live, accessibility expert Amber Hinds pointed out issues with his theme designs, including problems with color contrast and unreadable fonts. She said the now-fixed snowfall animation that was added to WordPress.org in December was a “WCAG 2.2.2 failure” as it didn’t allow users to pause, stop or hide it.
“#WordPress themes need more #a11y and expected interfaces that convert. Not ‘weird’ designs that confuse people or kill time on site,” said Hinds, who runs Equalize Digital.
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg accused Hinds of “tipping into net negative contribution territory.”
The exchange sparked a debate on X about accessibility in theme design, what constitutes positive contributions to the WordPress project, and WordPress leadership. It also happened the same day the U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined accessibility startup accessiBe $1 million for misleading advertising.
“A painting, or a movie, are not meant to be interacted with. A website usually is. You simply can’t compare art with websites,” posted accessibility expert Piccia Neri, who recently spoke at Hatch Conference, a UX and design event, about the European Accessibility Act.
Barn2 founder and CEO Katie Barns questioned Mullenweg’s apparent disrespect to one of the WordPress community’s top accessibility experts. Automattic Director of Marketing Nicholas Garofalo said Hinds’s post detracted from the conversation about theme design rather than constructively adding to it.
Outspoken WordPress entrepreneur Kevin Geary, who’s working on a much-hyped new page builder called Etch, posted a series of fiery tweets criticizing Hamze’s call for “weird ideas.”
“No, WP needs actual leadership and real improvements to the software. We’d all LOVE a ‘sanitized and professional’ wp-admin right about now. ‘Weird themes,’ not so much,” Geary posted.
YouTuber Theo Browne — whose two-hour-long interview with Mullenweg last September was cited throughout WP Engine’s legal complaint against the Automattic CEO and his company — urged Mullenweg to work with Hinds to make WordPress easier for everyone to use.
“We all need to fight together to make the web more accessible. Amber is fighting the good fight. Even if you don’t agree with her methods, you should work with her to make wordpress easier for everyone to use,” Browne posted in reply to Mullenweg.
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