Once your designs are approved, it’s time to hand them off to the development team. The combination of Figma Developer Mode and WordPress’s theme.json file ensures a smooth transition from design to code, preserving the integrity of your design throughout the development process.

Steps for Handoff: #

1. Switch to Figma Developer Mode
   • Designers can easily switch to Figma Developer Mode to provide developers with direct access to design specifications such as colours, typography, spacing, and dimensions. This reduces the need for guesswork and frequent communication between teams.

1. Extract Key Design Information
   • Developers can use Figma Developer Mode to extract important design properties, including:
     • Colours: Extract hex codes or colour variables.
     • Typography: Gather font families, sizes, weights, and line heights.
     • Spacing: Extract margins, padding, and other layout properties.
   • This information can then be directly applied to the codebase, ensuring pixel-perfect accuracy.

1. Copy CSS and Download Assets
   • Figma Developer Mode allows developers to copy CSS snippets directly for use in their code, simplifying the process of implementing design elements such as:
     • Border-radius, shadows, and font sizes.
   • Developers can also download assets (e.g., icons, logos, images) in optimized formats such as SVGs, eliminating the need for third-party tools.
2. Set Up theme.json in WordPress
   • With the extracted design information, developers can now create or update the theme.json file in WordPress. The theme.json file centralises theme settings, including global styles like:
     • Colours: Use the colour palette from Figma Developer Mode to define primary and secondary colours in the theme.json file.
     • Typography: Map font sizes, families, and weights extracted from Figma into the typography section of theme.json.
     • Spacing: Define margins and padding based on Figma’s pixel-perfect values.
3. Integrate theme.json with WordPress Block Editor
   • The theme.json file seamlessly integrates with WordPress’s Gutenberg block editor, ensuring that design tokens used on the front end (colours, typography, spacing) are automatically applied to block editor components. This allows for a consistent editing experience for content creators and ensures the visual consistency of the website.
4. Test and Iterate
   • After the theme.json file is set up and CSS applied, developers should preview the WordPress site to verify that the design matches the original Figma prototype.
   • Use the Figma prototypes and Developer Mode for side-by-side comparison to ensure the accuracy of design implementation, making adjustments as needed.

Advantages of Using Figma Developer Mode: #

• Direct Access to Design Specifications: Developers can inspect components, see exact measurements, and access styles directly within Figma.
• Extractable CSS and Code Snippets: Figma allows you to copy CSS directly, reducing development time and ensuring accuracy in implementation.
• Easy Access to Design Assets: Download optimised assets, such as images and icons, without the need for external tools.
• Improved Collaboration and Accuracy: By having access to the design tokens (colours, typography, etc.), developers can ensure consistent implementation without needing frequent clarification from designers.

Advantages of Using theme.json in WordPress: #

• Centralised Theme Settings: theme.json consolidates your theme’s global settings, reducing the need for custom CSS across individual components.
• Customizable Global Styles: Set default button styles, fonts, and background colours for consistent design across the entire site.
• Optimised Performance: By centralising styles, theme.json reduces the number of CSS files loaded, improving site performance.

Future-Proofing: As WordPress moves toward full-site editing, theme.json ensures your theme will adapt to new blocks and site editing features introduced by WordPress.