u/imkb9

I'm a developer building a reusable, ecommerce theme. The goal is to have a modular system that can adapt to most of a brand's identity and get me 80% there. To achieve it, I need a robust semantic tokens layer that I can play with.

I'm specifically targeting the semantic layer because I believe its tokens are the closest design interface to web standards. Primitives are stateless and component level tokens have too much specificity to fit any product. No matter the product you're building, that semantic layer will share common tokens because they derive directly from the way the web is meant to be used.

In that sense I expected it to be largely figured out. At least the implementation of core concepts. But apparently I was wrong? Every company seems to have its own implementation of what a design system should look like. At component level, obviously, but at primitive/semantic level? If you're Big Tech I get it, you're here from the beginning of the web, you have hundreds of different products, you had to grow and scale with the web. But why is everyone else kinda reinventing the wheel on this?

Anyway, I wanted to find a standardized base of tokens/variables to define basic typos, states, actions, layers, etc... without having to reinvent the wheel. I'd like to avoid the complexity and granularity of a GAFAM company, I want a healthy base I can extend if needed. Like a list of 100 semantic tokens which represent the most common design decisions related to user experience and interactions on the web. Whats the go-to token system you guys default to for human-sized projects?

Recently I've been looking into WP development to build a bespoke Woocommerce theme for my personal needs (not a user facing product). I've struggled to find a reliable source breaking down the real performance implications of choosing a classic or block base architecture at scale, in 2026. I mention the year because it seems like blocks are still a maturing concept and every new WP/Woo update might have a significant impact. But I sense there is also an inherent bias towards novelty and future-proofing. When I see stuff like Woo docs advocating for blocks because it has : "Better performance, as only the required CSS is printed into the page, reducing the bundle size to render a page" - as if all this time CSS was the main culprit and perf killer, omitting JS assets or DB round trips. Overall it seems like those companies are catering towards end-users, not devs.

Current state of affairs with blocks :

- interface : I don't need to have a clunky interface I can ruin my website's layout from, unless it comes with underlying arch/perf benefits for visitors. Conceptually I'm more attracted to the way ACF has abstracted that layer with Flexible Content.

- versioning : as I understand, the moment you customize your website with blocks, structural layout details end up in your database. Not a fan (also perf implications?)

- performance (this is where I lack references) : sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe sht, "It depends", checkout and cart can be all over the place, some people struggling to integrate with customizability, the interactivity api (compatibility with classic?), dynamic blocks, etc.

Anyway, ecommerce requires you to be more mindful about performances and security as your shop grows to 100s or 1000s+ products. Based on your own experience of recently developing/switching from one another, using similar hosting, caching, SKUs (mitigating external factors) can you share the impact it had on your shops and DX?