GeneratePress is Boring = What Theme Should I Use?

byMrDon1

687 followers

Updated 5 months ago

I have seen this question come across Questions at least once a month. I have threatened to answer this at least a dozen times. This "To-Do" is now off my list.

Within the halls of Wealthy Affiliate, one of the biggest time wasters, in the beginning, is Choosing A Theme. We have all been there. I spent nearly a full week playing with the 1000s of themes that we have available to us. What did it get me? A wasted week. But why do we do this?

GeneratePress has been the default within the WordPress ecosystem since its launch. It is the go-to theme for website developers and owners craving SPEED. Site hosts prefer to load this theme by default for its SIZE. Tom Usborne, the developer behind GeneratePress, designed it with a focus on size, speed, usability, and clean code. This stripped-down theme has had everything removed for the sake of SIZE, SPEED, and SEO Rankings.

Developers keep recommending GeneratePress for TWO reasons. It's hard to mess up minimalistic code making compatibility issues and security easy to control. Think Pure Vanilla Yogurt. Deceptively fast vanilla yogurt. But yogurt nonetheless.

GeneratePress Is Boring

Some people love minimalistic. If you do, GeneratePress is for you. Don't be fooled, you can spruce it up IF you learn Elementor, Beaver, or Brizy, but why? For the rest of us, blah. Show me something, anything else.

To prevent you from wasting precious hours and days, let me give you a shortcut that is bound to ease you into life as a blogger.Alternatives to GeneratePress

Before I go into the alternatives, what are our criteria for selecting another theme?

1. Speed - Search for Themes with the fastest load times
2. Size - The theme "footprint" needs to be small and without bloatware
   
   While the first 2 criteria are key to great ranking, I will prioritize easily eliminating "The Plain".
   
3. Customizability - Can you dress up plain Jane and make her beautiful?
4. Training - I am a visual learner. Does YouTube have good training?
5. Price - Free is always better. Does the free version have all of the functionality I want?

I am driven by items 3 -5. I am going to eliminate 995+ themes right off the top. Many themes are bloated with add-ons that are not needed, poorly coded with known compatibility issues, are only customizable if you pay for the upgraded versions, and do not have training. Who better to assist with this task than my Chatty Assistant?

My selections below in No Particular Order are all fast, small, customizable, and have extensive online training. The reviews and why I recommend them are below the list.

1. Astra - Astra is an excellent choice if you need a fast, responsive site with a wide array of design options. Its robust library of pre-designed templates is perfect for users who want to get a visually appealing site up and running quickly without much hassle.
   
2. Kadence - Kadence offers user-friendly tools for creating custom headers and footers, which can add a unique touch to your site with minimal effort. Its strong support system ensures you have help when you need it, making it a comfortable choice for those who might need a bit of guidance along the way.
   
3. Blocksy - For users who enjoy working with Gutenberg, Blocksy stands out. Its seamless integration with the block editor allows for more fluid and straightforward content creation. This theme also excels in offering dynamic content features, which can be a big plus for complex, content-heavy sites.
   
4. OceanWP - OceanWP excels in WooCommerce integration, providing extensive features specifically designed for online stores.
   
5. Neve - If your website leans heavily towards a mobile audience, Neve’s mobile-first design and AMP support make it a strong contender.

Each of these themes—Astra, Kadence, Blocksy, OceanWP, Neve—brings something unique to the table. Assessing the pros and cons of each can help in making an informed decision based on your project's specific needs, be it speed, ease of use, design flexibility, or advanced features.On to the Detailed Why

ASTRA

Astra is one of the heavyweight contenders. Its major selling points include speed and customization. Astra provides a broad array of pre-designed templates, which can save a lot of time during the setup phase. It’s lightweight like GeneratePress, ensuring fast load times, and offers seamless integration with popular page builders.

Speed & Performance - Astra is renowned for its speed and performance, with a loading time of around 400ms. It performs well in various speed tests, often achieving high scores on tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix. Its lightweight structure contributes to its excellent performance.

Size - Astra is built with a lightweight framework, ensuring a small footprint and minimal impact on site speed. The core theme files are designed to be lean, avoiding unnecessary bloat and maintaining efficiency.

Customizability - Astra provides extensive customization options through the WordPress Customizer, allowing users to modify colors, typography, and layouts. It is highly compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg, and offers a vast library of pre-built templates. Astra Pro unlocks even more advanced features like custom headers, footers, and additional templates​

Training - Astra has comprehensive documentation and numerous tutorials available. Many video tutorials on YouTube make it easy for visual learners to follow along and learn how to customize the theme. The large, active user community also provides support and additional resources​

Price - Astra’s core theme is free and includes a wide array of customization options and pre-built templates. The Pro version starts at $47 per year, offering additional customization options and features. Higher-tier plans, like the Essential Bundle and Growth Bundle, provide even more advanced features and extensive template libraries​.

KADENCE

Kadence offers a balance of simplicity and power. It’s particularly praised for its intuitive customization options and built-in header and footer builders. Kadence also includes a variety of starter templates, making it easier to get up and running quickly. Its strong community support and regular updates ensure continued improvement.

Speed & Performance - Kadence is designed with performance in mind, boasting a lightweight codebase that ensures fast loading times. It's optimized to work efficiently even with multiple plugins and integrates seamlessly with performance-enhancing tools like caching plugins and image optimization​.

Size - Kadence maintains a small footprint without bloatware, which helps in keeping the site lean and quick to load. This is crucial for maintaining optimal performance and providing a better user experience​​.

Customizability - Kadence offers extensive customization options, making it highly versatile. Users can adjust global colors, typography, header and footer layouts, and more through a user-friendly interface. The theme includes a header and footer builder, allowing for professional-quality designs via drag-and-drop elements. This flexibility is accessible even in the free version, although the premium version unlocks additional customization features​.

Training - Kadence is well-supported by a wealth of training resources, including detailed tutorials and guides available on YouTube. These resources are beneficial for visual learners and help users make the most of the theme's extensive features without needing advanced technical knowledge.

Price - The free version of Kadence offers a substantial array of features, making it a strong contender among free WordPress themes. While the premium version adds more advanced features and additional tools, many users find the free version sufficient for their needs​.

BLOCKSY

Blocksy stands out with its modern design and versatile features. It’s built with Gutenberg in mind, which is ideal if you’re planning to use WordPress’s native block editor extensively. Blocksy's customizability and dynamic content capabilities are impressive, offering a rich set of features for free. I am a Gutenberg Block Editor User from way back. This is the theme that made me say OK, this is it!

Speed & Performance - Blocksy is also designed for speed and efficiency. Its modern, clean code ensures fast load times and high performance, even when using advanced features and multiple plugins.

Size - Blocksy is lightweight and free from unnecessary bloat, focusing on providing essential features without compromising performance. This keeps your website running smoothly and efficiently.

Customizability - Blocksy excels in customization, offering a powerful set of tools for designing your site. It includes customizable headers, footers, and sidebars, as well as advanced typography and color options. The theme also integrates seamlessly with page builders like Elementor, providing even more flexibility for creating unique designs​​.

Training - There are extensive training resources available for Blocksy, including comprehensive guides and video tutorials on platforms like YouTube. These resources are particularly helpful for visual learners and those new to web development.

Price - Blocksy offers a robust free version with a wide range of features. For additional capabilities, such as more customization options and advanced integrations, there is a premium version available. However, the free version is often sufficient for most users' needs​.

OceanWP

OceanWP is a versatile WordPress theme known for its speed, lightweight structure, and extensive customization options. OceanWP excels in WooCommerce integration, providing extensive features specifically designed for online stores. This includes the Ocean eComm Treasure Box, a premium plugin that enhances eCommerce functionalities, allowing for detailed customization of product pages, shopping cart layouts, and the checkout process

Speed & Performance - OceanWP is designed to be fast, with excellent performance right out of the box. In tests, it demonstrated quick load times, even with full demo content imported and minimal optimization tweaks. This makes it a strong contender for users to prioritize speed​.

Size - OceanWP maintains a small footprint by offering a modular approach. Instead of bundling numerous features into the core theme, it provides various extensions that users can choose to activate as needed. This keeps the theme lightweight and avoids unnecessary bloat.

Customizability - One of OceanWP's standout features is its high level of customizability. It integrates seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor, allowing users to design custom templates for various pages. Additionally, it offers a comprehensive library of templates and layouts, catering to different industries and niches. Users can further customize these templates through the WordPress Customizer or Elementor​.

Training - OceanWP has a robust support system with ample training resources available. There are numerous tutorials and guides provided by the developers and a wealth of user-generated content on platforms like YouTube. These resources cover everything from basic setup to advanced customization, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users​.

Price - The core version of OceanWP is free and includes a significant amount of functionality. There are also several free extensions available. For users needing more advanced features, OceanWP offers a variety of premium extensions and bundles. The Core Extensions bundle, for instance, starts at $39 for a single site license, which provides access to all premium extensions and pro demos​

NEVE

Neve is another excellent choice, renowned for its flexibility and ease of use. This theme excels in providing a mobile-first approach, ensuring that your site looks great on all devices. It also supports AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) out of the box. Neve's intuitive setup and user-friendly design tools make it accessible for beginners.

Speed & Performance - Neve is optimized for speed, featuring a lightweight codebase that ensures fast loading times. It performs exceptionally well on speed tests, often scoring above 90 on Google PageSpeed Insights. This optimization makes Neve an excellent choice for users who prioritize site speed and performance

Size -Neve maintains a small footprint without unnecessary bloatware. Its lightweight design helps keep the site lean and quick to load, which is crucial for maintaining optimal performance and providing a better user experience​

Customizability - Neve offers extensive customization options, including a drag-and-drop header and footer builder, multiple layout choices for blogs and pages, and extensive typography settings. It is highly compatible with major page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg, allowing users to create professional-quality designs with ease. The free version offers substantial customization, while the premium version unlocks additional features​.

Training - Neve is supported by a wealth of training resources, including detailed documentation, tutorials, and a robust community. There are numerous video tutorials available on YouTube, catering to visual learners and helping users fully utilize the theme's features​.Choosing the Right Theme: A Decision That Matters

After exploring these alternatives to GeneratePress, it's clear that the WordPress theme landscape offers a wealth of options for every need and preference. While GeneratePress remains a solid choice for those who prioritize minimalism and pure performance, themes like Astra, Kadence, Blocksy, OceanWP, and Neve provide compelling alternatives that balance speed, customizability, and user-friendliness.

Remember, the best theme for you depends on your specific needs:

1. If you're after extensive design options and pre-built templates, Astra might be your go-to.
2. For intuitive customization and strong community support, Kadence could be the perfect fit.
3. Blocksy shines for Gutenberg enthusiasts and those seeking dynamic content features.
4. E-commerce site owners might gravitate towards OceanWP for its WooCommerce integration.
5. If mobile optimization is your priority, Neve's mobile-first approach could be the answer.

Ultimately, the theme you choose sets the foundation for your website's performance, aesthetics, and functionality. While it's tempting to spend weeks testing every option, remember that your theme is just one part of your website's success. The most important thing is to make a decision and start creating valuable content for your audience.

Don't let theme selection become a roadblock to your progress. Choose a theme that meets your core requirements, and remember that you can always make adjustments or even switch themes later as your needs evolve. The key is to get started and focus on what truly matters – building a great website that serves your visitors well.

So, take this information, make an informed decision, and move forward with confidence. Your perfect theme is out there, and now you're equipped to find it without wasting precious time.

Happy theme hunting, and here's to your successful Wealthy Affiliate journey!

Let me know if you have a theme that you prefer.

Thanks for reading this far. I value your opinion.

MrDon