For WordPress website, there are three main parts to build the WordPress website.
- One is the WordPress core which you can download from WordPress.org. WordPress core is the WordPress you need to install on your web hosting.
- Two is the WordPress theme which you can download for free from the WordPress themes portal. Or you can buy the premium themes from the theme providers on the internet. In this case, I recommend Astra theme which is a fast WordPress theme in the market.
- Lastly is the WordPress plugins which you can download for free from the WordPress plugins portal. WordPress plugins are the main reason that people use WordPress. With WordPress plugins, you add new functionalities to your site quickly and easily.
Why I chose the Astra theme
WordPress is very fast with the default theme (eg. TwentyFourteen theme). However, often you want to pick the theme that meets your needs. Pick the right theme is very important. The theme affects the loading speed, security, and ability to customize. Plus, the outstanding theme will come with the best support who can support you 24 hours with the expert team. That’s why today, I write about the Astra theme, the fast, lightweight, and customizable WordPress theme in the market. Read on!
Astra theme always improves and adds new features on the theme which are useful for any website.
The pro version can be used with unlimited website usage. It is a Great deal.
Loading Speed
One of the main benefits of using the Astra theme is the loading speed. Your WordPress theme is loading fast, which means your viewers see your website quickly. It gives your viewers the first impression of your website. Especially, the viewers view your site from their mobile. Yep! having a fast WordPress theme is a must!
So I am a curious person and I want to test how fast the Astra theme performs. I set up a new subdomain and installed fresh WordPress. Then I install and activate the Astra theme free version. I don’t use any cache plugin.
Next, I checked the speed test with the Google PageSpeed Insight tool. Below is the result.
As you can see, the loading speed is very fast with the Astra theme. The web hosting I use for testing is not the best performance yet. It is the budget web hosting that you can buy for only $140 for 3 years. It is good for small businesses, personal blogs, or portfolio websites. But you see the point. I use budget web hosting which is located in the USA and I am calling my site from Thailand. The site is loaded pretty fast.
Why Astra theme load very fast?
An Astra team builds the theme with a performance focus in mind. For more than a decade, WordPress themes have offered the ability to customize the theme for all users. The heavy stylesheet files and jQuery library are added to the theme. The result is the WordPress site is loading slowly on the front end. Plus, users mostly install a bunch of plugins in order to add more functionalities they need on their sites. Those plugins will use their own stylesheet files and jQuery library. And that will add more loading time for the website. You may say the solution is simple. You just buy high-performance WordPress hosting (Kinsta, SiteGround). It is true. It will help your website speed up. But remember, the theme is a second important part of the WordPress site. Pick the fast theme, it will speed up your website either on budget web hosting or high-performance web hosting.
No jQuery
In Astra theme, uses vanilla Javascript instead of the jQuery library. With vanilla Javascript, it prevents render blocking jQuery which affects your website performance.
Less than 50KB
Astra theme requires less than 50KB of resources which is very small compared with other WordPress themes.
Optimized code
Astra theme uses default WordPress data and follows the best coding standards. This way, every piece of code is optimized and that makes the theme loads very fast.
Loading only the necessary asset files on the page
I noticed Astra theme will load only the asset files that need to be performed on the page. Some WordPress themes I have worked with in the past, load all asset files on every page. Even though some pages don’t need it. Loading all unnecessary asset files will reduce the loading speed and yet, it affects the SEO ranking and user experience.
Instantly improvement
With performance-focused in mind, the Astra theme always improves performance and adds new functionalities to the theme. All news from the Astra team can be found in their blog. And their tutorial can be found on their docs page.
a Budget Web Hosting!
Free Migration
a Performance Hosting!
Free Migration
a High-Security Hosting!
Free Migration
Customizable theme
For WordPress developers, the ability to customize anything from the theme without adding extra code saves a lot of time. With Astra Theme Pro, you can customize every section such as the header, content, footer, and sidebar without any extra code. It is a Huge time-saving.
Here are all the sections you can customize to meet your needs without any single code line.
- Designs
- Site Layouts
- Typography
- Blog Layouts
- Full Control
- Woocommerce
- Integrations
- Custom Layouts
Moreover, once you buy the theme, you will get all new updates and new features from Astra without paying extra. It is worth it.
Read more about Astra theme features – Get Fast WordPress Theme Today!
Starter Templates
Starter templates are another feature that all the modern themes offer nowadays. With the starter templates, you can build your website very fast. I can build a simple business website from a PSD file within one day or less. In the past, it would take a few days because you need to test the website on all devices(desktop, tablet, mobile) and test on all major browsers(safari, chrome).
With the starter templates, you will pick the templates that are similar to your design. Once the starter templates are installed, all customized settings for the theme are set for you. You just need to adjust a few things such as color theme and fonts. Then you will start to change the content and logo. Finally, you may install some plugins if you need to add more functionalities to your website. Building the website is more fun with the Astra Theme.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a popular plugin for shopping online stores for WordPress. The Astra Theme Pro provides many Astra Unique widgets for working with Woocommerce. Those widgets help you customize your store in the way you want. Plus, The Astra theme is always optimized for mobile sales which is the most important nowadays. You are able to configure the options for mobile, tablet, and desktop devices without a single code line. This configuration will ensure the best experience on every device for the shoppers.
Checkout design is another important feature for shopping online. If your checkout page is not user-friendly, you likely have a chance over 50% of losing the sale from the checkout page. Astra gives you the tools to cut the cart abandonment rate by offering a customizable.
See more about what Astra Theme Pro offers for Woocommerce – Try Fast WordPress Theme with Astra Today!
Support and Documentation
For me, the Astra theme settings are easy to work with. I don’t need to look at their documentation at all. In my opinion, Astra’s UX/UI design for the admin area is great. However, if you want to get support(24/7) or have any questions, you can always go to the support section. They respond quickly.
Astra 3.0
Astra theme always makes the improvement. Two weeks ago, the Astra team announced Astra3.0 which introduces the biggest update. One main feature added to Astra 3.0 for both free and pro versions, is Visual Header Footer builder which is a great feature. It allows you to customize all elements you want for the header and footer. Plus, you can manage what elements will be visible or invisible on specific devices too. And you can choose what mobile menu will appear either stack or flyout. All settings can be found in the “Appearance>Customize” section at WordPress admin.
Because Astra theme customize will be done in the “Appearance>Customize” section at WordPress admin, the team improves the speed by using ReactJS which makes the customization very fast at the Customize section.
Furthermore, Astra3.0 improves the page loading speed as well. As I mentioned above, Astra’s theme is performance-focused in mind. Stay with the Astra theme, your site will improve from time to time.
Ready to try a fast WordPress theme? Go for it.
** Do you know that Astra theme offers annual and lifetime prices? Not many outstanding themes would offer lifetime options with instant improvement. Try the Astra theme and see the amazing performance like I did.
Conclusion
There are so many themes out there and they always claim they are the best WordPress theme. But how many themes offer performance-focused, instant improvement and always listen to your feedback? Plus, the support team is always there for you.
When you pick a theme for your site or your client sites, you want the theme will work as it should and won’t give you any headache after WordPress core updates, server configuration updates, and plugin updates. Astra theme is a great choice for you. Give it a try and see by yourself today!
