Discovering the best WordPress theme generally is a tiring affair. There are millions of WordPress templates obtainable on-line and it may be troublesome to know which one to pick.
The most effective WordPress designs in the marketplace right this moment is Divi. Final 12 months we compared Divi to the Genesis framework.
Since Elegant Themes lately updated Divi with a host of new features, we thought it could be good to revisit the theme and have a look at what the theme gives.
Fairly than examine Divi with Genesis, on this article we’re evaluating Elegant Themes’ flagship design with X the theme. With round 62,000 complete gross sales, X the theme is without doubt one of the hottest designs on ThemeForest.
Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the strengths and weaknesses of those two versatile WordPress themes.
X – The Theme
On paper, X doesn’t supply something that can not be present in different WordPress themes within the ThemeForest market. It comes with a number of responsive types, it features a web page builder for creating customized pages, and it has a portfolio customized publish sort.
Nonetheless, its function listing doesn’t inform the entire story. What units X other than most of its opponents is that all the things it does, it does nicely.
Since its launch on the finish of 2013, X has added many new options and as I write this, the theme has reached its fourth model.
After you have activated X in your web site, you may be requested to register on the developer’s website. This ensures that you just the theme may be mechanically up to date via the WordPress admin space. Registering an account can be essential as a way to obtain extensions resembling Cornerstone.
To get began, I recommend putting in the demo content material. The demo function modifies the WordPress theme customizer to showcase what may be achieved utilizing X. There are dozens of demos obtainable for all 4 designs (often called stacks, however extra on that later). Instance posts and portfolio gadgets may be imported too.
Putting in the demo content material will make it easier to see what X can do firsthand as you possibly can have a look at settings and see how a sure look was achieved. You aren’t required to import posts and portfolio gadgets. Importing the demo information merely adjustments all of the settings outlined within the WordPress customizer.
So what can X do? Let’s take a more in-depth look 🙂
Cornerstone – The WordPress Web page Builder
Cornerstone is the web page constructing extension that’s included with X. Whereas Divi’s web page builder operates within the again finish, Cornerstone works within the entrance finish. This allows you to customise issues on the entrance finish on the fly. The web page builder can be utilized with weblog posts and pages.
A complete of 40 components are supplied in Cornerstone (in lots of different web page builders, these are known as modules or blocks). Components embody publish accordions, Google Maps, movies, audio, picture sliders, and extra.
You’ll be able to simply add new rows (often called sections) after which resolve on the column construction. Templates can be found too. You’ll be able to then drag and drop any ingredient you would like into your content material space. When you accomplish that, you possibly can edit a component by clicking on it, which hundreds up configuration choices on the left panel.
The dimensions and look of columns and rows may be simply modified. You’ll be able to change background colours and outline margins, padding, and borders.
As soon as I acquired used to how Cornerstone labored, I used to be actually impressed with it. The power to alter issues on the entrance finish of your web site means you can see precisely how components and design modifications will look in your stay web site.
The WordPress Theme Customizer
X lets you change points of your web site design utilizing the WordPress Theme Customizer. You aren’t offered with as many design choices as different WordPress themes, although most issues are lined over the 13 classes.
Along with design particular settings, you possibly can modify issues resembling typography, web page widths, your header and footer, buttons, weblog, portfolio, and social media sharing.
As I’m certain you’re conscious, the WordPress theme customizer permits you to see any adjustments you make in actual time. In case you spend a while modifying settings, it’s best to have the ability to get the design that you just want to create. Fortunately, the demo content material is accessible for folks like myself who lack the visible inspiration wanted to create a very good web site design. All it’s important to do is load up one of many many demonstrations after which modify it as you see match.
4 Distinctive Designs Included
X consists of 4 distinctive designs which the builders consult with as “Stacks”. I like to think about the 4 stacks as distinctive canvases reasonably than 4 customized skins.
Every stack has a singular web page construction that was designed with several types of web sites in thoughts. Totally different options and choices can be found for every stack.
You’ll be able to choose what stack you’re utilizing within the WordPress theme customizer. Choices for a specific stack are displayed beneath the stack choice field.
Once you change stack, completely different choices are displayed within the field under (although all different choices within the theme customizer stay the identical).
- Once you select Integrity, you possibly can change the design from mild to darkish, change transparency settings, edit the weblog header or flip the weblog header off, and alter two primary portfolio choices
- Renew lets you change a number of background colours and hyperlink colours and gives some primary weblog settings resembling modifying the weblog title and altering the colour of icons
- Icon permits you to allow and disable publish icons and alter the textual content colours and background colours related to publish codecs
- Ethos lets you customise background colours, configure your publish carousel, and configure your publish slider in your weblog and archives – You too can outline the aspect padding for navbar hyperlinks and take away classes out of your weblog index
When it got here to modifying stacks, I discovered some choices had been a little bit inconsistent. For instance, with the Integrity stack I may edit the weblog header textual content or flip the weblog header textual content off altogether. Renew permits me to edit the weblog header textual content, however there isn’t any choice for eradicating the textual content. The opposite two stack designs, Icon and Ethos, don’t even show a weblog header.
I admire that every stack has distinctive options, nevertheless it was unusual to me that one thing resembling a weblog header is just supplied in two stacks and solely detachable in a single. This can be a minor criticism, however hopefully the builders will make extra theme choices customary throughout the board.
If we take a more in-depth have a look at every stack, you start to grasp why every design has completely different choices obtainable within the WordPress customizer.
Integrity is an all function design that is available in a light-weight and darkish shade scheme. It may be used to create blogs, portfolios, on-line retailers, companies, and extra.
Renew has a extra artistic feel and look to it, although it’s nonetheless versatile sufficient for use for any sort of web site.
Icon is a minimal design that has nice help for weblog publish codecs. That is my favourite design (although I really like minimal designs!).
Ethos is {a magazine} design that options publish sliders and publish carousels.
Most themes, and frameworks such because the Genesis framework, function one design construction. Builders are capable of design many great skins from this one design construction, nevertheless they’re nonetheless restricted by the constraints of that one construction.
X has 4 distinctive design constructions. That opens up lots of potentialities that may not be attainable with different themes and frameworks with out lots of customized work. No doubt, the inclusion of 4 distinctive design constructions is without doubt one of the theme’s finest options.
A number of Extensions Obtainable
Launched within the third model of X, extensions add extra performance to the X theme. One extension I’ve already spoke about is Cornerstone, the web page builder that can be utilized to create lovely posts and pages.
In the mean time there are sixteen extensions obtainable for X and they’re all free to obtain while you buy the theme and enter your API key. There are extensions for third-party companies resembling MailChimp, DISQUS, and Google Analytics, and helpful extensions to construct a phrases of use web page or show an beneath building message.
Integration with Third-Celebration WordPress Plugins
Plugins are one of many principal causes WordPress is such a flexible platform. Plugins add new options and performance to your web site that you just didn’t have beforehand.
Theme builders don’t all the time construct their designs with plugins in thoughts. It isn’t unusual for theme builders on ThemeForest to reply “It’s the plugin that’s inflicting the error” every time a person notifies them of an error when their theme is used with a specific plugin.
Fortunately, you do not want to fret about that occurring with X because it has incredible help for third-party WordPress plugins.
All 4 X design stacks have been designed to work with WooCommerce, bbPress, and BuddyPress, proper out of the field (an instance of BuddyPress utilizing the Integrity stack may be seen under). Because of this you’ll not must edit X in any solution to construct a web-based store or begin a neighborhood.
X comes with styling for in style contact kind plugins Contact Form 7 and Gravity Forms. It natively helps languages that learn proper to left and it has built-in help for the WordPress Multilingual Plugin.
One of many issues that actually impressed me was the inclusion of the Visible Composer extension. This lets you use Visible Composer to create customized pages as an alternative of Cornerstone. I can’t consider another theme that comes packaged with a web page builder that offers you the choice of utilizing another web page constructing resolution. It’s an ideal function that I’m certain current customers of Visible Composer will admire.
Assist and Sources from Consultants
X is supported by over a dozen full time employees. You’ll be able to ask pre-sale questions within the comment section of X on ThemeForest or send them an email directly.
Their knowledge base has tutorials about each main function of X. In case you can’t discover what you’re searching for there, you possibly can publish a query of their help discussion board.
Theme.co took an attention-grabbing strategy to help with X. From the very starting, they consulted with established web entrepreneurs and builders about how X ought to be developed. These profitable entrepreneurs helped contribute to X coaching sources resembling articles, sources, and movies.
A Nice Package deal
X theme acquired lots of consideration final 12 months when Envato revealed that it was their fastest selling WordPress theme. The builders, Theme.co, had managed to rack up a million {dollars} in gross sales in lower than six months.
One of many causes X has offered so nicely is as a result of it gives a lot in a single bundle. This makes it a versatile theme resolution that can be utilized in all kinds of conditions.
To this point, I’ve solely touched upon what I contemplate to be the principle options of X. Under is a brief listing of different options you will see that in X.
- Search engine optimisation-friendly semantic HTML5 markup
- A flexible portfolio custom post type that can be utilized to create lovely galleries and portfolios
- A replica of the favored slider plugin Slider Revolution (value $18)
- A responsive design that appears nice on any machine, whether or not it’s a cell, pill, or desktop
- Retina prepared designs which have been created with excessive pixel density units in thoughts
- A whopping 400 icons are included with the theme
- Nice help for customized backgrounds
- Social media help for all main social media companies
- Incredible navigation choices together with an choice to construct mega-menu navigation bars
- An choice to create trendy one-page web sites
- An non-obligatory enhanced search function
- Lovely typography with a choice of over 600 Google fonts
- Dozens of shortcodes that can assist you fashion your content material
- Assist for including customized sidebars
- Superb options for bloggers with full help of all WordPress post formats
- Import and professional performance for transferring theme settings
- Each buy of X comes with all unique Photoshop PSD information (a pleasant addition for builders who wish to customise X additional)
As you possibly can see, X is a succesful WordPress theme that’s packed stuffed with options. Extra options doesn’t essentially translate to a greater theme, nevertheless I used to be impressed with how X labored. Settings had been straightforward to configure and all the things labored in the best way you anticipated it to. No doubt, it is without doubt one of the finest WordPress themes in the marketplace.
The Divi WordPress Theme
Elegant Themes are one of many longest serving theme corporations within the WordPress neighborhood. Divi reworked the corporate.
When Divi was first launched on the finish of 2013, Elegant Themes had been extensively recognized for offering over eighty WordPress themes on the similar value that many corporations cost to obtain one WordPress theme. The corporate utterly modified their route as soon as Divi was launched and began specializing in high quality, not amount.
No doubt, it was the perfect resolution Elegant Themes ever made. The corporate nonetheless supplies an enormous variety of themes and plugins via their membership plan at an inexpensive value. Nonetheless, every time somebody mentions Elegant Themes in 2015, they’re undoubtedly referring to Divi.
Divi deserves to be recognised as probably the greatest multi functional theme options for WordPress. It’s a lovely theme that provides many nice options. Since we compared Divi to the Genesis framework final 12 months, a bunch of latest options have been added.
The recent release of Divi 2.4 was the largest improve of Divi since its launch. It has added a bunch of latest options to what was already a refined WordPress theme. In complete, Elegant Themes added over 1,000 new settings in model 2.4.
Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at a few of these options and see how they’ve formed Divi.
The Drag and Drop Web page Builder
On the coronary heart of Divi is its drag and drop web page builder. It’s a user-friendly web page constructing resolution that can be utilized to create distinctive pages.
In earlier variations of Divi, the web page builder may solely be used on pages; which restricted what you may do with it. Fortunately, Elegant Themes have eliminated this limitation. Now you can use the web page builder on any WordPress publish sort, whether or not it’s pages, weblog posts, or customized publish sorts.
Divi nonetheless gives an ideal choice of modules. These can help you simply add photographs, movies, tables, weblog posts, and extra, straight into your content material space.
Divi 2.4 provides six new modules: Fullwidth picture, fullwidth code, fullscreen header, fullwidth publish title, common code, and common publish title.
Divi has all the time supported the WordPress theme customizer; nevertheless Model 2.4 has additionally added a brand new module customizer. It seems to be and works in the identical approach because the WordPress theme customizer you already know and love. You’ll be able to change a bunch of settings together with fonts, colours, margins, padding, and extra.
There are over 200 settings obtainable through the module customizer. It’s an ideal new function that makes the Divi web page builder much more versatile.
Elegant Themes has improved the best way that rows and columns are added and modified. Now you can immediately change the column construction of rows. There are additionally choices to make rows full width, add customized spacing to columns, add column background colours, and make sure that all columns have the identical top.
One other nice new function is the Divi library. The Divi library permits you to save custom-made modules, sections, rows, and layouts. This can be utilized to sync full layouts, or partial layouts, throughout a number of areas of your web site.
World library gadgets may be displayed all through your web site. You are able to do this with modules, rows, and sections.
The WordPress Theme Customizer
Each a part of your web site design may be modified through the WordPress theme customizer. There are ten top-level classes obtainable, resembling header and navigation, weblog, and shade types. When you choose a class, you’re offered with a number of sub-categories and in these sub-categories you will see that a bunch of choices for styling your web site design.
Divi 2.4 added an enormous quantity of latest choices to the theme customizer. For instance, now you can change the width of your pages and sidebars.
The realm wherein Elegant Themes has actually expanded Divi is navigation. There are new choices to alter the peak of your brand, make your brand heart and inline, and modify your font sort and elegance.
If you choose a hard and fast header, you regulate how the menu seems to be as soon as a person scrolls down the web page. You too can cover your navigation menu and show a name to motion. Your navigation menu will then be displayed as soon as a person scrolls down.
In my last comparison post about Divi I discussed that there have been 18 pre-made layouts obtainable. These layouts are nonetheless obtainable in model 2.4.
2.4 additionally added many extra format potentialities. There are actually 24 constructions obtainable in your header and 9 constructions obtainable for weblog publish headers.
Assist, Tutorials, and Updates
Elegant Themes have a strong popularity for help. They’ve a big documentation space that explains each function of Divi. These tutorials are prime quality; with many detailed movies and pictures getting used.
Normal questions may be requested of their support forum. They’ve a help workforce who works on the boards on daily basis to make sure that response instances to help queries are fast.
Divi – The All-in-One Answer
Like each multi functional resolution, there’s a little little bit of a studying curve with Divi. It should take you lower than half-hour to familiarize with how all the things works, however it’s worthwhile to spend extra time with the theme as a way to get probably the most out of it. After you have a greater understanding of all of the options of Divi, you may be ready to create lovely and distinctive pages and content material.
With 18 responsive pre-made layouts and nice publish format help, Divi has one thing for everybody. It has native help for 32 languages and helps languages that learn proper to left.
I’ve spoken about Divi in articles many instances up to now. One of many difficulties I’ve had talking about Divi up to now is evaluation it. There are such a lot of options within the theme that I unable to listing all of them. Due to this fact, the arduous work for me is to resolve what to say in my evaluation and what to omit.
Elegant Themes have made my job much more troublesome. With over 1,000 new settings and choices added to the newest model of Divi, it was merely not attainable for me to listing all the things that it may possibly do. To learn extra about what Divi can do, I encourage you to learn the main Divi theme information page and the recent announcement post about version 2.4.
Which Theme is Cheaper?
X and Divi have two very completely different pricing fashions. X is accessible from ThemeForest for a one-time price of $63.
Regardless of being the most important premium WordPress theme market on-line, ThemeForest isn’t a GPL pleasant service and X isn’t absolutely GPL compliant both. To be able to obtain all extensions, it’s worthwhile to register for an API key. The issue with that is that it’s worthwhile to outline the area you’re utilizing it with to ensure that the API key to work. The builders of X don’t allow you to make use of X on multiple web site. If you wish to use X on multiple web site, they count on you to buy a second single license. Builders of WordPress merchandise aren’t permitted to limit use on this method since it’s towards the phrases and circumstances of the General Public License that WordPress is constructed upon.
X lets you obtain the Cornerstone web page builder, Slider Revolution, and Visible Composer extensions, with out getting into an API key. You’ll be able to due to this fact use X on as many web sites as you would like, however sadly you won’t be able to get automated updates or set up extensions on multiple area. You might, nevertheless, switch the theme and extensions to different domains manually (as per GPL guidelines on utilization, you’re permitted to take action).
The problem of X not being GPL compliant could also be a minor concern for a lot of WordPress customers, however it’s a black mark towards X in my eyes. Right here’s hoping the builders absolutely embrace GPL sooner or later and don’t make it prohibit utilization of their merchandise.
Fortunately, Elegant Themes are a GPL pleasant firm that don’t prohibit utilization of their themes and plugins.
Elegant Themes have three different membership plans obtainable. Their most cost-effective choice is the private license. For $69 per 12 months you’ll acquire entry to all 87 Elegant Themes WordPress themes. This consists of Divi and different prime quality designs resembling Nimble.
Upgrading to the developer license solely prices $20 extra. For $89 per 12 months you acquire entry to all 87 Elegant Themes WordPress themes and 6 premium plugins. Premium plugins embody their e mail opt-in plugin Bloom and their in style social media sharing resolution Monarch. The developer license additionally consists of all unique Photoshop PSD information.
The lifetime entry license gives the identical options because the developer license. It prices a one off price of $249 and as soon as paid, you shouldn’t have to pay any extra yearly renewal charges. In case you suppose you’ll use Elegant Themes for greater than two years, that is the license to purchase.
X VS Divi: Which One is for You?
There are extra similarities between X and Divi than there are variations; definitely while you examine these designs to a framework theme resembling Genesis. Each themes embody a web page builder for styling web page content material and each themes make the most of the WordPress theme customizer for styling your web site.
The Divi web page builder and Cornerstone web page builder are nice options for creating lovely content material. Fact be instructed, there’s not a lot between them. They work in several methods, nevertheless they share most of the similar modules and options. It due to this fact comes right down to which interface you favor and whether or not you favor to make use of your web page builder within the again finish or edit issues stay on the entrance finish.
In relation to styling your web site, Divi is the clear winner. It has lots of extra configuration choices on supply within the WordPress theme customizer which can be merely not obtainable in X. This offers you a a lot larger degree of management over how your web site is styled and designed.
Divi comes with 18 pre-made layouts, nevertheless the demo content material function of X gives a complete of 33 completely different layouts for its 4 design stacks. Due to this fact, with regards to layouts, X maybe takes the lead.
Each X and Divi are extremely versatile WordPress themes that can help you create lovely and complicated web sites simply. Due to this fact, from a performance standpoint, there’s little between them. It actually comes right down to which interface you favor and which designs you suppose look higher.
Overview
I hope you’ve got loved this have a look at X the theme and Divi.
X and Divi are nice all-in-one options that enable anybody, no matter their technical expertise, to create skilled trying web site designs. It’s troublesome for me to say that one is best than one other because it actually comes right down to which you favor.
That being mentioned, Elegant Themes gives significantly better worth for cash. Along with Divi, you’ll acquire entry to 86 different themes and 6 prime quality WordPress plugins; all for across the similar value as X. And with Elegant Themes, you shouldn’t have any restrictions on what number of domains you employ your merchandise on.
Resulting from these causes, I really feel that Divi is the higher choice for many WordPress customers as you get much more in your cash and you should utilize Elegant Themes merchandise on as many web sites as attainable. If, nevertheless, you solely plan on utilizing X on one area, the GPL problem shouldn’t be a priority for you and it’s best to maybe take a more in-depth have a look at the options of X and see whether or not it has options you want.
I hope that this comparability article has helped you see what options X and Divi supply. I’ve achieved my utmost to speak about the perfect options of each theme options, however that is troublesome with merchandise resembling X and Divi as they’re filled with so many choices and distinctive options.
In relation to my very own private opinion on these themes, please don’t take my phrases as gospel. It’s as much as you to have a look at each themes extra intently and resolve which one is best for you.
What’s your opinion on these in style themes? Please tell us within the remark space under.
Thanks for studying.
Kevin