GeneratePress WordPress Theme Review

Because GeneratePress in its native version comes without additional options, it has really good load times.
 
The great thing about GeneratePress in this sense is that you can install these options (the addons, which I’ll talk about later) one by one in a personal way, installing only what you are going to use or what you need.
 
So your website will only have to load the elements it is using and not any other that the developer shoehorns you in, even if you will not use it in life.

The guys at GeneratePress have spared no effort in this regard, so their theme is perfectly optimized as far as the code is concerned.
 
Not only have they used the latest and most stable programming practices to develop it, but, according to its official website, the WordPress developers have reviewed and approved the theme, guaranteeing its cleanliness and efficiency.
 
They have included microdata in the code as if all this were not enough. These are small pieces of code whose mission is to facilitate your website’s communication with Google when the search engine crawls your web page.

GeneratePress is perfectly optimized to be viewable on any mobile device and at any screen resolution.
 
You already know that these times, accessing a website from smartphones or tablets is the most normal thing in the world. So having a website that adapts to all types of devices has gone in a few years from being something optional to mandatory (and, by the way, Having a responsive website is compulsory for SEO purposes).

Not all themes have compatibility with such important plugins as:
 
·        Woocommerce (electronic commerce).
·        WPML (webs multilengüaje)
·        bbPress (create forums and communities)
·        BuddyPress (create your social network)
 
However, GeneratePress is compatible with all of them. So if you need to implement any of these everyday features in your project.
 
It also serves as a solution for your design, guaranteeing you won’t run into any problems along the way. 
 
Oh! And it is also compatible with the main browsers most used today (Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera…)

Do you know Font Awesome? It is typography that contains more than 600 icons, which you can include at your whim and depending on your needs in your design.
 
GeneratePress already contains Font Awesome by default, so you’ll have this large number of icons to make your website or blog more unique and special without having to install anything or implement the Font using CSS code.

For me, this is the strongest point of GeneratePress and why I consider it far above the rest of the themes (I would even dare to say frameworks) existing for WordPress today.
 
Until now, I haven’t come across a theme that is as good in terms of ease of setup and design and customization who are clueless about touching code and developers with more advanced knowledge.
 
In this sense, it could be said that GeneratePress borders on perfection.
 
Don’t worry. I’m not going to just tell you lip service, of course.
 
I will prove it to you later with facts (the way I like it, wow).
 
But first, I must answer a fundamental question so that you can follow the article keeping in mind a previous important factor. 😉

Here you can define your site title and a short description if you don’t have any logo to post.
 
But if you have it (in fact, from my point of view, you should have it.), publishing it on your website is as easy as choosing it and uploading it through the dialog box.
 
Best of all, unlike other templates, GeneratePress will respect the size of your logo, whatever it is, without distorting or cutting it or other strange things of this type that happen with other WordPress themes.
 
In this section, you can also modify the favicon of the site. As with the logo, you must select the image to upload that contains your favicon where it says “Site icon.”

The options available in this section are:
 
Container width: set the width of the main container of your website and your blog. With the slider bar, you can set the width that you consider appropriate or like the most.
 
Header Width: Used to set the width of the Header only. It gives you two options: full screen (Full) or adapted to the main container’s width established in the previous section.
 
Header Alignment: you can set how your logo will be aligned within the Header (left, center or right).
 
Navigation width: Set whether you want the main menu bar to be the full width of the screen or stick to the width of the main container.
 
Navigation Position: You can also change the position of this navigation bar where the main menu is located. The available options are under the Header, above the Header, floating to the right or left in any web sidebars or deleting it. This main menu does not appear by choosing the “No navigation” option.
 
Navigation Alignment: You can align the menu items to the left, center or right.
 
Navigation Menu Dropdown: Specify how you want the submenus to open within each main menu item. You can tell GeneratePress to open them for you by hovering the mouse cursor over (Hover), by clicking on the corresponding parent menu item (Click – Menu Item) or by clicking on the arrow of the parent menu item (Click – Arrow).
 
Navigation Search: Introduces a button with the icon of a magnifying glass in the same navigation bar that, by clicking on it, makes a search bar appear or disappear.
 
Content Layout: You can set whether you want the Header and Content to be in separate containers or a single container.
 
Sidebar Layout: Decide what the overall sidebar layout will be. Consider several options, such as the sidebar being on the left or the right, that there is none, that you have two sidebars, or publish both on the left consecutively.
 
Blog Sidebar Layout: Same as above, but set a specific sidebar layout for the blog.
 
Single Post Sidebar Layout: Same as the previous two cases, but choose how you want your blog posts to be laid out this time.
 
NOTE: within each entry you make, you can also set this design individually in the options you will find on the right of your WordPress administration panel.
 
Remember I already told you that the theme’s flexibility was the cane?
 
Footer Width: Similar to the header or navigation bar, this option allows you to tell GeneratePress whether you want your Footer to fit the size of the parent container or the full width of the screen.
 
Footer Widgets: Set how many different widgets (from 0 to 5) you can post in the website’s Footer.
 
Button return to top: decide if you want that; when you scroll the mouse wheel, a button appears at the bottom right to return at any time to the top of the web or blog.

I think it’s pretty clear what can be done in this personalization section of GeneratePress… isn’t it?
 
You can change all the colors you can think of from this section. Not only the basic ones but also those referring to the elements included in:

In case your English is not very good, or you don’t even know what CSS is, I want to leave you with a small list of the different points you can find within each of the elements mentioned before. So you will have a little reference about it.

This is a very simple section in which you can set the position of the headers individually on the pages (Page Header Position) and in your blog’s articles (Single Post Header Position).
 
You can select to place these headers above the main container where the Content is published (Above Content Area), inside the main container (Inside Content Area) or below (Below Content Area).

GeneratePress also allows through this section that you can easily define and customize all the spacing between the different containers that make up your design to your liking.
 
The spaces in question that you can modify from here are:

Another last option is personalizing the menus of your website and your blog.

• The title will appear on your menu on mobile devices.
• Make the main menu sticky at the top of the screen when you scroll with the mouse using the “Sticky Menu” option.
• Enter your logo in the menu.
• Transitions and effects for you to choose how you want to make the fixed menu or the logo appear and disappear within the menu.

It is used to publish background images for the different containers and elements of the main structure of the web.
 
It’s freaky. Because you can put background images and set all their CSS properties one by one, this addon has worked very well so that those background images are displayed as you want without causing any problems.

• The body of the web.
• The Header.
• Menus, submenus and all the elements that compose them.
• The main content container.
• The areas where the widgets can be placed (sidebar and Footer).
• The Footer.

Another fantastic addon allows you to set different fonts for every one of the web elements if you wish.

• The body of the web (what would be the main Font by default).
• If you do not have a logo, the image, the title of the website and a short description.
• Navigation menus and submenus.
• The titles of the articles, paragraphs and everything related to the Content in general.
• The titles of the widgets.
• The texts you put in the Footer.

Modifying your blog’s design has never been easy, and has so many different options to choose from within the same template.
 
This GeneratePress addon allows you to perform the following tasks:
 
Decide what data (date, author, category, tags, etc.) you want to show in your posts and change the text of the “Read more” tag.
 
Show in the index the complete entry or just a summary, being able also to establish the number of characters that it will occupy.
 
Set how many columns you want your blog’s main page to have or if you prefer to give it a Masonry-style design.
 
Decide if you want featured images to display in your articles and their placement (above or below the article title), alignment, and default size.

As with the main menu, in this section, you can modify everything related to the secondary menu that appears in many blogs (normally, in a smaller size than the main one).
 
Everything we have seen previously is also modifiable in the secondary menu:
 
Location, alignment and layout (full width or with the size of the main container).
 
·        Fonts (font type and size)
·        Text colors and background of menus and submenus.
·        Height of the menu and spacing between the elements that form it.
·        Background images for the menu and its different elements.
 
As I said before, this is all that can be modified without touching code from the Appearance – Customize menu of WordPress.
 
But that doesn’t mean this ends here.
 
There are more customization options within each page and entry to, if you want, give a unique touch to those contents that you are interested in changing its style for whatever reason.
 
If you enter, for example, in an article that you have created on the blog, you can find the following options on the right side of your WordPress:

It is used so that you can put a design other than the one you have established by default on a certain page or blog post.
 
These designs are the same as the ones I showed you in point 2#. I leave you an image of all the possibilities you have to refresh your memory and save yourself a scroll up. 😛
 
If you select “General Layout Settings,” what will simply happen is that it will display the same structure/layout that you have selected in the GeneratePress options.

Just as you can configure the layout, the same goes for the number of footer widgets you can customize for a particular article or page on your site that you want to be different.
 
This option is also on the right, just below the “Sidebar Layout” option.

Another of the GeneratePress addons that I think is a real success to include by the developers.
 
With it, you can enable or disable different elements of the basic structure of the web, such as:
 
·        The Header.
·        The primary navigation menu
·        The secondary navigation menu
·        Header image or featured image of the post
·        Title of the page or article.
·        The Footer.
 
To do so, check the box in question within the article or page you want on the right side of its editing window.

In GeneratePress, it is possible to set different header layouts for different pages. This can be done through the “Page Header” option that appears just below the native WordPress text editor.
 
Through this section, you can establish a header for a specific page or blog entry with:
 
A background image, configuring if you want the image to be full width, full screen, with a parallax effect, center it, etc.
 
Personalized Content within it, being able to do whatever you want if you know a little basic HTML.

Last but not least, through the “Generate Sections” addon, you can generate fullwidth sections on your pages or posts.
 
You must first enable the sections in the article or page where you will implement them. Something as easy as going to the page or article in question (or creating a new one) and, on the right side, where it says “Use Sections,” choose “Yes” to indicate that you are going to use the sections in that Content.
 
After this step, the fullwidth section configuration menu will automatically appear just above the native WordPress text editor so you can create as many as you want.

In that menu, you can choose for each section:
 
Whether you want it to be fluid (full-screen width) or fit the parent container.
 
·        General spacing about the Content within the section.
·        Background color.
·        Background image.
·        If you want to give the section a parallax effect.
·        Color of text and links.

Imagine that the design of a website you have done with GeneratePress for a client has made another fall in love, with the exception, of course, that you have to put your Content, logo, images, etc.
 
Well, instead of recreating the website from scratch, it’s as easy as using this addon to export the design in your old project already finished and put it in the new one without having to spend a good number of hours doing it again. 
 
The same happens if a client asks you to make a series of modifications to his project.
 
To heal yourself, you can use this feature to save a copy of the entire design before making changes in case the client wants to back out later.
 
Time is gold, my friend. I already told you when I told you about the problems that will happen to you if you try to create a website and a blog by yourself without having a clue.
 
So, as long as you can win it… well, welcome.
 
Whenever you want to use this addon, you can find it in your WordPress admin panel under “Appearance – GeneratePress.”

Imagine that the design of a website you have done with GeneratePress for a client has made another fall in love, with the exception, of course, that you have to put your Content, logo, images, etc.
 
Well, instead of recreating the website from scratch, it’s as easy as using this addon to export the design in your old project already finished and put it in the new one without having to spend a good number of hours doing it again. 
 
The same happens if a client asks you to make a series of modifications to his project.
 
To heal yourself, you can use this feature to save a copy of the entire design before making changes in case the client wants to back out later.
 
Time is gold, my friend. I already told you when I told you about the problems that will happen to you if you try to create a website and a blog by yourself without having a clue.
 
So, as long as you can win it… well, welcome.
 
Whenever you want to use this addon, you can find it in your WordPress admin panel under “Appearance – GeneratePress.”

Imagine now that after each page or blog post content, you want to insert a subscription form.
 
You could create your code in HTML and PHP and copy it all over the pages and articles one by one.
 
Going and « Appearance – GP Hooks » and copying it only once in the « After Content » section would be more than enough.
 
But not only in this part can you enter code snippets, but within the section that I mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can also include them:
 
·        In the wp_head file
·        Before Header
·        Before the Content inside the Header (Before Content Header)
·        After the Content inside the Header (After Content Header)
·        After the Header (After Header)
·        Inside the main content container (Inside Content Container)
·        Before the main Content (Before Content)
·        After the title of a blog post (After Entry Title)
·        After the main Content (After Content)
·        Before Right Sidebar Content
·        After Right Sidebar Content
·        Before Left Sidebar Content
·        After Left Sidebar Content
·        Before the Footer (Before Footer)
·        After Footer Widgets
·        Before Footer Content
·        After the footer content (After Footer Content)
·        In the wp_footer file
 
As you will understand, the possibilities of different designs with GeneratePress become infinite.
 
But, if you still don’t have enough… there’s more!

If you still want to customize the layout more than the appearance options allow within the WordPress dashboard, you can install the Simple CSS addon plugin.
 
This will install a very friendly interface within WordPress similar to that of the Sublime Text editor. You can modify the styles of specific elements of a page or a specific article (or create new ones).
 
The good thing about this plugin is that it perfectly complements GeneratePress since its creator… is the same!

You can also make your child’s theme from scratch and without help.
 
This will take a lot more effort and time. But, if you are a web designer or developer, you may prefer to work this way.
 
GeneratePress only has one small snag… which has an easy remedy
As I said before, for me, GeneratePress is close to perfection. And I say this knowingly.
 
The only downside I’ve found so far is that if you use the full width sections section, there are compatibility issues with the Thrive Content Builder visual editor (actually, I think it’s a problem with any content editor/builder). 
 
More than a problem, it seems to be a small problem that has two possible solutions that are easy to implement:
 
Use the fullwidth section builder that Thrive Content Builder has included in its editor for some time now.
 
Use Thrive Leads, and generate the Content you want there. This will generate a shortcode that you can include in your GeneratePress fullwidth section with no problem. 😉

Logically, I talk about this drawback because I work with these three tools in my clients’ projects.
 
To end…
 
As you can see, the flexibility and power of GeneratePress have no competitors in this regard today. Or at least I haven’t met him.
 
Hence, it has been cataloged as the champion of WordPress themes.
 
I have not known any template for this CMS with so many configuration options that are so easy to implement, have good performance in terms of loading speed, and clean code and with which you can design websites that are so different from each other.
 
I sincerely encourage you to try it. And, if you find something better, I also encourage you to let me know so I can make a comparison between both options. 😉