This is the dilemma of those who find themselves inaugurating a new website or doing a complete redesign: which template to use? The Astra WordPress theme is one of the best answers from my point of view. At least if we are looking for a meeting point between aesthetics, usability and good loading performance.
I can say this with a good amount of certainty: Astra is considered one of the best WordPress themes. Especially for meeting the needs of fast and usable web pages, quick to load and easy to browse. Just as the UX rules imposed by Google’s Core Web Vitals suggest.
Astra WordPress is a layout that allows us to work in this direction: here’s what you need to know to make one of the most important decisions for your project to be launched or revamped.
Astra WordPress theme performance
Astra is a WordPress theme (wpastra.com) dedicated to those who wink at SEO but also to that advanced user experience who do not want to give up well-done websites in terms of layout.
It often comes down to this consideration: if you want to create a fast website, you have to give up a number of graphic experiences and executive comforts. Like Brizy, Elementor or Beaver page builders that definitely increase the DOM of a web page. With an optimized theme, however, you reduce the chances of slowdowns, and that’s one of Astra’s strengths: speed without sacrifice.
In addition, there is maximum integration with the future of WordPress. Namely, the Gutenberg editor. So with basic and advanced blocks you can create perfect and even better performing web pages.
The key feature of Astra WordPress is that you can create websites that are well structured for SEO, perform well when interfacing with ADV campaigns, and are pleasant to navigate. All without sacrificing a beautiful design and easy to develop. In summary:
- Astra is a free WordPress theme with a paid version.
- It is an easy template to customize and improve.
- It develops perfectly with page builders.
- It emphasizes SEO, performance and UX.
How to install Astra in WordPress
You can install this theme as you do with any other template: go to the official WordPress directory and download it. Then upload it to the specific folder of your hosting. Alternatively, you can use the feature that allows you to mount the theme directly from the backend of your site.
It should be added that in this way you upload the free version of the theme: then you decide whether or not to upgrade and enjoy all the advanced features of the pro version. A version you can download from the official website. Remember that Astra allows you to install and work on the child theme.
Thanks to this feature you can make all updates to the theme without losing them during upgrades. Remember, however, that Astra’s child theme – as well as all others – cannot work without its parent. So the parent. Never delete it, that is the rule.
Must-read: how to use Google’s Pagespeed Insight tool.
Who is this WordPress theme dedicated to?
There are several users interested in a download of the Astra theme. First we list those who need the ability to use a template with different aesthetic solutions – and a myriad of layouts for any kind of web project – and great attention to technical optimization.
An optimization that addresses both SEO and user experience to give the website speed and search engine optimization. Specifically, this template is suitable for those who want to open an ecommerce since it integrates perfectly with extensions dedicated to the creation of online shops.
So, in a nutshell, Astra WordPress is perfect both for those who want to create a simple and performant single-page website and for those who need to open a custom ecommerce.
What are the advantages of this layout?
One must immediately point to a junction that can attract a large number of webmasters, SEO experts, web agency owners, freelance web designers, and simple website owners: flexibility.
Astra is easily customized. Choose from hundreds of ready-made templates, for any type of company or business, and you have a fast, optimized site. You can choose to customize it any way you like, though. That’s because there are many features that can’t be ignored.
Astra’s customizations can be used both by those who work only on user friendly interfaces-the classic Elementor-type page builder drag and drop-as well as by the developer or web performer who puts their hand to the code and wants something more from a professional WordPress theme.
Maximum control
You can customize everything and you can do it quickly, safely. Without degrees of trauma if you don’t have all the credentials to work full-time as a web designer. For example, you can set up every detail of your website or even store with Woocommerce without using code.
Advanced design
In the pro version of Astra you have benefits that allow you to optimize every aspect of your work as a web designer. First, you can simplify the structure itself by choosing precise solutions. For example, looking for a full with site? You can have it with one click, just as you get your padding.
Specifically, you can count on being able to choose different types of headers and footers, not forgetting the megamenus that are so useful when you create large websites or ecommerce. Plus you have meticulous management of spaces, fonts and colors to customize everything.
Designed for blogging
Many WordPress themes offer great performance for those who want to create thick portals while taking resources away from the blog. Not so with Astra, a template that gives satisfaction to those who want to create a personal or corporate blog. Perhaps same within a static site or ecommerce.
Ecommerce and more
One of the strengths of Astra WordPress is its native integration with Woocommerce: you mount the theme and the web’s most popular plugin for creating an ecommerce with WP is ready. Then you decide whether to use it or not but the important thing is to be able to count on the maximum availability of this theme.
A theme that even has integration with Schema.org to enable rich snippets, critical for an ecommerce. And it allows you to enable a distraction-free checkout system to decrease the abandonment rate related to overly complex steps. All great, right? But this theme can also become more than the classic online shop for physical products to be sent by courier.
On Astra you activate an online course sales platform thanks to integration with the specific LearnDash and LifterLMS plugins. What it does. You can create video training and sell subscriptions or memberships to target infoproducts, one of the most attractive passive rents in the web market.