PopularFX vs Blocksy comparison [2023] 💥
POPULAR-FX THEME (Blocksy vs PopularFX)
I will discuss here the Wordpress version of the PopularFX Theme. The theme is rapidly gaining popularity, the free version has already been installed on more than 100.009+ websites.
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PopularFX theme review: Rating
If we check for PopularFX's rating on Wordpress.org it is 4.5 out of 5. A very good rating, but there are many top themes with a rating above 4.9, so it is not really impressive. Don't get me wrong, this theme has special qualities and is certainly one of the better themes on Wordpress.org. Even better is the pro version, which is the case with all themes.
PopularFX theme review: Demos
The theme has gone through a number of fairly extreme improvements that we will now talk about. Like any other self-respecting WP theme these days, PopularFX has ready-to-use demo websites that can be installed with 1 click. It comes up here that I said that the theme has special qualities. You will be offered 350+ of these demos, and the designs are really eye-catching here and there.
The nice thing about demos is that you can make a quick start with them. In principle, the website is already showing the wrong photos and texts. So place your logo in it, adjust texts and photos and you are well on your way to having your own site.
PopularFX theme review: Web shops
I only count 8 demos for web shops in total. The theme is 100% compatible with Woocommerce but if you are going to build a webshop then choose a theme like Astra or another theme from my top 10 for webshop-themes.
PopularFX theme review: Speed
In the meantime, no theme wants to lag behind in terms of loading times or speed, as Google attaches more and more value to this. PopularFX is so far I don't know built to load super fast even though it is a so-called light-weight theme. In principle, these are almost always fairly fast. PopularFX does well in the speed test I performed at GtMetrix. The bare theme without additional plugins with only a well-configured cache plugin produced the result presented above. Of course you can optimize your website yourself on loading time. You follow this tutorial here.
PopularFX theme review: Page builders
The PopularFX theme uses Pagelayer, a simple drag and drop page builder, but the theme is fully compatible with the Elementor Pro page builder, one of the best in the field. I also recommend installing Elementor for free, but even better of course the pro version.
PopularFX theme review: Elements
PopularFX offers a very large number of elements for Pagelayer-Builder, which, as mentioned before, can easily be extended to the pro version which has many more elements, as shown below.
PopularFX theme review: Conclusion
I think the PopularFX theme is a very good theme. The demo layouts are great, the theme set up is quick and easy, and it has a good loading time. The theme is also very suitable for building shops. The price is just standard for good themes, so that's okay too. The theme offers great value for money, although I would rather spend my money on one of the themes in my top 10 for this year's WP themes.
BLOCKSY THEME (Blocksy vs PopularFX)
Blocksy is een razendsnel ladend minimalistisch Wordpress theme...
In this Blocksy Theme review I quickly show you why this is such a fantastic theme. The theme is suitable for any kind of website, including building blogs and shops. It was created with Gutenberg in mind and works perfectly with it. The same goes for all elite pagebuilders for Wordpress.
BLOCKSY RATING
If we check on Wordpress.org Blocksy's rating, we see that all raters gave 5 stars out of 1 rater after who gave 4 stars. A better average rating than what the Blocksy Theme shows here is therefore hardly possible.
BLOCKSY THEME REVIEW: SPEED
The Blocksy theme is a fast loading theme although it is not in my list for fastest WP-themes. The theme itself without additional plugins with just a well configured cache plugin produced the result presented above. In short, the theme is astonishingly fast. Of course you can further optimize your website on loading time. Follow this tutorial here.
BLOCKSY DEMO LAY-OUTS
She calls the Blocksy theme Starter Sites herself. That is also the term used by Astra, a theme that is even better known than Blocksy and very much like it. Blocksy offers a great collection of these Starter Sites which is totally awesome.
BLOCKSY DEMOS FOR PAGEBUILDERS
The above demo layouts were created with the following page builders: Gutenberg, Elementor, Brizy and Beaverbuilder. Under each individual demo it is indicated for which page builders it is available. Again, Blocksy is similar to Astra which also offers this service on their Starter Sites.
BLOCKSY'S EDITOR
The Blocksy theme uses the Gutenberg Editor by default, which is definitely not my favorite editor. But as you have read above, the theme is just as suitable for working with elite page builders as you would like, which is certainly a good idea.
BLOCKSY BASIC FUNCTIONS
BLOCKSY: HEADER BUILDER
Even the free version comes with a real header builder (picture above). Choose one of the ready-made headers or adapt it to your wishes. Blocksy makes it very easy to quickly create the header you had in mind. The pro version offers a much better header builder and there each of your pages can have a different header.
BLOCKSY THEME REVIEW: MEGA MENU
The mega menu only comes with the pro version and offers nice options like using icons, or complete content blocks (using Hooks). This basically allows you to use any kind of content in your menu. The mega menu also offers special design styles for the menu items.
BLOCKSY: WOOCOMMERCE SHOP
Blocksy is also very suitable for building webshops with it, even the free version. The theme works perfectly with the popular Woocommerce plugin. Wonderful options such as Quick View, Ajax Cart and Gallery Styles are already included in the free version. The Pro version takes it up a notch with Wishlist, Off-Canvas filters, Floating Cart, Off-Canvas cart, Search by SKU and more. Building a pre-fashionable-looking shop thus becomes a piece of cake.
BLOCKSY: CUSTOM SIDEBARS
The same thing I just said about the headers also applies to the sidebars. In principle it is possible to present a different sidebar to your audience on every page. Important, because as can be seen in the example above, a shop page obviously needs a different sidebar than blog pages.
BLOCKSY THEME REVIEW: CONCLUSION
Blocksy is a new fresh theme, very suitable to quickly create a good shop, blog or corporate site. Strong points of Blocksy are the Starter Sites, the Header & Footer Builders and Webshop options. If you still have doubts, check WP-Astra. It is very similar to Blocksy but is a lot more advanced and offers even more options.
Blocksy vs PopularFX conclusion
Blocksy and PopularFX are both good themes, and the free versions are especially highly rated for a reason. But even though both PopularFX and Blocksy are also worth their money in the pro version, I have to advise against them both because there are much better themes available for the same money and both themes are certainly not optimal for creating webshops. My tip is buy Divi, the best selling and valued theme in the world or possibly Astra if you are using a lightning fast theme.