If you’ve ever built a website, you know just how many WordPress themes are in existence. From free options to paid options, the list is endless. But, with so many choices it can be a tough task choosing the perfect theme.
Most importantly, you don’t want all your hard work that you put into your site to go into the trash months or years down the road. Heaven forbid something happened to your site because you chose the wrong theme from the very beginning.
All your worries can be thrown by the wayside as long as you choose the right theme that’s designed to perform, and built to last the test of time.
That’s where GeneratePress comes in . . .
So, what makes the GeneratePress theme for blogger(s) so great? It’s quite simple actually.
GeneratePress was designed to be stable, lightweight, fast and mobile-ready. It’s the perfect combination of performance, usability and design. The framework and coding of GeneratePress rests one very important founding principle:
To be the highest performing lightweight WordPress theme on the planet.
Mission accomplished . . .
GeneratePress has quickly become the top choice among webmasters of some of the most successful websites on the planet. For all these reasons, I run GeneratePress on all my sites, as well as all my client sites.
So, if you’d like to find out more about why the GeneratePress theme for blogger(s) is the best choice for your website, click on the hyperlinks below or keep reading to find out.
This is one you don’t want to miss . . .
Quick Navigation Links
- Reasons Why GeneratePress Is Perfect For Bloggers
- GeneratePress Theme Pros and Cons: Free Version
- GeneratePress Theme Features: Free Version
- Performance
- GeneratePress Premium Theme: Paid Version
- Install Free GeneratePress Theme
- Install GeneratePress Premium
- GeneratePress Premium Pricing Options
- GeneratePress Support Forum
- Editor’s Thoughts and Final Words
- FAQ’s
Reasons Why GeneratePress Is Perfect For Bloggers
GeneratePress was created by Tom Usborne who is an extremely meticulous designer/developer. He’s super careful about keeping the theme light and simple to enable high-performance. It’s a super stable WordPress theme that’ll be in existence for years and years.
GeneratePress is a webmaster’s dream . . . it’s really good!
In turn, GeneratePress has been downloaded well over a million times and has tens of thousands of happy customers. GeneratePress has more than one thousand 5 star reviews on WordPress.org and growing every day.
GeneratePress is perfect for those who want to create a professional looking blog. It’s simple, clean and modern. The theme comes with a number of features that make it easy to set up and customize. It’s also mobile-responsive which means it’ll look great on all devices.
If you’re looking for one of the best WordPress themes that will help you create a beautiful and successful blog, then GeneratePress is the perfect choice.
GeneratePress is available for free, or you can upgrade to the premium version for access to more features and options.
Without further ado, let’s get into all the juicy features for both the free and premium versions . . .
GeneratePress Theme Pros and Cons: Free Version
The free version of the GeneratePress theme is an excellent choice for your blog or website, especially if you’re building your very first website. And, although it’s definitely a great theme to build your site with, there are pros and cons to using the free version that you need to be aware of.
Below are some of the most important GeneratePress pros and cons for you to consider.
Pros
I love that the free version of GeneratePress is packed with many features. GeneratePress gives you the ability to:
- customize your website easily
- choose from a wide variety of options to edit your site
- create any type of website (e.g. blog, portfolio, eCommerce, etc.)
- make your site look good on all devices
- drive more visitors/customers to your site since it’s the fastest WordPress theme
Cons
The free version of GeneratePress is a great choice but it still isn’t perfect. Some of the drawbacks include:
- no drag and drop editor
- no blog layout editor
- little third-party software integrations available
These cons are a great example of the delicate balance that Tom Usborne has to strike between lightweight performance and added features. Although the missing editing features would make website development easier, having this functionality would make the theme heavier and sluggish.
It’s great to know that the GeneratePress developer has created a WordPress theme that focuses on these factors and gives you the features you need.
In the end, you can rest assured that you’re getting a perfectly balanced theme for your website that will perform well, and give your site stability and security for the life of your website.
GeneratePress Theme Features: Free Version
Now, let’s dig a little deeper into the most important features of this theme. GP comes with free and paid options but lets focus on the free version for now.
Site Identity
There isn’t much different here than most WordPress themes out there. As you can see, you’re able to edit basic site details.
Something important to note is that it’s very close to the WordPress customizer which allows GeneratePress to remain a lightweight theme with a fast loading page speed.
As mentioned previously, the customization options may be less than other themes but this ensures that your site will by high-performing.
Layout
Next is the layout tab which houses some pretty nice functionality. It’s great because it allows you to isolate and modify the layout of different website elements, one at a time.
The elements include the:
- container
- header
- primary navigation
- sidebars
- footer
- blog section
Like anything else, it’s going to take some trial and error playing around with the different presets and editing options before you get the hang of it. It doesn’t take long and once you get comfortable, it’s a breeze.
The cool thing about GeneratePress is that you have a small editing panel on the left-hand side. Every time you make a change to your settings, you can tap on “Publish” at the very top and see the changes to your site on the right-hand side, all in one place!
Check out the pics of the different editing options for each of the elements below:
Container
Header
Primary Navigation
Sidebars
Footer
Blog
Colors
The colors tab offers you the ability to modify the colors of different elements. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it “expansive” but it definitely gives you enough options to get the job done.
It comes with preset colors if you’re not too worried about your brand or site identity.
In any case, you can edit colors for various elements such as the:
- body
- header
- primary navigation
- buttons
- content
- forms
- sidebar widgets
- footer widgets
- footer bar
Even with the free version, you’ll be able to customize your website. Of course, GeneratePress Premium offers many more options if you’re looking for full customization.
Typography
When it comes to typography, GeneratePress offers some nice editing options.
Fonts
There are dozens of Google Fonts available to you, as well as four System Fonts (Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman and Georgia). This is more than enough since all you really need is one of the four System Fonts. A website designed with basic easy to read font is better than an elaborate font.
The picture below shows the flexibility you have at your fingertips to customize (e.g. font size, weight, etc.) any of your fonts.
Typography Manager
The Typography Manager gives you even more flexibility because it allows you to choose different elements and then assign specific fonts to each of them. There are different elements to choose from such as the menu, body, buttons, headings, widgets, footer, etc. You can even create a custom element.
You are able to customize the following for each of these elements:
- font family
- font weight
- font size
- line height
- letter spacing
- bottom margin
I also love that you can easily design for desktop, mobile or tablet all from the same window. All you need to do is toggle back and forth between the different devices and save the changes specific to each device.
Once you build your site for desktop, pull it up on your mobile phone and make the necessary adjustments as needed.
General
In the general section you have just a few options for customization. You can modify the icon type to svg or font, and underline links to either of the following:
- always
- on hover
- not on hover
- never
Menus
This section is fairly basic and it gives you the option to create different menus and place them in any location on your site. Typically, a website has a primary menu and footer menu which you’ll be able to create in GeneratePress.
Once you add your menus, you’ll add menu items like links to pages or categories.
Widgets
The fact that GeneratePress offers widgets is great. It provides you another way to customize your site. You’ll be able to add widgets to the top bar (header), right sidebar and footer.
The available widgets are:
- archives
- calendar
- categories
- custom HTML
- latest comments
- latest posts
- page list
- RSS
- search
- shortcode
- social icons
- tag cloud
- legacy widget
- meta
- navigation menu
- recent posts
- widget group
- star rating
- repeat visitor
Overall, widgets give you some customization options but it’s still pretty basic. GP Premium does give you a bit more but it’s nowhere near using a page builder that gives you a ton more options.
I recommend using the free lightweight GenerateBlocks plugin since it’s from the same developer and pairs perfectly with GeneratePress. Plus, it won’t make your site sluggish as with other traditional page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder. GenerateBlocks also has a pro version for advanced website developers.
Homepage Settings
You have one of two options in regard to editing your homepage. Either set your homepage as a static page or display your latest posts.
For static homepages, you’re going to need to set up two pages. One will be the homepage and the second page will display your posts.
Personally, I like to display my latest posts since I don’t have to worry about designing a static homepage. It’s quick and easy. In the end, what you choose will depend on the type of site you are building and personal preference.
Additional CSS
In order to utilize this function you need to know coding. You can modify your site’s appearance, layout and structure even further but it’s definitely not for beginners. Stay clear of this one if you don’t have the technical knowledge and experience with coding.
Yoast SEO Breadcrumbs
Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress plugin that helps your website perform better in search engines like Google and Bing.
If you have the Yoast SEO plugin, GeneratePress gives you the ability to modify the following:
- breadcrumbs separator
- anchor text for the homepage
- prefix for breadcrumbs
- prefix for archive pages
- prefix for search result pages
- breadcrumb for 404 pages
In case you’re wondering, breadcrumbs are navigation tools within a website that help users understand where they’re at on a website, and help them get back to previous pages.
Performance
The fact that GeneratePress is an extremely lightweight theme makes it so that your site loads lightning fast. Nowadays, this is very important for user experience and ranking your site on Google.
Google uses site and load speed in their algorithm, so your website speed should be one of your top priorities.
As compared to other popular WordPress themes (e.g. Astra, etc.), GeneratePress almost always comes out on top in the following areas:
- overall load time and performance
- structure
- largest content load time
- time blocked by scripts
I ran a test on my website and received an overall A GTmetrix Grade.
The key to performance is not only the theme you use but other important factors such as minimizing picture file sizes and keeping the number of plugins on your site down to a minimum.
GeneratePress is a great starting point as it occupies only approximately 60KB of server space. It’s a theme that focuses on speed primarily.
If you want a high-performing site, I highly recommend you use GeneratePress or GeneratePress Premium as your theme. It’s an SEO friendly theme, mobile-friendly and designed to give you a leg up on the competition!
Hands down . . . it’s the best lightweight theme . . . period. This makes it a very powerful WordPress theme for your blog.
GeneratePress Premium Theme: Paid Version
I’ll start off by saying that I personally use GeneratePress Premium on all of my websites and client sites. Like everyone else, I started off with the free version of GeneratePress and found out quickly that although it was an awesome theme, it had limited customization options.
I love that you have so much flexibility to design your website with GeneratePress Premium WordPress theme. Couple it with GenerateBlocks. It’s customization to the next level!
Let’s dig into the features of GeneratePress Premium to see if it’s for you . . .
Site Library
This is one of my favorite features of GeneratePress Premium. Especially if you don’t have experience designing a site and would like to start with a professionally done-for-you site.
My preference is to start with a site from the site library that closely resembles what I want, and then I customize it further to add or get rid of features. This saves me hours of development time!
GeneratePress has 40+ beautiful starter sites to choose from!
As you can see there are plenty to choose from for every type of website under the sun.
Theme Builder
GeneratePress Premium offers the first block-based theme builder which requires that you use the free GenerateBlocks plugin. In other words, you can build your website visually without having to touch a line of code. Design footers, headers, author boxes, post templates, etc.
This is extremely important because now you don’t need a page builder which slows down your website. I’ve used Elementor in the past and had to get rid of it because my site’s performance suffered greatly.
There’s definitely more of a learning curve to design your site with blocks as opposed to a drag and drop page builder like Elementor. In my opinion, it’s well worth the extra effort in order to maintain site performance.
Styling Controls
GP Premium offers you even more styling control and options. I like that you have the option to activate or deactivate all of these design elements (e.g. colors, spacing, typography, etc.) as needed in order to minimize loading speed and maximize your site performance.
WooCommerce Flexibility
The last element shown above allows even greater design flexibility for your WooCommerce store. By the way, the site library in GeneratePress Premium offers some cool WooCommerce store starter sites.
If you’re just building a simple blog or site you don’t need to activate this design element.
Advanced Layout System
The advanced layout system allows you to change the theme layout based on advanced display rules you set.
Masonry
I like this feature as it allows you to display your archived posts in a masonry style format. It gives your website some flare and will differentiate your blog from other blogs with the normal vanilla layout.
Archive Columns
Further customize your blog post layout with the ability to choose the number of columns you’d like to use to display your blog posts. One, two, three columns . . . you choose.
Mobile Header
This is an awesome feature that allows you to set up a low-profile mobile header. The majority of people that land on your site are on mobile. This feature gives your site a clean and professional look without taking too much space on a user’s phone screen. Most importantly, it gives you the advantage of being able to present your content near the top of their mobile screen.
Advanced Hook System
Basically, the advanced hook system gives you the ability to add anything on your site, anywhere in your theme. Personally, I don’t use this feature as the other features already give me enough flexibility to do what I need.
Navigation
The navigation options for customization are plentiful and include various elements for you to adjust to your liking.
Secondary Navigation
This cool feature allows you to add a second navigation menu that you can customize just like your primary navigation. Typically, I only worry about my primary navigation menu and my primary mobile header.
Sticky Navigation
Here’s another feature that I do use from time to time. Sticky navigation allows you to keep your navigation menu at the top of the page regardless of whether or not a user is scrolling to the bottom of your page. Even if someone is at the very bottom of your blog post, the navigation menu will appear across the top.
It creates a better user experience which is also part of the Google algorithm. So, this too helps your rank higher on Google.
Infinite Scroll
Infinite scroll helps to keep users on your website longer. On top of this, GP also has smooth scroll which people tend to like. Similar to sticky navigation, this feature helps to improve user experience and keeps users on your site loger.
This is another good thing since time on page is another metric that Google tracks. Increase user time on page and you will start to rise above other more established websites in the rankings!
Off-Canvas Panel
Create an off-canvas panel in one of two ways. With this feature you can create a slide out navigation panel or an overlay menu panel that covers the entire page. The overlay menu has become increasingly popular and gives your site a professional look.
Install Free GeneratePress Theme
Installing GeneratePress is super easy. It’ll only take a few steps and then you’ll be off to the races.
- Sign into your WordPress Dashboard. For those that have Bluehost web hosting, log into your BH account. At the very top, select your website from the drop-down menu and click on “Log into WordPress” on the far right side.
- Once in your WordPress Dashboard, go to “Appearance” and “Themes” in the menu on the left.
- Click on the “Add New” button near the very top.
- Type “generatepress” into the search bar and hit enter.
- Once GeneratePress appears, click on “Install” and then “Activate”.
If you want to experiment with GenerateBlocks, search for “generateblocks” using the search bar and follow the same steps above.
Congratulations, you’ve just installed the highest-performing theme for your WordPress site!
Install GeneratePress Premium
GP Premium is installed as a premium plugin and not a theme. Once you purchase GP Premium and get your license key, you’ll be able to download the zip file from the GeneratePress website onto your computer.
- Sign into your WordPress Dashboard. For those that have Bluehost web hosting, log into your BH account. At the very top, select your website from the drop-down menu and click on “Log into WordPress” on the far right side.
- Once in your WordPress Dashboard, go to “Plugins” and “Add New” in the menu on the left.
- At the very top click on “Upload Plugin”.
- Browse for the zip file that you downloaded from your GeneratePress account onto your computer and click on “Open”.
- Once in your WordPress dashboard, click on “Install Now”.
Now it’s time to activate the different design elements that you need.
Activate Design Modules
Unless you have a WooCommerce store, I would personally activate all of the modules with the exception of the WooCommerce module. Once you play around with the different design elements, you can always deactivate the modules or premium features you don’t use.
GeneratePress Premium Pricing Options
If you want to purchase GeneratePress Premium you have two pricing options. One is a yearly plan option and the other is a one-time lifetime option. In either case, you can build up to 500 websites with one account. The theme price is very reasonable for such a high-quality theme.
Both options offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
GeneratePress Support Forum
The GeneratePress support forum is a great place to ask questions and share lessons learned. The support team is great and fairly responsive. I’ve used it before and was pleasantly surprised at the response time and quality of support.
Editor’s Thoughts and Final Words
You know my thoughts. The GeneratePress theme for blogger(s) is the best WP theme overall. It’s the perfect platform to make your website or WordPress blog stand out. If you’re a beginner, the GeneratePress free version is a solid start.
This entire GeneratePress review goes into the different reasons why I strongly feel the GeneratePress theme for blogger(s) is the best. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 2022, 2026 or 2030. GeneratePress is here to stay!
In a nutshell, GeneratePress is a very popular multipurpose theme that’s been designed for every type of website under the sun. They’re library is full of professionally designed starter sites if you don’t want to start with a blank site.
The GeneratePress theme for blogger(s) is a popular WordPress theme that is perfect for website owners of all experience levels. It is lightweight, responsive, and easy to use. It comes with a variety of customization options, making it an ideal choice for those who want to create a unique blog.
If you’re looking for a theme for your WordPress site, GeneratePress is definitely worth checking out!
FAQ’s
What are the system requirements for GeneratePress?
There are no specific system requirements for GeneratePress. However, it is recommended to have WordPress 4.7 and PHP 5.6.20 at a minimum for best compatibility. Overall, this shouldn’t be a concern since GP is alway updated to fit within the latest WordPress updates.
Is GeneratePress a free theme?
Yes, GeneratePress is a free WordPress theme. It’s a great choice for anyone looking for a lightweight and versatile theme that can be used for a variety of sites. There’s also a premium paid version offering a lot more design options.
Is GeneratePress the fastest theme?
There is no definitive answer to this question as it depends on a number of factors, such as the hosting environment, the WordPress configuration and the specific plugins and settings used. However, from my testing and experience, I believe that GeneratePress is one of the fastest themes available, if not the fastest.
Which theme is best, Astra or GeneratePress?
There is no easy answer when it comes to choosing the best WordPress theme. However, if I had to choose between Astra and GeneratePress, I would say that GeneratePress is the best at ensuring a good user experience on your website. Additionally, it is highly customizable and comes with a number of useful features.