5 Most Popular WordPress Theme Frameworks

Theme frameworks play a key role in the web design and development industry. WordPress theme frameworks are the most prevalent mainly due to their ability to eliminate various hassles involved in designing a website theme like coding and more. These frameworks also allow you to design a theme that is unique from all other available options.

Other advantages of using WordPress theme frameworks include the ability to increase website security and functionality, improved code quality, easy upgrades with no loss of styling, and extendability of plugins.

When choosing a WordPress framework to use, you have to choose from two types i.e. in-house framework which is popular among theme developers seeking to build their products and free theme frameworks that can be used by anyone (free versions).

Before using a theme framework, you need a child and parent theme. The Child theme duplicates both the code and design of a parent theme and can be personalized to suit your needs.

The advantage of this is that even if the parent theme is updated, the child theme will still retain modifications of parent theme.

Beans Theme Framework

Beans is a powerful and flexible WordPress theme framework that is both lightweight and fast. It is very responsive and works pretty well on virtually all devices. Beans theme framework allows you to resize your content, create, cache and make images adaptive for all devices and many more.

Beans takes visibility of your website in search engines to the next level. Being a SEO-friendly theme framework, it lets you rank at top of search engines by keeping your pages lightweight and quick to load. It also helps to load only the stuff that the user wants.

Beans theme framework is free and open-source. It is coded and documented intelligently and anybody who is accustomed with WordPress can use it. Updates are pretty stable and can be accessed by a simple click of a button. The quick updates help to keep your website strong by eliminating instances of downtimes. Regardless of the type of plugin that you use, this theme framework is quite versatile and works with all coded WordPress plugins.

Genesis

Genesis provides secure and SEO-optimized foundation for building WordPress websites. It has an impressive interface that makes it ideal for use by both novices and pro website developers. This framework comes with custom theme templates and customizers for easy editing. It is responsive for both desktop and mobile devices.

You can check out some genesis themes here in an article by the popular website CollectiveRay.com

Additionally, it makes it easy for you to create your website theme. The package gives you instant access to unlimited updates, support and detailed tutorials. It is available in a one-time purchase and costs only $59.95. The Pro Plus membership costs $499.95.

UnderStrap

UnderStrap is based on starter theme Underscores and Bootstrap 4 grid. You can either use it to build a design theme or use it as a beginner theme depending on your needs. UnderStrap can function as a parent theme or can be used to create a child theme. This framework comes with many custom template tags, headers, toggle drop-down menu options, streamlined theme building with CSS, and predefined template layouts and more.

Moreover, it utilizes SASS sources and SASS files. The framework makes it easy for you to replace fonts, styles and colors. For easy customization, UnderStrap provides a convenient way to get updates with just one command. It also supports WooCommerce plugin which is the number one e-commerce system for all WordPress sites.

Other features of UnderStrip framework include easy control of slider settings, quick translation and easy installation. You can install this framework from your WordPress back-end just like any other theme.

Gantry Framework

Gantry is a popular theme framework from Rocket Theme. It is specially designed in a way that it combines many functionalities into one theme framework.

It is based on a very responsive grid system that is compatible with modern technologies such as LESS, CSS, and SCSS. The latest version of this theme framework comes with cutting-edge features like:

• Advanced layout manager for easy editing
• Visual menu editor
• Particle system that allows configuration and creation of content blocks
• Mega menu for quick navigation
• Admin interface for smooth management
• Twig template system for creation of themes

You don’t need to have any experience to use this theme framework. The easy layout manager guarantee you simple controls with a highly visual experience.

You can create and configure anything you want with this theme framework. In case you make a mistake when designing the layout of your website, Gantry gives you unlimited undo and redo options until you create the exact theme you need. It is the fastest and most lightweight theme framework that anyone can use.

HybridCore Framework

If you want a theme framework that gives you full control of the theme you’re designing, then HybridCore might be all you need.

The framework is 100% open-source and is free to download. It comes with several cool features that make it ideal for serious developers. Some of the top features of HybridCore include:

• A custom Media Grabber that lets you pull videos, gallery embeds, and audio files straight from post content. It is a useful feature if you want to display media in a way that complements WordPress posts.
• Font Loader for easy registration and en-queuing of font styles and scripts.
• Layout API for handling layout options. You can register any layout and display them automatically using the customizer. It is also possible to display them on per post or term basis.
• Template system for custom template creation. It doesn’t restrict you to a default template system.
• Media Meta API for storage of images, audio and videos. It also lets you access things like ID3 and EXIF data.

HybridCore is not a parent theme, instead it is a framework you can install in your theme project. For support, just sign up for the developer membership and enjoy year-to-year support.

Conclusion

Choosing the right theme framework can help you develop a website that not only defines the motives of your users but also helps you achieve your goals. Theme frameworks eliminate the need to go through stressful coding procedures and also allow you to create a flexible and attractive website. The above are the top five popular theme frameworks to consider.