This theme is very easy to install, but the Cornerstone page builder is required by theme not a option. All other advertised extensions are optional. Keys apparently not required to activate for updates. For updates of theme and plugins a Themeco account is required with Envato license.
Demos are 1 click to get setup and all images and videos are included after activating your license. However, it is paramount for me to state that this is a theme, not a framework, but it is very much a framework because of how it is built.
If you love the demos (of which there are several) and want to use one, you’ll need to simply swap demo content for yours. However if you don’t have high quality content to swap out, your site will look cheaply made on this theme, as with any pre-purchased product.
Most demos are not typical for use for customers, because the various needs in your market. It’s just not possible to create a demo for everything, so they’ve made what they can using vanilla layouts and designs. They seem designed by designers but if your business deals with tailored solutions and requires new designs, this theme can be problematic.
All the extensions, both developed by the theme author (which I cannot stress enough is often not just some dude in an apartment) are supported by the theme with a 12 month plan. An extra cost for theme owners. You can judge the quality of the theme by how many downloads there are, but that’s is misleading because it’s support that matters for the consumers.
The additional plugins included, Visual Composer, Slider Revolution, and so on, are only supported by those authors individually and may require another support fee for each.
So far what seems like a deal for a premium theme (which it is not in my opinion) is costing you potentially over $150, with annually reoccurring fees to keep support.
I personally cannot write a un-biased review of this theme because I hate commercial themes. Not because they are pretty, but because the SELL the customer a falsehood on the idea of a easy setup of a website, that frankly reducing guys like me to a screwdriver, not a professional. Without the creative assets, and a professional experienced designer and developer, your expectations will be falsely set.
X-theme was built by two entrepreneurs that are well versed in marketing and spent a year developing and creating this theme with their team (think about the cost of that – 1 year). While the theme is beautiful, it can be a problem if not hosted on a suitable host. Meaning, you shouldn’t use it on a shared hosting account for optimal speed that theme is made.
Again, the most important feature for any commercial theme is SUPPORT. So before you buy, research, research, and then research some more.
Let’s Talk About Documentation
Something that annoys me with commercial themes. I hate reading instructions, as men we aren’t very good at it, but a 40 page PDF of instructions is just a daunting task to take on when you hear 1 click install. Most probably don’t bother reading the documentation, just fumble along and miss all the great, but crowded features in the theme.
Websites are not meant to be complicated for a user (a person who is not a designer or developer) to use. But with commercial themes this is not avoidable as developers of these themes have to do this in order to SELL (see a theme repeated here?) their product to consumers. After all, it took 1 year to develop. Nothing I could find about how long it took to create the designs, and content for the demos. That total cost is equivalent to creating 10 websites, for 10 demos, which can total 1,000’s of dollars.
Something that theme authors have to recuperate in massive sale quantities, something X Themes has had no problem as Envato market gets about 40% off each theme sold. Yeah, it’s a 60/40 split. The author doesn’t get 100% of the cost of the product. I would know, I’m an author, but don’t sell on the marketplace.
Just a side note, Element 502 builds custom themes on Redux and don’t use a lot of options that requires documentation because we leverage WordPress natively and our function.php is essentially Twenty Sixteen. Why complicate things?
But I digress…
Now For Design and Visuals
This is where the X Theme shines, however, you have about 10 (and growing) demos to choose with options and assets (images and content) that are unique for that demo. This is called a Stack (X Themes unique designs). Each Stack has it’s own settings. Therefore, not all extensions and settings are for use, or even available depending on the Stack you use.
In order to custom style a Stack, you must use a Child Theme – now you may need a WordPress expert if not familiar with how to do this – another hidden cost.
The Stacks are:
- Integrity – is the most feature rich, cool all-purpose WordPress business theme.
- Renew – is a creative, clean, professional theme, focused around flat web design trend.
- Icon – is the simplest theme with minimal design, no distractions.
- Ethos – is a versatile theme best used for news or magazine websites, where vast amounts of content needs to be displayed in one page.
Speed is important for SEO and X Theme Demos are pretty heavy because of all the features that are packed into it. Each request is sent for all images, videos and functionality for a page, something that is not a problem if you are wise about which assets you want. X Theme does pretty well considering the amount of those requests that occur when you see the demos. However, your site may not need much of this, which supports the bloat argument against commercial themes, sorry X.
While nitpicking and arguing over any WordPress sites speed is out there, I just want to show 1 stacks speed for the purpose of this review. It’s not a criticism, but a glimpse of what is happening and should not be obsessed over.
Integrity Stack Main Demo Results:
Google PageSpeed – 79/100 for desktop, 54/100 for speed, 98/100 for user experience.
Pingdom – performance grade 72/100, load time – 4.37 seconds, page size 3.3 mb, 103 requests.
GTMetrix – page speed grade 90%, YSlow Grade – 76%, page load time 5.18 seconds, total page size 8.50 mb.
Integrity Stack is pretty heavy because of the video preview on the background and large feature images. The request number is high, because of included JS effects, Woocommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress. Again, any theme with this much on the page would have similar numbers.
So carefully choose what you need or if this theme is just to heavy for what you need all together. Regardless of the theme, the more visuals and visual effects, the longer the page load for any website.
This theme is not for folks wanting a minimal design and layout. Moreover, it’s not the right choice for those not willing to learn every aspect (did I mention 40 pages of documentation) of the theme.
All in all I give the X Theme a 9/10 rating. But only if you stick to the Stacks and plugins included that are offered with it. As for newbies it can be extremely overwhelming to color outside the lines with this theme. Anything more than what’s included in the theme could complicate your theme and it’s stability.
You can get X Theme here: https://theme.co/x/
If you would like a consultation, review of your theme or a custom built leaner solution, don’t hesitate to contact me and our team at Element 502 by leaving a comment below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog or YouTube channel for free tips and for What’s New In The 502.
