GeneratePress Review 2023

GeneratePress Review

In this video I’m going to do a review and
walk-through of one of the best WordPress

themes that are available today and is called
GeneratePress hi my name is Adam from WPCrafter.com

were I make WordPress videos for non-techies
like me and if you enjoy the content in this

video I upload them daily so you wouldn’t
mind considering clicking on that subscribe

button down below and become a subscriber
here if you want video notifications there’s

a little bell off to the right of the subscribe
button that you can click on and you too will

let you know when I upload a new video so
this video is going to be all about this theme

right here called GeneratePress now GeneratePress
is a free theme let’s just put that out there

but this review I mean obviously everything
I say that’s complementary goes towards a

theme but this is really good to be about
the premium package that they offer and it’s

a suite of add-ons that you can activate that
extend the functionality of GeneratePress

now if you followed along my video series
about how to create an online course website

this is the design we ended up with and for
the theme I use GeneratePress and part of

that was it’s not a requirement to get the
premium package and there are different things

that would be probably a lot easier if you
did have the premium add on package so for

example changing out fonts changing out colors
and these are some of the primary things that

your theme does is set your colors and set
your fonts and create your headers and crater

footers and everything else I did sandwiched
in between on here was with Elementor I will

video series on this link down below and I
include all the video temp not video template

the page templates are all included okay so
this is what GeneratePress looks like by default

when you install the theme on a vanilla WordPress
website and it’s good at a lot of features

that were in essentially have full control
over everything and I do have a special treat

even though it’s not officially released I
do have the development version of the GeneratePress

premium package that includes the WooCommerce
integration and were a look at that as well

in this video but if you head over to GeneratePress’s
website now I will have a link down below

in the pin comment section and also the video
description box down below takes you over

there that is an affiliate link up Tom the
developer GeneratePress will give me a cup

of coffee if you did purchase this premium
package now first off I want to tell you you

don’t need the premium package what it does
is it makes things here for you and actually

now does actually do some things that would
be hard to pull off on your own but that’s

the trade-off with a lot of things that you’re
in a purchase for WordPress it’s I can spend

a little bit of money and save a ton of time
or I can spend a ton of time to save a little

bit of money so GeneratePress is 40 bucks
right now let me click on premium right here

I believe it’s only 40 box where is that price
Tom there it is 40 bucks and it comes with

its essentially a plug-in that you would add
to your website and you would just enable

what you wanted the features that you want
let me just give you quick overview here of

some of those so for example your to be able
to control pretty much all the colors of your

website your topography this sections I encouraged
actually let me back this up a little bit

the reason why dinner Ray Perez is so stinking
awesome is the developer his name is Tom you

can connect with him in the GeneratePress
Facebook group there’s also support form here

he is the hardest working developer in WordPress
that I’ve ever come across he provides the

most fantastic support and honestly if you
would ask 10 to 10 people why you purchased

GeneratePress I’m sure nine of them would
say because of Tom because you have direct

connection to the guy because he’s on top
of supporting it implementing things that

people want but he’s very disciplined with
that he won’t implement something that would

bog down or slow down his theme because his
theme is so it’s like a well oiled machine

I tell you this thing is coded very very well
so anyways back to this stuff. So sections

I was telling Tommy should drop that because
essentially it’s kind like a page builder

kind of but is not as vigilant visual and
nowadays you would just use a page builder

with GeneratePress you can use Elementor which
is free you can use Beaver Builder and also

GeneratePress perfectly integrates with the
the new Beaver Themer package that was recently

released okay and so there’s also some additional
options here with the menu system and this

is very powerful the page header one that’s
actually really nice feature as well I’m in

have to show you that you have very good options
with the blog index page and how your blog

posts will be laid out backgrounds I usually
just use a solid color I never use an image

for the background spacing is actually very
important and I like the flexibility that

that’s can add to cover this all like in in
an actual website secondary nap don’t use

that copyright he actually makes it very easy
to change the clock rate even if you don’t

purchase this I really like that about him
disable elements is super useful you can disable

elements on a post or a page basis on an individual
basis it makes it very easy hooks is actually

very powerful as well although I would like
him Tom taken out I would like some improvements

in the hooks area to make it little more easy
to throw in saved rose or sections from Elementor

or Beaver Builder anyways what this doesn’t
include is the brand-new not even on the website

yet WooCommerce integration and he took all
of the feedback from all of the people that

have GeneratePress premium now and he implemented
it on this beautiful WooCommerce integration

them and to be able to show you as well in
this video now if you wanted to see any of

these features in action you can come here
there’s a video overview for each one and

you can also click on the details, in move
through each of these pretty quick myself

as you can see what they do but you can also
come here to get more information one of things

that is really nice about GeneratePress is
there’s a great support community here you

can click on the support forms and I got to
say I give GeneratePress and A+ on the documentation

side if you haven’t notice a lot of times
themes and plug-ins for WordPress their biggest

weaknesses is the documentation there just
isn’t good documentation or it’s not complete

they might tell you how to do something but
the instructions don’t make sense not so with

Tom he has invested so much effort and energy
time and money into having the best documentation

that I have probably ever seen for WordPress
are probably right up there with Beaver Builder

because they have put a big investment into
their documentation as well Tom is amazing

in the support department so for example he
has the support forms here and he is so quick

to respond there’s also a Facebook group he
is so quick to respond and he is very approachable

he’s a great guy Nina did not get sidetracked
I like to spend my money with the local guy

I so I feel Tom is I mean it’s a rocksolid
business it’s very well-established this isn’t

wet behind the ears type of theme but I I
really like it that I know when I’m buying

it it’s going to a guy like me the money is
going to a guy like me it’s not going to a

big corporation are big business or whatever
I’m up and the guy that has a kid at home

and his hustle and working hard has provided
something rocksolid’s going to be there for

me when I need him and that’s one of the selling
points of GeneratePress for me not that it’s

God you know so many download so many customers
of so many people using it were talking tens

of thousands of people websites using his
amazing theme but I like to know that I’m

given the money to a guy that’s going to be
there for me that he’s gonna listen to me

and you know anyways I don’t need to beat
a dead horse on that issue so anyways this

right here is our default GeneratePress now
let me go into the back and here so what can

happen is your canoe when you purchase the
GeneratePress add-ons is going to be a plug-in

right here called GP premium to go ahead and
activate it right now so there it is it’s

activated and then what you want to do is
you want to go to appearance and then GeneratePress

now just keep in mind I’m using a beta version
of it because this is the first anyone seeing

of the newly added WooCommerce integration
so once you add it here you popping your license

key of course and then here are all those
modules that I was talking to you about so

you can either activate them all or just activate
what you want in that’s what I really like

about it from a performance standpoint because
one of the most important responsibilities

of a theme is for to be well coded and for
it to also beat fast and on that well coded

note this is just a random side note with
Thompson being GeneratePress he has spent

a significant amount of money to have one
of the most well-known WordPress developers

do a very tight security audit not just how
much he prides himself on this theme most

theme developers would never do that because
quite frankly they don’t make any money on

their theme or maybe it’s not a high priority
but for Tom it is a very high priority to

provide the most tight security possible and
he’s gone ahead and put the money in for a

in-depth security audit and it’s of course
secure but he is going through the audit anyways

anyway so here we go actually I sorry that’s
why you want to be careful the theme you choose

to use because that is where there are security
holes introduced into your website so you

might see a theme that looks really exciting
and it’s all sexy on the front end and all

that but you don’t know when you look at the
code if there’s going to be performance issues

but more importantly security issues and that’s
why it’s smart to go with a reputable team

for your website and that’s what were getting
here in GeneratePress so you can just click

on the checkbox and then for bulk actions
go ahead and activate everything, to uncheck

that sections because I don’t use it but everything
else is cool now if you are watching this

today the day that I upload the video you
and I can have this WooCommerce option because

it’s can be coming out in a few days so I’m
just gonna activate what I have there and

here we go so also right here the only time
you can come back to this pages if you want

to disable a new add-on or new add-on comes
out you want to enable it but you should also

come here for the import export options so
essentially every aspect of your GeneratePress

site is modular you can move it around which
is very nice I know a lot of people that are

making child themes are using GeneratePress
because it’s so easy to give you settings

to install in order to get the site looking
the way that you want it now we have a new

option here which is GP hook some knock and
talk about that right now where their real

meat and potatoes is going to be is right
here where it says customize someone to go

ahead and click on customize and your to see
all of the setting so let me just preface

pretty much anything that you could want to
change colors fonts header layouts footer

layouts are to be able to do it now with this
premium add on a package so the first thing

is your to come here to the layout and its
setting after setting each element the layout

for those elements in this right here is new
the WooCommerce so we can change our container

with this actually very good because the theme
I’m using right now I can’t make it wider

or more narrow I wanted wider actually us
you can come in here and change your container

with and here’s already some spacing and padding
that you can start changing around oh I like

this this is new you can lock them together
and start decreasing them right that’s pretty

good that this is the spacing from inside
the box right here the content padding the

padding to the top left bottom and right and
then here it is for a mobile device so there’s

our container we do have a lot of header options
here which is really knifes we got alignment

options we’ve got the width we can adjust
and what’s really nice is he’s also including

options for your mobile header and I really
like that because a lot of themes when you

look at on a mobile device I I just don’t
like the way the header portion looks it either

takes up too much space or just just doesn’t
look really that good so here is our primary

navigation right here we can choose the let’s
see where is it okay this is nice right here

where the navigation is good to be so by default
with GeneratePress it’s on the bottom but

here more typical place to have it would be
maybe on the float right and it would move

it right there member we can change these
colors I don’t I don’t like these default

colors at all actually so we have that right
there in theirs like I said all of these options

right here what else is were over the note
I can add a secondary navigation if I wanted

to we can have a top bar we can have a second
dairy one here on the bottom we have sticky

navigation options which some themes they
charge you extra just to have this sticky

navigation anyways I can have slide out navigation
actually this is kind of new and see the slide

out navigation is usually there’s like a like
a hamburger icon here and you click on it

and it slides out so I don’t actually see
that so I’m not probably doing it right but

that’s okay alright so we have a page header
options anyways you can see we have all of

these awesome layout options but let’s take
a look at WooCommerce so right here it’s really

nice you can display the cart finally in the
menu this was one of the things I asked for

this is when someone adds a product to the
cart it’s gonna show the cart on the menu

area there I think that’s pretty huge we have
breadcrumbs right there here is our product

page layout actually let me jump into that
someone click on shop and I did throw in a

default product here called the fidget cube
to start an e-commerce store with my son selling

some of these fidgety things alright so you
can see now we have options for the layout

here for WooCommerce product page so right
now it is actually let’s see that that sidebar

layout let’s see if it affects it I’m this
might just be the shop page let’s see content

no sidebar that might not do it all right
will do it okay so there you go so if you

didn’t want to show sidebar you can do tears
and I have these options were you didn’t have

these options before you have image alignment
and how many products per page on the shop

page in the have these controls of what you
want to show and what you don’t want to show

in if you notice here it is actually really
deep the options that it gives you I really

like that okay so it’s get out of layout in
the morning to the same thing for colors and

now everything segmented out in the colors
so I said I don’t like that of the black background

here that is my primary navigation colors
so I can change the background to let’s just

clear it out and then I need to actually give
the font to color in their ego so this is

kind of what you would expect to see a background
that’s the same color background as the rest

of the header and then a contrasting color
for the font so there we have it was that

easy let me also change my text however it’s
go white their ego right in here to I should

have made white okay there you go that’s what
I wanted to do and said let’s see so we still

have that hover we connect to get rid of that
on the hover as well is right here it’s the

background hovers so we would just make that
whites and now we just have the text changing

and so the text however we will make that
dark as well there we go so you see how easy

that is the change that would be a big pain
in the rear end if you’re doing it with custom

code even though he will tell you exactly
how to do that that’s one of things I like

about Tom even though he’s wants to have you
buy the premium package so he can eat he’ll

tell you how to do something without you buying
it which is a very refreshing that he’s willing

to help you even if there’s nothing really
financial in it for him and you can control

all of these colors right here one of the
things that is actually very unique is he

has the option here for forms so whenever
you go to like a contact form it inherits

the style from your theme but in this premium
package he gives you the option to cheat to

configure what those will be when you see
a form on your page so if I click on add to

cart right here let’s see if that’s gonna
work in the customizer it doesn’t look like

it’s going to work in the customizer I show
you actually get them to show you right now

I’m to go here to go to shop to go to fidget
cube added to the carts in the number to view

all these colors can be completely customizable
minima to go to the checkout every color so

here’s like your typical form Juergen to be
able to control the sizes and colors you know

how the color changes when you when you click
into the field you actually get those options

right here in the customizer this is unique
I haven’t really seen this anywhere anyways

so now are in our WooCommerce colors and Juergen
be thrilled to know you have pretty much control

over all the colors so I mean we obviously
we’ve got this button here if I wanted to

make it something vibrant like that and then
I change my holler hover color to that you

can see how easy that was to change and they
go you got literally it and it actually goes

deeper in colors customizations of these colors
than I’ve seen in other themes so this is

really going to set generate pad press ahead
of the pack when it comes to WooCommerce and

e-commerce integration and I really like this
you see there’s another thing called Genesis

now Genesis is so linking any change you want
to make you have to do it with custom code

and argument there is that because of that
it’s gonna run faster but it it’s not necessarily

as so accurate today because GeneratePress
I bet if you put it side-by-side isn’t gonna

run any slower than a Genesis theme but you
still get these customizer options which I

want even though I can sit there and crank
out CSS I don’t want to do that I rather just

come in here click around change of color
and be off to what and what the next thing

I want to do that day so anyways there is
your WooCommerce colors right there same thing

for topography were to be able to change the
fonts of everything in the weight and all

that stuff I didn’t like my primary navigation
font right there I can go here and just choose

something different so let’s just use this
comic sans I think that will be noticeable

just like that and I can inclusively decrease
the size there to 18 you see how easy it is

and then I can make it all I will not capitalize
all uppercase like this you can see how easy

that is actually that made it too big let
me come back down okay scenario so it work

and control over all the fonts that you would
need in your website RK so we have the blog

options here and this could be how the blog
content is laid out you got the Manson re-options

I like your traditional one where you’ve got
the title the image an excerpt and some can

click on and go in but to each his own by
default just you know this is kind of this

layout you see how everything is kind of in
its own little separate container and then

we have this color here on the edges some
people like that some people don’t let me

actually show you how to change that real
quick so that would be your background color

I’m pretty sure so are the body right here
so let me change that to white and there you

go that was much all you needed to do to change
that or if you wanted to be a different color

altogether you could go there I mean that’s
how simple this really was to now it doesn’t

look all containerized but is completely up
to you how you wanted and what you want to

do there so that is our colors that was our
topography or blog background images you can

actually put a background instead of just
the color you can have an image in the background

I don’t typically like that but I mean for
some creative types you might want to put

a pattern in the background and I totally
understand that okay here’s the option for

your copyright you can pop in whatever you
want if you scroll down by default this is

what it’s gonna say but you can put in whatever
you want their menus that’s a typical WordPress

widget additional CSS this is all WordPress
stuff right here so you can see how it’s all

kind of a logically organized if it’s a layout
it’s can be found under layout of its color

it’s gonna be under colors and if it’s the
font to the topography you’re gonna find that

in topography so if I didn’t like the layout
of this footer ding ding ding I noted going

to the customizer click on layout oops not
site identity click on layout and go to footer

and now I’ve got control over my footer area
if I didn’t want three footer widgets I can

just go like this and kinda get rid of the
the footer altogether if I didn’t want to

do that there is color so here is this like
copyright areas got that black if I don’t

want that there I go home that’s probably
in colors so let me go to colors and let’s

find that so that would probably be under
my guess is maybe footer widget no footer

that would be footer the area where the witches
were would be the footer widgets this is just

gonna be the footer so there you go now I
can go here and I can lighten up the color

and make it to be whatever I want he does
have it all organized and grouped in a logical

way if it’s a layout it’s going to be in layouts
if it is a color color topography topography

it’s as simple as that so for instance if
I wanted to change some of the header exit

let’s take a look at this a secondary navigation
right here so let’s see navigation location

above header below header is where you can
place a second navigation here’s the different

locations that you can place it on if I did
like no navigation actually I’m missing this

right here above header I wonder if I have
to assign a menu and that’s wire where I would

get it up there on the top but you also have
in each of these layout options is the padding

and spacing options which is really nice so
let’s change us around so for navigation right

now it’s on the flow right I’m going to put
it up below the header but instead of on the

left I’m going to center it so now that’s
centered and so this is the header right here

I’m in a go ahead and put that in the center
and now everything’s just kind of centered

actually like this kind of a layout it looks
a little more friendly and easier to navigate

and I’m sure looks great on all devices and
here’s your padding and everything like that

so let’s do a quick save and publish and take
a look at it on the front and someone ago

here and there it is him a click on shop you
can see how I’ve already changed a whole bunch

of things when doing add to cart and let’s
see where we not get in our add to cart in

there let me figure that out like me because
it and added to cart okay there go view cart

okay so I’m on the card I have three of them
in the cart and were not getting it showing

there’s let’s just see what we need to do
to make that work colors let’s see someone

to go back to colors WooCommerce and let’s
see if that’s how I need to enable it darn

and I can’t find it off the top of my head
while you’re just going to have to trust me

that it works I had a working the other day
I reset all my settings and instead of making

this video any longer than it needs to be,
to go ahead and just click on save and publish

and try to explain the hook areas which is
a very powerful feature so well it just took

me right to the hooks that’s right because
I was on Hunt’s when I got into the customizer

so what hooks are is these different areas
and locations on a page so there’s above header

below header above navigation below navigation
above post content below post content there’s

these hook areas and what you can do is you
can drop a short code in here and it will

take whatever that chart could generate source
and PHP that going a little on the technical

side or just a short code and it will put
it in that location and this is actually really

good if you’re using one of these modern page
builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder

because you can create a rower section and
you can save it and then you’ll get a little

short code that you can play someplace so
where you’d want to use this type of feature

is say you have a lot of blog posts and you
want to maybe have a call to action about

the content but below the navigation on a
blog post asking for someone’s email address

that’s how you could do something like that
or maybe you wanted a sitewide notice you

know when you go to a website and they might
be having a sale or there some something that

they want to help help you to to notice and
recognize in the have a bar at the very top

these are things you can do in these hook
areas so you would be able to create it in

your page builder of choice though give you
little short code and you can just paste it

wherever you want to pop that information
in and that is one of the really nice things

that you can do here and there’s all these
different hook locations right here I don’t

see a real easy way to see what is aware but
there might be in the documentation a list

of what these hook areas are and where they
are so you would know when you place your

circle and it is easy if you put it someplace
is wrong wrong spot you just move it to the

perfect spot and be very easy to get dialed
in so anyways guys that is been my quick review

of GeneratePress I fully will leave fully
stand behind a GeneratePress I love what Tom

is doing you will be in good hands in using
this theme and as a matter of fact you would

not be alone if you started using GeneratePress
a lot if developers are using this theme and

basing all of their website builds on this
theme and I think the reason why I like getting

a theme from a different company that I get
my page builder from is because Batesville

the company they can focus on improving the
page builder the theme company they can focus

on making it the best theme that there is
and they can have these as separate focuses

I find that if your using that company for
the page builder and the theme they might

have a split focus or split passion Tom passionate
about GeneratePress this theme and these different

page builder plug-ins like Elementor Beaver
Builder they’re just passionate about that

but if they’re also selling a theme I find
that the passion is in there for the theme

and that’s why it’s good to go with Tom a
separate company for your theme it’s kind

like when you go to that restaurant that has
a menu with all kinds of different items on

it and they’re all just okay they’re not fantastic
but if you go to a restaurant that just serves

this in a restaurant that just serves that
there’s a good chance that it’s going to be

better for you better for you but it’s good
to be a better better meal because that’s

what they focus on that is there thing that
is what they do that is what they’re the best

that that’s what they’re the experts at that’s
all that I was trying to make with that points

up anyways like I said I’ve got a link down
below to GeneratePress now if you use GeneratePress

and you like it wanted to put your reasons
down below in the comment section or if there’s

a another WordPress theme that you use in
and you use it for a particular reason and

I wanted to share that with everyone down
below as well thanks for watching this video