Igor Iemelianov, PhD in Computer Science, CEO & Founder IT Delight. He is into hard work, teamwork and honesty. Since its founding in 2012, under the leadership of Igor, IT Delight has consistently created unique e-commerce solutions for a wide range of clients from various industries, taking clients to new heights.
Introduction
In the dynamic e-commerce environment, the frontend framework choice significantly influences a Magento 2 store's performance, user experience, and development efficiency. Developers are increasingly opting for alternatives like Hyvä Themes over the default Luma theme and frameworks like PWA Studio. This article delves into the structure, advantages, and drawbacks of Hyvä Themes, highlighting why it's preferred by Magento developers over Luma and PWA Studio.
What is Hyvä Theme?
Hyvä Theme, a modern frontend framework for Magento 2, stands out for its simplicity and efficiency. In contrast to Luma, which hasn't been updated since 2016, Hyvä Themes use the lightweight JavaScript framework Alpine.js, streamlining frontend code for better performance. With a shorter learning curve, it's more developer-friendly and scores a perfect 100 on Google's core web vitals for both desktop and mobile, outperforming its counterparts.
Brief Overview of Luma and PWA
Luma
Luma, being the default theme for Magento 2, originally offered a sleek and modern design. However, unlike Magento 2, Luma has not undergone any updates or changes since its launch, making it an outdated technology in today's digital world. Luma's reliance on a large number of JavaScript and CSS files resulted in slower load times compared to more efficient alternatives.
PWA Studio
PWA Studio is a headless framework developed by Adobe as the upcoming default frontend solution. It's a separate piece of software, communicates with Magento via GraphQL, it uses Tailwind for styling and React for dynamic content. PWA Studio offers flexibility for individual frontend designs, supporting Adobe Commerce functionality. However, it requires a separate frontend development team, and third-party extensions often lack support.
Hyvä Themes
Hyvä Themes stand out for their emphasis on performance, speed, and ease of development. The framework uses Alpine.js, resulting in fast page speed and a seamless user experience. Hyvä Themes excel in reducing development time and costs, offering a simple architecture that appeals to developers.
Let’s review some of the aspects of Hyvä Themes that make it a perfect choice for Magento 2 online stores.
Performance & Speed: Hyvä Themes excels in storefront performance, addressing Luma's sluggishness, especially on mobile devices. Ensuring universal fast page speed, enhances SEO and user retention, outpacing Adobe's PWA Studio in speed and cost-effectiveness.
Conversion Rates: Combatting slow page speed, Hyvä Themes is vital for maintaining user engagement. A mere one-second delay results in a 7% drop in conversions. Hyvä Themes can avoid this and not lose the store's revenue.
Reduced Costs and Time for Development: Hyvä Themes' simple architecture streamlines development, reducing time and costs. Utilizing modern tools, accelerates development, making it a cost-effective solution.
Wide Community: Despite its recent introduction, Hyvä Themes has a robust developer community, ensuring continuous evolution and a rich extension repository. Diverse skills make finding the right developer easy.
Flexibility: Hyvä Themes seamlessly integrates with existing Magento 2 sites, eliminating the need for a fresh installation. Exclusive to Magento 2, it aligns with modern development practices.
Development Velocity: Hyvä Themes' streamlined code reduces development time and costs, enhancing the overall developer experience. Eliminating complex elements accelerates development velocity.
Target Business: Hyvä targets small to medium-sized merchants seeking swift solutions. Ideal for a performance boost without extensive scaling, it suits businesses aiming for a fast launch.
Using Hyvä Themes for Magento-based stores brings numerous advantages, yet it is not without its drawbacks. Here are some key considerations:
Magento versions compatibility Hyvä Themes is exclusively compatible with Magento versions 2.4 and newer. This means users with older Magento versions must undergo an upgrade, a recommended practice given compatibility issues with various tools and platforms.
No third-party extension support Successful installation and integration of such extensions require the expertise of a skilled development team. Modifications to both Javascript and templates are necessary for seamless functionality. To address compatibility issues, Hyvä Themes offers a dedicated compatibility module library accessible with a purchased license.
License costs While there is a €1,000 license fee for Hyvä Themes usage, this one-time payment covers all future updates, support, and access to code and documentation.
Hyvä Themes endurance Concerns have been raised about the continued support of Hyvä themes as a relatively new technology. However, the development team is committed to continuous support and improvement, and the community is actively involved in this.
In conclusion, Hyvä Themes emerged as a game-changer in the e-commerce landscape, offering unparalleled speed, flexibility, and cost efficiency, making it an attractive choice for businesses of varying sizes and development needs.
More about other products that Hyvä makes.
Hyvä Checkout
Hyvä Checkout is one of the latest innovations from the creators of Hyvä Themes. It solves Magento Checkout issues by prioritizing back-end development and reducing back-end requirements. Hyvä Checkout supports the most popular payment methods such as PayPal, Braintree, Stripe, Mollie, Adyen, MultiSafepay and others. It offers a smooth, secure, and convenient buying process that satisfies customers and drives business growth.
Hyvä UI
Hyvä UI is a library of ready-to-use, copy-and-paste elements that are compatible with Hyvä themes. And all components are available in a Figma design system. With the help of Hyvä UI, you will be able to create new Magento 2 stores extremely quickly - in a week or two. This is a standalone product, but access is free to all Hyvä Theme license holders!
Conclusion
Hyvä Themes proves to be a game-changer in the e-commerce scene, outshining Luma and PWA Studio for Magento 2. With its streamlined code, emphasis on performance, and user-friendly nature, it offers a superior choice for developers. The framework's benefits include improved speed, reduced development costs, and a vibrant community.
Furthermore, Hyvä's ecosystem expands with innovative products like Hyvä Checkout, addressing Magento Checkout issues, and Hyvä UI, a library facilitating quick store creation. In summary, Hyvä Themes stands as an attractive, efficient, and cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes in the competitive Magento 2 landscape.