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Hyvä Theme

Hyvä Theme

For this blog we will be looking at Hyvä Theme.

Hyvä Theme is a new frontend designed to build out storefronts in Magento 2.

Its primary focus is on speed and performance after continuing frustration with Luma.

Luma

Luma is Magento 2s standard Frontend since 2015.  eCommerce has continually developed but Magento’s frontend has not.

Luma has had a number of criticisms aimed at it.  Too complex, slow and unnecessarily time consuming to make even small adjustments.  All this results in sites that are slower than they should be, especially with the increased use of mobile devices for browsing.

The architecture and bloat due to poor use of external libraries for  example CSS and Javascript are responsible for the poor performance.  Poor site speed can directly result in sub par Google rankings.

It is possible to work on a Luma theme and make it faster?  Unfortunately the same bloat and file systems will restrict any improvements made.  These improvements will be minor when compared to a new framework which is where Hyvä comes in.

Hyvä: what Luma should have been

Hyvä wasn’t written to patch up Luma’s issues.  Hyvä was written from scratch.  Everything wrong with Luma was left out (Knockout/Require/jQuery).  Everything great about Luma and Magento 2 was left in (layout.xml).

For this project many of the tools were leveraged from Laravel.  Laravel was chosen as it continues to be an innovative and thriving ecosystem.

Outdated technologies have gone as have the overly complicated overheads.  Hundreds of JavaScript files have been replaced with one framework, Alpine.js.

The team then selected the TailwindCSS framework reducing CSS files by up to 90%.

This all creates a lean framework creating fast responsive Magento 2 websites.  Even on low powered devices your customers will have a much more enjoyable experience. On 3g/4g devices Hyvä can provide nearly 50% performance advantage compared to Luma.

Hyvä benefits from less bloat, dedicated components and a reduction in time to market.

Hyvä Theme Core Principles:

  • reduced complexity
  • improved performance
  • improved developer experience
  • improved development speed
  • reduced dependencies
  • reduced learning curve

From HyvaDocs

We are trying to close that gap, so that Magento remains the best solution for merchants of all sizes and agencies can stick with Magento and leverage their expertise on the platform using both Hyvä and PWA solutions where it best fits their clients needs.

Developers

These aims have resulted in advantages for your developer.  The streamlined simplicity of the architecture results in a far easier workflow for developers to learn and work on Hyvä.

An easier to learn and more powerful theme will encourage a growing and supportive development community.  This community will in turn improve the theme leading to greater knowledge.

Current and Future Developers

So, given how young Hyvä is, how will I find a developer?

Whilst Hyvä Theme has a different technology stack for implementing JavaScript and CSS, the core is still Magento 2. Hyvä will be very familiar and easier to learn for any Magento 2 developer.  Not only that, but as Hyvä is more streamlined it is easier to learn for even those unfamiliar with Magento.

Migration to Hyvä Theme

Just how long will migrating over from Luma to Hyvä take?

Great news, you do not have to start from fresh. You can simple replace the current Luma theme without have to recreate all your backend and admin functionality.

It is important to note that Hyvä is not compatible with Magento 1.

The only requirements are Magento 2.4 or greater.  Any system or browser support remains identical to Magento 2.

Third Party Modules

This is an issue with Hyvä that may put many people off.  This should not be the case.  Firstly all backend code, external integrations and admin panel related output are not affected.  Only storefront (theme) related plugins will require additional work.

Furthermore as mentioned Hyvä is easier to work on and a growing enthusiast and development community is here to help.

We are already seeing partially and fully working versions of popular extensions.  Smile’s popular Elasticsuite search and Yireo’s excellent Google Tag Manager module are already available.

With a growing community these examples of compatible modules will continue to grow.

Checkout Options

One area you do not want to have to worry about when working on a site is breaking the Checkout.  Thankfully this isn’t a problem.

You have a number of options:

Fallback Module
Via a simple fallback module provided by Hyvä themes you can continue to use your existing checkout. This will function exactly the same as under Luma.  It does so by using the existing Luma architecture and all the CSS and Javascript as previously mentioned.  It only uses Luma architecture for the checkout and does not affect the new Hyvä theme.

React Based checkout
If you want to make the move fully to Hyvä you have the option of a React based solution.  This focuses on speed and developer experience.

There are some limitations to the available payment gateways so it is worth checking before making a decision.  Hyvä React based solution will continue to develop and grow and it will likely become a standard in the future.

Third Party Checkout
You can use your existing third party checkout solution.  This will work straight out of the box using the Hyvä fallback module that allows Luma checkout to work.

Cost

To provide a fantastic experience and help drive the project into the future there are costs involved.

Thankfully Hyvä has a very simple License agreement.

A License for Hyvä Themes costs € 1000, excluding VAT.

  • One-time purchase, unlimited updates included
  • Valid for one Magento 2 installation with unlimited domains and store views.
  • Full access to the Hyvä Themes code via Private Packagist and Gitlab
  • Includes access to third-party compatibility modules
  • Support and Community access on our private Slack
  • Access to online documentation

Although many things are free the cost of the license is very competitive in our opinion.

There are no recurring monthly or yearly fees and all updates are included.

Summary

Magento 2s Luma theme is now too bloated and slow for modern day sites.  Maintenance of sites, on-going work and updates are all affected by a bloated and slow frontend.

These issues result in downtime, loss of revenue, and development time all restricting the growth of your business.

Hyvä’s lean approach promises faster more responsive sites with quicker development and less downtime.

Hyvä Theme offers users the lean, quick and modern frontend that Magento 2 deserves.

For further information please contact Dx3webs where we can discuss and recommend trusted Hyvä developers.

 

Additional links:
Hyvä Theme demo
Hyvä Theme YouTube Channel
Hyvä Themes Twitter
Hyvä Themes Website
Dx3webs Website

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