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The release of Hyvä, a performance-optimized frontend theme for Magento 2, has become a noticeable event in the e-commerce market. As of 2024, the stats for using Hyvä accounts for 3,157 websites, with no sign of stopping there in the future.
At NEKLO, we've been working with the Hyvä theme since its first release and managed to test its benefits first-hand. Below, we look in more detail at why businesses migrate their Magento 2 stores to Hyvä and how it can impact your website performance metrics. We share our insight on the pitfalls you need to watch out for when setting up Hyva for your store, and give a sneak peek into customer success stories of those who have already benefited from Hyvä.
HYVA is a Magento 2 theme released back in 2021 providing developers with a powerful toolset to create faster and better-performing online stores. Performance might be the first thing that comes to mind when one mentions Hyvä.
Slow loading times have always been a headache for store owners and require significant effort from developers using Magento 2 standard themes. In fact, they have been the number one reason your customers leave. According to research, 53% of online shoppers want a store to load in 3 seconds or less, or they prefer to shop somewhere else.
Still, performance optimization is just one benefit, but much more sets Hyvä apart from other Magento themes.
Advantages that set Hyvä Theme apart:
The beauty of the Hyvä theme lies in its combination of advanced features and its coding best practices approach, making it a favorable choice for developers and store owners. Let us closely examine how using the Hyvä theme can impact your store and the e-commerce development process.
The number one reason why many store owners consider Hyvä is because it helps you achieve better website performance. All Google core web vitals go straight to the green line, which most store owners want to see. Among the other Magento 2 default themes, it comes a winner at reducing website load times and optimizing vital metrics like server response, Time to First Byte (TTFB), and resource loading.
Such significant performance optimization is achieved because Hyvä replies on:
Numbers speak louder than words. Using the Hyvä theme for our client, reduced the Speed Index page load by 57.5% compared to the Magento 2 default theme, making it from 4.0s to 1.7s. Total metrics improved, too, hitting the green marks.
After we installed and optimized the Hyvä theme, the client's website parameters improved:
Since Hyvä relies on a modular architecture, it lets you develop components separately. It has fewer dependencies, making it possible to reuse the code or the entire component in other projects instead of writing them from scratch.
For the store owners, it means you can dedicate your developers' time to the store architecture, features, and business logic, not the technical aspect.
Case in point: Seating-Masters.com, Development Time Reduced X3
For our client, an online restaurant furniture retailer, we developed a product configurator using the VUE framework, leveraging Global Events. This configurator monitors connections between the properties of different products. When a button is clicked within the configurator, other page elements built in the Hyvä theme can seamlessly track and respond to these interactions.
The configurator represents a unified code pool that can be easily transferred to other client's multiple projects, including those still running on Magento 1. It allowed the client to cut the development time by X3. Notably, the page load speed remains consistent across different projects, and any encountered errors are promptly addressed, ensuring uniformity and stability across all resources.
Built with a responsive design, HYVA ensures your store's consistent look and feel without compromising performance wherever clients are — on mobile, desktop, or tablet. It uses the Tailwind framework to simplify working with CSS and provide a mobile first approach, which allows you to flexibly customize styles for different screen resolutions.
You can move and arrange elements on the page for optimal visual appeal. You can adjust the overall structure and layout of the website pages and customize colors, fonts, and styles the way you want. A great advantage is that with Hyvä you can iterate your store design fast and focus on what works for the user rather than dealing with device-specific design issues.
As mentioned above, Hyvä's modular architecture and responsive design open up exciting possibilities for functionality customization. Custom features are not limited or impossible in Magento 2, yet the process differs drastically.
Since each module is represented as an independent unit, you can modify them safely without breaking the logic. Hyvä’s Compatibility Modules functionality lets you customize Magento modules, though it requires some coding efforts.
Adding or removing modules based on your business goals or priorities is more accessible, too. Do your customers need help finding what they want? Work on advanced search functionalities or create personalized user interfaces. Would you like to improve the checkout? Hyvä checkout customization will let you incorporate custom fields or integrate alternative payment methods.
HYVA allows seamless integration of microservices, enabling the incorporation of additional functionalities and third-party services. It implies breaking down complex functionalities into smaller, modular components. This way, Hyvä allows for easier maintenance and updates of your entire store's key functionality.
For developers, integrating microservices makes it easy to add new functionality without interfering with website architecture.
Hyvä follows best practices for frontend development, emphasizing a modular and efficient code structure.
Less JS and CSS make better frontend performance. The difference is palpable for small stores and high-loaded projects, which often accommodate this code and lose on performance.
Websites built with Hyvä are easier to maintain and support compared to Magento Luma. You have fewer dependencies, a clear consistent code and feature-specific modules, so you can locate and fix issues faster. When you update or extend specific functionalities, you work locally, without affecting the entire codebase.
For store owners, this is a huge advantage as you spend fewer efforts and resources on website support, and in case of any errors or issues, you can process and resolve them on the go.
All that technology magic that powers the Hyvä theme under the hood results in practical business benefits.
The HYVA theme for Magento 2 does offer numerous benefits for developers and store owners alike. Still, it's important to understand that, like any technology, along with the pros, it has some cons you need to consider before setting it up for your store.
Implementing the Hyvä theme in Magento 2 requires careful planning, attention to detail, and adherence to best practices. Follow these simple yet essential steps for a successful Hyva set up in your store:
Looking to power your store with Hyvä theme development? We have a proven track record in Magento 2 ecommerce development and are ready to bring our expertise to your Hyvä projects.