Detailed Monstroid2 Theme Review – WordPress Theme of New Generation
One of the most important things you can do for your own WordPress site is to choose the right theme.
I learned this the hard way.
When I started using WordPress I didn’t know anything about coding, style.css, HTML, functions inside the templates and etc. The funny thing is that I still don’t. However, I understood that I don’t have to be a developer or learn a couple of coding languages to start my own website. I just had to find the right WordPress theme for the project I was going to launch.
Even though I strive to keep the websites I build clean and simple, I am totally obsessed about the functionality a WordPress template has to offer.
You never know what you will want to design or add to your website and if using a theme that is too stripped down most probably won’t do the work for you. There are hundreds of WordPress themes available online and new ones are launching pretty much daily. Anyhow, you only need to purchase template ones, right?
The hard part is the decision making process and finding the perfect fit for your website.
The template I am going to introduce today is a theme of a new generation. After the extremely successful march of Monstroid, the guys from Template Monster decided to upgrade their best seller and launch Monstroid2:
In this detailed Monstroid2 theme review I am going to list all the benefits of owning this extremely powerful theme.
Without further ado, let me introduce Monstroid2:
Who is this theme for? And is it for you?
Monstroid2 is the perfect solution for people who want to create a stunning looking website without programmers knowledge. It’s intuitive and easy to use and the available functionalities make it extremely simple for you to put your ideas into action.
The theme comes with a couple of pre-build sites that will reduce the building process by half, at least. The available demos are making the theme perfect for creating corporate websites, hotels, restaurants, creative websites, shop sites, blogs, online media portals and more.
Even if your project doesn’t fall in one of the categories above, with just a couple of modifications you can design it to fit your idea.
Installing Monstroid2 WordPress Theme
The theme itself is available for purchase from www.templatemonster.com official website.
Once you acquire a copy on your PC, head towards your WordPress admin page > yourdomain.com/wp-admin > click on Appearance > Themes > Add new:
Once the screen loads, go to Upload theme > Choose the downloaded file from your computer > Load it > click Install now:
The installation process will take a couple of minutes and once you see the screen below click Active:
Voila! You’ve successfully installed Monstroid2 WordPress theme on your website.
Installing Monstroid2 WordPress Theme Recommended Plugins
Actually, once you’ve successfully installed Monstroid2 WordPress theme there is only one recommended plugin for installation. It’s called TM Wizard and you can easily install it by pressing the Install recommended plugins button once the theme installation is complete:
Select the plugin and install it:
The purpose of this plugin is to allow you to add the pre-build templates.
How to Install Monstroid2 WordPress Theme Demos?
The interesting part begins when you start the installation process of one of the pre-build websites.
After adding TM Wizard plugin, you will notice this section appearing inside your WordPress dashboard. Just click Start Install to launch the installation wizard:
The process will check if your hosting provider has the following resources. If you cover all the system settings green check boxes will appear. Proceed by clicking Next:
The following page will allow you to choose from the available templates. Check this page here to see all the available ones – Monstroid2 Demos
After choosing a skin you want to use for your website you can either view the live demo or begin straight with the installation process by clicking on Select skin:
The next step will ask you if you want to install the full version or the lite one. Important – if you are using a shared hosting it’s likely that the full version won’t work for you. Though, you probably won’t need to install the full version at all. The lite version is enough to transform your WordPress site to the demo you saw on the previous screen.
Clicking next will launch the installation:
Wait for the plugin installation:
After that, you need to decide whether you want the demo content to replace the existing one or only to be added. I will suggest only to append it:
Wait for the two loading screens:
…..
You are all set:
Now you can view your completely ready site and start making modifications.
Getting Started With Monstroid2 Theme
The theme itself offers a variety of available options and modifications.
To start using them, navigate again to Appearance section > Customize:
As in other WordPress themes, the customize section puts together the main options of the theme itself.
Here are some of the main things you can modify from this section:
- Page layout – Fullwidth or boxed sections? It’s up to you to decide. You can easily modify one or the other and even choose the width of your website. Go to General site settings > Page layout:
- Social links – You can Add social links in major places of your website with just checking a box. The option for this is inside General Site Settings > Social Links.
- Color schemes – Apply different color schemes to your whole site.
- Header – Add additional header panel with social icons and login section
- Ads Management – Monstroid2 has a separate panel for adding your Google ads links (or other) with just copy/paste-ing.
- 404-page setup – The theme comes with already existing 404 page which you can easily modify from inside your customization menu.
Increase Your Subscribers
Collect subscribers even easier with the MailChimp integration. When using Monstroid2, you can easily add opt-in forms inside your website.
Inside Customize, click on MailChimp tab and add your API and ID list:
Check these steps here – Find your ID list; MailChimp API – if you are not quite sure how you can add that.
When this is successfully integrated, to add opt-in forms on your website go to Appearance > Widgets > Find the widget called Subscribe and Follow > Enable the subscribe box and tailor the message you want your audience to see:
Now, if you want to show the subscribe box inside a page or a post, create new Page > Enable the Power Builder:
Insert Column:
Insert the Module > Sidebar:
Choose the Subscribe Sidebar one from the drop down:
This is how it will look on your website:
Switch Between Styles
As I explained above, Monstroid2 comes with pre-build templates that can be easily loaded thanks to the setup wizard. However, if needed, you can switch between styles.
Head towards TM Style Switcher, again inside Customize section and select one of the other available styles:
This will immediately change the style of your website.
Creating a Landing Page with Monstroid2 WordPress Theme
Monstroid2 is powered by the Powerd Builder. This plugin is similar to the one provided by Elegant Themes in their Divi theme.
To start using it, you will only need to click Use Power Builder:
Once this is done, you can start composting your page/posts by adding different type of columns and modules.
A couple of words for the buttons on the top:
- Save to library – Once you design a page you can save it to your library to use it in the future.
- Load from library – Load the templates you previously saved.
- Clear layout – Removes all current changes made to the page.
A couple of words for the buttons on the bottom:
- Standard section – brakes you page into pieces, so you can start adding modules.
- Specialty section – Has pretty much the same function as the one above but also gives you the option to add additional columns.
- Add from library – Again, you can load predesigned templates.
Now, to begin designing your landing page just click on the Insert column button and choose the layout you want:
Next, click on Insert module and choose the desired one. I’ve chosen Call to Action module to be added on the left side:
To configure the module click on the little wheel right next to it:
Add a title, button URL and etc. Once you are done just click Save & exit:
For the next section, I am adding 3 columns and I will use the blurb module:
Blurb it’s a great module for highlighting your main features. You can add cool icons to communicate your message even better. When configuring the module just press Use Icon and choose one. Alternatively, you can add your own custom icons:
Next, I will add the Divider module between my Call to action module and the one I’ve just added. Why? To add some space between the two sections and make it look good.
Insert the module, click on the module settings, go to advanced settings and add some space:
This is how a landing page designed with Monstroid2 WordPress theme might look like:
Pretty neat, right?
Customizing your Blog Section with Monstroid2 WordPress Theme
Showing your latest blog posts can be easily achieved with Monstroid2.
Add a new page > Enter a title > Activate the Power builder:
Insert new module and load the Blog one:
Here, you have a lot of available options that will help you show your content the best way:
They are divided inside General and Advanced settings. Here are some of the most important ones:
- To choose layout: grid; list; masonry.
- How many columns.
- How many posts to appear.
- Which categories to be included.
- What should be the Excerpt length.
- Header font, size, color and etc.
Below each post/page you have another set of setting that will allow you to configure the layout of each page. You can choose between left or right sidebar; boxed or fullwidth page layout:
Also, you can set specific header layout for the specific page:
And here is an example of a blog page powered by the power builder:
As you probably saw above, you can change, modify everything on the page. From the color of the font to the layout of the page.
What is the price of Monstroid2 WordPress Theme
Monstroid2 comes at the price of 75$ and it’s available for purchase only from the official website of Template Monster – Monstroid2 WordPress theme.
Considering the functionalities it provides I must say that is well worth it.
Monstroid2 Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Highly customizable.
- Ready to use templates.
- Email optin powered by MailChimp included.
- Clean design.
- Easy to use page builder.
- Premium plugins included.
Cons:
- Some elements take too slow to load on the page.
Final Thoughts
Considering the fame and the functions the predecessor of this theme offered, at first I wasn’t quite sure if the new theme will cover my expectations. However, after having the chance to play around with this theme, I must say that I am truly impressed by the potential of Monstroid2.
The ready to use templates will save you precious time with the initial setup, allowing you to focus on your business. And the available functions will help you build an amazing looking website with everything you need.
Have you tried the previous version of Monstroid WordPress theme? What do you think about this one?
(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my affiliate disclaimer page.)