Astonishingly Beautiful, Highly Customizable, Simply The Best
Do you want a good looking website?
Well, of course you do. The real question though, is how to design a slick site if you’re not a designer yourself or if you don’t have enough money to hire one?
There are countless WordPress themes, endless tips online and an enormous amount of data you can use to transform the looks of your site but only one easy solution: WordPress theme Zeen.
Zeen theme was published on 15 October 2018. And since then, it changed everything. At least my best WordPress theme page was updated with Zeen theme on the top. See why you should ditch all other themes and buy Zeen WordPress theme today, in my detailed review.
About Zeen Theme
Designed by the guys from Codetipi. Zeen is a next-generation magazine WordPress theme. As the authors put it on their sales page: “You’ve literally never seen or used a magazine that looks or works like this before.” And they’re absolutely right.
The theme is built from the ground up and only the latest cutting-edge technologies are used in the process of creating this product. The theme is ultra fast, extremely flexible, overly intuitive. In short, this theme can satisfy even well-known products designers.
To be honest, it’s no surprise. The guys who created this piece of art are quite famous in the WordPress circles. Their other themes are quite popular with a huge fan base. Check them out when you’re finished with this detailed review, here.
Top Features
Here are just few of Zeen theme features:
- Optimized by experienced SEO specialist;
- Build-in social sharing buttons;
- Build-in email subscription forms;
- Comes with few relly cool plugins;
- A lot of different, and unique, layout options;
- Works extremely good with Elementor plugin;
- Fast support;
- To put it lightly, this theme is f*cking beautiful;
Who Is This Theme For? And Is It For You?
You can use Zeen theme for all kind of projects. There aren’t any limitations or constraints. Here are just few examples:
- Want to create a magazine-like theme? This theme is the best option;
- Want to run a personal blog? This theme will make your blog shine;
- Want to sell stuff? No worries. Zeen theme will help you bring in more customers;
- Want to create a portfolio site? You’ll have the best looking portfolio site online.
- Want to review things? This theme is created for review sites like mine. It comes with a few plugins that will help you easily rate the products you review.
How It Works:
Still not convinced that this theme is the right for you? See Zeen WordPress theme in action:
Installing WordPress Theme Zeen
Simply access your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload theme > Choose file > Install Now:
The process takes just a few minutes.
Once you click activate, you’ll see the following cool-looking setup wizard. I mean, look at it, it’s awesome:
Click start to proceed.
The next step is to install a Child theme. Usually, this process is painful and time-consuming. Fortunately, the guys from Codetipi simplified the whole process for us – the non-techies. You simply click install and you have a Child theme.
The screen after will prompt us to install a few plugins. Make sure to click Advance to see the full list of plugins. Don’t worry. All of them are quite good. Let me say a few words about each one of them:
- Let’s info up: Add short info about a product you want to promote on your site.
- Let’s Live Blog: Add extra discussion panel inside your site.
- Let’s Review: Awesome plugin about reviewing products. The best I’ve ever seen.
- Login With Ajax: Custom plugin for cool login screen.
- Zeen Engine: The plugin powers the theme. You need it.
- Zeen Update: This plugin basically allows you to easily update the theme from your WordPress backend. You need it.
If you don’t want to install a particualr plugin, simply remove the check.
Wow. That was easy.
Now, let me show you how you can easily install one of the theme demos. The zeen theme comes with a couple really unique pre-designed sites. You can see them on their official page, here. I’ll personally go with Tech demo in this review and I’ll install all the content coming along:
Once the installation finishes, you can see the site or go directly inside your theme options.
Core Zeen Options
You can check the theme options by going to either Zeen > Theme options inside your WordPress dashboard. Or, by clicking on Appearance > Customize. Both ways will load the following:
Everything you customize will be immediately available on your site. You don’t have to refresh and switch between back and front end.
Zeen Logo Options
I want to explain a bit about the logo because it was confusing for me initially. So basically, you can add your logo in two different places:
Customize > Header Options > Header Base & Logo:
When you add the logo from this option, it will load above your menu. In most of the cases, however, you’ll want it inline with your menu. That’s why we have the second option:
Customize > Header Options > Main Menu:
This will align your menu items with your logo. There is one more layout option for those of us who want things a bit eccentric (arrow 3).
Above Header Boxes
If you’re running a news site, or you want to promote your Instagram photos, you might find this feature quite handy. You can basically promote some of your posts on the front page.
Go to Customize > Header Options > Main Menu > Above Header:
You can promote posts from a specific category or your best articles. You can also set if you want this option to be visible for only the home page or not.
Posts and Pages Layouts
Zeen allows you to not only specify the header of your posts but also the layout of your article.
These are some of the design options for the header:
These are the currently available article layouts:
Besides these options, you can also add meta elements above or below your title.
Additionally, you can decide how you want the related posts to appear:
Additionally, you can automatically insert a newsletter box at the end of the article. Also, enable the Infinite Post Load functionality. This basically makes your site performs like a social media platform. After each post new one loads. If your visitors are always hungry for more, they’ll surely appreciate this function.
You think that’s all? Not quite.
From this section, you can also customize your social media buttons. As you will see for yourself, the buttons are quite nice:
But there is even more. You can add ads and related posts inside your posts: There are 3 different locations for adding ads.
Zeen Pages options are similar. There is one main difference: You can create a simple 404 page:
Just add a picture and a custom message.
One more thing, you can also enable the progress bar like the one we have for posts. This is really good visual feature for the people reading. This way they will know how much more there is till the end of the article.
Mail Subscription Settings
Zeen theme comes with in-house build email subscription forms. You don’t have to install extra plugins to gather subscribers. The following settings will give you everything you need to have unique lead generators:
Firstly, you can add email subsribiton boxes after your posts. You just need to insert the shortcode in the box “Newsletter Form.”
Of course, you can also choose the styling.
Next, we have the popup option. This is really powerful. A lot of the Zeen layouts come with subscribe button on the top right that is basically designed to gather subscribers (2). As you will see from the screen below, you can design everything: the text, add a picture, how to arrange the picture and the text. Also, trigger this form when the visitors wants to leave the site.
But there is more…
Sliding Promo Box, Timed Popup, Top Bar Message
There are other ways to promote something when using Zeen.
Sliding promo box menu gives you the option to trigger a promo box with email subscription field. Another cool way to increase your email list.
For inside your posts you can go with another strategy: Sliding Post Promo Box. This simple feature can increase your page views with ease.
Timed Popup will allow you to load content after a few seconds, or minutes. For instance, a visitor opens your site and you after 15 seconds, a popup message appears tailored from this section: Appearance > Widgets > Timed Popup Content.
Finally, I think, we have the top bar message option. This is a great way to display an advertising message across your whole site. As you will see below, you can customize everything:
Just add a link to your sales page and you’ll finally make money from your site.
Plugin Integrations
Zeen WordPress theme works really well with all major plugins. Still, the authors decided to make it work even better with few really important plugins. I won’t go into all the details. I’m just gonna list them:
- AMP: You can add your own logo if you’re using AMP plugin to boost your mobile rankings;
- Login With Ajax: Design your own custom login page for your members;
- WooCommerce: Tailor your shopping cart;
- bbPress: Decide what kind of layout you should have for your bbPress plugin;
- BuddyPress: Make your BuddyPress with a unique design;
Extra Stuff
There are a lot of extra features coming along with this theme. The Performance section is the best one. You can increase your site speed by enabling some of these features below.
- Lazy Load Images;
- Use Minified CSS;
- Use Minified JavascriptLoad Lightbox;
- Mobile Performance;
- Thumbnail Sizes will make your images load faster on every device.
You can additionally boost your mobile performance by enabling some of the settings below but make sure you know what you’re doing when playing around with these settings.
This function is located inside Appearance > Customize > Miscellaneous > Performance.
Customizing Your Posts And Blog Section With Zeen Theme
Zeen allows you to create unique blog layouts. Once you’re inside your category of choice, click on Edit With Tipi Builder. This is Codetipi in-house page builder, slash, much more.
From here, you can decide whether or not you want sidebar and also how to arrange your posts in this specific category. Simply click on the three little dots and then Settings:
You can choose from 20 different layouts. Also, configure the Pagination for this category:
But that’s not all, you can further customize your blog section: add grids, sliders, Instagram feed, etc. This, though, I will show you how it’s done in the section below:
Creating A Landing Page With Zeen WordPress Theme
I’ve saved the best for last. The secret weapon Zeen theme has is their built-in page builder: Tipi Builder. It’s stylish and easy to use. You don’t have to buy an extra guide to learn how to use it.
Go to create a new page and click on Edit With Tipi Builder:
We can either start from scratch or import a layout as the wizard suggest. I want to learn how it works with no help, that’s why I’m choosing the first option: Start from scratch:
Immediately when you click on the button, a menu on the left appears giving you options to choose from. The great thing about Tipi Builder it’s the 100% front end building experience.
I’m choosing a call to action element since I want to create a landing page.
The first thing you need to do with this element is to choose a background picture. Once you do this, you’ll see a couple of text fields ready to fill.
You can add primary and secondary buttons (1-4). Also, you can add different dividers on the top and also on the bottom of the page.
Next, you can add spaces, quotes, different blog layouts. Since the theme is mainly focused on creating magazine sites, the builder is currently overloaded with different blog layouts. It doesn’t have the functionalities like Elementor or Visual Composer. Which is actually good. A lot of options always leads to creative blocks.
Finally, we have something like this.
It’s not much as you can see, but it’s usually enough to create a simple landing page.
Zeen WordPress Theme Price
For just 60 USD (excl. tax) you can transform your site and make it stylish AF. To be honest, the guys from Codetipi are underselling this product. I’m sure that most people will spend more to get their hands on this theme.
The price also includes 6 months of expert support. I’ve tried their support numerous times and to be honest, they are amazing. Fast, responsive. They all want to really help you make your site as beautiful as possible.
Zeen Pros/Cons
Pros:
- Stylish, easy to use, unique layouts;
- Email subscription forms included;
- Never seen before review plugins;
- Fast and mobile responsive;
- The backend adopts the settings from the front end;
Cons:
- The page builder, Tipi Builder, is kind of buggy at times but nothing serious.
Final Thoughts
My humble opinion: Zeen WordPress theme is currently the best on the market. It has everything you need to create a fully functioning site and it will also make your online project look awesome.
For just 60 USD, you’ll have an amazing looking website without touching a line of code.
Zeen theme is available for purchase from Themeforest. You’ll also get 6 months of fast support if you decide to purchase it.
Let me know what you think about the theme in the comments below. I’ll be happy to answer all of your questions.