Created by father and son Grant and Clay Griffiths, Headway Themes is a premium WordPress theme framework aimed at making customized WordPress development easier for both novices and developers alike. This is achieved through the creation of a drag and drop “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor as demonstrated in the following video:
Headway’s latest installment is an entirely new product. With the new 3.0 update, Headway is showing off its famous drag n’ drop editor at its best.
Misconceptions about Headway Themes
Before I begin the review, here are some things you need to know about Headway Themes:
- Headway Themes will NOT modify existing WordPress themes. Headway is a stand-alone WordPress theme and not a theme editor.
- Headway is NOT a computer application. It is installed like a regular WordPress theme.
- ANY Headway license can be used for unlimited websites.
Alright. Let’s dive right into the review.
Headway Themes Features
Ease of Use
The latest installation of Headway excels with its co-integration of settings into the most important feature: the visual editor. Display options, leaf settings, and misc. design options are no longer spread out between the visual editor and the WordPress back-end, creating a fluid workflow for experienced users and a more learn-able environment for newbies.
Learning Curve
Headway’s learning curve might be steep for those completely new to both WordPress and premium themes. However, this is made more tolerable by the inclusion of a walk-through available when you first install headway. The tour is also available later through the visual editor.
Experienced WordPress users should find the theme fairly easy to work with after a few days of working with it. After following the quick walk-through, finding options and moving between modes becomes almost second nature.
Customization and Flexibility
Headway 3.0 has also brought back the theme’s impressive array of design options. Everything from background images for widgets to comment styles can be controlled from within the visual editor. Headway also integrates with the WordPress media uploader, making the organization and management of background images as easy as managing post pictures.
The new blocks system allows for the structuring of pages in minutes that could otherwise take hours. This drag n’ drop method of creating header, footer, navigation, content, widget, and custom code areas completely removes PHP and HTML coding from the equation, allowing non tech-savvy users the ability to build impressive and fully-functional websites.
Developers especially may find that the Headway theme can rapidly decrease development time. Additionally, the robust classes and ids found within the mark-up means that CSS styling of any and all specific elements is a breeze. Per-page styles can also be achieved with as little as one line of code per page and no HTML or PHP modifications.
Missing Features
Some features previously available to leafs in 2.13 don’t apply to the current update. Headway doesn’t presently support small excerpts (the two-column post excerpts). The twitter updates block and about block are also missing. Additionally, Headway no longer has “easy hooks,” meaning that PHP knowledge will be required to automatically insert content into places such as post footers and to change or append the footer links.
Although a wide array of design options have been included in 3.0x, some elements are still curiously difficult to style. Separating the design for h2, and h3 tags requires CSS, as does changing the color of links found within post and page content. Padding and margins for blocks and essential elements is customizable through CSS only.
Search Engine Optimization
Headway Themes offers robust search engine optimization options with the ability to enhance optimization for individual posts and pages.
Headway also comes with the impressive “Search Engine Result Preview,” which displays how your posts and pages will appear in Google search results.
One feature current customers might miss that I think is important is “slug clean-up.” Removing stop words from URLs is a critical part of building friendly links, and this missing feature was both unique and impressive.
Affiliate Link Creation
One notable feature of Headway’s SEO settings is the inclusion of a 301 redirection field. Using this input, you can redirect users from a WordPress page to any external or internal link. This is especially useful for those looking to create “pretty” affiliate links without a plugin.
Compatibility
Headway Themes 3.03 is compatible with WordPress Multisites and integrates with Scribe SEO. Additionally Headway has a built-in block for displaying a Gravity Forms form. Headway is also compatible with Loop Buddy and Back-up Buddy available from iThemes.
Developer API
Headway has completely re-written the developer API, creating support for WordPress child themes and paving the way for custom block development. Although I’ve only experienced the child theme API, creating add-ons for Headway is significantly easier in the 3.0 release. I anticipate a profitable market for add-on developers in the coming months.
Customer Support
Headway offers support in the form of a forum. Users can pose questions and get replies from other users and official moderators. While this system promotes a community effort, it can be frustrating at times to get the answer you’re looking for.
If you get an official response that doesn’t answer your question, I would urge you to follow-up with a clarification question.
Email support is also available via the contact form on the main website. The company can also be reached via the official twitter account.
Updates
Updates are released frequently to address bugs, enhance features, and add common and useful requests from the community or planned changes. There was actually an update happening as I was writing this review. This trend of rolling out new versions quickly inspires confidence that Headway will only continue to improve on itself.
Documentation
Headway uses a codex (similar to a Wiki) to house all of its documentation. (updated) There is a complete set of documents for getting started and beginner features, but block development and intermediate tutorials are still in the works. Video tutorials for 3.0 are available from the unofficial YouTube account.
Refund Policy
Headway Themes no longer offers any kind of refund policy, meaning all purchases are final. Although I highly recommend this theme, those who are not in a position to risk $68 on a theme framework should consider holding for a discount coupon or saving up specifically for this investment.
Affiliate Program
Headway uses the service Share-A-Sale to manage its affiliate operations. Every sale will net an affiliate a 40% commission on the license purchased. Although SAS does not support PayPal, it does include direct deposit. Payments are made on the 20th of every month so those opting to connect a bank account can access their funds the same day as payout.
Pricing and Licenses
Headway has four pricing structures: Base ($68), Standard ($174), All-Access ($378), and the Life-time Pass ($587). All pricing options allow the usage of the Headway theme on unlimited sites, and require support renewal after one year, excluding the Life-time Pass.
The only difference between the Base and the Standard and All-Access licenses is access to a varying number of official child themes. No official child themes have been released at this time.
The best value for those looking to try out Headway is the Base license. Although “All-Access” provides access to beta-releases, the casual user will typically only want the official updates and won’t have a need to test a beta for bugs or feature requests.
Only customers who enjoy Headway and plan to use it for a multitude of sites should purchase the LifeTime Pass to avoid the support renewal fee. You can always upgrade to a lifetime pass later, after purchasing one of the cheaper licenses.
Should You Buy Headway?
For anyone looking to build a completely customized WordPress site on a budget, I would highly recommend Headway Themes. Pick up a basic license now.