How does the Craft theme compare to the Debut theme?

[ralphs_orchard]

Hi, I'm thinking of changing my theme from Debut to Craft. I've toyed with other free themes, namely Narrative, Dawn and Boundless, but found them to be too limited for my needs. Debut is the only one which has everything I need while needing to add very little code. However it is very slow and I've been playing with the new Craft theme released last month and it looks great so far. Unfortunately there is very little online in terms of review or analysis of this theme. Has anyone tried it and how would you say it compares to Debut?

[Helenama · Accepted solution]

I've used Craft and can highly recommend it, but there is less information available online, so you do need to know your way around themes and Shopify in order to use it to it's full extent.

[ralphs_orchard]

Thank you! I'm really liking it so far. Because it's a 2.0 version I am finding less support documents online, but luckily Shopify support are amazing for the odd query if you get stuck. I've published my Craft theme now and am very curious to see whether some speed issues may have improved!

[Helenama]

Cool, just a tip, if you want to get some actual data and tech feedback on your shop, you can use the below link, it's a service from Google. If you optimize it, Google will also rank it higher SEO wise. Win - Win!

https://pagespeed.web.dev/

[GavinChan]

Hi @ralphs_orchard ,

For higher performance, I highly recommend you benchmark your store at first via https://pagespeed.web.dev/ or https://gtmetrix.com/.

And then you should focus on scores and different metrics.

[lanterncozies]

I'm going through this now..... shopify support has been great and there's a lot of flexibility in the theme.  But attempting to override the offered flexibility is more difficult .

I'm trying to add a user input for personalization right now on a product page.... it was a snap in debut but I just can't figure this out in craft.

I also want to move the currency converter from the bottom.... easy in debut. haven't got that going yet either.

both of these are key for me...... adding accordions etc. is get but i need the functionality

[ralphs_orchard]

I managed finally to add user input to the cart page but not yet to product - I did manage this in Debut as well but I don't remember the steps being all that simple? (it was a while ago and once I've managed something I don't retain the how to's!). In case it helps, in Craft, to add it to the Cart page, go to Theme>Customize Theme, then at the top of the screen in the middle you'll see a drop-down. Click on Cart>Default, then on the left click on Subtotal and here you will find a check-box to allow customers to add a note at checkout.