Magento frontend options: four ways to build the front of a shop.
The back end is the same in all four. What differs is how much you build, and how much you maintain afterwards.
Short answer
You can build the front of a Magento shop in four ways: a theme on the default Luma, a theme on Hyvä, a headless front that talks to Magento through the API, or a PWA that behaves like an app. For most small and medium-sized shops, Hyvä is the best balance of speed and upkeep. Headless only pays off when several channels use the same catalogue.
The four side by side
| Approach | Strong at | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Luma theme | Everything works at once, every module fits | Heavy in the browser, slow on mobile |
| Hyvä theme | Fast, easy to maintain | Some modules need adapting |
| Headless | One catalogue for site, app and till | Two systems to build and host |
| PWA | Feels like an app, partly works offline | Many Magento functions have to be rebuilt |
Headless sounds better than it often is
With headless, Magento is only the engine: catalogue, prices, orders. The front is a separate application that fetches everything through GraphQL. That gives freedom in design and technology.
The price is that everything a Magento theme does by itself has to be made again: the basket, the checkout, the account, the search results. And every module that shows something on the front stops working. For a single online shop that is rarely worth it. For a brand with a site, an app and screens in the shop, it is.
The question that usually sits behind it
- The shop is slow: then Hyvä is the answer, not headless
- The design looks dated: a new theme, the rest stays
- An app is coming: then the API matters, and headless becomes an option
- The agency proposes a PWA: ask what the upkeep costs per year
Questions
Headless, PWA or Hyvä: what do you pick for Magento?
Pick Hyvä if you have one online shop and it has to be fast and easy to maintain. Pick headless if several fronts, such as a site, an app and a kiosk, share the same catalogue and orders. A PWA is a form of headless that behaves like an app. For small and medium-sized businesses, Hyvä is almost always the cheapest route to a fast shop.
Can our current design stay with a new theme?
Yes. Moving from Luma to Hyvä means the technology under the design changes, not the design itself. We rebuild the existing look. In practice most owners use the moment to remove small irritations: a menu that does not work on a phone, a product page that has grown too long.
What is a Magento PWA?
A PWA, short for progressive web app, is a website that behaves like an app: it can sit on a phone's home screen, keep pages for when the connection drops briefly and send notifications. For Magento there is Adobe's PWA Studio and a number of alternatives. Technically it is headless, with the build effort that comes with it.
Can you adapt a Magento theme we bought?
Yes, but we first look at how it is built. Many bought themes bring dozens of their own modules and scripts, which often explains why the shop is slow. We make small changes in a layer of our own on top of the theme, so an update from its maker does not overwrite them. If the theme is the cause of the problems, we say so.
Goes well with
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Hyvä
A Magento frontend that loads a fraction of the JavaScript. We build and migrate Hyvä themes.
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Speed and optimisation
We measure where the time goes, from server to browser, fix it and show you what it changed.
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Magento development
A Magento developer for one-off jobs or ongoing work, in your own repository and with a staging environment.
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Websites & online shops
A website or online shop that is fast, gets found and connects to your accounting or stock.
Tell us what you run.
An introduction costs nothing. You talk straight away to one of the two people who will actually do the work.
or email info@jevana.systems