There are many things I love about WordPress. If I have to pick only a few, the ease of playing with different WordPress theme designs is definitely one of them. It’s fun to experiment with different themes to find one that works the best for you. 

Because your business changes over time, it’s normal to switch your website theme as your business evolves. In fact, I’ve changed the theme for my websites quite a few times over the years. Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions as to WHY I picked the “Extra” Theme by Divi for my blog.

You may have heard of the Divi Theme (my affiliate link for them).  It’s one of the most popular WordPress themes. You can read more about Divi in my article What is the Divi theme. However, fewer people know about the “magazine-style” version of Divi called “Extra” that is built on the Divi Builder engine.

I’ve been using the Extra theme for my blog website for several years already, and have no plans to switch. The Extra theme is Powered by Elegant Theme’s Divi Builder, which has many unique features that bloggers and online publications love!

So How is Divi Extra different from Divi theme?

Watch this video for a quick feature tour of Extra theme:

 

Extra Theme’s Unique Features

Extra theme is a “magazine-style” theme, loaded with features that are perfect for blog focused websites and online publications. If your website’s focus is blog articles, you’ll love this theme as it allows you to showcase your posts in a variety of ways.

Below are just some of the specific features I like…

The “Timeline” Template and Other Beautiful Templates

You’ve accumulated lots of useful content and want to have an easy way for your readers to find content based on when the posts were published.  Extra Blog Timeline ScreenshotCheck out the Extra “Timeline”!

Click here for my blog’s timeline page I have on this site so that you’ll see what it looks like. Note how the timeline navigation on the right shows the years at first, but as you scroll down, that expands and shows the months, too? All you need to do to create a page like this is to simply choose a page template called, “Timeline,” and the page is ready!

Extra comes with some other beautifully designed convenient templates. The video below takes you through Extra’s template options, including Timeline.

 

Category Builder / Category Layouts

Extra’s Category Builder lets you create unique page layouts for your blog posts. You can have as many layouts as you would like for different pages or post categories/subcategories. This function is really powerful as it gives you the power to customize how your blog post content gets displayed to be most effective.

For example, I’ve built the main page of this blog, using Category Builder. It’s designed to feature the latest post at the top, followed by different category areas. This allows my website visitors to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. As you see, there is great flexibility in layout and display functions so that I can fully use the webpage real estate.

Category Builder comes with its own set of modules you can be creative with. Here are some.

Posts Module

Lets you choose different ways to show off your blog posts in a compact manner.

the Extra theme by elegant themes posts module

Post Carousel

Displays your blog post in a carousel-style your reader can slide through.

Extra theme latest category posts

Tabbed Posts

Shows your posts under different tabs. Another great way to maximize the available space.

Extra theme blog category tabs

Advertisements

Lets you quickly create ad spaces to monetize your website by selling those.

Extra theme ad space

More Blogger-Focused Features

Advanced Mega Menu

With this cool menu, your reader can see the post content by simply hovering over a menu item. As an extra touch, Extra lets you add fun animated effects, too. Try it here.

Extra theme advance menu

Extra Sidebar Widgets

You’ll see some widgets tailored to the needs of bloggers.

extra sidebar widgets

Well, did I stir your interest in the Extra theme? If you are already using any of Elegant Theme’s themes, you should already have access to the Extra theme, so just try it out!

If you are not familiar with Elegant Themes, I highly recommend looking into them. Once you sign up with them, you’ll get access to ALL of their quality themes, plugins, and assets as long as you keep your subscription. And their support documentation is impressive. See some of my Website Creation Workshop students’ Divi websites here.

Do you use Extra, Divi, or any other themes from Elegant Themes? Please share what you love about those in the comment section below.

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