Monstroid2 Journey: Breathtaking Evolution Story of the Legendary WordPress Bestseller

1. Introduction
2. How It All Got Started
3. Original Monstroid: What’s Inside?
4. The 2nd Stage of Monstroid Evolution: Monstroid2
5. The 3rd Stage: Monstroid2 Gets An Update
6. Conclusions

Everything in the WordPress template market is transient. New trends and technologies also appear every year. Bestselling templates emerge and fade, superseded by the more advanced newcomers. However, there are still epic templates that evolve and keep delivering you a signature website building experience for years. In this post, we want to introduce you one of them, which is Monstroid2.

How It All Got Started

Back in 2015, there were no such notions as a multipurpose templates or skins. Every template incorporated just one design that you had to adjust and turn into your website.

However, it was the time when TemplateMonster team reconsidered the very bases of what a template is and came up with the first multi-purpose WordPress template, i.e. Monstroid. This template was released on July 22nd, 2015. It became a hit in weeks and was purchased by thousands of users, making it the best-selling template of the year.

Original Monstroid: What’s Inside?

How did this theme manage to create such a buzz back then? Let’s figure this out by breaking down the features that original Monstroid brings you:

• SkinsInitially, Monstroid theme brought you the main Monstroid theme and 4 child themes for business and corporate websites, personal portfolios and furniture e-stores. Currently, there are more than 20 demos available for Monstroid.
• Visual Editing and Extended Content CustomizationThough visual template editing was unavailable back then, Monstroid already taped into it back in 2015 with MotoCMS visual builder, Moto Slider, and Static Area Builder. The experience wasn’t perfect. So, many users still preferred the traditional means of working with the template.
• Shortcodes TemplaterShortcodes were hot in 2015. Monstroid has a Magic Button, which lets you add one of 100+ shortcodes in a couple of clicks. What’s more, Monstroid offers a unique Shortcodes Templater, using which site admin can create custom shortcode types and save them for the future.
• StylesUsers had grown increasingly tired of working with CSS. That’s why Monstroid was packed with 4 pre-made styles, applying which took just one click. Moreover, the template had a single CSS input field within the admin panel to save users from editing CSS files directly.
• Plugins What is really special about the initial Monstroid is the number of plugins it offers. You get access to 23 plugins, including 2 slider plugins, a number of awesome Cherry plugins, Monstroid Skin Switcher, Monstroid Wizard, Backup& Restore and more. Moreover, the template is WooCommerce-ready.

So, the initial Monstroid was a powerful template with a rich UI set. Not to mention, it went all-in with Cherry Plugins and Shortcodes and won over the heart of its clients with the unseen richness and customizability it delivered.

The 2nd Stage of Monstroid Evolution: Monstroid2

Soon after the initial Monstroid release, TemplateMonster team heard a lot of feedback and became inspired to create the better version of Monstroid. After more than a year of hard work, they came up with the new version of Monstroid, i.e. Monstroid2.

The classic Monstroid2 takes the best of its predecessor, e.g. visual editing and rich UI set. Yet, it ditches shortcodes completely and puts visual editing experience to the foreground. Let’s see what was new in the 2nd Monstroid2 version, released January 2017:

• • Power BuilderDitching shortcodes and static areas, the classic Monstroid2 invites you to customize layouts with Power Builder. This WYSIWYG editor has a handy comprehensive interface. It lets you add columns and content modules in few clicks. However, it does not allow you to preview the content of your website within the builder in real time.
  • WordPress Live CustomizerMonstroid 2 incorporates the handy WordPress Live Customizer, which lets you adjust your website appearance, previewing all changes in live mode.
  • 10 skins and 7 Additional Home Pages

• 7 header styles and 3 footer styles
• Unique custom plugins: MotoPress Hotel Booking, MotoPress Restaurant Menu, MotoPress Schedule, The Events Calendar, etc.
• Full WooCommerce integration + WooCommerce on board

The classic Monstroid2 delivered a great WYSIWYG experience for 2017. However, with the trend of WYSIWYG editing rising, this experience soon became obsolete. This was one of the major reasons, Monstroid2 needed one more update.

The second thing that didn’t please users was the fact that Monstroid2 was heavy and devoured a lot of server resources. To be able to run your website with Monstroid2, you had to go for dedicated servers, VPS servers, and premium shared hosting plans, which are all costly.

The 3rd Stage: Monstroid2 Gets An Update

To address the issues mentioned above, the team behind Monstroid2 went for a sweeping update. It was released this week on August 27, 2018. With the new update, Monstroid2 brings you the most advanced visual builder, i.e. Elementor and a huge set of UI elements for this builder.

Let’s see, what you’ll find within the new Monstroid2 update:

• • Elementor Builder To switch for Elementor editor, the team had to literally re-code the template from scratch. So, every block of the updated Monstroid2 is powered within Elementor and ready for real-time visual customization.

• • Modular Theme Structure The new version of Monstroid2 template has a modular structure. Now, Monstroid2 is a theme, offering you a number of templates. Each template is more than a skin: it’s a set of UI elements and styles that you can use as you wish. For example, in the past, you had to choose just one skin out of 10 and work with it. Now, you can use the homepage of one template and the Gallery Page of another template, or build completely new pages, combining sections of different templates with the help of the Magic Button.

• • Jet Plugins With the new update, Monstroid2 expelled third-party extensions out of its pack (except for WooCommerce). Instead, it brings you a wonderful pack of built-for-Elementor Jet plugins. These plugins target boosting user experience on your website and enhancing user engagement.

• • Lighter and Faster The re-built Monstroid2 theme is sleek and lightweight. It works on a cheap shared hosting without a hitch and has the leanest CSS file of just 288kb. What’s more, the updated template performs faster, delivering you the breathtaking 1.2s loading time.

• E-store Visual Editing The new Monstroid2 also brings you WooCommerce and ready-made e-store pages. What’s great, with the updated Monstroid2, you can edit WooCommerce store pages within Elementor thanks to JetWooBuilder plugin, which is just exciting.

Conclusions

Monstroid template had a long journey since its exception and delivered you the most front-running functionality of the time with each its release. After all, the updated Monstroid2 meets all the demands of 2018 and brings you the most exciting and fruitful website creation experience in 2018. Do not hesitate to build your website with it!