With the advent of Bootstrap came highly bloated Joomla templates.
What it added in convenience, it took away from the individual style of commercial templates.
Every theme contained the same full compiled bootstrap css file (If it didn't include the pre-compiled version with another file overriding all the original rules).
I missed the days of minimal stylesheets, even if the new frameworks contained better tools and conventions.
It didn't need to be this way!
The Objective
Use the Pure css framework to create the fastest loading, most SEO optimised template available for Joomla.
The Process
As I was working in the SEO industry at the time, and up to date with current best practices, most of the planning was straightforward.
I knew what the theme needed to do, and as it grew, I became aware of other features I could add to provide even more benefits at the touch of a button.
The Result
To this day, I’m not aware of another framework based Joomla template that loads faster than JoomlaPure out of the box. Due to the way it was made, I’m doubtful that will ever happen.
In hindsight, there are many improvements to be made, but the project has been put to rest.
Summary
This project was a great learning experience with regards to both Joomla and technical SEO.
The creation of the theme posed several questions which received a bit of interest and healthy discussion from members of the Joomla community.
It also took the crown of fastest loading template away from a large company and back into the hands of the mortals where it belongs and was started by Steve Burge.