Out of the Sandbox, the makers of professional Shopify themes like Turbo, just announced their newest creation: Flex.
I haven’t used it yet so can’t give a full review, but I scoped it out and it looks fast and cool 🤘
They have 12 preset demos set up (nice!) so you can create a pro site fairly quickly no matter what niche / style you’re going for.
Screenshot from the Flex demo page:
I checked out and tested 3 of those demos that caught my eye:
- Techno
- Nourish
- Bloom
The Techno theme is really cool, maybe I like it because it’s a dark theme, but it also felt super fast and is well optimized.
For most niches I think a white background theme works better in ecommerce, but if you’re in a niche where a dark theme makes sense, this could be a winner.
Nourish looks like a great all-around theme that can be used for just about any niche. I like the smooth layout and animations on this one.
Bloom has product focused single column product page. It’s also a good example of using the LQIP technique for loading images.
LQIP = Low Quality Image Placeholders. It’s a lazy loading technique that loads a small expanded placeholder image on initial page load to give the perception of a quicker content load.
LQIP sites might score lower on performance testing compared to sites using “true lazy loading”, but some people like the style, and it’s faster than not lazy loading at all.
Performance scores
I tested the home page of those 3 demos with the Shopify Analyzer and Google PageSpeed Insights.
I wrote a comprehensive guide about Google PSI and why it’s not the best tool for Shopify sites, but enough people ask about Google PSI scores that I figured it would be worth including here.
These Google PSI scores can also give you a benchmark on what type of scores you can expect on a maximum level / brand new site before loading 3rd party apps.
| THEME | ANALYZER | PSI MOBILE | PSI DESKTOP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Techno | 100 | 83 | 99 |
| Nourish | 93 | 61 | 95 |
| Bloom | 74 | 61 | 95 |
Techno hit a homer and scored a 100/100 on the Shopify Analyzer, fully optimized out the box!
It scored about as high as you’ll get on Google PSI for a platform site with 83 (mobile) and 99 (desktop).
The other 2 didn’t score as well, but they’re still fast Shopify themes, and the unoptimized warnings are pretty minor as far as speed is considered. Also not every theme has the goal of being 100% optimized for performance, there’s always going to be a balance depending on your goals.
If you ever want to test actual load speed, we’ve found WebPageTest.org to be the most accurate tool.
Features
Some notable features I like:
- Comprehensive icon library
- 4 header styles
- 4 footer styles
- 3 product page layouts
- Mega menu option
- Sticky bottom bar (maybe good for GDPR)
- Lots of demos to visualize before building
Verdict
Looks like a solid theme 👍
Little pricey compared to other themes but it’s a steal in the big picture considering you’re getting a great looking site out of the box with a lot of options to tailor to your brand message.
I’m looking forward to building something with it… anyone need a site redesign? 😃
Great post, Joe! Did you have chance by now to test FLEX? Are their any advantages that TURBO has that are missing in FLEX?
What is the biggest difference between FLEX and TURBO?
Btw, you are also offering service to customize a theme and give it a unique brand look?
I always feel a bit overwhelmed when choosing a new theme and how to adjust it, so the own brand personality will be reflected…
Hi Johannes, I haven’t personally used it but a couple of the guys on our team have and gave good reports. To get the most up to date and detailed answers to your questions for differences and technical points, I’d go straight to the source, Out of the Sandbox.
The biggest value I saw was the amount of customizations to tailor to any niche, plus being built by the same makers of my long time favorite theme Turbo I trust in the quality architecture and performance focused integrations.
Yes we do theme customizations, just send a message with the project details and someone from our team will get back to you with a plan.
So product pages can be customized similar to say shogun using this theme?
I don’t think so, but you’d have to contact the theme developers to verify this and compare the features you’re looking for. Being a developer, I prefer creating layouts in the theme code… I’ve seen page builders but have never used one.
Hi Joe, when you were checking it out, were you able see if Flex can add sections within the product page, simple stuff like image with text that allows you to showcase more of the product features.
Ya you can do a section based product page, like this: https://help.outofthesandbox.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022924473
You can also create custom sections in any theme (if you’re looking for something more specific).
I bought the Flex theme last week to replace Turbo. So far I’m disappointed. There are so many sections I could use in Turbo that are not available in Flex. I don’t think this is suitable for updating a site, which is what I want to do. But it should work if you just want to build a new site.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Steve. I haven’t built with Flex yet, but Turbo has been my favorite for awhile. Bummer to hear Flex lacking the sections Turbo has, I wonder if they have a way to port some of those over (since it’s in the same theme family). You can add custom sections from the theme code / schema, so you might be able to copy the sections you’re wanting over.
Just purchased Flex…if you need a guinea pig, I’m happy to volunteer :)
Cool Rob I’ll email you.
Hello Rob. So, what do you think about Flex theme after purchasing? Is it worth the money?
Whats your feedback to FLEX after using it for a while now?
Hi Joe, Thank you for replying. I feel much better now knowing that the sites can be customized. I thought that they give you what you see and have to wait for the updates which may take months or years. I like that you compared the 3 sites. To me the Techno and Luxe are the fastest out of all of them (without testing them in any specific way – just going by eye) but not sure they are as fast as Turbo. Leaning towards getting Luxe. This is the first time I have ever looked into getting a website build and I am learning as much as I can. You are the first person to review the flex themes which is fantastic and thank you! If you had to buy the Flex or the Turbo, which would it be? I read that Turbo has problems integrating with 3rd party apps.
Ya they’re just demos – I just chose 3 to get a feel for different setups. They’re all the same theme just customized and styled differently, so any of them can be tuned / optimized for speed.
If choosing between Flex and Turbo I would choose Flex. Generally new themes by the same developer team will be better and use the latest standards / features. When choosing a theme I like to browse the demos to get a feel for the theme, then envision which will feel best with the brand.
Thanks for the review Joe! I have been waiting for someone to do write up and yours is super helpful. I’m debating between Turbo and Flex for my redesign. So if you feel like helping me out then I’m keen for a chat!
Thanks for the thanks Nick!
I’ll probably update once we’ve built a site with Flex (I’ve personally built a few with Turbo but none with Flex yet). I’ll send you an email about the redesign.
I am also debating which site to purchase the Turbo or the Flex. I need help deciding. Speed is the number one factor for me when selecting, followed by cratered header, clean, fresh, color selection. I like Luxe Flex but when sending a product to cart it opens up the whole cart and I don’t like it. I also don’t like that it does not have recently viewed products or ‘you may also like’ which flex luxe is missing. Not sure what else to do to make a final decision.
Hey Clair, Related Products is a theme feature you can turn on/off, the demos are essentially sites built with the theme to showcase various ideas to visualize how the theme will look.
Likewise you should be able to choose from multiple cart styles.
Any theme can be customized, so you might just choose which has the best general feel for your site foundation, and most of what you want, then any customizations or features lacking can be built in as needed.
Hope that helps.