Earlier in June, we finally released the Jupiter X Lite version in the repository. Jupiter X Lite is totally free and many of the amazing features of Jupiter X theme are available in it. The Jupiter X lite version offers a decent experience of Jupiter X with a group of essential features that are enough to create a powerful WordPress website. In fact more features than what can be found in many free and even paid themes in the WordPress themes repository! Let’s dig deeper!

Why Jupiter X Lite version?

The WordPress community has always asked Artbees to release Jupiter X on the official WordPress theme repository along its lifetime. At every WordCamp we joined, we received more and more requests on releasing Jupiter X on the repository. We have been hard at work on it since late 2018, and we submitted it for review and approval in May 2019. But, shockingly, it took a whole year for the theme to get reviewed and approved by the review theme at the WordPress repository. 

That was definitely because of the complexity of a large theme like Jupiter X that was supposed to be not only in accordance with strict rules of WordPress themes repository but that also aimed to deliver read and useful features of Jupiter X in the Lite version, not just a shallow version of a premium theme that cannot be actually used to create a website unless you pay for the premium features. 

We are so happy we were able to work closely with the folks on the WordPress theme review team to preserve some amazing features (which we’ll cover in this article) to allow the community to create great websites without even needing the locked features. We hope this is a leap forward for the WordPress community who want to use a free but capable theme to create real websites. At the same time, anyone considering a premium theme to create a website can simply get an idea about the product and see if it suits their needs before paying for it.

Let’s have a look at the five amazing things you can do with the totally free version of Jupiter X Lite! 
Before anything, download and install the Jupiter X Lite theme from the WordPress themes repository. Simply search for Jupiter X Lite in WordPress -> Appearance -> Themes -> Add New, then install and activate it.

1 – Build a blog with decent customization

I remember the first days of WordPress when you had almost no option to globally change the blog page stylings unless you got your hands dirty with code. Each theme added one or multiple styles but for further customizations, you had to code again. In Jupiter X Lite, you can customize and style every single element on the blog pages without a single line of code. Every option is provided in the customizer in front of your eyes, and you’ll see the result of whatever changes you make live.

So, if you wish to have an amazing blog and a set of customization options, add your blog posts, choose the default blog page from WordPress -> Settings -> Reading and enjoy customizing the single and archive blog pages using Jupiter X Lite!

2 – Build a shop and customize the single page

A lot of WordPress users are using it because of WooCommerce. WooCommerce allows you to build your e-commerce website for free. While it offers only a little customization and styling settings, Jupiter X Lite provides a full set of options allowing you to style and customize your shop pages. The Shop Customizer contains a vast variety of options including quick cart view, product page elements customization, load more and pagination behavior for product lists, number of rows and columns on product list pages and much more.

The point here is that you can still customize your WooCommerce template files inside a child theme, so from the other point of view, except for the different single page premade templates, every other option is still available to build a great WooCommerce website. 

3 – Build and customize online portfolios

The portfolio post type is bundled with the Jupiter X Lite theme. So, in addition to blog posts, you can also showcase your portfolios. The portfolio section in the customizer allows you to customize and style the portfolio single and archive pages.

Although the free version of Elementor provides a lot of good features to build portfolios, you can still use free Elementor add-ons. You can search through the WordPress plugins repository for tons of add-on pack plugins that have more or less free elements for portfolio pages. Take a look here. 

4 – Build stunning headers

Jupiter X Lite is capable of providing regular header, sticky header and fixed header options. It further provides several options to customize and style your headers. The sheer combination of settings and different layout options allow you to build dozens of header looks. You can find more information about it here in this article.

One of the coolest features in the Jupiter X Lite version is the Fixed Bottom headers. Your header can be sticky at the bottom of the browser all the time. Depending on the type of site you run, this could greatly enhance user experience.

5 – Build amazing sidebars

One of the most useful features of the Jupiter X Lite version is the ability to change the page and post layouts and style the widgets inside them. Using the sidebar feature along with the side width options will allow you to make unique web designs even with a free WordPress theme.

Better to mention that all the layout and sidebar options are possible to override inside the single pages. If you wish to do that, just install and activate the Advanced Custom Fields (free) plugin and change the post options as you wish.

Conclusion

Although premium themes are highly recommended by pros in the WordPress industry, sometimes some free themes can be great competitors. The Jupiter X Lite version provides not only all the features and ease of access you need from a theme, it also provides you with the experience that you’re using a tool used by professionals.. As it lowers the overall final project cost, Jupiter X Lite is a great tool to use for projects on a tight budget. If you get your hands on the new Jupiter X Lite, please let us know what you think about it and what would be the next step for it to take.