2021 was quite an unpredictable year in history. The good news is that we have vaccines, so we can embrace the new year 2022 with lots of optimism.
As a software company, we had different experiences and challenges. We're given the responsibility to expand customer options. Your suggestions and comments helped us to mainstream this year, for which we thank you.
Our team is pleased to share the results of our work with you for 2021. This year’s list comprises the new design and features from the most well-known Argento theme to the new speed solutions like Breeze frontend and Breeze theme. As a result of our efforts, you may start using 10 PWA extensions for Magento 2. Also this year, we contributed many new changes to our FireCheckout module.
Now you're welcome to read. Spend 4 minutes of reading in December to create a more efficient website in the next year.
Because getting a fast website is a win
As online sales are booming and a huge percentage of new stores join the industry, well-performing websites will win the competition. The fast page loading trend will continue in 2022, and free Breeze solutions will be used as the preferred.
First, you should look here, the Page Speed scores.
- Mobile score 97
- Desktop score 99
Doesn't it sound positive? Look at the solutions that will bring your website closer to the highest Google Page Speed scores.
Breeze Magento 2 Alternative JS Frontend
Breeze JS frontend is one of the major revolutionary projects developed in recent times. Shortly, we released the module that removes Javascript. Since the default Magento 2 has a lot of JS files, it makes pages heavy and slow.
In the Breeze module, we replaced scripts with simplified versions. Deep dive into the Breeze implementation details. Since the API of replaced components is almost the same, everything keeps working as before, but much faster.
Using the Breeze frontend, we achieved a 90+ PageSpeed score.
Be sure you receive the well-performing and complete website with Breeze. Our module provides integration with all important Magento 2 pages and features. Use it to optimize your store for speed and higher SEO rankings. Here you can read more about Single-page application (SPA) support and the Turbo mode option, which is a part of the Breeze extension. This definitely helps to fasten page load time to 2 times when browsing.
Breeze Blank theme
See our new Breeze Blank theme. A basic theme at its core, it does offer more benefits for customers than Luma. With Breeze Blank, you will deliver a faster and more smooth experience for visitors.
This is how we made it possible: we kept CSS small, and achieved 13kB of critical CSS and 9kB of icons, animations, and focus/hover effects. Another feature is CSS custom properties for all colors and animation definitions. This allows implementing prefers-reduced-motion and prefers-color-scheme media queries in just 1kB of CSS.
Breeze Blank is a great alternative to Luma as a base for building your Magento 2 website. Choose it to speed up your store.
We released the Breeze theme and Breeze js frontend to bring your website closer to the highest Google Page Speed scores. We are excited to announce that these products are suggested for FREE!
Among the Magento 2 templates, there is no question about who is the leader. In 2022 the fastest theme is leading the market.
With everything analyzed, how to know what template to focus on? What if you haven't tested a theme for speed yet? We give a little roundup about speed tests and performance scores for 6 Magento 2 themes in this blog post.
In the next paragraph, we want to continue the discussion of fast Magento themes. It reminds us of the Argento theme.
Argento updates made customers happy
Our most popular Magento 2 theme was also going through major changes in 2021. We constantly informed you about improvements on the Argento Updates page. You can also follow our blog news to learn more.
Come say Hello to our newest design for Argento. What makes it different is the Marketplace theme is perfect for stores with a big amount of categories. Your customers will be excited to see instantly the available catalogs in the expanded menu on the homepage.
Argento Marketplace theme is full of features and benefits for customers. If you’d like to get more information on some and get a full description of what our ideal Marketplace design looks like, please click here.
PWA modules compatibility
What does it bring, and why do you need it? In fact, this is a step towards optimal page speed and good Core Web Vitals results.
Progressive Web App (PWAs) are native-like applications with lightweight pages to offer faster loading time, and an engaging user experience even when customers are offline. There is an opinion that PWA brings a big value for mobile users, but with the performance improvements caused by new technology, your desktop visitors will definitely be benefited, too.
We put a lot of effort into integrating Progressive Web App (PWA) into our solutions for eCommerce. So, since 2021 you have 10 pre-made modules: pwa-askit, pwa-ajax search, pwa-easy-slide, pwa-easy-banner, pwa-highlight, pwa-navigation pro, pwa-easytabs, pwa-sold-together, pwa-easycatalog img, pwa-core. Here we explained the advantages of using PWA extensions for Magento 2.
And if you want to know how to deploy PWA on hosting, you can read our guide.
200+ updates for Magento 2 modules as a result of our efforts
Using Magento 2 modules is not an obligation - it’s an investment in your customers' experience. It’s not uncommon that a visitor gives up and stops browsing your store because it was too slow or difficult.
In the last year, we have been working to reduce your time and cost on building easy-to-use websites. And we believe that our extensions will help you enjoy our collaboration even more.
What can your business do to still provide users with a flawless checkout process? Yes, you might consider the FireCheckout.
Here are the recent updates for our powerful checkout extension:
- The "Instant save" mode for billing address form to save addresses without the “Update” button.
- The reduced checkout page load time for first-time visitors. The option is based on Prefetching technique.
- The new position for placing billing address - below Shipping Address.
- Ability to move the email field to the separate “Email” step. Available when using a 1-column Multistep layout only.
- Ability to sort shipping methods by their price.
- Updated color themes to match Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
The options added in 2021 bring an even more simplified user experience during checkout. We also updated other Magento 2 modules to improve and advance your eCommerce website. For instance, with M2 Address Autocomplete can simply increase sales by offering relevant results. Look at the last updates for the previous year:
- Autocompletion on a postcode or street address field. When using, the module will search for an address by postcode.
- Geolocation detection feature. When enabled, the module will ask permission to access browser location API and fill the form with a detected address.
With Magento 2 Page Builder extension you can add new content (Widgets) to Magento 2 CMS page and CMS blocks. See more opportunities to use the module.
The GDPR was improved with the Cookie Wall feature. It allows you to enable/disable cookie walls mode to deny users access unless they consent to all cookies.
Easy Banners received the new animations for popup banners. We also added the ability to disable/enable statistics for each banner and to remove all statistics from the banners grid page.
We hope that you enjoy using our Magento 2 modules and themes as much as we enjoyed every second of developing them for you. It is our pleasure to share our products with your customers as well. Let them build websites that look great on all devices. This year we launched the Partnership program. Within our program, you reduce costs to the site development, help other businesses to grow, and earn a 20% commission. Excellent idea for 2022!
Wrapping Up
We talked about our achievements today. Our results are directly attributed to effective teamwork and excellent feedback from you. We appreciate your comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions.
In 2022, we expect more projects to be released in order to bring your website to the next higher level. It will be a great help for you to share your ideas. Do you need any new modules or features for our extensions? Would you come up with new design ideas for the Argento theme?
Express your thoughts here.
