The theme you pick decides your site’s baseline for speed, accessibility and editing comfort. A few minutes of checking before installing saves a lot of pain later.
Test the demo, then test a real article
Run the demo URL through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Then open a long article page, which is closer to what your visitors will see.
What to look at
| Check | Good sign | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Scripts and styles | One small stylesheet, little JavaScript | Many libraries loaded on every page |
| Fonts | System fonts or one preloaded family | Several families and weights |
| Images | Responsive sizes, lazy loading, set dimensions | Full-size images scaled down by CSS |
| Editor | Native blocks and patterns | Content locked inside shortcodes |
Accessibility and SEO
Tab through the page with the keyboard, check contrast, and confirm headings follow a logical order. Make sure the theme works with your SEO plugin and does not print duplicate markup.
Always test on a staging copy and keep a backup. A fast theme that breaks your layout is not a win.
