Our long-anticipated WordPress framework, Trellis, is finally here!
We're answering some of your frequently asked questions below!
What's so great about Trellis?
Trellis is the first Wordpress framework built from the ground up to focus on pagespeed and great ad performance. Throughout the entire development process, our team has been testing against Google's Lighthouse, accessibility, and SEO. Those who have implemented Trellis are already seeing great improvements in ad earnings, speed, and even traffic.
Read the below case studies from a few different users for some first-hand accounts on their experiences with Trellis!
What do I need to know about Trellis child themes?
To learn all about Trellis child themes, please see this help article.
I'm planning to switch to Trellis, what do I need to do to prepare?
This help article about getting your site ready for Trellis gives you all the details!
I'm a Mediavine Publisher. Do I have to let Mediavine know that I changed my theme to Trellis?
Yes! You always want to reach out to our Support team to let us know when you change your theme, even to Trellis. For more important details on what to do after you install Trellis, please see this help article.
What if I still need help with my speed or Core Web Vitals after I switch to Trellis?
If you've JUST installed Trellis and then you start testing pages for speed, you might not see any improvement yet because your Critical CSS is not yet generated. Critical CSS is a core optimization that comes with Trellis, and one of the main things that makes the framework so fast. It can take a day or so for Critical CSS to generate, so you will want to wait at least 24 hours after installing before you run any speed tests.
Beyond this, there are a lot of different factors at play for any given site, which can influence your speed scores even after you move over to Trellis.
One thing to look at would be your plugins. We have a great guide here on How to Do a Self Plugin Audit which can be a great start, but sometimes plugins are only one piece of the puzzle.
We do offer an add-on Site Speed Audit Service that may be a great option for you.
It is available for customers that don't require assistance with the actual installation or configuration of Trellis, but would still like a Support Engineer to make recommendations for further optimization once Trellis is installed and active. If that is something that interests you, feel free to email our team at trellis@mediavine.com.
Where can I get help with aesthetic CSS changes or designing custom pages? Can you help me make it look like my previous theme?
While our team is always happy to assist with any issues that may be coming from Trellis itself, we aren't able to accommodate various CSS requests, custom design work, or custom built pages such as static home pages.
We certainly want you to get the help that you need, and we always recommend working with a good developer who can help you get exactly what you want out of the look and feel of your site. Another good place to talk to other bloggers about DIY style changes would be our Trellis Facebook Group.
What are the recommended featured image or post image sizes for the Trellis framework or my Trellis child theme?
There is no specific recommended image size - you just want it to be large enough that it isn't pixelated on any screen size. Trellis will generate different sizes for your images and serve the smallest size based on the device being used, so you can still upload large images without it impacting speed.
Can I make a full-width page?
Yes - in the page editor, off to the right hand side, you'll find Page Attributes > Templates > Full Width Page
How do I add additional menus/widgets?
You can find this under Appearance > Widgets.
Why did my bounce rate go way down/pageviews go way up when I implemented Trellis?
You probably have your Analytics tracking twice on the site - this causes skewed reporting including an extremely low bounce rate and doubled pageviews. Check and see if you have an Analytics plugin still active along with where you have added the tracking number into the Trellis settings. If so, you can get rid of the plugin and that should solve the problem.
What does Trellis Images do?
Trellis Images is our plugin that converts and serves your images as .WebP! Please see this article for more info.
Can I use Elementor, Thrive Architect, or another third party page builder with Trellis?
Pagebuilders are not something that Trellis has built in compatibility with. Some can work, but they have a negative impact on performance which defeats the purpose of using Trellis to begin with. If you're trying to get away from heavy pagebuilder tools, we recommended using the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) with Trellis instead.