We are joined by Rodica Irodiu in this episode of the LMScast podcast hosted by Chris Badgett of LifterLMS. Rodica is a developer with ThemeIsle, and she had a large part in creating the Neve theme for WordPress. It has specific LifterLMS functionality integrated in it. She and Chris discuss the Neve theme and LifterLMS, along with how course creators can optimize their sites to create fast, beautiful online course websites.

Many themes in the WordPress ecosystem that offer a lot of functionality don’t integrate well with page builders, such as Beaver Builder or Elementor. This inspired the ThemeIsle team to build a theme from scratch that integrates well with those page builders, but can also offer options around customizing the layout in coordination with page builders.

ThemeIsle started as a company called Coding WP seven years ago in Bucharest, Romania. Over the years they have had a few themes that have done very well, such as the Hestia theme and Zerif Lite theme. With the Neve theme, speed was a major priority. The reason for a focus on speed was that many users who access WordPress websites may not have the best internet. Many web developers do have fast internet, so it is not a problem for them, but optimizing for the end user is important.

Rodica also shares how ThemeIsle as a company works remotely, and what they have learned to make that process work well. In Romania there is a heavy interest in tech education, so Rodica shares how that leads to a high level of talent in that industry based in Romania. Chris did some work in Romania when he was running his digital agency before starting LifterLMS.

At ThemeIsle.com/Themes/Neve you can find the Neve theme created by Rodica and her team. They have a pro version there, but there is also a free version in the WordPress repository. So if you’re interested in seeing how the theme works with LifterLMS be sure to check it out there. At ThemeIsle.com they also have a blog and other resources dedicated to helping WordPress site builders.