Hire Astra Developers

Astra is a free WordPress theme developed by Brainstorm Force, the same company behind the Starter Templates plugin and Schema Pro. It is one of the most actively installed themes on WordPress.org, with over a million active installations, because it is lightweight by default (under 50KB), loads fast out of the box, and works cleanly with Elementor, Beaver Builder, Gutenberg, and Divi without the JavaScript conflicts that some themes introduce.

Astra’s customiser exposes a wide range of options: header and footer layouts, typography controls, colour palettes, WooCommerce integration settings, blog layout options, and page-level meta controls. Astra Pro extends this further with sticky headers, mega menus, advanced hooks, custom layouts for headers and footers using a drag-and-drop builder, and white-label options for agencies. Despite the options panel, specific design requirements frequently need a developer – either to write CSS that goes beyond what the customiser exposes, or to use Astra’s hooks and filters to modify template output.

Astra is a common starting point for agency builds and starter template sites. The Starter Templates plugin provides one-click demo imports built on Astra, which clients often use as a foundation and then need customised to match their brand. Developers who know Astra’s child theme structure, hook system, and Pro features work efficiently on these projects without trial-and-error through the options panel.

Astra development work typically involves:

• Custom header and footer design using Astra Pro’s Custom Layouts – building headers with specific elements (mega menus, WooCommerce cart icons, login links) that the standard Astra header builder does not expose.
• Child theme development – creating an Astra child theme that holds CSS overrides, template modifications, and custom functions without touching the parent theme files.
• WooCommerce integration – configuring Astra’s WooCommerce settings for product page layout, cart behaviour, checkout customisation, and shop archive display.
• Performance optimisation – disabling unused Astra CSS modules, configuring asset loading, and optimising the theme for Core Web Vitals.
• Starter template customisation – taking an Astra starter template import and adapting it to a specific brand: custom fonts, colours, layout adjustments, and new sections.
• Conflict resolution – diagnosing and fixing issues between Astra and specific plugins, particularly after Astra or page builder updates.

Astra is straightforward for basic customisation but has depth that rewards experience. Look for developers who know both the free and Pro customiser options and understand where CSS overrides are needed versus where settings exist. A developer who reaches for CSS for everything without checking the customiser first is slower than one who knows the settings panel.

For child theme work, confirm they create a proper child theme rather than adding CSS to the Additional CSS field in the WordPress customiser. Additional CSS is fine for small tweaks; significant customisation belongs in a child theme where it can be version-controlled and does not disappear if the theme is reinstalled.

For Astra Pro projects, ask which Astra Pro features they use regularly. Custom Layouts, Advanced Hook, and the Header and Footer Builder are the most impactful Pro features – a developer who has used these for real projects works faster than one who is learning them on your project.

Common Astra problems:

• Header overlapping page content after sticky header enabled – Astra’s sticky header offset is not accounting for the header height. Set the scroll-to-top offset in Astra’s sticky header settings, or add CSS to compensate for the sticky header height on page content.
• WooCommerce product images not displaying at the right size – Astra’s WooCommerce image settings conflict with the WooCommerce image size settings. Check both Astra’s WooCommerce customiser settings and WooCommerce’s own product image dimensions under Appearance > Customise > WooCommerce > Product Images.
• Custom fonts not loading – Astra’s Google Fonts are being blocked by a caching or performance plugin, or the font selected in the customiser is not the same as the one in the child theme CSS. Verify the font name matches exactly and check for font-blocking in performance plugin settings.
• Page builder layout not matching Astra container width – the page is set to “Full Width / Stretched” in Astra’s page meta but the page builder element still has a container width limit. Check both Astra page-level settings and the page builder’s own container width settings.
• Astra update breaking custom CSS – an Astra update changed a CSS class name or HTML structure that custom CSS targeted. Review the Astra changelog for structural changes and update CSS selectors accordingly.

Astra updates frequently – both the free theme and Astra Pro. Updates should be tested on staging first, particularly if custom CSS targets specific Astra CSS classes, as Astra occasionally refactors its CSS class names between versions. Astra Pro updates sometimes add new features that change default behaviour.

Starter template imports include demo content and plugin recommendations. After a starter template build, remove demo content that is not needed and review which plugins were pulled in by the template import – not all template-recommended plugins are necessary for the production site.

When posting an Astra project on Codeable, specify whether you have Astra free or Astra Pro, which page builder is in use (Elementor, Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, or none), and the specific customisation needed. For design work, share a reference or mockup. For bug fixes, describe what broke and what changed before it broke.