Blog roll Essential Grid vs The Grid

Looking to duplicate the “blog” roll but for specific categories (per category page). It seems like the options are to use Essential Grid or The Grid.

I was wondering if anyone had some details on them. I would like to use one and not the other so as to minimize code and speed site wide.

Does one have a larger footprint as far as code and loading time etc?
Do they both integrate with the scheme data plugin?
Is there anything better about one over the other?
Is the “liking” system for The Grid anything more than a graphical way to show likes or does it integrate with anything else?

Thanks!

Hi there,

Thanks for writing in.

You can check about those plugins here https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/extension-essential-grid/68 and https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/extension-the-grid/74

Custom coded functionality is always faster, using existing plugins like these will, of course, add more load time but shouldn’t be slower. If that’s the case, you can optimize your site, like cache, or CDN to serve files externally. In the end, it doesn’t matter the loading time differences due to optimization.

I’m not sure about the scheme data plugin, but maybe not. Both two are good, it depends on how you’ll use it or your requirements. Personally, I prefer essential grid as I can do a lot of things. The “liking” is functional, it’s not just part of the graphics. You may check their documentation for further information. https://theme-one.com/docs/the-grid/

Thanks!

Thanks for the info!

You’re welcome.

Just had an update to this post
The grid has this feature which will only include the libraries on pages where it is used which is a huge speed saver.

I don’t know if Essential Grid has this feature.

I used to use a plugin called Gonzales to due this on a url basis but got rid of it eventually due to compatibility issues.

Hello @clefler,

Thanks for writing in and sharing your findings! It is always appreciated as other users will occasionally come across this information to help them in similar situations.

Cheers!

It appears Essential Grid does not have this feature, can anyone confirm?
Having it load on every single page even if you aren’t using it on that page is a huge drawback.

That’s correct, it doesn’t have that feature.

Though they have options to optimize the grid, kindly refer to the link below.

https://www.themepunch.com/essgrid-doc/optimization/

Hope that helps.