Hire an Onyx Theme WordPress Developer

About Onyx WP Theme

Onyx is a premium WordPress theme built by Mikado-Themes, designed primarily for creative agencies, portfolios, and studios. It ships with a dark, high-contrast aesthetic out of the box, which suits photographers, designers, and visual artists who want their work to stand front and center.

The theme is built on Mikado’s own framework and integrates tightly with WPBakery Page Builder and the Mikado Slider plugin. You get a solid library of demo sites, header styles, portfolio layouts, and typography controls. It supports WooCommerce, making it usable for shops attached to a creative brand.

Performance depends heavily on how it’s configured. The theme carries a fair amount of built-in code, so proper setup matters. Used well, Onyx delivers a polished, professional site without requiring a developer for basic customization.

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Mikado-Themes builds solid themes, but the Onyx framework has its own logic. Options are deep, template files follow Mikado conventions, and customizing beyond the panel means knowing exactly where to look. A developer who hasn’t worked with Mikado before will spend time just learning the structure.

Through Codeable, you can connect with a vetted Onyx developer who has worked with this theme before. No guesswork, no learning-on-your-dime. You get a free estimate first, and you only hire if it makes sense for your project.

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Pros

Strong dark aesthetic that suits photography, design, and agency portfolios out of the box
Large library of pre-built demo sites covers a wide range of creative niches
Deep options panel gives control over headers, footers, typography, and colors without touching code
WooCommerce support allows shop integration within a creative brand site
Regular updates from Mikado-Themes maintain compatibility with current WordPress versions

Cons

Uses WPBakery Page Builder, which is slower and less flexible than Gutenberg or Elementor
Mikado Options panel replaces the standard Customizer, creating a steeper learning curve for new users
Theme ships with a large number of bundled scripts that can hurt page load times if not cleaned up
Heavy reliance on shortcodes makes switching themes later difficult without rebuilding content
Support from Mikado is ticket-based and can be slow for complex or custom issues

Who is Onyx for?

Photography Portfolio

Onyx’s dark background and full-width gallery layouts make it a natural fit for photographers. Images stay sharp and prominent, and the portfolio grid options let you control spacing, hover effects, and filtering by category. Lightbox support is built in, so visitors can browse work without leaving the page.

Creative Agency Website

Creative agencies need a site that shows capability before a prospect reads a single word. Onyx’s header styles, animated page transitions, and team sections cover the basics of a credible agency presence. The demo content gives a solid starting point that can be reskinned to match existing branding.

Freelance Designer Portfolio

Freelance designers working solo can use Onyx to showcase case studies, list services, and add a contact form without needing a developer. The WPBakery layout gives enough flexibility for a multi-section homepage. The dark default theme also helps design work pop without heavy photo editing.

Art and Print Shop

Onyx supports WooCommerce, so pairing a creative portfolio with a shop is straightforward. Artists selling prints, designers selling templates, or illustrators offering digital downloads can set up product pages that match the overall visual style of the site without heavy customization.

Film and Video Production Studio

Video production studios need showreels front and center. Onyx supports full-width video backgrounds in sections and integrates with YouTube and Vimeo embeds. Combined with the portfolio layouts and a project archive, it works well for studios that want to present client work by category or industry.

Customizing Onyx

Onyx ships with a large options panel that covers header styles, footer layouts, color schemes, typography, and portfolio behavior. Most changes are made through the Mikado Options panel rather than the native WordPress Customizer, which takes some getting used to.

Page layouts are built with WPBakery Page Builder, so content editing is drag-and-drop. Each section has its own row and column settings, and Mikado adds custom shortcodes on top of the standard WPBakery elements.

For anything beyond the options panel, an Onyx expert is the right call. Custom header behavior, modified portfolio templates, unique WooCommerce layouts, or theme-specific PHP overrides all require direct file-level work. An experienced Onyx developer knows the Mikado framework well enough to make targeted changes without breaking existing functionality across the site.

Recommended plugins for Onyx

Onyx works with the standard WooCommerce plugin for shop functionality. For forms, Contact Form 7 and WPForms both integrate cleanly. WPML is supported for multilingual sites.

The theme bundles the Mikado Slider and a custom Instagram Feed widget. Revolution Slider is also supported as a premium add-on.

On the performance side, Onyx benefits from proper caching and image optimization plugins. The theme’s built-in scripts can slow load times if left unconfigured. Pairing it with a WordPress performance setup makes a real difference. If you’re running a client-facing site, an SEO optimization pass after launch is also worth doing.

Not sure which plugins to use? This WordPress plugins directory covers the most popular options with reviews and setup guides.

Onyx common issues

Onyx theme portfolio not displaying correctly after update

Portfolio display issues after a Mikado update usually come from a conflict between the theme and the Mikado Core plugin. First, make sure both the theme and the Mikado Core plugin are on the same version. If they’re mismatched, update both together. If the layout is still broken, check for a corrupted portfolio item template by comparing it against a fresh theme install. Custom CSS overrides can also cause layout shifts after a structural update.

Onyx theme slow loading speed fix

Onyx loads several scripts and styles by default, including WPBakery assets on every page. Start by enabling script compression and deferral through a plugin like WP Rocket or LiteSpeed Cache. Disable any bundled plugins you’re not using, particularly the Instagram widget if it’s making external API calls. Serve images in WebP format and set proper cache headers. A proper performance configuration can cut load time significantly on Onyx sites.

WPBakery shortcodes showing as plain text on Onyx theme

When WPBakery shortcodes appear as raw text, it usually means the WPBakery plugin is inactive or was deactivated during an update. Go to Plugins and confirm WPBakery Page Builder is active. If it’s active and the issue persists, check for a PHP error log entry pointing to a shortcode registration failure. Switching the page editor mode from Backend Editor to Frontend Editor and back can also force shortcode re-rendering in some cases.

Onyx theme header not sticking on scroll

Sticky header behavior in Onyx is controlled through Mikado Options under Header settings. Check that the sticky header option is enabled and that the correct header style is selected. Some Onyx header styles don’t support sticky behavior by default. If the option is enabled but not working, a JavaScript conflict with another plugin is likely the cause. Disable plugins one by one to isolate it, or check the browser console for JS errors pointing to the source.

Onyx FAQ

Is Onyx theme compatible with the latest version of WordPress?

Mikado-Themes actively maintains Onyx and releases updates for major WordPress versions. Check the theme changelog on ThemeForest before updating WordPress to confirm compatibility. Running a staging site before applying updates to a live Onyx install is always the safer approach, especially if you’re using the Mikado Core plugin alongside it.

Can I use Elementor with the Onyx theme instead of WPBakery?

Onyx is built specifically around WPBakery Page Builder. Elementor can technically be installed alongside Onyx, but the Mikado shortcodes and layout elements won’t carry over. You’d essentially be rebuilding your pages inside Elementor. For a full Elementor workflow, a theme built for Elementor is a better starting point than adapting Onyx.

Does Onyx theme work with WooCommerce?

Yes. Onyx includes WooCommerce support with styled product pages, cart, and checkout templates. The shop fits the overall dark aesthetic of the theme without heavy customization. For advanced WooCommerce features like subscriptions or custom checkout flows, additional plugins and some developer work may be needed.

How do I install the Onyx demo content?

After activating Onyx, the theme will prompt you to install the required plugins including Mikado Core and WPBakery. Once those are active, go to Mikado Options and look for the Import section. From there you can select a demo and import it with one click. Full imports include pages, settings, and media, so allow a few minutes for it to complete.

Can I switch from Onyx to another theme without losing my content?

Switching themes will break most of your page layouts. Onyx uses WPBakery shortcodes and Mikado-specific elements that won’t render in another theme. Text content and images are safe in the database, but visual layouts will need to be rebuilt. If you’re planning a theme migration, a developer can help preserve content structure. See our WordPress migration service for more detail.

Hire an Onyx WordPress Developer

Need help setting up Onyx, modifying a template, or fixing something that broke after an update? A vetted Onyx developer can handle it. Work is delivered through Codeable, which means you work with a developer who has been screened, reviewed, and has real WordPress experience.

Start with a free estimate. Describe your project, get a clear price, and decide from there. No obligation, no risk.