It's no secret that Stencil is the go-to for visuals on the World Wide Web. For entrepreneurs, bloggers, and social media pros, it's the quickest and most convenient method to create eye-catching visual content. There is no need to pay pricey designers or invest time into learning complex technologies. When combined with Stencil's library of high-quality stock photographs, typefaces, and icons, you'll be able to whip up stunning visuals in record time.
Share As Image is now known as Stencil. This is a name that might be familiar to you. Among bloggers and social media marketers, it was an extremely well-liked product. Similar to Canva, Stencil is a web-based app for creating visual content.
If you've used Canva before and found yourself wishing for a few more capabilities, Stencil may be the solution you've been looking for. As opposed to Canva's complex pricing structure, Stencil's is simple. The Endless account on GetStencial allows you to utilize their extensive library of stock icons, graphics, and photos to create an unlimited number of images. Canva, on the other hand, only provides a small selection of icons and other visuals for free usage.
Key Features
Zero-cost stock art and photos
Stencil provides over 1,000,000 pictures for use as social networking image backdrops, as well as 1,000,000 icons and other graphics. It saves you the trouble of looking for an appropriate photo to accompany your status update. You just need to look for it within the system itself.
You may utilize the Stencil platform to submit icons and other graphic assets you already own. A fantastic approach to saving time while making content is to combine your own images with those provided by Stencil.
Templates
The need for assistance is universal. Stencil includes around 650 pre-made designs for commonplace social media marketing campaigns. You need to choose the best possible example to use. Make it work for your company by filling in the blanks. As soon as you've done that, you may publish it.
Online Google Fonts
Typefaces may be found in a wide variety of styles and sizes. It's not easy to choose the best one if you're not a typographic expert. To simplify things, GetStencil.com provides more than 2,000 Google fonts at your disposal. You may utilize your brand's typeface in all of the visuals you create with Stencil by simply uploading it.
Variable Sizes
Different social networks have different requirements for picture size. Stencil's 38 preset sizes ensure that your final product will look great across all of your preferred social media platforms and save you the trouble of starting over if you accidentally choose the incorrect proportions.
Add-on for Chrome
Whenever you come across a picture-perfect moment for sharing on social media, equip your Chrome browser with the Stencil plugin to help you capture it. It's an opportunity to address pressing issues as they arise.
It's best to save any pictures.
Cloud storage for images is both time and money-saving.Observe from any vantage point. Change it up whenever you like!
Check It Out and Post It On Facebook
The social sharing functionality of Stencil is very helpful for marketers in the creation of effective campaigns.
Share on Instagram (send via SMS)
Create Instagram photos and videos on your computer. You may quickly share them online using your mobile device.
Place in the Queue
Do you utilize the social media management tool Buffer? In order to share your graphic across several social networks, add it to Buffer.
Tools for your browser
Quickly create graphics in your browser without needing to access your Stencil account.
More than 1.5 million wallpapers
Numerous "CC0" photos may be used without paying royalties Every week, we post thousands of fresh pictures.
More than 650 Inspiring Examples
Use our high-quality, pre-made templates to whip up stunning visuals in no time at all.
Incorporate and maintain several branding elements.
If you're making graphics for many companies, it's important to upload and keep track of all of the logos you use.
100k+ Quotations
Using our in-app quote search, Stencil makes it easy and quick to make quote pictures.
Send in your own typefaces
You can make all of your images seem consistent with your brand by adding your own fonts to Stencil.
Pricing Plans
For businesses, Stencil offers a simple price structure with three tiers:
Budget-friendly strategy (for Hobbyist)
- You may make up to ten photos every month.
- Fewer images Fewer icons
- Favorite up to ten
Price of the Pro Plan: $9 per month
- Make as many as fifty pictures a month.
- With over 1,300,000 images
- More than a million images and symbols
- 2200+ Yahoo fonts
- Logo/watermark fonts upload
- You may save up to 100 favorites.
- 650+ Incredible, customizable forms
- 25 Premium Instagram SMS per month
Pricing starts at $12 per month for the "Unlimited" option.
- In addition to the plethora of features included in the Pro version,
- Make as many pictures as you like.
- Save an infinite number of likes and 100 Instagram SMS every month
Stencil Pros and Cons
However, just because stencil themes come with a ton of helpful extras doesn't mean they're completely without flaws. There are advantages and disadvantages to this.
Pros
- The stencil theme enables the use of the handlebar templating language, which aids retailers in overcoming the challenges posed by restricted editing options and global variables. Engineers may make any adjustments or additions to their BigCommerce shop using this. In addition, fixing mistakes in the site's design, development, or configuration is a breeze. Unlike other themes, such as BluePrint, Stencil may be set up with little code.
Since abbreviations and shorter versions of words are available, the pace at which a code is written may increase. Then, using stencil themes, they will be translated by CSS preprocessors and turned into complete code.
Support off-site testing with local resources - The importance of local testing in operating a BigCommerce business cannot be overstated. The BluePrint framework lacks this feature, which is why the emphasis is placed on the new motif, Stencil.
For local testing and development that doesn't need to be reflected on the live site, developers may utilize the command-line interface provided by Stencil. Stencil allows programmers to see how their stores will look with live data without leaving the settings interface. In addition, it gives customers access to a wide variety of industry-specific theme options, with 160 distinct variants overall (102 more than the BluePrint theme). Users will be able to pick and choose from a wider variety of solutions that are best suited for their businesses.
Also, developers can rest certain that any updates they make will be reflected instantly across all devices while using the site, thanks to the capability to synchronize information in real time across all devices.
Invent your own central concept
BigCommerce's Stencil theme will be used by developers to take advantage of the Cornerstone theme. Users will have access to a wealth of features and functions via it. In addition, regular updates to this foundational theme make it possible for users to access and make use of cutting-edge capabilities, such as Apple Pay integration, Google AMP support, and more.
The native AMP compliance of Cornerstone has been shown to improve page load times and user satisfaction across all mobile devices.
Cons
Developers often agree that 5–10 minutes is enough time to introduce local development and the theme bundling process. Nonetheless, the Stencil theme requires more setup time. The reason for this is that Stencil provides a more reliable but time-consuming preview mode for developers before making any modifications. Not being able to specify this on an invoice makes it much more difficult to communicate this to clients.
Allow yourself plenty enough time to fully assimilate
While the exact list of partners that make effective use of Stencil in terms of applications, add-ons, or features is not yet known, it should become apparent within the next year or two. In addition to a steep learning curve, this theme provides a wealth of useful examples and exercises for its users. Users may at first find it difficult to use because of how different it is from BluePrint, another theme developed for BigCommerce shops.
Stencil themes are comparable to a stripped-down version of a product that lacks support for a wide range of applications, add-ons, and specialized features that are more costly but more robust and scalable.
Is Stencil Worth it?
The Stencil theme, which is touted as a blend of numerous best practices in SEO, technology, conversion, and design standards, may be claimed to be useful for any BigCommerce business.
It makes it simple for retailers to make changes to their sites, enhance their images, keep their data in sync in real time, etc. This allows them to provide their mobile shoppers an improved experience. There are, however, a few drawbacks to Stencil that you should be aware of before committing to this theme framework.
