Why I Use the Thesis Theme.
I believe I started in with WordPress in 2007, a little late compared to some, but that was about the time I had time on my hands. I was enamoured by the dearth of information, free themes and plugins. It was fascinating to me – still is. I was downloading themes and plugins like nobody’s business. I still have a bunch on my harddrive, which reminds me, I need to clean out some files. So I was piddling along, trying to learn WordPress, reading every site I could click my mouse to. Soon I discovered showcases of others’ work. I was impressed. At the time, I was really fascinated by big colorful backgrounds. I tried to learn whatever I could about creating them.
As time rolled on, I found myself trying to change the basic design of most of the themes I was using. I would switch themes often, as I sought out certain features and functions. I struggled with CSS. I was a little dismayed that all my ‘learning’ in HTML was fairly useless in the php driven themes. I don’t know php. I set out to learn css. That was in December, 2009. I bought a book. I bookmarked some tutorials, and I began to work on CSS almost daily. As I got better, I began to realize the limitations and/or complications with some of themes. Then, somewhere along the way, I discovered Chris Pearson’s Thesis Theme. I don’t remember where or how, but I was interested. Now at this point, I had never paid for any theme or plugin. I have and continue to be impressed with the abundance of freely offered WordPress accessories. It’s a huge and generous community, and I thank them for allowing me to share in their talent and gifts. Anyway, I read that this Theme offered total flexibility, which I longed for after trying to work with so many themes. I took the plunge.
Many sites boast about the ease of using the Thesis theme. Straight out the box, Thesis is easy. Thesis allows the user to pick background, navigation, and font colors. It allows the user to decide on how many columns they want, what size they are, if they want a magazine style layout, what goes in the navigation bar, and other features. Just a click of a button and you’re on your way. This functionality is enough for those who need to get a site up quickly, without having to delve into code.
The learning curve comes with wanting to make changes in design and functionality that extend Thesis features. If you are afraid to try code or learn code, then out-the-box might be more for you, and it’ll work just fine and look good, however if you want the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want, then this is a great theme. If you have a little css or php know how, you will be delighted with all that you can do.
So why was I determined to use Thesis? I saw it as a means for improving my coding skills. I especially like the support forum where all kinds of questions are asked and answered. I scoured the forum and applied some of the instructions to my own sites. I started trying to work out solutions to other posters’ questions. Then I would compare my solutions to the responses from the volunteer staff, who are all, it appears, really pros at code. Bit by bit more of my solutions matched theirs, or at least I was pretty darn close. This is what I paid for. I find the support forum to be invaluable, and I know that it has contributed much to my coding skills, not only for using Thesis, but in general. In addition, I took advantage of the tutorials offered by different blogs devoted to Thesis. There is some really good stuff out there. Art of the Blog, Tech for Luddites, Kristarella, Thesis Theme Tools, Thesis Tutor, Rich, ….and others. To date, I am much better at CSS. I’ve practically mastered Firebug (a must-have – a free add-on for Firefox users). I am getting comfortable with the basic hook functions, which at first looked like a foreign language. I have ‘borrowed’ enough php code involving hooks to hold me for a bit until I get around to truly learning it. My small collection will allow me to create just about any kind of layout I can imagine. I’ve even set up WAMP to practice various designs and functions on my Thesis theme.
I started out with the single option package, but soon realized that I wanted to place Thesis on more of my sites, so I purchased the Developers option. This allows me to use the theme on however many sites I own. It also allows me to replace the default copyright information with my own.
I still visit the WordPress theme depository, but I haven’t downloaded but one other theme since I purchased Thesis. It is truly flexible and only limited by one’s imagination.
I like having that freedom. I like having Thesis. I am now an affiliate. You can order it here by clicking below. The single option is $87 and the Developer’s option is $164.
