Question about Thesis theme

17 replies
I have a trial version of the Socrates theme that is expiring. I'm trying to decide whether to get the full version of Socrates or maybe get Thesis which so many people seem to like. It seems that in many posts that people say that Thesis is difficult to do much with unless one is proficient in css. I am not but I do want a theme that will grow with me for multiple sites and possibly flipping the sites. Is Thesis still difficult for a non-techie or has the latest version made things easier?
#question #theme #thesis
  • Profile picture of the author katied772
    Anyone, please?
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
      You can't go wrong with Thesis, it's an awesome theme. If you do need a little bit of "code" to get something just right, it's easy to find it and easy to do.
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    • Profile picture of the author jamawebinc
      Thesis is a wonderful theme. It's the main theme I use, but it does have a learning curve.

      It seems most people are used to thinking of editing different files depending on what part of the wordpress site they want to customize, but with thesis, these customizations are done differently. Therefore you have to change your mindset about wordpress.

      There are many customizations you can make on your control panel for fonts, colors, and much more etc.

      I have not tried the socrates theme so I don't know anything about that one, but from I have read that seems to be more about adding in adsense easily into your site. And they make a big deal about the graphical header, but frankly I never thought of that as a very big deal.
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      • Profile picture of the author katied772
        How difficult is it to change the header in Thesis? Is the adsense code just inserted where you want it or is there an area for it?
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        • Profile picture of the author jhon468pat
          Its very easy indeed, you just upload your header and it will automatically adjust based on your theme width. You can't go wrong with Thesis

          Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

          How difficult is it to change the header in Thesis? Is the adsense code just inserted where you want it or is there an area for it?
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        • Profile picture of the author coach
          Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

          How difficult is it to change the header in Thesis?
          You asked about the changing the header.

          That's what got me.

          I purchased the Thesis theme but getting the header to work the way I wanted was a challenge. You really need to know a little code, then its still limited to the framework.

          Anyway, here are a few other themes I've used depending on what you want to accomplish:

          Semiologic ($295 - this has been my favorite for years, but not much development lately)

          For clients, my agency uses WooThemes, Genesis Framework and iThemes a lot because they offer developer licenses (meaning you can access all the themes and use on unlimited sites for one price).

          I'm also playing with a couple drag and drop themes:

          Headway
          Platform Pro

          Hope this gives you are few options to consider.
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  • Profile picture of the author dp40oz
    I found thesis to be the easiest theme to customize. Especially if you don't know CSS. There are tons of options in the control panel section.
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  • Profile picture of the author Takuya Hikichi
    I don't know anything about CSS. I use old Frontpage or Dreamweaver and rely on Thesis for all blogging.

    As for customization, if you need anything, really, if you just Google, it seems people are writing posts about this all day about Thesis.

    Plus, there is a owners only forum to support where you can post something very specific.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    The Thesis theme is highly SE optimized too, right?

    I've considered picking it up myself, but haven't brought myself to pay the full $167 for it yet :-p
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    • Profile picture of the author Takuya Hikichi
      Originally Posted by AYoungMillionaire View Post

      The Thesis theme is highly SE optimized too, right?

      I've considered picking it up myself, but haven't brought myself to pay the full $167 for it yet :-p
      They are highly optimized. You can tell they really look into that.

      $167 is for upgrade I believe, and if you want to apply it for one site, it should be almost half the price. I do have the Developer plan or something the more expensive, or the $167 version, but I didn't have to get it initially. I tested it with the cheaper version for one site and upgraded like a year later to use it for multiple sites. The developer version allows me to download the entire settings from one site and apply it to all the other sites.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulie888
        Originally Posted by Takuya Hikichi View Post

        They are highly optimized. You can tell they really look into that.

        $167 is for upgrade I believe, and if you want to apply it for one site, it should be almost half the price. I do have the Developer plan or something the more expensive, or the $167 version, but I didn't have to get it initially. I tested it with the cheaper version for one site and upgraded like a year later to use it for multiple sites. The developer version allows me to download the entire settings from one site and apply it to all the other sites.
        The good thing about Thesis is that you can purchase the single-license version initially, and then upgrade to the Developer version just by paying the difference. So if money is tight, just get the single-license version and then upgrade later on when you have the funds - you could easily make much more than the upgrade fee just by selling one Thesis website to an offline business!
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  • Profile picture of the author donhx
    I used to create my own themes, but once I got Thesis I stopped. Thesis is a very versatile and efficient theme. It has a standardized interface, which is great if you have many sites like I do. However, you can give your site a unique look with just a few clicks. It would be hard for me to go back to regular themes. Thesis has spoiled me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kev_K
      I agree with everyone about Thesis. I've been a long time die hard thesis guy, but recently switched over to Genesis. It offers a better "out of the box" design by picking one of their 20 something child themes. Just my opinion...I don't think you can go wrong with either though.
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      • Profile picture of the author donhx
        Originally Posted by Kev_K View Post

        I agree with everyone about Thesis. I've been a long time die hard thesis guy, but recently switched over to Genesis. It offers a better "out of the box" design by picking one of their 20 something child themes. Just my opinion...I don't think you can go wrong with either though.
        I'm not going to switch from Thesis at this point, but if I did it would be to go to Genesis. I know Brian Gardner at Studio Press and he is an exceptional guy with a great product

        The fact is, I think Genesis is probably overkill for IM-type sites. If I were building corporate sites, I'd seriously consider Genesis. Thesis may be over-kill to some degree, but I have found it to be excellent.
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      • Profile picture of the author katied772
        Originally Posted by Kev_K View Post

        I agree with everyone about Thesis. I've been a long time die hard thesis guy, but recently switched over to Genesis. It offers a better "out of the box" design by picking one of their 20 something child themes. Just my opinion...I don't think you can go wrong with either though.
        Can you explain the parent/child thing with Genesis? Is it any more difficult to upload through Fantastico than any other regular theme? I really like the Lifestyle theme. Is the Genesis theme easy to change headers, fonts, colors, etc?
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        • Profile picture of the author Kev_K
          Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

          Can you explain the parent/child thing with Genesis? Is it any more difficult to upload through Fantastico than any other regular theme? I really like the Lifestyle theme. Is the Genesis theme easy to change headers, fonts, colors, etc?
          Actually Thesis is easier for changing the header, fonts and colors. Genesis requires you to use FTP and the style.css file to make those changes. Thesis lets you change all that from the wp dashboard. This is actually one of the areas I think Genesis is weak, but I know css pretty well so its ok for me. Definitely not ideal though.

          It isn't any more difficult to install Genesis and a child theme. You simple install it through your wp dashboard how you would any other theme.
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          • Profile picture of the author katied772
            Originally Posted by Kev_K View Post

            Actually Thesis is easier for changing the header, fonts and colors. Genesis requires you to use FTP and the style.css file to make those changes. Thesis lets you change all that from the wp dashboard. This is actually one of the areas I think Genesis is weak, but I know css pretty well so its ok for me. Definitely not ideal though.

            It isn't any more difficult to install Genesis and a child theme. You simple install it through your wp dashboard how you would any other theme.
            Looks like Genesis is not for me. I really like their themes but I'm definitely a "point and click" kind of girl. I had a trial version of Socrates but didn't really get a chance to test it well because my power was out for a portion of the trial period. I did like what I used of it though. Socrates is very easy to use. Thesis worries me that I will find it hard to use but it seems some here say that's not so.
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