chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

yah00 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:17:14 -0000

I'm impressed, It's very matured!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

memory cards — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:31:35 -0000

After looking at several different options, and already knowing I was going with Wordpress, based on your recommendation I decided to go with research, and I'm glad I did. The general experience was my first Wordpress, and I could not be happier! Products won on me, and I can not say enough about the excellent support!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

used cell phones — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:49:55 -0000

It is truly a great package. One thing I have noticed is the more design control you give your users the uglier the average site gets (not all the time, but most of the time).But not everyone can make theme by using this. Because even it needs some HTML & CSS knowledge.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

marryroy01 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:56:41 -0000

Not sure about most people employing a designer after buying a theme, mind you - why not just get a designer to build you something from scratch.Modders, including the folks who do game modification, do this all the time. The Quake engine, for instance, was a great system to work from to build new games.

jeux video

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Michelle Mangen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:57:00 -0000

I agree - Thesis ROCKS! With it I actually feel as though I really, really "know" what I'm doing. I've done quite a few customizations with my site and have more planned - there are some great resources out there and the forum people (esp @GodHammer) are totally helpful.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

cheapwebdesignuk — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:44:25 -0000

I would like to learn about game designing does it include under web designing.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Drew Strojny — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:46:27 -0000

Good points by Nico and Danny about hiring a designer.

If you did hire someone to code a WordPress theme "from scratch" you could also avoid much of the code overhead associated with a theme framework like Thesis. Don't get me wrong, it provides great value and easy customization but will not be as light and fast as a well built custom theme (assuming you don't load it down with plugins). With that being said, we are talking about two totally different price points.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Dan Murray — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:22:04 -0000

Chris;

I'm looking over theme because I'm moving a Drupal site to Wordpress. I really like Thesis. It appears to be very easy to implement modifications and with people such a yourself relying on it's SEO I'm convinced.

My only pause is the lack of adherence to GPL. What are your thoughts that topic?

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Yvonne — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:11:30 -0000

The design controls offer amazing layout options and looking at the thesis based gallery showcase really brings this home best

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Steve Evans — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:19:40 -0000

3 beers? You can buy me one next time you're in the UK, I think you may owe me one of those :-) I got Thesis yesterday having seen it on your blog. First impressions are that it's really flexible, easy to customise and seems SEO friendly so thanks for the tip Chris!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Danny Brown — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:07:54 -0000

Chris, I can see what you're saying, and to a degree I kinda agree. (Funny you mention Frugal, I looked at that before).

But I guess the way I look at it is that you buy a "premium theme" so that it allows you to do things yourself without the need for a designer. Otherwise, why not just go for one of the countless free ones out there?

Also, from a framework point of view, I'd rather pay someone to come up with their own design that I offer the aesthetic input from, as opposed to "tying" them into the boundaries of someone else's ideas of what can and can't be done.

I think Nico explains it better than me (and from a designer viewpoint), but yeah - if I can't do it myself and need to hire a designer, then I'll go with their recommendations and engine.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Brandon Sutton — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:01:24 -0000

Great info, and very timely. I've been soul searching for the past few days on what to do with my site from a platform and design perspective. I was 90% sold on Wordpress already, but this might seal the deal. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Drew Strojny — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:24:41 -0000

Chris as done a fantastic job with Thesis, it truly is a great package. One thing I have noticed is the more design control you give your users the uglier the average site gets (not all the time, but most of the time).

So it is a double edged sword of sorts. If you have the budget I think it is worthwhile to hire a designer (as Chris B mentions) to at least guide you in the right direction and make sure you don't "design" yourself a site that looks horrible.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Jon Buscall — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:17:36 -0000

I used EE for years and was very happy with how easy it is to customize but it was just seriously lacking when it comes to SEO despite hours of tweaking. I missed EE for a couple of days but I've found the SEO effect of WP/Thesis a massive boost.

The draw back with WP is all the security upgrades and plugin upgrades but I've found the community very supportive. There is just so much support.

The other factor is new tools. It took the EE community ages to come up with the equivalent of Tweetmeme plugin.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

jeremyvaught — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:11:21 -0000

Oh? This is interesting. I've been using Wordpress since b2evolution and was thinking of dabbling with Expression Engine. But your post puts a serious dent in that. :)

Thanks for the WP encouragement, Jon.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Nico — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:59:40 -0000

From a designer perspective:

Using Thesis allows for easy customization and, even when hiring a designer, helps keeps costs down. It's solid and well coded. But for some sites it's not enough. It can actually get on the way, and make coding harder. For a complex site with very specific requirements, I'd always start from scratch.

It's all about needs. Sometimes using a framework theme such as Thesis is a good idea, but it's not the ultimate solution. A good web designer should help you choose what's best for you.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Lawton Chiles — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:28:38 -0000

Hans, Chris posts tons of great, "think on this for a week" type of posts. And, get Thesis. It is fantastic.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Lawton Chiles — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:28:01 -0000

@chownage I know! WP is so crucial-remember when we had to figure out Blogger.com? Uh!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Lawton Chiles — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:27:15 -0000

Even I guy like me can use Thesis to achieve (pretty much) all of my design goals for my site. I highly recommend it, the support is STELLAR, and well, Chris knows I use it...so.... :)

Seriously, don't think. Just get it. P.S- check the comments, they echo my support claims. How's that for social proof?

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Chris Brogan — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:19:20 -0000

So the way it works is that some themes are built as starting points for designers. Frugal theme is another, by Eric Hamm. They do a lot of the grunt work, but are like when a carpenter roughs out a house's facade. That's probably the simplest way to look at it.

Modders, including the folks who do game modification, do this all the time. The Quake engine, for instance, was a great system to work from to build new games. The Half-Life engine was what they used to build CounterStrike, which ended up being more popular than the original game.

So Thesis falls into that category. Make sense?

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Jon Buscall — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:08:05 -0000

I am a big Thesis fan too. It's the theme I recommend to clients and use on my own website(s). After ditching ExpressionEngine at the start of 2009 and switching to WordPress + Thesis I've seen a massive increase in sales, hits and page rank.

Happy !

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Danny Brown — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:56:59 -0000

WordPress rocks as a platform for any website or blog and the themes around offer something for everyone's level. Not sure about most people employing a designer after buying a theme, mind you - why not just get a designer to build you something from scratch if you're that way inclined? ;-)

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

James Ball — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:43:50 -0000

After looking into many different options, and already knowing I was going with Wordpress, I decided to go with Thesis based on your recommendation, and I'm glad that I did. This was my first Wordpress experience in general, and I couldn't be happier! The product itself won me over, and I can't say enough about the excellent support!

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

Shannon Hurst Lane — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:19:54 -0000

I use Thesis and tell everyone I know about it! It rocks and it is true about how fantastic the support is. Well worth the investment.

Re: Thesis Ups Its Game With New Design Options

david365 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:58:56 -0000

Yes I've just upgraded to the developer package. Great theme