WordPress Thesis Theme Overview

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Trying to find the right theme for your WordPress blog can become a full-time job. Before I bought Thesis in March of 2009, I went through 14 or 15 different themes in less than two years.

Part of the problem was my lack of CSS knowledge. I had trouble customizing the free themes because I was intimidated by the code. I could do the basics, but when it came to adding or moving columns I often broke the code.

Let's face it. If you want to have the freedom to re-design your blogging theme (no matter if you use Thesis or not), you should learn the fundamentals of CSS. (I am much better now.)

I'm not talking about becoming a certified programmer. I'm just talking about the pure basics of HTML and CSS. And if you get focused, you can pick up a lot in just a few hours (a couple days at the most) by going to HTMLDog.com.

Nevertheless, I finally broke down and bought Thesis because I kept reading so many great things about customization compared to other WordPress themes.

What's So Special About Thesis?

I bet you're wondering, with so many great, free WordPress themes out there, why in the world would you pay for Thesis?

First of all, the coding structure is like no other theme. I won't even pretend to know how to articulate this in techy terms, but I will break it down into English...

One of my favorite Thesis features is you can update and manage your blog design by editing one file. With most WordPress themes, you have multiple files to edit (header.php, sidebars.php, footer.php, etc.)

Many new bloggers struggle with WordPress Themes as they try to decipher what file to edit to change various sections of their blog.

Perhaps you can relate. Maybe you want to update your header, but you're not sure what code to change in the header.php file.

Well, with Thesis, there are two ways to simplify this process.

1) You can learn how to use their "hook feature" (explained on their forums) or...

2) You can install a free plug-in called Thesis OpenHook which allows you to overwrite any section of your blog by simply pasting your custom code into the appropriate boxes.

So if you want to replace your header with your own code, you simply paste your custom code into the box marked "Header" and the plug-in will replace your code with the default header code. You can do this for every section of the blog.

The biggest benefit of owning Thesis is you don't have to wrestle with the source code if you don't want to.

Here's another Advantage. Thesis is setup so when the developers update the theme version, you don't have to worry about the compatibility of your design customizations.

With free themes, the developer may offer an upgraded version, but your customizations may break in the new version. With Thesis, you won't have that problem because of how it was developed. I love how all your customizations are stored in one, concise folder.

Do I Need to Know CSS to Use Thesis?

It is not necessary to learn CSS before buying Thesis. However, the more you know, the more you'll be able to customize your theme beyond the standard template that comes with your license.

If you don't know much CSS then you will be restricted to minimal design changes such as switching columns around, changing font sizes and colors, adding/deleting other custom Thesis sections etc.

For example, if you look at my blog, the header, RSS subscription box, comment badges, etc. were all done using CSS code that I wrote from scratch.

However, I must say, the Thesis OpenHook Plug-in helps tremendously if your coding skills are limited. Nevertheless, you should still spend some time learning a bit about CSS. That will give you ultimate control over your design experience.

Watch My Thesis Video

If you'd like to see Thesis in action, watch my video below...

Get Thesis now.

P.S. I bought the Developer's license because I wanted to be able to remove the copyright notice and have the rights to use it on multiple blogs.

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