Approximately six weeks ago I went ahead and bought Thesis. I posted about my first impressions here.
Today, I finally went ahead and installed Thesis on this blog as well, so seems like a good time for adding my “second” impressions.
First, since I’m already a Shareasale affiliate, I went ahead and signed up as a Thesis affiliate. If you wish to buy it after reading this post – here’s my Thesis affiliate link.
What Have I done With Thesis so far
I’ve installed Thesis on several blogs back when I bought it. I was in the middle of a new blogging project, launching six new blogs. I used Thesis on three of them, and run-of-the-mill WordPress themes on the other three. I’ve played around with the various Thesis options and template design.
What I Like About Thesis
The basic look is clean and simple
I like it better than the two default themes that come with the generic WordPress installation.
Easy layout options
The Thesis design options make it easy to set up the number of columns you want, their order and width.
Lots of SEO options
With Thesis it’s easy to tweak all sorts of on-page SEO elements. Edit your meta tags, add “nofollow” to certain site elements (something which I think is not necessary – but that’s a topic for a separate post), or control the amount of duplicate content on your site – all can be done using Thesis. I like that they leave the options to you, rather than setting it up as some “fixed SEO solution”.
A wealth of tutorials
Thesis has many fans and that means you can easily find How-To posts on various blogs and sites. Pretty much anything you get stuck with, you’re going to find a tutorial post about it someplace. You also have the official Thesis forums for more help.
What I Don’t Like About Thesis
The basic look is boring
Yes, I know I said it was better than the default WordPress themes, but it’s still pretty dull.
You probably shouldn’t choose Thesis if you’re looking for an out-of-the-box shiny sleek look. Thesis only provides you with an empty canvass and an option to play with the color scheme. Anything more than that requires more advanced web design skills. Which brings me to the next point…
The “Thesis look”
I think that most Thesis based sites have a similar “look” that is all too easy to spot. People may change the color scheme or even add a few images, but in too many cases, it still shouts out “Thesis”.
One element that usually gives it away is the nav bar. While on the topic, here’s an idea for the Thesis design team: get rid of the ALLCAPS in the menu and post meta.
The hooks system
Some bloggers swear by it, but it does mean having to manually edit PHP files in order to do pretty much anything that the built-in menu doesn’t cover. Call me old-fashioned, but I find it easier to hack away at a regular
I found a great plug-in that brings the hooks system into your WordPress admin panel: Thesis OpenHook.
The footer link
A pet peeve there if you like. See, I bought a developer’s license. One of the advertised perks is you don’t have to have a link at the bottom that says: “Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIYthemes”. It’s the direct link by the way, not the affiliate link I replaced it with here.
I was expecting a checkbox in the Thesis options menu to take it off. Instead, had to wade through threads in their support forums trying to figure out how to do that, but still couldn’t figure it out.
Fortunately, Thesis OpenHook DOES have that checkbox. Still, I don’t appreciate paying for something only to find out I need a plug-in in order to make it work.
Support
Last, but not least. The banner I clicked on my way to buy Thesis said “How Good is Your Support?”
I kinda expected a way to contact a support team. A form, a chat box, an email address… Something that would let me get in touch with an official support person. Well, I couldn’t find anything like it.
With Thesis, support means a community forum. The people are helpful and friendly, but at least my personal experience with trying to find an answer, it wasn’t a huge success.
So, What Do I think of Thesis
I think Thesis has its merits. I think it’s not really a theme or template per se – it’s more like a WordPress Add-on – something that provides you with all sorts of tweaking options, rather than with an actual design.
I think Thesis can be a good tool in the right hands: those of a coder or someone who’s willing to go through the learning curve of handling the code, at the very least CSS code.
In that respect, I’m afraid the other Thesis slogan “Do More, Code Less” is also not very accurate. Different stuff to code, but still quite a bit of coding to do, if you want anything than the basic Thesis look.
So, if after this longish review you want to invest in Thesis, I have just one tip for you – go for the developer’s version. The reason is simple, I heard an interview with Chris Pearson, the guy behind Thesis, where he says the price for the developer’s version is about to shoot up. If you intend to ever run Thesis on more than one domain, I think getting the multi-site developer’s version now would be a good idea. And if you care to do that through my Thesis link, that would be great.
http://twitpic.com/19z6hv – 5 star?
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Pingback: Vote on this article at blogengage.com
Twitter: Ileane
says:
Thanks for the review. It’s good to hear the other side of the coin, because most users have nothing but good things to say about it.
I find it interesting that you mention the “Thesis look” as a bad thing. I think that most people that really care about what theme a blogger is running will just look at the source code to find out if they aren’t sure.
Personally I’m not partial to any particular theme but I think you are doing a great job here. The color is very calming and you don’t have a lot of ads preventing readers from getting to your content.
Cheers!
.-= Ileane´s last blog post ..What’s More Important? Your SEO or Your Readers? =-.
Glad you liked the review and the new design. I am not too crazy about it – but at least I hope that by losing that nav bar, I managed to make it look less like Thesis Maybe it’s just me who’s bothered by the Thesis look?
I don’t know why but I am really not into this Thesis theme. It seems like all bloggers in the world use Thesis, so they look very simlar to each other. Different styles will bring a much more beautiful world.
.-= Tek3D´s last blog post ..Steve Jobs Talks About His Liver Transplant =-.
I agree, Tek. It’s why I think it’s best not to think of it as a theme, but as a complementary addition to WordPress. I think lots of what’s being offered via Thesis, should be built into WordPress. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the features end up incorporated into future versions of WordPress.
Twitter: FamousBloggers
says:
I think this is because they are not designers! so what do you expect?!
Thesis theme has a very nice framework that allow you to design it the way you like, check my blog and you will understand what I mean, I have done some work on it recently!
.-= Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog post ..10 Ways to make your Website more User Friendly =-.
Almost forgot, I did work today! Posted a review of the Thesis wordpress theme here: http://bit.ly/9ohbq6
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Twitter: FamousBloggers
says:
So, you was having Thesis theme but you didn’t install it all that time!
OK, I am preparing a new post that probably will be useful for you to make is look more beautiful!
I am working on it
.-= Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog post ..Blogging Guide: 4 things you should do after installing WordPress =-.
I installed it elsewhere, just not on this blog until yesterday. I have it running on a couple of other blogs for several weeks now.
Twitter: AlisonMSmith
says:
Glad to see you have been converted!
.-= Alison Moore Smith´s last blog post ..15 Simple Steps to Ruin Your Blog with Email =-.
Twitter: DennisEdell
says:
I was shocked when you said this was thesis. Good job, I never would have guessed.
i actually have a lot to say about thesis, but most of the cult followers would just think me a bitter basher…no matter how true it might be.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog post ..Would You Like a FREE Banner Ad Position? =-.
You can still tell it’s thesis by the allcaps in the post meta data and the darn {} around the number of comments :p Still need to figure out how to lose those.
You are right about the ‘easy to spot’ personality of Thesis. First time you visit a site and you’ll know it’s thesis.
I’m planning to buy soon a premium theme and Thesis and Flexsqueeze are among the top in my prospects list. Your too-honest review however almost tipped the balance in favor of Flexsqueeze (especially when you talked about what you dislike in Thesis). However I’m still hanging on to Thesis because of the SEO options. I hope someone could (if it’s allowed) to show a screenshot of the options/settings page of both Thesis and Flexsqueeze so I can make a final decision soon.
.-= James M.´s last blog post ..Possible Facebook Trojan Effect: Probable Free Trojan Removal Solution? =-.
I would have to agree with you Anne, Thesis is a WordPress Add-On. I hate the fact that it’s called a theme because as far as theme’s go it would be the worst “Theme” ever, it’s a good add-on.
Everything always seems so squared off to me in Thesis, even with the fancy rounded corners and stuff. Personally if I had the time I would change my blog to a Magazine layout instead.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog post ..5 Videos from a Day in the Life of Extreme John =-.
Twitter: selurus
says:
There are a lot of bloggers running their blogs on Thesis and also strongly promoting it. I would use it, but I’m sticking to free themes for now.
.-= Selurus´s last blog post ..Theme Trials =-.
Twitter: JayceOoi
says:
Lot and lot blogs start using Thesis theme. I am still stuck with my 3 years old theme (Done lot of optimizations). Will try it sometime in the future. It does look better than mine.
.-= Jayce´s last blog post ..Top 10 T-Mobile HTC HD2 Tweaks and Hacks =-.
Twitter: bloggersmarket
says:
Hi Anne,
Your Website looks ……. well, ya know! But your post on thesis is rockin’!!! When I went to write on Thesis, all I could find were the tech headaches. There just is not enough info for the beginner, from those who use Thesis.
.-= Jeffrey´s last blog post ..TypePad for Bullet Heads =-.
Thank you for comment, Jeffrey. It’s good to get another user’s perspective, and I agree – beginners can easily get overwhelmed by the tweaking process.