Should I change my theme to Thesis? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

I would like to hear some thoughts on the Thesis theme too. It sounds so good from what they say, but then, I don't see what features I need that I don't already have with a regular wordpress theme.

Regarding adsense, I don't really *like* having the big chunk of google ads in the beginning of each post, but it doesn't keep me from going to your site either. What it does is make it so that I can't see anything "below the fold" when I first open your website. i.e. I can't see the first line of your most recent post without having to scroll down, because the header + ads take up the whole screen.

How's adsense working out for you though?

retireby40 said:

I need some honest feedback about my site. Can you guys drop by for a quick look and let me know?

It's pretty clean right now and I like it that way. We don't have many sponsors right now so I don't need 3 columns.

 

- Should I change my theme to Thesis?

 

- feedback on adsense?

 

- How is my sidebar? Any suggestion? I'm thinking about getting rid of the category to clean up a bit more. I just changed to drop down now since it was taking up a lot of room.

 

- What widget is good for blog roll?

 

- Any suggestions are really appreciated! Thanks & Happy Cinco De Mayo.

 

http://retireby40.org

Personally, I love the 3 column look. I think it would work well to bring more of your sidebar items above the fold. I think the font on the sidebar is pretty small, and the items are easy to overlook.

Why were you considering Thesis? Is there anything in particular that you are looking to incorporate into your site?

For me it was well worth the money because I know nothing about coding, and I don't have time to learn. It is extremely customizable, and there is so much support out there for it – and the Thesis Hooks plugin makes adding code very easy.

It makes SEO very easy, and a lot of the functions/options that needed to be coded into my previous theme are built in. Also, I was able to get rid of quite a few plugins after installing it.

Of course, if you want to go with Thesis, here is my affiliate link: http://knsfinancial.com/go/Thesis/

I almost went with Thesis, but it seems like every PF blogger uses it.  I would recommend the Genesis Framework.  If you're new to coding, Genesis is much better.  Thesis is a nightmare for anyone new to code.  Just my 2 cents!

Also, I would add a more custom looking image at the top. The one you have is pretty, but kind of generic.

Thesis isn't a must have, but I think using one of the more well known frameworks (thesis, headway, etc) has benefits. You get a large support community to turn to for help. You can type "*framework here* tutorials" and find lots of examples so you can teach yourself easily how to get something done.

I'm using thesis right now and have no complaints. My site looks decent, IMO, but it's not quite where I want it to be. I've been wanting to get a redesign done by someone other than me ;) for a while but just have to convince myself the $ is worth it. No matter what theme you use, most people will get better results by hiring someone.

I use Atahualpa and it is pretty amazing. The options seem limitless (although, since I am not a real techie guy… I have many limits). If I have an idea to do something with my site, I was able to perform all of them with Atahualpa. :)

Sustainable PF said:

retireby40 said:

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll check out Atahualpa and keep Thesis and Genesis in mind…

I don't like the 3 columns look. It just seems so cluttered to me, but I guess that's what everyone is going with these days. I guess if I have more ads/sponsors, the 3 columns would be better.

 

I do need a logo and banner rework.

We found 3 columns clunky too until I switched the layout.  Instead of Left-Centre-Right we switched to Centre-Inner Right-Right.

We've had a lot of good feedback on how this change looks and works for readers.

As for Thesis being clean, perhaps i'm biased, but I feel our site is pretty "clean" too.

@Suba – i'm not sure if ATA can do all of that, and I def. need more plugins as they aren't built in.  Eric is helping me streamline those a bit :)  Haven't had a need for rotating ads – Adsense does that on it's own and for the time we had affiliate ads (e.g. flexoffers) on our site we never got a single click so I dumped them entirely.

@Derk – ATA is really flexible and if you can't figure out how to do something the forums are helpful.  JuggleDad is pretty awesome and quick to response. 

 

I like the Center, inner and outer right column format too. Still looks uncluttered. I am considering applying this to my LightWord theme, as it allows me to add a third column. I will do this when I begin allowing advertisements on the site….the subject of which I will raise in another post. 

I agree that you should find a blog that you like and ask about that theme. Your current site looks pretty good. It is a solid free theme.

My Personal Finance Journey said:

I'm leaning towards trying out ATA after reading this! Sounds promising!

I've actually discovered (yet to test it) a way to mimic the Thesis theme.  The right side would have one large block, spanning both right columns at the top of the 2 right columns and then they split below that.

The reason I haven't implemented this year is that I need content for the large block (likely an ad + subscription options).