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5:34 pm
January 22, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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So…we are looking at ways to upgrade our website and were thinking about switching to Thesis. Currently, we are using a the free Mantra theme at Wordpress. I'm almost sold on the Thesis theme, but I wanted to know if any of you use it, if you recommend it, and why I should switch. Also, for those of you who only run one website, do you typically buy the skin's 6 month membership and then let it expire? If so, are you ever able to update the skin again?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
Greg @ ClubThrifty
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5:43 pm
January 22, 2013
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sooverthis
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I've said this before, but I highly highly recommend Genesis over Thesis. For one, it's a LOT cheaper ($59 for the framework and $19 each for child themes, and it's a developer license with free updates for life). A lot of people are moving away from Thesis – just google "Thesis 2.0 reviews" to get an idea of the backlash.
I don't work with Thesis at all because I think it's ridiculous – the pricing is terrible, especially if you want access to updates, and the interface sucks. Even more now that 2.0 has been released. Genesis is awesome and very well supported.
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6:31 pm
January 22, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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Post edited 6:32 pm – January 22, 2013 by Club Thrifty
sooverthis said:
I've said this before, but I highly highly recommend Genesis over Thesis. For one, it's a LOT cheaper ($59 for the framework and $19 each for child themes, and it's a developer license with free updates for life). A lot of people are moving away from Thesis – just google "Thesis 2.0 reviews" to get an idea of the backlash.
I don't work with Thesis at all because I think it's ridiculous – the pricing is terrible, especially if you want access to updates, and the interface sucks. Even more now that 2.0 has been released. Genesis is awesome and very well supported.
Honestly, the cost of Thesis is really what is holding me back right now. However, I've heard that the "back end" of Genesis isn't as user friendly though as well as the SEO options. Is that true?
I'm not super concerned about SEO options, however, because I use the Yoast SEO plugin.
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7:12 pm
January 22, 2013
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Dividend Ninja
| | Vancouver B.C. | |
| Member | posts 198 |
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Thesis is awful to work with, and virtually impossible to modify. A very limiting environment to modify. You won't be able to do much unless you end up buying a theme specific to Thesis. I bought two sites during the last few months, they were both Thesis. The first thing I did was throw Thesis in the garbage, and get my own theme framework in there ASAP. :)
As Andrea points out, you are much better off with Genesis, or anything but Thesis.
Cheers
Avrom
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7:16 pm
January 22, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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Dividend Ninja said:
Thesis is awful to work with, and virtually impossible to modify. A very limiting environment to modify. You won't be able to do much unless you end up buying a theme specific to Thesis. I bought two sites during the last few months, they were both Thesis. The first thing I did was throw Thesis in the garbage, and get my own theme framework in there ASAP. :)
As Andrea points out, you are much better off with Genesis, or anything but Thesis.
Cheers
Avrom
Thanks for the advice! Is this true for somebody who is very limited with his coding skills as well?
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7:31 pm
January 22, 2013
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Dividend Ninja
| | Vancouver B.C. | |
| Member | posts 198 |
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Club Thrifty, that's a good question. I would say so becuase you are limited by the framework itself. Some people like Thesis. It does give you the ability to modify virtually everything, but its also an overwhelming interface bogged down with too many options and settings (in my opinion).
But if you ever need work done on your blog outside of your skills, which you will at some point, then you are also going to find fewer developers who can modify Thesis. The top bloggers use Thesis and Genesis, but they also have their own developers and designers.
Go with what Andrea says, she is in the business.
Cheers
Avrom
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9:08 pm
January 22, 2013
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Pauline
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I use Genesis and I am far from being a pro coder. It is not too hard to understand although I haven't been spending a lot of time on it, they make it easy for you to make it look like the demo. Then if you want to customize a bit more, you can add plugins or ask the support team for help. My site speed has also improved.
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3:55 am
January 23, 2013
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WorkSaveLive
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I use Genesis and don't seem to have any issues with it…particularly in regards to the SEO stuff. It seems pretty straightforward to me but I guess it depends on what you're used to. If you asked a person about Genesis that had been using Thesis for 2 years, then he's probably going to say it was confusing to figure out; the reverse is also probably true.
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4:18 am
January 23, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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Thanks everybody! I think you may have all just saved me a bunch of money!!!!
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4:33 am
January 23, 2013
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MoneyBeagle
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Amazing how things changed. Three years ago you couldn't find a bad word out there about Thesis.
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6:19 am
January 23, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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Does anybody know, if I switch our site from what we have now to Genesis, will Google penalize us?
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6:25 am
January 23, 2013
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
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I use Thesis on all my sites (for now) and I loved it before 2.0 came out. Even though I paid for the developer version, I may still end up going with another theme on my sites.
2.0 is extremely difficult to use or understand, and I feel that there are way too many options. It has gone from being easy for someone with no coding skills, to just plain overwhelming!
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6:27 am
January 23, 2013
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial
| | Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet | |
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Club Thrifty said:
Does anybody know, if I switch our site from what we have now to Genesis, will Google penalize us?
I've never heard or read of anyone being penalized for switching themes…unless the theme itself had problems or encouraged blackhat SEO methods. If you are using a basic theme now, moving over to a premium one will probably enhance your SEO efforts.
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6:27 am
January 23, 2013
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Club Thrifty
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial said:
I use Thesis on all my sites (for now) and I loved it before 2.0 came out. Even though I paid for the developer version, I may still end up going with another theme on my sites.
2.0 is extremely difficult to use or understand, and I feel that there are way too many options. It has gone from being easy for someone with no coding skills, to just plain overwhelming!
Awesome Khaleef. That is exactly what I needed to hear. I appreciate your input!
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6:49 am
January 23, 2013
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This That And The MBA
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I had a programmer work on my site…he took me off thesis 1.8 and coded an entirely new theme from twenty eleven…
basically it is very difficult for a programmer to get in there and work on the backend because thesis has so many hooks for those who are not good at coding to do…there are way too many options for a novice blogger…and it is heavy on the system…my site speed has improved dramatically moving away from thesis…
one thing might be to contact a designer that you are planning on using …if you go that route and see what their experience is in..that might help you decide as well.
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8:22 am
January 23, 2013
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Glen Craig
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I had Thesis 1.x for years and was pretty happy with it but I'm very disappointed in 2.0. It's not as friendly to play with as I'd like (OK, I really couldn't figure it out at all) and as yet I don't think there are any instructions either. I've also seen that 1.x doesn't play well with Yoast SEO (Yoast dislikes Thesis).
I actually went live with a Genesis theme last night. (Take a look and tell me what you think).
There are some things that were easier to do with Thesis like changing the way fonts looked and such, but overall they are pretty similar with code (as least 1.x). The ability to get a child theme with Genesis makes it a bit easier to find a framework that fits what you are looking for (Thesis has child themes as well but I never used them).
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11:05 am
January 23, 2013
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WorkSaveLive
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Glen Craig – Free From Broke said:
I had Thesis 1.x for years and was pretty happy with it but I'm very disappointed in 2.0. It's not as friendly to play with as I'd like (OK, I really couldn't figure it out at all) and as yet I don't think there are any instructions either. I've also seen that 1.x doesn't play well with Yoast SEO (Yoast dislikes Thesis).
I actually went live with a Genesis theme last night. (Take a look and tell me what you think).
There are some things that were easier to do with Thesis like changing the way fonts looked and such, but overall they are pretty similar with code (as least 1.x). The ability to get a child theme with Genesis makes it a bit easier to find a framework that fits what you are looking for (Thesis has child themes as well but I never used them).
I love the way it looks, Glen! Personally I'd decrease the size of your titles though (but that's just me). I think they take up too much room and it kind of hurts my eyes to see something that big.
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11:09 am
January 23, 2013
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MyJourneytoMillions
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Huge fan of headway here – FANTASTIC framework
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2:54 pm
January 23, 2013
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sooverthis
| | Kentucky | |
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Post edited 2:55 pm – January 23, 2013 by sooverthis
Genesis isn't terribly hard to understand – the SEO options are just like All in One SEO (title, description, keywords) but if you're going to keep using your plugin, those options won't display. If you ever decide to get rid of Yoast, there is a plugin called SEO Data Transporter that will convert all your data from Yoast to Genesis and it's super easy to use.
As far as making changes, you can usually find a child theme that works with what you're looking for because there are a LOT of them out there. If you need help with any changes (font color, font size, etc.), you can ask in the Studiopress forums, or you can always email me if you want.
The best thing about Genesis is that you can google just about anything and find a step by step tutorial on how to do it. It's pretty straightforward and the documentation is extensive. There are also a ton of Genesis-specific plugins that make certain things easier to do.
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4:12 pm
January 23, 2013
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Eric – PersonalProfitability.com
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Khaleef @ KNS Financial said:
I use Thesis on all my sites (for now) and I loved it before 2.0 came out. Even though I paid for the developer version, I may still end up going with another theme on my sites.
2.0 is extremely difficult to use or understand, and I feel that there are way too many options. It has gone from being easy for someone with no coding skills, to just plain overwhelming!
I have had the same experience. I have tried a Thesis 2.0 test on some sites and wasn't able to easily get to what I need. I have been thinking about Genesis for a little bit now. If you decide to go Thesis, here is my affiliate link if you want to share the love.
When I made the switch, it made a huge impact on my site and how I treated the blog business. New changes have led me to look elsewhere.
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