Thesis Wordpress Theme- A Coding Newbie’s Review

Holy smokes, Web Journey 1.0 is here, and with it a fantastic new design courtesy of the Thesis theme.

It seems impossible to not know about Thesis.  Popular blogs such as Copyblogger, Simple Mom, and Blogussion all rock the Thesis theme; more and more blogs seem to switch over to Thesis every day, and it may be the most popular Wordpress theme (even over free ones).  

I fought the Thesis theme for quite a while before I finally purchased it.  I thought that it was overrated and though basic customizations could be performed, I thought that I would have to code to get the website I wanted.  "And why would I get the plain looking Thesis theme (as it looks in its default state) over a theme that looks amazing out of the box?

I am not saying that the default Thesis look looks bad, I’m just saying that there are better looks out there. I now know that Thesis looks plain for a reason; to give you a solid base to customize.

What really caused me to switch over to Thesis (besides all the big time bloggers gawking over it) was my frustration.  I wanted a unique blog, but my design was seriously holding me back.  I struggled to customize my blog using free themes, and I eventually gave it up; thus beginning my futile search to find a theme that had the functionality that I needed to create a design that my readers deserve.

Now the struggle is over, I have a great looking, completely unique, SEO optimized website.  I can’t be more happy with it, and the great thing is that with a few clicks I can completely tweak the layout; customization is a breeze.

Not to mention, the coding.  Most themes have valid XHTML and CSS, but that’s not truly what’s important.  Clean coding is really what the search engines look for, and that happens behind the scenes, and most themes are messy behind the curtain.

My rankings have soared after I installed Thesis.  A random example is my post "Wordpress Sucks."  Before it was ranked around 7 for the term "wordpress sucks."  A few days after I installed Thesis, it became number 1 in Google!  Now that’s effortless SEO.

I could babble on and on about Thesis (yes, I have officially joined the ranks of the Thesis enthusiasts), but I am going to leave it to Chris Pearson (owner of Copyblogger and creator of Thesis) to further tell you about Thesis.  Feel free to visit Thesis’s website or continue to learn about my experience with Thesis below.  Directly below is a video made by Cris Pearson on how easy it is to customize a website using the latest version of Thesis.

Thesis’s Features

It would take way too many words to list not to mention describe all of Thesis’s features.  I have listed of some of the most important features:

SEO

• Valid XHTMl and CSS
• Cleanest coding of any theme
• Shown to boast rankings in search engines
• SEO out of the box (meta and image ALT for example). 
• No plugins necessary
• Automatic URL Canonicalization:  makes sure search engines only give link juice to one URL
• Adds Nofollow to appropriate areas

Learn more/Purchase The Thesis Theme for Wordpress

Design

• Complete control over menu
• Complete control over colors
• Complete control over fonts
• Complete control over sidebars
• Complete control over footer
• Feed widget
• Complete control over comments
• Complete layout control (1,2, or 3, columns, choose column(s) width, etc)
• Complete control over header
• Multimedia box to show images or custom code.
• Feature box to broadcast best content.
• Change padding
• Change HTMl framework.
• Great typography (drop caps, alert and not boxes, and more)
• Everything can be controlled with basic CSS!

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Support

• Support forum with thesis staff and users
• Huge amount of tutorials
• Email support
• Best support in the industry

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A Coding Newbie’s Honest Feedback on Customizing Thesis to Create a Unique Design

I’m Jake, and I’m a coding newbie.  It’s not that I don’t get coding, it’s just I don’t have the time and energy to learn it right now, and I know many people face the same situation. 

Thesis is supposed to target the coding challenged, so I figure that considering I know very little about coding I am the perfect guy to tell you if Thesis lives up to its’ goals or not.

There is a learning curve, I’m not going to lie; however, once you get past it by using the forum to ask questions and looking at Thesis articles, you are in design heaven. 

Even basic customization used to be a painful and scary task for me, but now I actually enjoy designing.  Thesis has made a designer out of a coding newbie.

Yes, there were times when I was frustrated, and there were times when I thought it couldn’t happen, but when I sit here with a unique and great looking design it is definitely all worth it.  

Now I am preparing a design for another website, and it is much easier than the first time.  I can whip out the basis of a design in less than 20 minutes.  

I honestly do love Thesis, and I know you will love it too.  It will make your life easier, your reader’s lives easier, and best of all put you ahead of the competition.

Learn more/Purchase The Thesis Theme for Wordpress

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