Here is my second attempt at creating a theme. Tungsten v2. Now off the the fun part, coding. (Made easy with Genesis by StudioPress) If all goes well, I will be offering the theme as a free download.
Advantages of a Premium WordPress Theme
With the plethora of free themes, you probably are asking yourself whats the point of paying for a premium theme? It is a good question. My first experience with WordPress was searching through the large catalog of free themes. Downloaded a bunch from various developers because I really had a tough time deciding. Then activating each theme was an another adventure, clicking back and forth through my tabs, trying to find the perfect fit.
Time to modify the theme. This is when I was presented with the problem. No standard. I’m not talking about web standards, I’m talking about how the theme was created. This is when I hopped on the the premium theme train.
Now I want to go over the advantages of using the premium themes. I am going to use the themes offered by StudioPress and built around the Genesis Framework (affiliate link) as my base.
Theme Customization:
- Widget Ready. Easiest way to modify the look of your site without diving into too much code.
- 6 different layout options that can be changed within pages and posts.
- Genesis Custom Widgets including featured page and featured post. Both are extremely useful for setting up your homepage.
SEO:
- Built in SEO functionality. No need to download an extra plug-in. SEO options can be found on the page and post downloads.
Consistency:
- All themes are built with the same standards. Clean CSS style sheets and well documented functionality.
Child Themes:
- Child themes give the Genesis Framework an identity. You can choose from the growing library of themes at StudioPress or have a custom one built to your exact form and function. If you want to change the look of your website over time, all you need to do is activate a new child theme, make some small tweaks to your settings and your website has a new look.
What do you prefer?
Could you improve your website by switching to a premium theme and framework?
WordPress Adventure… Challenging but Awesome
Creating a theme is fun, extremely challenging the first time around, but fun. I am learning something new about WordPress and the Genesis Framework every time I sit down to work with it.
I activated the theme on my site while I put some of the finishing touches on it. Building on the local host can only go so far. Since this is my first try, I would appreciate if you can take some time to try each page out and send me some feedback.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out.
My Latest WordPress Adventure
My first thought is this new adventure of mine is not going to help my time management. However, the greatest part is there isn’t a deadline. Now that I have that cleared up, I’ll let you know my new latest and greatest adventure.
Building a WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework by Studiopress (affiliate link).
I posted a preview of the theme recently and have been making some solid progress. As I move further along more screenshots will be posted and all feedback will be greatly appreciated. Ultimately, I want to continue this adventure beyond number (if the wife allows…)
Time for some feedback.
- Does your specific market lack a quality theme?
- Do you have any ideas for themes?
Foundation
Part 1 of … for my “Transition to Clients” blog series. As with any sport, hobby or activity, it always starts with the basics. You can’t play baseball if you haven’t learned to catch and throw. You can’t build a house without a solid foundation.
WordPress is the solid foundation to build on. The possibilities are endless.
If you really want to take advantage it, you use the Genesis Framework by StudioPress.
Genesis Theme Settings Snapshot:
Genesis SEO Settings Snapshot:
From the two snapshots you can see the amount of options and flexibility of the Genesis Framework. Add a custom child theme or a child theme from StudioPress and you have a premier website. As you can see the “Basics” are simple and straight-forward. Now what happens when you want to add and or edit pages on your new site? Part 2 coming soon.
Interested in learning more about Genesis? Do you want to utilize this powerful framework on your website? Lets talk.
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Transition of Site to Clients
It doesn’t matter that your website has all the latest functions and best graphics eyes have ever seen if the client has no clue what to do with it. Functionality and ease-of-use have equal value for both the client and their visitors. Key question: What is needed to transfer full control to the client? I am not trying to imply that I want to make the sale and run. I strongly believe in continuously supporting the customer after the sale. Number one priority is building a solid relationship.
Okay, back to the question. Answer: Give them the tools they need initially to understand the functions within their site. Simple enough right?
The ability to change content at anytime is meaningless without a better understanding of how their site functions. I want to present my clients with simple effective tutorials that will give them full control of their content. Since I use the Genesis Framework from StudioPress on all my sites, the tutorials will include some the framework features as well.
Some quick ideas to start:
- Editing Existing pages
- Adding New Pages
- Organizing your pages with the Custom Menu
- Adjusting/Changing/Adding Widgets
- ….
What else? What do you need after I hand you the keys?
Week Goals
1) Fill the space in on my homepage. Its doing nothing for me right now.
2) Begin the adventure of building a child theme for the Genesis Framework.
Simple enough.
What was NLI created with?
I thought it would be a good idea to discuss how I created my site. Now there is thousands of themes out there for WordPress, so my decision was largely based of functionality. In my search for the perfect content management based theme, I stumbled upon Studiopress. Their themes had the functionality I was looking for, but what impressed me more was how clean and professional they looked. For the Knotts Company site it was decided to use the Corporate Classic theme (Unfortunately my web design adventure started before the Genesis Framework).
Time to fast forward…
Studiopress since then has released the Genesis Framework. The level of functionality increased exponentially and the simplicity of WordPress did not change. The next step was picking a simple yet effective child theme to differentiate my site from others. I decided to use the Agency Child theme. The child theme is impressive right out of the box but I wanted to change it to suit my views and taste. I’m going to continue to play around with the child theme and try some different tweaks but overall I’m happy with where I’m at.
For future sites I am going to make sure I can use one of the many different child themes. The variety helps expand my potential CMS market. A resource of this level is an excellent means of differeniating my clients from their competition. I will be able to give them the innovative edge that they need.
If you want to look further into Studiopress’s Genesis Framework & Agency Child Theme (affiliate link), just click.
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