Why Thesis Theme is the only Wordpress theme you should use

If you’ve been reading this blog then I hope you might be impressed with the design and layout.  Perhaps you’ve noticed the “Powered by Thesis” link in the footer… If you have maybe you’re wondering what that means?  If you haven’t then maybe you’re asking yourself, “What the hell is Thesis?” Are we talking about term papers and research reports?

 

So let’s end the confusion, though I can’t explain anything happening in that image above.  Thesis is a premium Wordpress theme with dangerously powerful SEO and customization power for your fitness blog.  Premium meaning it isn’t free.

Now this doesn’t mean Thesis is super easy to use, but there are some features that you need to be aware of.  I’ll go through whats easy and makes this theme so awesome, and then whats a bit tougher, but nothing you can’t figure out.

This theme is so great that Craig Ballantyne finally stopped recommending Blogger blogs and when he recommends Wordpress (finally) blogs he says to use Thesis.  At least at the Fast Track to Fitness Millions seminar in May 2009 anyway.

What about some other Thesis users, lets hear what they have to say…

If God had a WordPress theme, he’d use Thesis. Matt Langford

Thesis theme is f-ing awesome! The support forums are phenomenal.  Ryan Beale

Thank you so much for your AWESOME THEME!! I have been trying to do it the “free way” for a while and I am blown away by how awesome this is.  Jamey

I had tried many blogging themes before starting with Thesis and now I’ll never go back.  It makes things so easy, really.

What is awesome about Thesis?

1. The Seo capabilities – If you use the Thesis theme on your fitness blog than you don’t need any SEO plugin pack.  Just below every post is the SEO information for that post.  This means you can choose any meta description, keywords that you want on any given post.
2. Customization – There are two parts to the Thesis customization, one part in good and one in bad.  The good is that almost everything you need to do is in the Thesis control panel.  Changing the colors, font sizes, feed url, and page & sidebar sizes is now a breeze with the drop down menus.
3. Customizable multi-media box – The large box on the right usually has images of fitness websites from clients.  On this page you will see a Thesis image.  You can choose any image you want for any post or page with the options below SEO information as discussed above.  Not too mention you can insert video and custom code into that box as well.
4. DIY Forum – The Thesis support forum (customer only) is amazing with pretty much everything.

Lets talk about Hooks.  Thesis customization uses a great system based on php code called hooks.  Essentially you just add actions in the spot you want them (location-hook).  You can do almost anything.  Below is an image of the different hook locations where you could easily add images or text.

Lets talk about some of the negatives with the Thesis theme.

1. Basic changes can be made simply, but certain usage of hooks will take a time to learn.  Thesis is great, but not easy.
2. Header is best loaded with hooks, which means novices won’t be able to do it as simply.

Thesis has 3 sections for editing: Thesis Options, Design Options, and Custom File Editor.  Below you can see part of the Design Options section and the whole Thesis Options panel.  Custom File Editor is for editing your actual css and functions files.

 

 

So I love Thesis and design all Wordpress blogs using it. It is a great theme and I hope you consider getting it.  Leave a comment below stating which theme is your favorite or one that you don’t like.