There are dozens of frameworks available for the WordPress platform. Since my last blog focused on WordPress, I believe I have tested just about every single one, premium and free.
I purchased the Genesis Framework from StudioPress two years ago (June 2011 to be precise). Initially, I was not overly impressed with it. It seemed like a good product, however I was so used to editing templates directly myself that I found having to create functions to modify my theme frustrating.
From the very start, support from StudioPress was fantastic. They answered all of the questions I had quickly, politely and thoroughly. I still did not believe that Genesis was any better than any other framework that was available in the market. Several months later, I did some updates on the website I created using Genesis and revisited the framework. I got to know it better and decided to use it on a few more small content websites I owned.
As I used Genesis more and more for projects, I began to understand how it works. Like any framework, Genesis has a slight learning curve. Once you learn how it works with child themes and how to customise things using the functions.php template, things start making sense. I now use Genesis on most of my WordPress installations, including this blog.
Today I would like to share with you 11 reasons why I love the Genesis framework. I hope you enjoy the article :)
1. Competitively Priced
Genesis only costs a one off fee of $59.95. That guarantees unlimited updates and unlimited support. A lot of theme companies charge a yearly fee to cover their costs of providing ongoing support. StudioPress does not do this. You pay once to get updates and support forever. Not only that, there is no over-priced developer option; you are free to use Genesis on as many WordPress websites as you like.
StudioPress does a great job of looking after existing customers by offering them discounts on all of their designs. Genesis child themes are already really cheap at $24.95 per design, however existing customers get a whopping 25% off. This reduces the price of designs to only $18.71.
2. Frequent Updates
In the two years I have used Genesis, the framework options area has not changed that much (if it all), however StudioPress are always quick respond to changes in the WordPress platform. There is usually an update every two months or so. Updating Genesis is a breeze as it can be done directly through your WordPress admin area. You will see an update notification on your website when a new version is available. You can also enter your email address and be emailed about updates.
3. Great Support
Support is important for any product or service you purchase, particularly at the beginning. This is an area where StudioPress excels. Their support forum is moderated by staff who know Genesis inside-out. Thousands of existing topics are on the forum therefore it is likely there is already an answer to your question on the forum. All you have to do is search for it. If you cannot find a solution on the forum, you can create a new thread or open a ticket through their ticket support system.
4. Great Documentation
Within the member area of StudioPress there is a detailed tutorials section which has dozens of articles and videos. These will help you get to grips with the framework when you first install it. There is also a Code Snippets section that offers many functions. All you have to do is add this snippet code into your functions.php template to add additional functionality to your design.
Step-by-step video tutorials can also be found at StudioPress.tv.
5. Beautifully Designed
The default design of many frameworks look horrible. The default design of Genesis has a minimal design, however it looks so good that many people use it without making any major changes.
You can choose from a range of different layouts and a few changes to the stylesheet is enough to completely change the look of your website.
6. Plays Nice with Other Plugins
StudioPress is proactive at ensuring that the Genesis framework plays nice with all major WordPress plugins. I have never encountered any plugin that does not work correctly using Genesis. This is partly due to the minimal style of Genesis. The framework does not try and reinvent the wheel.
Many premium themes offer complex options areas for users that allow you to easily make changes. Some are so advanced that there is no need to ever edit a template again. Unfortunately, these options come at a price. There more functions that are placed in a theme’s functions.php template, the higher the odds that the theme will conflict with plugins. Genesis’s simplicity ensures that this never happens.
In addition to working well with other plugins, there are over a dozen plugins that were created specifically for Genesis users. The most useful being Genesis Simple Hooks, a plugin that allows you to insert code into any area of your website without editing your templates.
7. Optimised for Search Engines
All StudioPress designs have been optimised for search engines by Greg Boser from search engine marketing company BlueGlass Interactive. There is a general SEO settings area with five different sections to configure and SEO settings can be customised on a per post/page basis (the SEO settings appear under your post editor).
Here’s the great thing about Genesis. As soon as you activate an top SEO plugin such as WordPress SEO by Yoast or All in One SEO Pack, Genesis removes its SEO functionality (remember what I said about playing nice with other plugins!). All you have to do is deactivate the SEO plugin for the Genesis SEO settings to return.
8. Incredibly Secure
StudioPress hires WordPress Lead Developer Mark Jaquith to check every major release of Genesis to ensure that the framework is secure and adheres to WordPress standards. Few WordPress theme companies to this kind of effort to ensure the product is secure. Here’s what Mark Jaquith said about Genesis 1.9:
It’s clear StudioPress made security a priority when developing Genesis and from a security standpoint, Genesis 1.9 is at the top of its class.
9. Huge Amount of Child Themes
I mentioned previously that the default design of most frameworks is basic. Unfortunately, most frameworks do not offer any custom designs either; therefore it is left to the user to create a design themselves. Most people are not great designers so users of a framework frequently end up using a slightly modified version of the framework’s basic design.
Genesis is different. Whilst the framework can easily be used to create a custom design yourself, the sheer volume of child themes available for Genesis means that you do not have to. In addition to the 43 designs from StudioPress that are currently available, there are more than 20 designs from other designers too. All of which can be bought through StudioPress with a 25% discount and they normally update each design every year.
10. Responsive Designs
The Genesis framework and all of its child themes are optimised for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This ensures your design looks great all the time. The forthcoming release of Genesis 2 is being designed using the mobile friendly HTML5 platform, thus ensuring that their dedication to mobile platforms continues.
11. Easy to Use
Genesis is an easy framework to use. There is one settings page for SEO and a general options page for your theme. In the options area you can redirect your RSS feed to Feedburner, choose your default layout (left sidebar or right sidebar etc), enable breadcrumbs, comments and trackbacks. Blog categories can also be excluded from here and you can insert scripts into the header and footer.
The options are actually fairly limited; which is what I like about it. This simplicity allows you to get a new website launched using Genesis in a matter of minutes. Theme and SEO settings can be exported to another website easily too. This is useful if you build a lot of websites using the framework.
What I found frustrating at the start was being forced to make all edits through the functions.php template, however it does not take long to become accustomed to this. Once you are, you will find Genesis a joy to work with. All you need is a basic understanding of CSS in order to change the colour scheme of a design. Templates are commented throughout so making edits is a breeze.
Should you want to modify the styling of your website visually, I recommend the Prose child theme. It has a design settings page that allows you to modify every aspect of your design. Perfect for those of you who hate changing code.
Is the Genesis framework perfect? No, far from it, however having tried dozens of other WordPress frameworks, I can say with confidence that it is the best framework available for WordPress. The latest version of Genesis (2.0) is scheduled for release within the next month. I am keen on changing the design of this blog though I am going to wait and see what StudioPress do with their upcoming release. I am sure it is going to be great.
If you have never used Genesis, I recommend giving it a try. The framework can be purchased from StudioPress for only $59.95.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Link: Genesis Framework
He meant that even though the Genesis framework is known as being secure, you should still take precautions and limit the number of times people can login so that brute force attacks are stopped.
Would you kindly explain me what does “limit login attempts” means in context of Genesis framework? I know only plugin with that name…
Being an absolutely big fan of Genesis myself, what I love the most is the support from StudioPress. It’s simply unbeatable and whatever them you use it is easily customizable. What I also like is the page load and performance.
I also love the Genesis Framework and actually when i started my web career i was using thesis .. I was in love with thesis .. But now a days for the flexibility and almost everything i need i use Genesis ..It’s the best out there :)
Thesis is a very capable framework too. I have not used the latest version. I read many people complaining about it not being ready, but the screenshots suggested it was quite advanced. I’m quite used to Genesis now. Would love to see more designers design themes for Genesis. :)
What about ‘customize in code’ not theme UI :)!!
Thanks for the comment Keith.
You’re being too kind. I wouldn’t say the article was in-depth, more of an overview of why I use it for websites (I did a longer review on my old website one year ago).
You are 100% right about security. It’s something we all have to be proactive with. An older WordPress of mine was recently hijacked by malware, thus reminding me the importance of anti-virus plugins. Thank god for VaultPress!
Yeah, Genesis is not the perfect framework for people with no knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP. However, I generally prefer to make edits in templates. It is actually why I found the transition to Genesis difficult at first. I had been editing templates directly for 5 years and felt comfortable following the WordPress codex and making changes I wanted, but Genesis forced me to place everything in functions and learn where are the hooks were (in reality, it forced me to do copy and paste more often!).
Thesis is a good framework. I have not tried Thesis 2.0 but I did read many people complaining that it was rushed. The screenshots I saw of it looked great. If they can iron out all the bugs etc, I am sure it will be more usable.
:)
Kevin
Hi Kevin
Many congratulations on an in-depth review of the Genesis theme framework.
I might add a couple of points:
Security – even though this is a secure framework, users still have to take the usual WordPress security precautions such as secure password, limit login attempts etc
Ease of use – super easy to setup child themes but can’t really say it is easy to customise without some knowledge of hooks, WordPress conditionals and some CSS.
My guess is that the average user would shudder at the thought f having to edit functions.php!
Having said that and bearing in mind the miserable release of Thesis 2.0, I have to agree with you, Genesis is probably the best theme framework on the market today.
Good point. I can see why theme developers create user-friendly theme interfaces. The problem is, they go too far and over complicate simple tasks. All of a sudden, changing a few colours on your stylesheet requires you to go and mess around with several colour wheels in the options page. Genesis does actually offer styling through its Prose theme for those who do need it.
The number of child themes available is probably the biggest thing for me. I could purchase a new Genesis design today and have it up and running within an hour. It’s a huge time saver.