So I went looking for an alternative theme and this article was one of the pages I read. In hindsight, this interview was probably the thing that influenced me the most to purchase the Thesis theme. In fact, I bought the developer version and have used it on a couple of sites.

Since this original interview, Chris Pearson released version 1.1 of Thesis, which introduced even more options accessible from the WordPress Admin interface. Now it is incredibly easy to choose the number of columns you want in your layout (1, 2, or 3 columns), the size of those columns, the font and font sizes for various elements, etc. I think we will start to see blog sites with even more variety, all based on the framework provided by Thesis.

So thank you for this interview, Darren. It definitely swung me in the direction of purchasing Thesis, and I’m very happy that I did so. I think Chris has the right idea in providing more of a framework than a fixed design, providing more power to the user without having to fiddle with PHP code, and providing as much functionality and flexibility as possible within one WP theme, rather than making bloggers choose from among a confusing variety of themes.

Will Thesis become the one theme that rules them all? I don’t know. But I don’t think that’s a bad goal to have.

I’ve noticed a strange trend whereby WP theme producers are building in functionality into their themes. Surely this should be abstracted out and designed as a generic WP plugin?

By tying the functionality to the theme doesn’t that then limit your flexibility to switch theme massively? By adding that functionality to a plugin all users of Wordpress can make use of your work and this has obvious advantages!

This is how other CMS systems successfully operate, for example my CMS of choice (e107.org) ensures total separation of all these factors, themes control the layout and the functionality plugs seamlessly and generically into any and all themes. Any one of these can be altered instantly through back end admin controls. You can change the theme without losing any of the additional coding benefits that this WP theme might have.

And, great news that more DIYthemes are in the pipeline. Thesis has already proved helpful to me with my clients and a variety of frameworks can only help me expand on that.

I’d say you’re in the minority. People come to blogs for content, not layout. Even though I’ve hacked the hell out of Cutline, I would’ve been quite happy to use it as-is if the default layout suited my purposes. I’ve never thought about whether or not it looked like other blogs; I just wanted something less cluttered but still aesthetic, even if it sits on a recognizable scaffolding.

Thank you, Chris, for Cutline. It may not be under your ownership anymore, but it’s still your masterpiece.

Cool.

I know very little about html but I do get a kick out of building my own site. I doubt that more than a handful of surfers will ever say that I got a nice looking site though.

But there is an enormous amount of satisfaction in having tried and failed over and over again and finally got it all looking ok and running – is a wonderful high!

Design is probably much more important to online success that I will ever accept. I want my site to have soul and that means designing and reworking it myself.

After all, I suppose Wordpress has its place…

I know just enough about HTML and CSS to be dangerous, and it’s been very rewarding to have a WP theme/framework that is easily customizable and user-friendly while still being SEO friendly.

Thanks, Chris, for a great theme, and thanks, Darren, for posting this interview.

Nice interview. As you know, I’ve been struggling whether or not to update my design for various reasons. The most crucial one, whether it appeals enough to visitors, hence make them stick around.

If any of you Problogger readers want to have a look and share your opinion on the current design, lay-out and colour scheme, by all means be my guest.

I’ve been on Chris Pearson’s site on multiple occasions, checked out most of the sites in the showcase. I’ll probably buy it soon anyway, even before he comes up with a glossy version.

The only consideration I still have: if it becomes too popular because it’s so good, won’t it be too much of the same soon around the net? Or are the customisation options that big that people won’t even notice?

For instance, a point of recognition I came across several times are those brackets around the blog title, among others.

Cheers,
Max