Ta-dah! 3 new websites in 15 days - but this time I used Genesis! | WordPress 3.1 and Later | Forum

I started with Genesis on February 3, 2012.  Within 3 hours – and without an instruction manual (I left it at the office) – I had the first website pretty much sketched out.

Here it is:  http://www.CasinoWinLossStatements.com.

My primary website is http://www.LadyLuckDiary.com.  After reviewing the search terms used to find my site, I kept noticing the frequent search terms of "casino" and "win" and "loss" and "statement".

I checked GoDaddy.com and the domain names CasinoWinLossStatement.com (singular) and CasinoWinLossStatements.com (plural) were available, so I bought them.

Since this is a text heavy, authority-type MICRO-website – I wanted something simple, but elegant.  I had previously noticed the Genesis Child Theme – Minimum, but didn't really want to have to figure out how to reverse engineer it using Thesis.  I had also gotten wind of Rick's plan to start offering Genesis training as well.  If I got real stuck, I figured I could be a "live-answer" example.  So I took the plunge.

Overall, I liked it.  On occasion, I did get stuck.  But, my previous byobwebsite.com inspired training help me describe the problem and find the answer either using Google or the StudioPress.com forums.

Let me say this when comparing Genesis and Thesis – the basic Genesis theme is butt-ugly.  So if you want to compare apples to apples, you are going to have to buy Genesis plus a child theme.  AND choose your child theme carefully (colors, columns, headers, menus, menu placement, etc.), because you are not allowed to customize a lot unless you are prepared to start tinkering with the CSS code.  NOT ME!  (I really don't mind and actually kind of enjoy it.  I just have a limited amount of time, and I would rather focus on the content of the website.)

One thing I really like, with Genesis, it is very easy to assign a single category to its own blog page. 

Overall, I learned a lot about Genesis, I learned some more about WordPress, and I rediscovered some things that I really like about Thesis (changing the column widths, changing the fonts, changing the font sizes, changing anything really.)

Are there some things I don't like?  Yes.  I still haven't figured out how to add a "Previous" and "Next" link to the bottom of the posts.  This should really be straightforward or at the very least provided by one of the Studio Press sponsored Genesis plugins.  But overall, there was nothing that was a real deal-breaker or show-stopper.

At the end of the day, I have a new authority-type website that has 11 pages and 19 posts.  And believe it or not, before I was even finished building it, I tested some of the common "Casino Win/Loss Statement" search term combinations and the website is already landing on page 1 and 2 of Google.  Amazing.

Oh, I almost forgot.  It worked so well, that I also did my vanity/personal-branding website for my Father and myself.  Here they are:  http://www.ReeceMorrel.com   and   http://www.ReeceMorrelJr.com

Please let me know what you think – any comments, questions or criticisms would be appreciated.

Thank-you!

Reece

Post edited 10:21 pm – February 19, 2012 by Reece Morrel

I would agree with your analysis.

That's why, to compare apples to apples, the Thesis developer's edition for $164 should be compared to the Genesis everything Package for $350 – you get access to all of the Genesis child themes. There are some themes that are very, very similar to each other – just one or two changes. But they are changes that where made by the theme developer, not the end user.

As an example, if you want to change the font in the Minimum child theme, it ain't happening unless you break into the child theme CSS. Thesis – no problem.

I will take a closer look at the iThemes offering – if for no other reason than they are an Oklahoma company!

This is an interesting discussion. I purchased Thesis on recommendation by accident and it turns out that I have become pleased with the decision. At the time I was not familiar with WordPress at all. What concerned me somewhat was how Thesis was non-standard, different from the direction WordPress was going with childthemes.

If had to do it over, I would use a very basic theme like Thematic or the Sandbox theme, and then develop my own child theme based on that. I also like the basic theme presented by Thord Hedengren in his two Smashing books on Wordpress. Having two books as reference and access to all the code is certainly a plus.

But the truth is that I am not really interested in becoming a PHP guru, I just want to get the job done. For this Thesis, and the tips from Rick, is the answer. I am a book person and I really wish there was book on Thesis too.

Heidi

Heidi -

When I first did my research on how to do my websites, I narrowed it down to WordPress rather quickly.  But then what?

After a few more weeks of research, I narrowed it down to Thesis + BYOBwebsite.com.  I still remember watching the sample videos on the computer at my in-laws house.  I certainly have gotten my money's worth, and have no regrets whatsoever about my decision.

I too am a "book" person and bemoan the fact that there are not very many books about Thesis.  (I have one of Thord's books.)  The general-purpose WordPress book are totally useless if you are running Thesis.  It is a completely different paradigm.  The few Thesis e-Books that I have found are helpful, but they are not written by "Americans" – the code is dead on accurate, but the wording of the explanations is choppy and the text is full of typos and other grammatical errors.  I can figure out what they are saying/mean – it is just distracting.

I do like the fact that Genesis is more consistent with the WordPress universe.  Therefore, what you find in the books @ Barnes & Noble or Amazon is more applicable.

I am also like you.  I do not want to become a PHP guru.  I have programmed in the past with BASIC, COBAL, FORTRAN, PASCAL, HTML/CSS and dabbled with C, C++, Perl, Python, PHP, and others.  But if I have to use some PHP to get the job done, I am not afraid of it – it is just a hassle.

For my primary website, I needed a solid solution and Rick, his videos and the byobwebsite.com forums provided a comfortable backstop.

Here is my conclusion.  If you find a Genesis+Child theme combo that meets your requirements.  Go with it.  You will be up and running a lot faster.  But, if you have to do a lot of customization you are sunk unless you roll up your sleeves and starting digging into the hooks, and CSS and PHP.

If you do not find a Genesis+Child theme that meets your requirements – stick with Thesis.  Between the Thesis-allowed customization and flexibility, the plethora of plugins and the resources provided by Rick and the byobwebsite.com YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Half the battle is picking the right tool for the job.

Reece

Please also note, that these sites are text-heavy, content management, and blog type sites.

I dare not advise anyone – yet – how to use Genesis with eStore, eMember or Shopp.

Reece

Daughter was able to do it easily because Dad has watched the majority of your videos (some more than once), and able to guide her step-by-step through the process.

Daughter did not do the exotic stuff like setup the post-by-email settings.