Lesson 6 – Install Thesis 2 and Choose a Skin

The Type of Site We are Creating

• A website suitable for service professional or independent small business that looks good on mobile devices
  • architects, engineers, designers,
  • coaches, consultants,
  • contractors, sub-contractors
• The business purpose for the site is:
  • Help prospective clients find you when they are searching for your services online
  • Present the services that you offer
  • Establish your credibility in the field
  • Uniquely styled site
• This site architecture is unique
  • It’s entirely different than if you are selling products
  • different from a blog
  • different from a membership site
• While the site may ultimately have a blog it is not strictly a blog site
  • Phase 1 – completely static site
  • Phase 2 – add blog functionality
• With a specific set of tools
  • WordPress
  • Thesis 2
  • BYOB Agility Nude skin
  • BYOB Thesis boxes & packages
  • NextGen Gallery Plugin
  • Meteor Slider Plugin
  • Google Analytics products
• Why these tools?

Why Use Thesis 2 for a Small Business Website?

• Fast and Efficient
  • Very efficient code base – it requires less server resources
  • Side by side Pingdom comparison –
    • With Thesis 2.2
      • Page load time – 2.7 seconds
      • Server wait time – 33.54% – 0.9 seconds
    • With Thesis 1.8.5
      • Page load time – 4.33 seconds
      • Server wait time – 44.84% – 1.9 seconds
• Excellent SEO tools
  • Customize the seo for every single page on your site
  • Use HTML 5 semantic markup
  • Use schema for structured data
  • It provides easy automatic Google publisher and author integration
  • It works seamlessly with Yoast SEO
• Massive support
  • Me – of course
  • ticket based email support
  • Thesis forum
• For intermediate and advanced users – Hyper customizable
  • A system of interchangeable web parts
  • Granular control
• Custom templates ANYWHERE
• Easy responsiveness
  • All DIY Themes are responsive
  • BYOB skins & boxes

Understanding Thesis 2 and Skins

• WordPress uses themes to display the webpage
  • WordPress requires a theme
  • Switching themes doesn’t change the content
  • Changes the display of the content
• WordPress uses child themes to modify themes
  • Child theme requires a parent theme
  • Parent theme doesn’t require a child theme
• Thesis is a theme – but not really
  • Thesis is a “theming engine”
  • It provides all the tools necessary to completely customize the appearance of your site
  • It uses a skin, rather than a child theme to display your content
  • Any and all customization happens to the skin
• What is the difference between a Thesis 2 skin and a WordPress theme?
  • Thesis 2 + Skin = WordPress Theme
  • Thesis REQUIRES a skin
• Thesis 2 Customizability starts with a Skin
  • Thesis 2 exposes the structure of a template
  • Drag one part in, drop another part out
  • All happens inside the skin
• Summary – a skin is to Thesis as a theme is to WordPress
  • The skin contains all of the information necessary to display the content

Types of Thesis 2 skins

• Built in skins
  • Thesis Classic
• DIY Themes Skins
  • Pearsonified
  • Social Triggers
  • Promo
• BYOB Skins
  • Agility
  • Carta
  • Maintenance Mode
• Other Reputable Sources of Skins
  • icustomizethesis.com
  • themedy.com
• Skin sources to avoid
  • thesisawesome
  • wpthesisskins

Thesis 2 Skin Roundup – DIY Themes

• Classic Responsive
  • Minimalist skin
  • 2 Column – page width style
  • Suitable for either blog or small business website
  • Good starting place for a designer
• Promo
  • 2 Column – page width style
  • Lots of styled elements
    • social media icons
    • promo bar
    • styled optin forms
    • styled alert boxes
  • Suitable primarily for blogs
  • Tabbed widget area for displaying blog stuff
• Social Triggers
  • Minimalist skin
  • 2 column – page width style
  • Suitable primarily for blogs
  • Main feature is the feature box on the blog page
• Pearsonified
  • Highly stylized skin
  • 2 Columns – page width style
  • Suitable primarily for blogs
    • styles are blog centric
    • heavily stylized sidebar
  • Lots of styled elements
    • widget headings
    • post title icons
    • styled optin forms
    • styled alert boxes

Thesis 2 Skin Roundup – BYOBWebsite

• Agility
  • Intended for small business
    • pre-configured front page template
    • Can be used without blog functionality
  • 2 or 3 column design
  • Full width page style
  • Highly configurable with design options
    • font styles
    • backgrounds
    • menus
  • Flat style design
  • Tools for simple responsive layouts
• Carta
  • Intended for small business
    • pre-configured front page template
    • Can be used without blog functionality
  • 2 or 3 column design
  • page width style
  • Highly configurable with design options
    • font styles
    • backgrounds
    • menus
  • Traditional style design
  • Tools for simple responsive layouts

Thesis 2 Skin Roundup – other skin designers

• Inspire
  • Intended for small business
    • pre-configured front page template
    • Can be used without blog functionality
  • 2 column design
  • Full width page style
  • colors configurable with design options
  • built-in soliloquy slider
• ClipCart
  • Intended for eCommerce site
    • pre-configured front page template
    • several custom eCommerce templates
    • Can be used without blog functionality
  • 2 column design
  • Either full width or page width style
  • colors configurable with design options
  • built-in slider
  • fully responsive shopping cart
• Thesis DNA

Installing Thesis 2

• Fresh install of WordPress
• Download Thesis 2
  • Add it to your local file system
• Install Thesis
  • Use the admin install settings
  • Upload from local file system
  • Look at the result
• Tour the Thesis 2
  • Admin Menu
  • Thesis Home Menu
    • Skin
    • Site
    • Boxes
    • View Site
    • More
  • Skin
    • Design
    • Custom CSS
    • Manage Skins
    • Editor
  • Site
    • Analytics
    • Authorship
    • Publisher
    • Site Verification
    • Tracking Scripts
    • Favicon
    • RSS Feed
    • Blog Page SEO
    • 404 error page
    • HTML Head
  • Boxes
    • Manage boxes
    • Other menu items
  • View Site
  • More
    • License Key
    • System Status
    • User Guide
    • Support Forums
    • Thesis Blog
    • Affiliate Program
    • Version
• Thesis 2 Skin Editor
  • Canvas
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Image
  • Manager

Setup the Thesis Classic Responsive Skin

• Browse the front side
• Skin Design
• Skin Content
• Header Image
  • What happens if the image is too big?
  • What happens if the image is too small?
• Recommended image sizes
  • Main column width
  • medium
  • thumb

Install the Thesis Footer Widgets Box

• Download the Footer Widgets box
• Install footer widgets box
• Configure box
• Add widgets

Installing the BYOB Agility Free skin

• Download BYOB Agility
  • From the Thesis 2 Skins page
  • Add to local file system
• Install BYOB Agility
  • Select Skins install
  • Look at the result
• Activate BYOB Agility
  • Select Skins
  • activate vs preview
• Skin Design
  • Color scale
  • Layouts
  • Backgrounds
  • widgets
• Skin Content
• The use of images in BYOB Agility
  • WordPress Featured Images
  • Images should fit the column widths
  • Basic column widths
    • one-quarter – 258px
    • one-third – 320px
    • one-half – 516px
    • two-thirds – 640px
    • three-quarters – 774
  • Recommended image sizes – primary content column width – 640px
    • Large – 640
    • Medium – 320
    • Thumbnail – 200
  • Built In image sizes
    • Agility featured page – 320×200
    • Agility tiny thumbnail – 75×75
  • Regenerating these widths

Question and Answer