I am always on the lookout for great new WordPress themes to use on client sites, and the ability to customize them is really important. I am by no means a coding expert, although I continue to learn and enjoy the process.
StudioPress offers a whole line of premium WordPress themes, that I love, and are easily customizable. Brian Gardner of StudioPress recently announced that they are taking their line of themes one step further and launching a new WordPress theme framework called Genesis.
Genesis was developed with the new and veteran WordPress users in mind and they have packed this framework full of widgets, hooks, layouts and first rate SEO optimization for ease of use and expandability.
Brian also mentioned that the Genesis theme will not only be the framework for all future StudioPress themes, it will also be used for the current themes as well.
According to the StudioPress blog, some of the widgets included in Genesis are:
- My Tweets – displays an unordered list of your latest Tweets (view widget)
- User Profile – displays the Gravatar of a user, as well as their biography and a link to an about page (view widget)
- eNews & Updates – displays an opt-in box for users to sign up for delivery of your posts by email (view widget)
- Featured Posts – displays post excerpts and a thumbnail to be used in a homepage featured section (view widget)
- Featured Page – displays page excerpts and a thumbnail to be used in a homepage featured section (view widget)
An added feature that I am excited about in the Genesis framework are the 30 plus hooks they have incorporated. This might not mean much to the new WordPress user, however developers and advanced users love these. My site, this one, is run on the Thesis platform which also uses hooks to make adding content to the site easier and flexible (once you get the hang of them).
In a nutshell, hooks are like “positions” of various content on your site. I’ll leave a more in depth explanation of hooks for a future post.
The Genesis theme platform will also include 3 layout options, BuddyPress compatibility, custom thumbnail image sizing and a Child Theme Marketplace (by invite only). I personally can’t wait to get my hands on this theme and look forward to hearing feedback from all you beta testers out there.
Sneak peak of the Mocha Child Theme for Genesis.
For more information about the StudioPress Genesis theme framework visit the StudioPress blog or click Demo to see it in action.
StudioPress does it again. What a great way to start the new year.
