10 Reasons I Am In Love With Thesis

We have just finished a redesign and guess what, we are still using Thesis Theme Framework. When we bought Thesis back in November, I noted that one of the biggest problems with Thesis is that it's over hyped and is a framework! It is still true and I still don't like those facts.

But yet, after spending 2 days(and 300+ lines of CSS and PHP) tweaking the theme, I seem to love it even more. Let the following image explain my situation:

That's Not Me!

Now, if  Thesis theme can make someone look like that, it must have something great.

Here are 10 reasons that make me love Thesis:

1. Customization Options: Thesis has a lot of customization options and you can control almost everything. Yes, it lacks the design options that many other themes have but the control you have is still much more.
2. Central Code Customization: Changing anything for a normal WordPress theme goes like this: Prepare the code, find the template file to insert it and finally, insert the code there. You had to edit different files for simple customizations. With Thesis, all the customizations go to custom.css and custom_functions.php which makes organizing and editing super easy!
3. Import And Export: With Thesis version 1.7, all the options can be easily imported and exported. While this is not much use for normal user (apart from backups!), it makes life easier for developers. For example, a client who wanted to customize Thesis. I developed everything on my local WordPress installation and then just exported options, copied custom.css and custom_function.php. On client side, move was complete in less than 5 minutes, no downtime!
4. Easy To Learn Hooks: Yes,I know that hooks sound something completely out of this world for someone who doesn't know basic PHP. I remember my thoughts when I first read about Thesis, "Hmm! Who needs  theme with hooks? Must be rocket science!" Well, now I know how easy hooks are. After defining a function, all you need to do is to enter add_action('hook_name', 'function_name'); to bottom of custom_functions.php ! And hooks are pretty powerful too.
5. Flexible: The flexibility of Thesis is unmatchable. You can easily change number of sidebars and their placement! So, if I decided to use a left sidebar layout, it will be a click away!
6. Typography:  Thesis has great typography out of the box and it makes reading posts very easy for reader.
7. Strong SEO Framework: SEO is important but is should not be your top priority! Thesis takes half the headache(that is SEO) away because of strong and integrated SEO framework!
8. Lightweight: In spite of all the features, Thesis is a very light theme. Version 1.7 is just 330 KB in download size. Being light makes it lightning fast!
9. Menu Management: While WordPress 3.0 has introduced a new menu management feature, it still requires a compatible theme. Thesis has a very easy menu management feature and you can manage menu by simply dragging and dropping! Even custom menu items can be added easily!
10. Thumbnails And Post Image Management: Managing thumbnails is easy and I can fully control the size and alignment of thumbnails. A fresh breath of air from themes that don't let you control the sizes!

Do you already own thesis or are you thinking about buying it? How has your experience been with it?

Interested In Buying Thesis?

Stop! Read our "honest" Thesis Review {just read, you will find out why we call it "honest"}

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to Thesis. Remember we only recommend the products that we use ourselves and this blog is running on Thesis theme!