Having worked in the past with Thesis 1.8, I have decided to give the latest version a spin. One thing you need to know upfront is that unless you are going to use Thesis out of the box on “as is” basis, you need to be able to understand certain basic coding for WordPress. Otherwise your will have a hard time learning how to use Thesis 2.0 to it’s full potential. It seams to me that learning how to use Thesis 1.8 was much quicker and easier.
The difference between Thesis 1.8 and Thesis 2.0 is apparent from the time you log into your WordPress dashboard:
Dashboard Menu – Thesis 1.8
Dashboard Menu – Thesis 2.0
Thesis 2.0 is more compact in how you use it and it is evident from the very beginning – Thesis dashboard menu. One important thing you will notice with Thesis 2.0 is that there is no longer “custom theme functions” editor. However the new interface for drag-and-drop HTML Skin Editor offers you equal or even superior opportunity to modify the layout of your website. There appears to be even more flexibility when it comes to customizing your website’s CSS.
The default Thesis Skin has only 5 different templates for your pages layout: Home, Single, Page, Archive and Landing. However once you learn your way around Thesis the possibilities are literally endless.
In a nutshell, the new features in Thesis 2.0 are very impressive. The question of course is Thesis right for you. When you consider that some times a single theme can cost you hundreds of dollars- Thesis is a very good deal! Especially if you need to quickly develop a unique design at a reasonable price. However, if you are not quite familiar with core structure and functionality of WordPress you might get lost trying to figure out both WordPress and Thesis at the same time.
Probably the best thing about Thesis is that DIYthemes, the parent company, offers “No Worries” 30 day money back guarantee. Click here to give Thesis a spin.
