This next and third review for the WP Theme Experiment is going to be a bit more close to my heart because I spent two years with the iThemes crew and was involved with marketing, testing, and developing child themes for Builder.

First I have to say that Chris Jean is amazing and did a superb job in creating this versatile and limitless theme & framework!  You can pretty much do anything with iThemes Builder and the newer features that have been released over the last few months are awesome.

Besides being able to create ANY professional layout you could ever want to do for a website or blog, you have the following:

• Builder Style Manager that gives you more power to create or edit
• Advanced SEO options panel
• Each page can have it’s own layout and CSS
• BuddyPress integration
• Building Block features for niche specific child themes

It also includes Billboard and the rotating images plug-in to help you get your killer graphics easily implemented into the design.

Since I’ve been using Builder for Branding Shed clients lately, I’ve discovered a few things that a designer or DYI person might find a hindrance in working with it:

• The Style Manager is powerful but can be a bit bulky to use and it doesn’t show you all your changes in real time. I still find myself doing more with CSS.
• You have to know where to begin, otherwise you may feel overwhelmed.  More documentation and training is now being offered to help with this.
• The child themes are OK — even the ones I created.  They do give you a reference point but kicking it up a notch would be beneficial for designers and non-designers alike.

I admit that’s it’s hard for me to provide this candid insight given my love for it, but I do have to be honest in my review.

My Conclusion:

iThemes Builder is a tool I never want to be without and it has paid for itself over and over again!

While there is a medium learning curve for figuring out all its capabilities, web designers or freelancers will find that it is totally worth the time and investment. Their support team leaders (Ronald and Sridhar) are top-notch and the iThemes team continues to improve on their crown jewel.  If you don’t want to dive into the developer side of creating websites on WordPress, and you are willing to learn basic CSS to improve your skills, then Builder is going to have to be a part of your web development toolkit.

Please Note: None of these links are affiliate links.  I am not receiving any compensation for my reviews on my WP Theme Experiment project or the reviews on themes that were kindly donated to me.

My second review for the WP Theme Experiment is on the hugely popular Genesis theme framework offered by StudioPress; a premium WordPress theme company launched by the hopeless Starbucks addict, Brian Gardner.

There has been some confusion lately about theme frameworks, child themes, and stand alone themes. While this is a deeper discussion for another time, I would say that Genesis is like a Ferrari.  The engine is WordPress, the body and parts are Genesis, and the child themes are the custom paint or accessories.  All together they make a desirable vehicle!

Genesis includes some extremely beneficial features such as:

• Automatic update notifications
• Easy integration for your RSS feed
• Author Box (User Profile) that can add your bio on single posts
• Several page layout options
• Custom built widgets like My Tweets and eNews Opt-In Box
• BuddyPress Compatibility
• Excellent security

The theme framework is definitely tight and valuable … but right out of the box it’s not going to be the perfect solution for designers or DYI people. That’s where the importance of child themes come in.

StudioPress has 27 child themes to choose from ($24.95 each if you have Genesis/$79.95 each if you don’t) and most of them are very good, professional designs that can be adapted for a wide variety of client needs.  They are simple and effective.  The only caveats I see for a majority of people would be the following …

• You’ll need to need to know how to FTP files up to your server
• You’ll want to know minor CSS hacks in order to change colors such as text links or navigational hover buttons

These aren’t huge issues by any means, but if you don’t understand how to do these two things, you may find yourself very frustrated when it comes to customization.  But hey, if I can learn to do it, anyone can!

My Conclusion

StudioPress gives a designer the ability to make a profitable income customizing their products.  They have a solid reputation and even though I’ve not used their support (again, haven’t needed to) I have heard their team is pretty reliable.   I personally know that Brian puts in a ton of time to continually build the business, and in my honest opinion, there is very little reason to keep a person from purchasing their themes or framework.  I now have a few Studio Press child themes in my arsenal and I plan on using them … and if you’re a web design shop, you should too!

Please Note: None of these links are affiliate links.  I am not receiving any compensation for my reviews on my WP Theme Experiment project or the reviews on themes that were kindly donated to me.