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Premium WP Theme Review: iThemes Builder

By James Dalman · Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

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.

Comments (0)
Categories : Business, Technology, Websites
Tags : blogging, premium wordpress themes, Technology, Wordpress Themes

Premium WP Theme Review: Studio Press & Genesis

By James Dalman · Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

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.

Comments (0)
Categories : Business, Technology, Websites
Tags : blogging, premium wordpress themes, Technology, Wordpress Themes

Premium WP Theme Review: Headway Themes

By James Dalman · Comments (3)
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

This is the first review in a series I will be writing based on my WP Theme Experiment.  Today I’ll be sharing my insight on Headway Themes created by the father and son team, Grant and Clay Griffiths.

Headway is unlike any other theme I have ever experienced and it is very simple to use. You can load it into WordPress and get an intuitive feel for it without reading any documentation.  The UI (User Interface) is graphically appealing and you can move your way around the visual editor with ease.  In the newest version you can even start out with the site builder that walks you step by step through several design options before customizing your theme – an extremely handy feature – but  this is only the beginning!

One of the things that I like best about the Headway Theme is the real-time, visual editor.  You can make and watch changes to your theme right before your eyes without having to leave the editor or visiting another page to see how it looks.  This is the closest concept I have found to SquareSpace, a platform I used a few years ago.  Customizing Headway allows you to change up your layout and design without touching any CSS and you can easily “call out” any of the sections you’re looking to work on.

Additional features that I found really beneficial and cool are:

  • The ability to resize your content areas and widget containers within the visual editor
  • The ability to change the width of your design (even rounded corners) from within the visual editor
  • Your choice of fixed or fluid width options
  • The Leaf Panel allows you to easily add featured posts, Twitter, photo gallery, or an image rotator
  • Ability to customize CSS if you want to
  • Search Engine Optimized

OK, now for the two things I didn’t like so far …

  • I had to learn what the Leaf System was about.  If you’re a veteran WordPress user this may confuse you and it took me a little time to figure this out.  However it is a great feature of Headway.
  • It seemed to be slow to work with at times.  To be totally fair this could be my Internet Service Provider and that I am impatient.

Two other downsides are that I have not jumped into the support forum yet to see how well you get help (haven’t needed it) and I haven’t had the opportunity to test the limits of what can be done creatively.  However, I’ve seen some great examples of what’s possible in their showcase at http://headwaythemes.com/showcase, and it looks like most sites I would want to design can be achieved.

My Conclusion:

Headway is a must have for designers or the DYI crowd who want to use WordPress as the foundation for building a website or blog. It is worth the investment ($87 for personal use/$164 for developers) and you can easily launch a simple site in 10 minutes if you are familiar with WP and get the basics down for using this theme.  I don’t expect all WP developers to embrace the system that Clay and Grant have created, but again, for those like me who want to have some creativity and the ability to offer web design services, this is an amazing tool.

I’ll definitely be working with Headway more next month as part of a new project and will provide additional thoughts then, but for now I am pleased with my experience and would not hesitate recommending it to creative types like myself.

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.

Comments (3)
Categories : Business, Technology, Websites
Tags : blogging, premium wordpress themes, Wordpress Themes

Go Ahead … Fail!

By James Dalman · Comments (0)
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

I like to fail. Why?  Because when I fail, it means that I tried.

There are things that I’ve done that didn’t quite work out like I planned and there have been times where attempting a challenge may have made me look foolish.  But I don’t care because it is better to try and fail than never try at all.  This is one secret to being an entrepreneur and launching a business.

I talk with people all the time who tell me they are dying on the inside.  They work in a career that makes them feel like they are in a death march to the weekend or they have a superior who robs their soul of all joy.  Sometimes they’ve wanted to live a dream they hoped for since childhood.  They want to do something so badly but don’t because of fear of the consequences.

You will never taste freedom or victory, if you’re never willing to taste fear and failure.

There can be no other way to know if your business idea will work, if you’re book will sell, if you’re recipe is great, if you’re product is wanted, or whatever … unless you are willing to take a step forward and risk what you hold onto so dearly.  Stop making excuses and GO FOR IT TODAY!

Comments (0)
Categories : Business Lessons, Goals, Leadership
Tags : business advice, Entrepreneur, Life Lessons, opportunity

Announcing Two Workshops at MinistryCom

By James Dalman · Comments (0)
Saturday, August 14th, 2010

This October 20-22 I will be presenting two workshops at MinistryCom in Dallas, Texas at Preston Trail Community Church.

The first workshop will be Ministry Logo Design where I will teach on the most important aspects for developing a professional logo, as well as additional insight for church branding.  The second workshop will be Building a Rockin’Church Website where I will co-present with Cory Miller and offer advice on building websites that not only look amazing but will be a valuable communication hub for a church team, congregation, and community.

If you are on staff or a volunteer at a church, I encourage you to make MinistryCom this year!  And if you’re in the neighborhood during the conference, please let me know if you’d like to meet up to talk shop or just hang out.

Comments (0)
Categories : Events, Speaking
Tags : Church Branding, Church Marketing, Church Media, Graphic Design
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