During the last 2 weeks we’ve given some coverage to the Genesis vs Thesis debate. On my own Genesis vs Thesis review I leaned towards a preference to Genesis, however the comments to that review showed that there are people who love Thesis too.
I got curious and made a poll so you could vote for Genesis or Thesis as your preferred theme. I anticipated a balanced outcome, perhaps with a slight advantage for Genesis, however the results have been very clear, with Genesis currently the clear favourite having garnered more than 80% of the total votes.
My next question is, therefore, why do people prefer Genesis over Thesis? This is a question aimed specifically to those who voted in favour of Genesis, or who think that Genesis is the superior theme when compared to Thesis.
Is it a user interface thing? Support quality maybe? The learning curve?
I’m very interested in what you have to say about your preference in the comments area!
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4 Responses
I have not adopted a real framework in WordPress yet, but if I were to, I’d probably try Genesis next. I’ve done a bunch of WordPress sites for clients the past 6 months. I’ve been basically taking themes and then modifying them to my liking. For the most part, all of the theme’s frameworks were flawed in some way or there was just way too much unncessary coding. I’ve visited one of the Studiopress staff’s sites (the bald guy). His site is using the Genesis framework. Responsive and really really nice. It’s also a flat fee for a license, so that’s good too.
That would probably be Brian Gardner, who is the founder of StudioPress. Let us know how it goes if you try Genesis, I’m sure you’ll find it a timesaver and an excellent resource.
I am using Genesis right now but just installed Thesis on demo site to start playing with it. I think the reason people like Genesis more is because of the Child themes that you can get with it. It gives you a major starting point for your site.
If you have an idea and wireframe out what you want though, I think Thesis might be a better fit, but just getting started with Thesis will take a lot more time than Genesis.
For that matter I am actually liking Elegant Themes more than Genesis right now as far as ease of setup. I can get a site with demo content up with everything set using ET in about 30 minutes while Genesis takes me about an hour.
Hi
I have worked with both Thesis and Genesis and I favor Genesis over Thesis any day. Main Reasons:
1.) Genesis used child themes and provides some to start with. Thesis does not offer any themes with their framework. Third party people offer Thesis skins, which adds a 3rd layer that is not necessary.
2.) Genesis provides you with a wide selection of responsive themes and many genesis -specific plug-ins. Thesis has tries to be proprietary by using boxes and making up their own non-widely used modules.
3.) When it comes to price Genesis is a no-brainer, Thesis charges you for each client site, that can really add up to a big loss.
4.) Thesis drag-and-drop feature needs major improvement as well as documentation.
5.) Tip: Try the Dynamik Theme with Genesis and it is just like Thesis 1.8.5, except way better.