When it comes to customizing WordPress themes I generally have an easier time of it changing CSS or tweaking the PHP code than I do modifying image elements of the theme. That's probably because I'm not a graphic designer. Fortunately you don't have to be a graphic designer to be able to customize the image elements of your Genesis themes. If that was a requirement I'd be sunk. What Are Image Elements? What do we mean by image elements? These are the portions of your theme that are ... Read More
WordPress Articles and Posts
WordPress articles and blog posts related to design, plugins, and coding best practices.
Take 20% Off Any WordPress Theme With Our Black Friday Sale
In honor of America's crazy Thanksgiving tradition of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, we are offering a limited time coupon for 20% off any of our premium WordPress themes. We've had a lot of people inquire about a possible Black Friday sale, so we're just going to break down and do it. Here's How to Grab Your 20% Discount First, put down the turkey leg and stop eating that pumpkin pie. I know it is hard, but you really can do it. Next, step away from the table and walk slowly ... Read More
A New WordPress Theme for the Country Girl’s Online Storefront
We’re happy to announce the release of Susanne, our newest Genesis theme available for purchase in our online store. Susanne is designed for internet savvy ladies who would like to create an online store to sell their crafts and homemade items. Our Susanne demo utilizes WooCommerce and the theme is pre-styled for creating and managing an online storefront. We selected WooCommerce, because the codebase lightweight, secure and reliable. Another nice feature is that Susanne and WooCommerce both ... Read More
25+ Considerations for Selecting a WordPress eCommerce Solution
Over the last six months we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of inquiries for WordPress eCommerce. I have no idea why, but the trend is something I can no longer ignore. It seems everyone wants to sell online and they want to use WordPress eCommerce. The misperception of WordPress being completely free and easy is enticing more and more people to launch online stores. They tend to believe WordPress can help them make instant cash from selling their products online. WordPress does make ... Read More
Is WordPress Ready for Enterprise Level Users?
WordPress started from humble beginnings. It was a user-friendly blogging package that allowed anyone, located anywhere to create an online identity and publish content. Individuals could write about their kids, their dogs, or their hobbies. They could discuss their political beliefs and they could use the platform to drive an online movement. Social media only fueled this by expanding their reach and connecting more and more people to their written words. What started as an avenue for ... Read More
The Marriage of HTML5 and Genesis
HTML5 is the new up and coming HTML standard. It has been in development for years, even as far back as 2006, and HTML5 is expected to be fully standardized by the end of 2014. HTML5 allows for more dynamic web content without the need for third party technologies such as Flash. Because HTML5 is so new and hasn't quite been completely finalized yet, no web browsers fully support everything it is capable of 100%. That said, Chrome and Firefox seem to do better on HTML5 compatibility than ... Read More
Event Marketing and Promotion With WordPress
We’re happy to announce the release of Erling, an event WordPress theme that was just added to our stock theme store. This Genesis child theme was designed for event marketing and promotion, so it can accommodate websites for conferences and trade shows. Erling's Functional Highlights Six color options Multiple page layouts Multiple sidebars HTML5 markup Mobile responsive Optional speaker images Optional sponsor logos Call to action widgets Featured post ... Read More
CSS Basics of the Genesis Framework
If you are doing any work online you should have a basic understanding on CSS and how it works. Regardless of whether you are simply writing content for someone else's website, running your own website, or looking to get into customizing and developing websites with the Genesis theme framework, the ability to fine tune how things are displayed with some CSS basics will set you apart from the crowd and make your work more professional. CSS, which is an acronym for Cascading Style Sheets, works ... Read More
Are Premium WordPress Plugins Worth the Money?
When I first started using WordPress, I avoided premium WordPress plugins. Why? I assumed there were lots of free plugins available to meet my needs. Guess what? For the most part I was right. I didn’t need to spend money on premium plugins, because there were thousands of free plugins readily available. Then something happened. My needs shifted. My novice WordPress skills turned into using WordPress to build and run a business. At that point I realized the oodles and oodles of plugins ... Read More
HTML Basics of the Genesis Framework
Everyone with their own website should know some HTML basics. That includes the most technophobic writer who just uses the visual content editor portion of their WordPress dashboard. And if you are customizing any themes for the Genesis framework, then you absolutely need to know a little bit about HTML and how to make changes to the code on your site. HTML is the most basic code that presents every website. It is the language of the internet. It the code our web browsers interpret to ... Read More
The Who’s Who of Genesis Framework Users
If you’re new to this website, you might be surprised to discover I’m a huge fan, advocate, and all around cheerleader for the Genesis Framework. If you’ve been here before, I’m pretty sure you already know this about me. I’m a pretty transparent type of girl. I tried out the original beta of Genesis and liked it. When the child theme concept took off I fell in love with it. Apparently I’m not alone. There are lots and lots of well-known Genesis users. Notable Genesis Framework Users I dig ... Read More
Introducing Patrick: A Jazzy DJ Website Template
We’re happy to announce the release of Patrick, the newest WordPress template added to our theme store. This Genesis child theme was designed for DJs and other music professionals who need a solid DIY website option that was designed to be hip and local SEO friendly. Since this DJ website template is built on Genesis, it is not only a functional website template, it is secure and mobile responsive. We’ve built our theme demo to illustrate a typical DJ website. The demo includes common content ... Read More
Introducing Joshua: a Genesis Blog Theme
We’re happy to announce the release of Joshua, the newest blogging template added to our Genesis theme store. This Genesis child theme was designed for bloggers who want to use images to help tell their story. We’ve set the Joshua theme demo up as a travel blog, but in reality it could be used for any type of blog that places an emphasis on images. The home page rotator and inner page headers are designed to keep the visitors’ eye focus on the images. Similar to our Lisa Marie theme, this ... Read More
Time is Running Out to Purchase Our Genesis Developer License at the Reduced Introductory Rate
When we launched our theme store I had not planned on making a developer license available. After we had multiple requests from theme buyers, I broke down and offered a developer license for an introductory rate of $249.95. I thought I’d give it a whirl and see if anyone was interested. To my surprise, there were a lot of people interested. It sold and it sold more than I expected. We’ve had excellent feedback from buyers and this makes me even happier. Flash forward over a year later and ... Read More
Workflow for Customizing Genesis Themes
WordPress is an incredibly powerful platform that will empower you with the potential to reach the entire world with whatever you have to say. Even though WordPress combines relatively simplicity with incredible power and potential doing things like customizing Genesis themes can be a little intimidating if you're just getting started, or if you're just getting started tinkering "under the hood." Fortunately we can take some of the mystery out of it and help you avoid some of the most common ... Read More
A Stunning WordPress Theme Designed for ‘Gorgeous’
We’re happy to announce the release of Lisa Marie, the newest template added to our Genesis theme store. The new Genesis child theme was designed for hair salons and day spas, although it could really be used for any website that places an emphasis on images. The home page rotator and inner page headers keep the visitors’ eye focus on the images. The WordPress theme is designed to draw you in and capture your attention. Early reviews have called this theme “stunning” and I’m thrilled with ... Read More
When You Buy WordPress Themes Are You Buying the Theme Design or the Theme Support?
Chris and I have an internal debate on the growth of our theme store and what in particular what is driving that growth. Chris feels people buy theme support and not the theme itself. I believe people buy WordPress themes based on design and it is an emotional decision. For many buyers, theme support is an after thought. Part of this debate is due to our roles in the theme development process. I work on the design and Chris works on support in our forum. Or maybe we just think in two ... Read More
23 Tools for Customizing WordPress Themes
There are tons of tools that can help simplify the process of customizing WordPress themes. In fact, the tools are far better than they were just a few short years ago. If you are kicking around the possibilities of starting to customize themes then this list I've put together will save you some headaches. Hopefully you will be able to avoid some of hassles that I went through over the years. These days I work exclusively on Mac's. In fact, I made the decision when I got to the point where ... Read More
The Anatomy of a Child Theme
When it comes to WordPress theme customization there are two main approaches. Traditionally, because WordPress is open source you'd just make your edits directly to the theme itself. Very early on the WordPress core developers added the ability to use a child theme. A child theme inherits all of the templates and functionality of the parent theme while allowing you to modify the parent theme output because the child theme files supersede the parent theme files. Advantages of Using Child ... Read More
A Great Tool for Finding WordPress Themes and Plugins
Have you ever stumbled across an awesome website or blog and wondered if it was built using WordPress and if a stock theme was used? Yep, I thought so. You’re not alone. We all do it. The grass always looks greener on someone else's website, so we are on an never ending path of finding WordPress themes and plugins. Back in 2011 a little website called What WP Theme is That? was launched. This simple, but super cool website allows you to quickly locate the theme of any WordPress website and ... Read More
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