Wordpress Frameworks
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- jayoh
Just installed Wordpress on my server for the blog component of my site and came across http://graphpaperpress.com who make awesome themes for WP. I installed one and thought I could use a heavily modified version for the entire site.
Then I started to look into WP frameworks:http://www.smashingmagazine.com/…
What are your experiences with the main WP frameworks? Would you recommend any of them?
I'm a designer NOT a developer and cannot write PHP. Is there a framework that I could work with just using CSS + HTML that would be flexible enough to make simple sites with?
- jayoh0
anyone?...Bueller?
- ukit0
Either way, wouldn't hurt to learn a little bit of PHP. It's not rocket science and you'll want to have at least a basic idea what's going on.
- FallowDeer0
You could put together a simple wordpress site with little or no PHP knowledge as most of what is needed is supplied in the wordpress loop documents
- jayoh0
I'm more concerned about layout customization than having to fit what I need into a template. That's why I thought if I started to use a flexible framework for WP, it would serve as a good foundation to adapt to numerous layouts.
Thesis looks good, but is a premium theme (http://diythemes.com/)
Genesis is another (http://www.studiopress.com/them...
On the free end of things Thematic looks nice (http://themeshaper.com/thematic...
- pmahan0
I use Genesis - it is pretty easy to use and to customize and the support there is really good - and I agree with ukit you need to learn a little PHP - it not much more difficult than html or css, but it will make you life much easier
- raf0
I have a problem seeing what those frameworks give you over bare wordpress if you still need to customize themes.
Take Thematic – why would one use it? Because it has more pre-defined widget spots?
- nocomply0
I've worked with Thesis and Atahualpa before. I've never known them as "frameworks," but more like "themes with their own built in widgets."
I think they're good for people who need a certain layout and are not too concerned with customization of aesthetics. As long as you're willing to deal with a few shortcomings, those themes can probably get you 90% of what you want if you're not too picky.
But personally, I find them to be limiting in the end. It's tough to go into those kinds of themes and add even 1 line of custom code because they weren't really made to have that happen to them. I prefer to do all of my themes custom, so that way they are exactly what I (or the client) want them to be and there are no bloated extra widgets that never get used.
- erikjonsson0
we are making a huge wp based site right now. everyone seems to have a love/hate relationship with it but i guess you would find downs with any system if you actually spend time with it.
- pmahan0
the ease of customization of Genesis is what i like - lots of hooks and places to enter stuff that WP doesn't have natively — it has several inserts before and after items so you are not writing custom pages just custom snippets that you can reuse on another site later as just a block. change the css insert it into a different hook and you are done.
To me it is no different than having a base blank WP theme to build of of just has more to build off of to begin with.- But do you feel you have total control over the design?jayoh
- jayoh0
@nocomply
I understand they are "themes with their own built in widgets." The 90% of what you want bit is not an acceptable compromise for most designers.
I just got a nice book (http://digwp.com/) and think I will read it and create some themes from scratch to get my feet wet.
I think my issue is all of these so called 'frameworks' or extensible themes seem to be jointly geared towards bloggers and developers. That's not a relationship I see as being possible as developers have advanced customization needs.
- Yeah that 90% bit is what I tell to my clients, not other designers.nocomply
- landock0
I've use this in the past and liked it:
http://carringtontheme.com/
It uses different conditional rules to deliver specific page/post templates. pretty slick.
- nocomply0
Another thing to look for with these "frameworks" is what type of developer/community they're coming from.
Is is well documented/supported? Will it be around in the future? Is is going to play nice with future WP releases?
To me having to deal with Wordpress alone is enough. I don't necessarily want to be at the mercy of a particular theme as well.
But then again, these types of themes can be real time savers in certain cases so I wouldn't write them off completely.