This past Tuesday, the constant bickering about Thesis vs WordPress came to a head in The Great Thesis vs WordPress Debate 2010. (I’m totally going to trademark that name, by the way. )

I won’t bore you with too many details – the gist of the argument is this:

Chris Pearson, creator of Thesis, feels that he can license his software however he wants.

Matt Mullenweg, the alpha dog behind WordPress, says “nuh uh”, since WordPress uses the GPL license, ALL themes/ frameworks / plugins / etc must also use the GPL.

Again, not to get too technical, but the GPL requires that all code be freely distributable. The creator can still charge for non “code” files, such as CSS files, images, etc…. but PHP files must be freely available for anyone to do whatever they want.

I’m no lawyer, and I didn’t read the entire GPL – I have no interest in such matters. And that’s key, right there. As a developer, I don’t have even the slightest concern for licensing disputes. They don’t matter to me, and they don’t matter to my business.

When I build a client site, I use WordPress, and Thesis. For each client site I build, I purchase a Thesis Client Site Option. It’s $40, and it’s required by DIY Themes. I gladly pay this amount, since Thesis is a great framework for me to build on.  As long as it makes sense, I will continue to do this.

End users don’t care about Thesis vs WordPress.

Not at all. They don’t care about GPL, derivatives, licensing, or any of this fuss. They care about using the best software around. They care about having a site that works well. They care about getting things done. So while there’s a Holy War going on, folks are still building sites on WordPress and Thesis. Work is still getting done, and it will continue to get done.  Folks will continue using two great products, until such a time as something better comes along.

There are dozens of ways that people make money with their website. None is easier than using Google Adsense, even if it’s not always the most profitable.

When using Adsense, it’s important to use a feature called Section Targeting. Basically that means you get to define the area that Google uses for context when it displays ads. Normally you’ll just insert two lines of code into your single.php template – one before the post, and one after.

Since you’re using Thesis (And seriously, haven’t I convinced you to switch yet?), you can’t go hacking the Thesis core – that’s a big no-no. Instead, you can just insert this block of code into your custom_functions.php file.

//Adsense Section Targeting
function start_adsense_targeting(){
echo “<!– google_ad_section_start –>”;
}
function finish_adsense_targeting(){
echo “<!– google_ad_section_end –>”;
}
add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_headline’,'start_adsense_targeting’ );
add_action(‘thesis_hook_after_post’, ‘finish_adsense_targeting’);

The reason I recommend using the thesis_hook_before_headline hook rather than the thesis_hook_before_post hook is that my method includes the post title in the section targeting.  Since your headline is very likely to be keyword-rich, why not include it to target your ads better?

That’s it. One little tiny block of code, and your Adsense ads will be much better targeted to your content. The end result? More relevant ads, more clicks, and more money in your pocket.

The number of free thesis skins »”>Thesis skins seems to grow by the day. There are tons of great, free options available to you if you’ve decided to go with Thesis. After all, a completely custom blog design isn’t for everyone. Some of us simply don’t need to spend that kind of money, when a great free skin will do the trick.

The skin of the day is called Tweetish, and it was created by Ben Cook of WP Blogger. As you might have guessed by the name, this Thesis skin is inspired and heavily influenced by Twitter. Ben even included a big ol’ Twitter bird above the sidebar. Of course, that’s really just for the demo site – it’s a bio area when you install it.

Posts are truncated at 20 words – not exactly the same as Twitter’s 140 character limit, but certainly similar. Fortunately the posts are capped at that limit – the entire post just won’t appear on the index page. You’ll have to click the “read more” link to see the rest. Basically all the posts are set up to show as teasers.

If you’re a big Twitter fan, (and if you’re not, what’s the matter with you?), take a quick look at Tweetish. If it fits your needs, go get it – remember, the price is right. Just keep things short, eh?

I wrote a quick preview on Thesis 1.7 recently – and I’m happy to announce that Thesis 1.7 final is Live, Live, Live. It’s faster than ever, the options are more in-depth than ever, the options are better organized.  Pearson even managed to include a killer feature at the end – a built-in affiliate link creator.  Previously, one had to rely on plugins, or .htaccess wizardry to make pretty affiliate links.  No more of that nonsense, now you can make all the pretty affiliate links you want from right in the WordPress dashboard.

There isn’t much I can add that hasn’t already been said. The bottom line is this:

If you already own Thesis, download 1.7 right now and upgrade.  Yes, right now.

If you aren’t yet a Thesis customer, it’s time for that to change.  You need to buy Thesis now.  I recommend the Developer’s version to nearly everyone, but if you only have one site and no plans for any more, the personal option is just fine.  Either way, get Thesis.  Your business will thank you.

The wait is almost over, at least for the smart folks who own a Thesis Developer’s License. Thesis 1.7 is almost ready to go into beta mode, according to Chris Pearson. In fact, Chris was busy today giving us a sneak preview of the new options panels. Here are a couple of the highlights:

• Thesis Options will be renamed Site Options, shrink, and be more organized.
• Design Options gets all sorts of new built-in Javascript libraries, and comment settings
• Brand new Options Manager lets you import / export settings from the Thesis options pages. Amazing tool for Thesis skin designers.
• New Page Options panel to fine-tune SEO settings.

Better organization, better control over SEO, and the Options Manager. Sounds like it should be Thesis 2.0, but it’s being released as 1.7. Even with all these goodies that we get to enjoy, I’m sure Chris was hard at work under the hood, tweaking and optimizing code that we’ll never see.

Though there has been talk about a price hike, nothing has been done yet. You can still get in on the Thesis goodness for $87. Of course, you really should go with the Developer’s Option at $164 – that lets you use Thesis on unlimited sites, and you get access to beta releases.

Most of the skins featured here on GL3 media are of the free variety. Since there are plenty of great free thesis skins »”>Thesis skins available, I try to focus on them. However, sometimes a more professional look is desired, but there simply isn’t a budget for a completely custom design.

Let’s face it – custom work isn’t cheap. Not everyone can afford to have a site designed and developed from scratch. That’s where premium Thesis skins come in.  You get premium features and premium design without the completely custom price tag.

ThesisPlay

The skin I want to take a quick look at today is called ThesisPlay, and it was created by Matt Hodder. ThesisPlay’s big selling point is the easy color switcher. With a single click, you can cycle through 8 different color schemes. If you like to change the look of your site frequently, this feature could appeal to you.

Beyond the color switcher, ThesisPlay offers a customizable header area, where you can include an image, ads, text, or just about whatever you want. You can manage this area right from the WordPress Dashboard.

ThesisPlay is just solid. Professionally designed with plenty of attention to detail. You won’t find any rough edges; there’s nothing amateurish about the skin. Granted, it’s not free – but it only costs $45. Compared to somewhere in the four figure range for a completely custom design, that’s quite inexpensive.

Can I get ThesisPlay with a Custom Blog Setup?
Absolutely. While my “prepackaged” setup includes your choice of a free Thesis skin, I’m more than happy to help you upgrade to a premium skin. When checking out, just leave me a note with your desired premium skin. I’ll purchase a license for you, and include it on your bill. No extra work on your part, and you’ll get the custom look that you want.

There are a ton of things I love about Thesis, many of which I go over in my Why Thesis post. However, one thing that people often have trouble with is including a header image instead of just text. There are plenty of tutorials on how to do this out there, but many of them handle it just plain wrong. The biggest issue I have is that many tutorials advocate using this faulty line of code:

.custom #header #logo, .custom #header #tagline { text-indent: -9999px; }

No, no, no. This little snippet casts the text headline 9,999 pixels to the left, so it will never be seen. It technically works, but it’s more of a hack than a solution. One day, search engines may decide that they really don’t like the practice of hiding text this way, much like they don’t like white text on white background.

What’s the right way to get rid of the text?

Thesis has a built-in hook for exactly this purpose, though few people use it. This is the hook you’re looking for:

remove_action(‘thesis_hook_header’, ‘thesis_default_header’);

That gets rid of the header text correctly, instead of just hiding it. The next step is to actually add your header. This is the code:

function custom_header() { ?>
<div id=”headerlogo”>
<a href=”<?php bloginfo( ‘url’ ); ?>/”>
<img src=”<?php bloginfo(‘template_directory’) ?>/custom/images/header.jpg” alt=”Dont forget your alt text here” />
</a>
</div>
<?php }
add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_header’, ‘custom_header’);

Of course, you’ll need to make a header image, and upload it to the /custom/images directly of your Thesis installation.  So, to put it all together, just copy and paste this block of code into your custom_functions.php file:

function custom_header() { ?>
<div id=”headerlogo”>
<a href=”<?php bloginfo( ‘url’ ); ?>/”>
<img src=”<?php bloginfo(‘template_directory’) ?>/custom/images/header.jpg” alt=”Dont forget your alt text here” />
</a>
</div>
<?php }
add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_header’, ‘custom_header’);
remove_action(‘thesis_hook_header’, ‘thesis_default_header’);

That’s it.  One tiny block of code, and you have a clickable image header in Thesis.

One of my favorite Thesis skins is Looks Good Naked. When the latest version of Thesis, 1.6, was released, this skin broke. Thesis 1.6 overhauled the nav menu code, which means all skins needed to be updated or they would break.

Finally, the author of Looks Good Naked took the time to make the necessary upgrades. Now you can use LGN once again, without having to modify the code yourself.

Here at GL3 Media, each and every site that I design is built on the Thesis WordPress framework. That’s right, every single site – without fail. When I have a new site on the drawing board, I never question what I’m going to start with. The choice is always Thesis, and it will be until something even more amazing comes along. (Is that even possible?)

What in the world makes Thesis my only choice? A few things, actually.

Efficiency
See, though Thesis is often referred to as a “theme”, even by it’s creator, it is nothing of the sort. Thesis is actually a framework, which is a whole different beast. See, before Thesis, every site needed to be built from scratch. All the boring, but incredibly important, foundation of each site needed to be created every time you made a new site.

Not very efficient.

Starting with the Thesis framework means I don’t have to re-invent the wheel each time. There is a solid foundation in place, ready to be built on top of. My focus is on creating an amazing site, not setting up Gravatars in the comments.

If you decide to have your site professionally designed, using Thesis will save you money. Remember, the foundation of the site is done. Your designer / developer will spend less time on the site, which means less billable hours. More money in your pocket.

You don’t have to code if you don’t want to

Say you’re ready to move forward with Thesis, but a full site design just isn’t in your budget right now. No problem. But, you say, you don’t know how to code any sort of site design.

No problem.

Say what?!

Thesis has a built-in design tool. Through a series of easy to use drop-down boxes, you can change things like: number of columns, column width, text & link colors, even whether you want to include a multimedia box above the sidebar. There are hundreds of changes you can make to a site without editing a single line of code. That’s powerful.

Top-Notch SEO Out of the box

It’s easy to spend thousands of dollars optimizing your site for search engines. It’s also tough to find that sort of budget these days. Thesis is the best-optimized WordPress framework in the world, period. Your sites are likely to rank higher, thus getting more traffic, when built on top of Thesis.

If you’re serious about your business, you need Thesis

Yes, Thesis is that good. Whether you have a blog or a conventional website, Thesis makes sense. The cost is minimal compared to the benefits. Eighty-seven bucks? I would recommend Thesis at $200. It’s crazy cheap at $87. Buy Thesis now.

Below you’ll find some of the best free thesis skins »”>Thesis Skins available. All of these skins are available at no charge. Pick any one of these great skins, and I’ll install it for you as part of my Custom Blog Setup package.

GL3 Minimalism – My first homegrown Thesis skin. Created with absolute minimalism in mind, you’ll find no unnecessary design elements. Your text and images will get *all* the attention with this skin.

Thesis Sharp Gorgeous theme with tons of features, including a widgetized area in the header, for social media icons or banner ads.

Thesis Bare – Just the bare essentials – a very clean Thesis skin.

Thesis Bold - Dark, with a bold header and bold headlines.

Fresh Company – A bright skin, great for companies.

Straight Shooter – Minimal in style, but not lacking in any features.

Simple Life – Bright and simple – with a focus on RSS and Twitter.

Looks Good Naked – Much like it sounds, Looks Good Naked strips away most of the design elements, allowing the content to shine through unobstructed.

Blue Magic without Sidebars – Just a simple, single column skin

Minimal Skin No preview on this one – just a bare bones skin.