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.

Whenever my wife goes shopping, she heads straight for the sale items. She absolutely loves sales. I’m pretty sure it’s ingrained in her DNA to buy things that are on sale, even if she doesn’t need them.

While I don’t really understand that, I do love when the things I need are on sale. A good sale on something I need can really make my day. What does that have to do with GL3 Media, you ask?

For a limited time, I’m putting the Custom Blog Setup on sale. Normally I charge $500 for the full monty, but I’m feeling generous.

How does $196 for a complete blog setup sound?

This is the same package that normally goes for an even $500 – I haven’t cut anything out. You still get all the good stuff:

The total cash value of what you get is $267 – not including my time and expertise. You read that right – if you purchase hosting, a domain, Thesis, and Gravity Forms, you’ll spend more than you would spend if I do everything for you.

Less money, less work, better results. Get started now.

P.S. I just wanted to make a quick note about this, so there’s no confusion. I’m a Thesis Developer, as well as a Gravity Forms developer. Everything you purchase from me will have the proper license, so you’re nice and legal. I support great software, and would never skimp to save a buck.

Trying to figure out how to speed up your WordPress powered site, but lost in the world of caching plugins? You’re not alone. Between WP-Cache, WP Super Cache, Hyper Cache, DB Cache Reloaded, and countless others, it’s easy to get confused.

Fortunately Kyle with Tutorial9 takes the confusion out of the WordPress caching game. He took the time to benchmark all the popular caching plugins and reported the results. None of that “this one seems faster” nonsense, Kyle has hard numbers. Check out his article to find out which one is right for you.

Any good business consultant will tell you that blogging is a long-term commitment, and the more you stick with it, the better your results will be. Naturally, I agree with this completely.

However, over time, your WordPress database tends to swell in size. Part of this size increase is normal – posts and comments take up space, after all. Quite often, your database gets bigger than it has to. This can cause slowdowns, and it can make your backups take much longer than they have to.

In the bad old days, one would have to be some sort of MySQL wizard to clean out the crud and optimize the database. Then a neat (free) little plugin called WP-Optimize came along. After installing this plugin, one button will do the following tasks:

• Clear all post revisions
• Delete all spam comments
• Delete all comments in moderation queue
• Apply the MySQL “optimize” command on your database tables
• Show you how much space was saved

And just like that, your database shrinks, and things should run more smoothly.

What doesn’t WP-Optimize take care of?
Leftover tables from plugins you don’t use anymore. If you’re a habitual plugin installer / uninstaller, then your database is probably a disaster. You’ll have to either hire a MySQL wizard to clean it up, or brave the monster that is phpMyAdmin. If you don’t know what you’re doing, either learn first, or hire an expert. It’s pretty easy to screw up things if you’re not familiar with MySQL.

Whatever you do, always, always, always back up your WordPress database before you do *anything. That means before you optimize with WP-Optimize, before you play with phpMyAdmin, anything. Just in case you screw something up, it’s crucial to have a current backup to fall back on.

There are a billion good reasons to host your own website, and really only one reason not to: having someone else host your site is easy. Really, really easy. Using a site like Blogger, Tumblr, or Posterous makes being a webmaster dead simple. But far and away, the biggest problem is this:

You have absolutely no control over your site.

That’s right – your site, your hard work, your blood sweat and tears, and you have absolutely no ownership. What kind of sense does that make?

The situation that unfolded yesterday regarded a Tumblr site. The complete story can be found here, if you’d like to see it straight from the source. Me, I like crib notes. So here they are.

This cat who goes by Tumbedore was the registered owner of http://pitchfork.tumblr.com . He only had 5 posts, but whatever, he had it first.

The company Pitchfork contacted Tumblr to find out if they could take over the URL in question. After all, Tumbledore hadn’t updated in quite some time.

Ten short minutes later, without contacting Tumbledore, Tumblr deleted all his posts, and re-assigned the URL to Pitchfork.

To make matters worse, Tumblr lied about it after the fact. But that’s not really the point. The point is that Tumbledore lost all his posts (granted it was only five, but imagine if it was five hundred), and he has no recourse. He wasn’t paying for the service. He doesn’t own the content.

URL gone.

Content gone.

Search engine traffic gone.

Just like that.

If you’re going to have a website, you need to do it right. Get a custom blog setup done. It’s quick, affordable, and you will own the site and content. You will have complete control. You, and no one else. That’s exactly how it needs to be, if you’re serious about your business.

You are serious about your business, aren’t you?

There are a shocking number of parts to even a fairly basic website. Non-web developers would probably be quite surprised if they knew everything that went into creating a new site from scratch.

One of my least favorite tasks is the creation of forms. I hate making forms. There, I said it. The basic contact form is usually easy, at least in WordPress, because there are plenty of great plugins that take the work right out of it. However, most sites require at least a few forms, and there isn’t an easy to use all-in-one solution.

Sure, there’s cforms II. While certainly a powerful solution, it’s far from user friendly. Extremely far. I’d rather hand-code forms than use cforms II, and I bet I’m not the only one. Of course, hand-coding forms is very time-consuming, and not a fun way to spend your days.

Enter Gravity Forms.

After discovering Gravity Forms, I will never create another form by hand again. Ever. It’s that easy, and that powerful.

Want to create a new form? Click on the Forms tab in your WordPress admin dashboard, and hit New Form. Use the visual editor to create your form. Some of the most commonly used items are built right in – things like name, address, email, phone, etc. If you don’t see it, you can *easily* add it.

What about data validation?

Are you serious? Gravity Forms has that covered. Your customer won’t be able to enter “Giant Dog” in the phone number field – it will throw a friendly error.

Dropdowns, multiple chioce, file uploads, captcha, multiple choice, if it can go in a web form, it’s in Gravity Forms. Tons of stuff I’ll probably never use, too, but it’s there if I need it.

All your data saved
Sure, every time a form is submitted, you get an email, which is the way it should work. Gravity Forms goes a step further, and stores every form submission in your WordPress database. No worries if you accidentally delete an email for a customer order – just log in to WordPress and get the information you need.

The catch
What, you thought it was going to be free? Not for all this functionality. There are three pricing levels : $39 for a single site, $99 for multiple sites, and $199 for the developer option. I’ll admit it – I flinched, probably just like you are right now. Two hundred bucks for a WordPress plugin? WordPress is free, for crying out loud.

Then I thought about the time.

Just a few hours saved from coding forms, and Gravity Forms pays for itself. If you have multiple sites, you’re talking about many hours saved, much frustration saved, and more time that you can spend working and being productive. Gravity Forms is cheap for what it does.

I can talk all day long about how much I like Gravity Forms, but the best thing I can say is this: I use Gravity Forms on GL3 Media. Every single form you see on this site is powered by Gravity Forms. If I didn’t think it was the best solution available, I wouldn’t recommend it, and I certainly wouldn’t use it.

Start with the $39 single site license if you’re having doubts. Once you fall in love with it, you can upgrade to a multi-site or developer license for a reduced price.

I’ve always been a fan of keeping WordPress plugins to a minimum. Don’t get me wrong – there are some plugins that I just can’t live without – I even have a great list of recommended WordPress plugins that I install on every single custom blog setup that I do. Fortunately, with the Thesis framework that I’m so fond of, a lot of plugin functionality is built right in. That means I can reduce the number of plugins needed, yet retain the same features.

Take the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin. A fantastic plugin that lets you add Google Analytics tracking code, and thus track your visitors. It’s simple, functional, and written well. However, I’ve just removed it from my recommended WordPress plugins. Why? Thesis allows you to install Analytics tracking code right from the Thesis options panel.

See the Footer Scripts box highlighted in the screenshot above? Paste your Google Analytics tracking code in that box, and you’re done. No plugin to worry about, and no plugin updates. If any bugs need fixing, they’ll be taken care of along with the Thesis updates. In other words, it’s set once, and you never have to concern yourself with it again. With all the challenges and demands on our time, doesn’t that just make sense?

Sure, it’s 2010, and all the cool businesses have a website. Many of those websites even offer products and services for sale. But your business is doing just fine, you say.

Is it?

I’ll be very clear when I say this.

Every business needs a website. Every single one.

If you’re doing business in 2010, you absolutely must have a website. Not only that, you must have a professional looking website. Your website must be informative, and it must also drive new business.

You might be doing okay right now. In business, “doing okay” is really just a nice term for “about to fail.” To succeed in the long term, you must be able to move forward. You must be able to get new prospects and new customers. The only way to really do that today is with a solid web presence.

Having a well-designed website is like having your best salesperson prospecting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your customers can learn about your company on their schedule. Fortunately it costs a lot less than paying a 24/7 sales staff.

And these days, you don’t have to know any of the technical stuff to get up and running. I can setup your website for you, from start to finish. Don’t worry about that whole “blog” thing if you’re iffy about it. WordPress and Thesis (the platform I use to setup your website) make for a great “regular” website, too.

The folks over at Automattic have released an update to WordPress – version 2.9 . Since there are security updates included ( along with some new functionality ), it’s important to get updated right away. And don’t worry, Thesis 1.6 works just fine with the new version of WordPress.

So take a few minutes, and download WordPress 2.9 now. Or, if you’re lazy, you can always go into your WordPress dashboard, click on Tools, and Upgrade. Yeah, it’s that easy.