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.

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.

When you’re a web designer, the most important people in the world are your clients. The second most important are your potential clients. Without a steady stream of clients, you won’t earn a living. Your client base tends to also be a huge source of frustration. Even for the most seasoned web design veterans, clients can absolutely drive you nuts. Here’s the thing, though: it doesn’t need to be that way.

It’s not the clients, it’s you.

That’s right – just about all those frustrating things your clients do and say are your fault. There’s a better way to handle things. You can prepare your client for what to expect, so bad situations don’t come up.

My friend Naomi Niles wrote up a guide to help designers avoid these stressful situations. It’s called – you guessed it – A Smoother Web Design Process. Here’s who Naomi says this guide is for:

Web designers that are tired of having issues with clients all the time.
Web designers that find the web design process more stressful than it needs to be

If that’s you, and I can see you nodding your head, so I know it is you, you should pick up the guide. It’s available in PDF form, though you can print it out if that’s your thing. It only costs $7, which let’s face it – is nothing. Pony up the seven bucks and make your job easier.

Get the guide here.

Oh, just a side note before i forget. Naomi has an affiliate program set up for this guide. I could have signed up to get paid every time someone buys her guide through my link, but I didn’t. There’s no financial incentive for me here. Pick up the guide for a pittance, and start handling your clients better.

This week I read a brilliant article by Hugh MacLeod, creator of the famous Gaping Void comics, entitled “Why You Shouldn’t Write for Other Writers.” The gist of the article is, if you write to appease other writers, you will fail. Miserably. Sure, other writers will praise your work to no end. But the customers, the people who are your real target, will not get it. They won’t like what you write. They won’t buy what you’re selling. And that my friends, just won’t do.

This logic works perfectly in the web development and design world.

When you’re creating a new site for a client, it’s important to remember what matters. Writing pristine, gorgeous code is a great goal to have. Clean code tends to make search engines a little happier, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to maintain. But if your entire focus is on writing brilliant code that other developers will tip their hat to, you’re going down the wrong path.

The same goes for the design aspect. Creating a design that impresses other designers is not necessarily the best choice. Other designers are not your client. They are not paying you, and they should not matter to you.

Your client matters. More importantly, your client’s customers matter.

Let that sink in. Your client is not the most important person when you’re creating a new website. The people who spend money with your client are. These are the folks who pay your client’s bills. They keep him in business, so he can hire people like you.

The site you design should target your client’s customer base, or desired customer base. The design should be clean, with a clear purpose. Navigation is supremely important – if a site is hard to get around, would-be customers will leave. A site should be, above all, easy to use. If a site sells something directly, it should be obvious. It should be easy to make a purchase. Contact information should be readily available, in case a potential customer wants more information.

Usability matters more than anything else. Keep this in mind before you fall into the trap of designing for people who don’t matter.

To keep track of web designs that I like, I’ve set up a very simple Posterous account. I know that I’ve written about the dangers of hosting a site with Posterous before, but I think Posterous is the best choice here.

For this site, aptly named GL3 Media’s Posterous, I post screenshots and a short blurb about designs that catch my eye. Posting is as simple as taking a quick screenshot, dragging it onto Mail.app , and writing a sentence or two with a link. It takes barely any time at all. That’s the main benefit of microblogging platforms like Posterous.

If Posterous decides to take away my site, I can live with that. Nothing of real importance to my business will be hosted there, after all. This is just a little project to keep track of designs I dig.

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.

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.

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.