Blogging frame works is fast becoming a must have for bloggers who runs WordPress in particular but do we really need them? In this article we will look at the idea of using a theme frame work for your WordPress blog. There are three popular frame works Thesis, Hybrid and Genesis of which I have used at some point but now as you are all aware I am using Thesis theme frame work for quite some time and finding it simpler by the day. First of all I must say that this topic is a bit thought provoking and I am no expert here it is a matter of my sole opinion.
The big question here is do we really need a theme frame work? Yes and no is the best answer I would give and I will explain my reason in a moment but let’s look at what actually is a framework. For the sole purpose of this post we will talk about Thesis reason been it is one if not the most popular framework around. There are others like catalyst, Gantry just to name a few. So what is a framework? It is just a structure a bare bone that forms the base. That you may say is not a straight forward explanation well according to the thesis team a thesis framework is The Thesis Theme framework is a premium template system for WordPress that is designed to serve as the rock-solid foundation beneath any kind of website.That is a better explanation
Now back to the question in my opinion and this is just my opinion yes we need a framework to form the base of our website, why? It is like building a house you need a foundation them you add the rest of the walls and columns. For any blogger like me who has a long term plan for his or her blog having this framework to build on is what makes customizing your blog easier. This blog is powered by WordPress backup by Thesis framework and a blog skin from Thesis awesome, this skin is personalize to my taste.
If your blog is simple and you don’t feel the need for any theme framework then so be it choosing a theme framework should be a matter of personal choice by looking at the pros and cons not by following other bloggers. Theme framework does not come cheap.
What does a framework like Thesis do for your blog? From my personal point of view it does have its advantages like reducing some plug-in because of it’s built in features example Seo. One thing is that because of the hype about Thesis it gives your blog a form of pro status as it is seen as the framework of choice by the big guns in blogging however the balance of power seems to be shifting towards Genesis will this ever happen? Not sure but it will comes down to two things a matter of personal choice and features. I must say I am an affiliate of Thesis not trying to sell anything here but I would highly recommend it. Still not convince that we need a framework share your thoughts.
around 100 $ is not so expensive and the investment can give efficiency so I choose Framework
That price seems small but for most bloggers starting out it may seems a bit hard to buy a theme framework for that price i would not if i was a newbie. Thanks for your comment
I’ve read a ton of posts recently on frame works and I just haven’t been won over by any of them. Several of the blogs I read use Thesis as their frame work but I just don’t see what makes those blogs different from a regular WordPress blog. I feel like there are plug-ins for WordPress that allow you to implement any of the customizable features that a frame work can provide and the majority of them are free…And if you’re really desperate to have a frame work foundation why not try Joomla? As I’ve heard it’s just as customizable as WordPress and has a built in frame work (and it’s FREE!)…
Despite my reservations I might just have to look into some kind of free frame work anyway as there is so much buzz about them that I’m intrigued just to see what all the fuss is about!
You made a valuable point there WordPress has a theme called twenty ten which if you take a good look at the coding behind this theme it is actually a framework in its own right and i feel soon and very soon this is what most of will be using to create our themes
I think you hit the nail right on its head. If you are looking for a long term journey, I think it is best to use a FrameWork as it is not only search engine friendly, it is much easier to customize even if you don’t know that much of coding. The good thing about Thesis, for example is that you can not access the core code and thus is a “protection” to ensure that it is always working at its best. I love Thesis and reason why I use it.
That is one of the brilliant thing about Thesis it is fairly easy to customize and put your personal touch to and with the coding out of the way it becomes much simpler i am using it and loving it. Thanks for your input Ditesco
If you have money to give frameworks are a good idea because it can easy your life a lot. If you don’t have money then a simple theme or a theme designed by you it will be enough.
I think that is what puts off most of us the cost of these theme framework can be very expensive but after your blog has made some cash then you can buy a framework for your blog.
A thought provoking post :). No doubt Thesis is excellent regarding SEO but there are many blogs which are doing fine even without a good frame work.
That is true Shabnam we don’t necessary needs any framework for our blog and as you rightly said there are many blogs that do really well without a theme framework and as you have mentioed thesis does well when it comes to Seo but there are lots of plugin that can help with that.
Don’t know what to write? I haven’t yet been able to decide on migration to WordPress but honestly, it is there in my top priorities. Hopefully…very soon! About my thoughts on thesis, I’ve been hearing a lot on the same. Seems that it has taken blogosphere by storm. No doubt, it makes it look all beautiful and certainly, adds a host of features as compared to any other related framework. I have been observing it lately on some blogs like one on iblogzone.com and other on the3dtechnologies.com. Both blogs are hosted on WordPress and both do make use of two different but very popular frameworks, Thesis and Frugal. Now, I am not here to go into detail on these but yes, I agree…finally it is your own choice and convenience.
Planning to migrate to wordpress is good idea i really would love to see you running a wordpress blog Aswani howevever as you said it is not a priority but as you have said it is definately useful.
Really good writeup, should be extremely useful for all newbies out there like me!!..
Thanks for your participation and do hope that the newbie bloggers find useful content here Thanks for the comment
There are different frameworks available which make your life easier as they enable you with loads of options,hence making your blogging easier 🙂
That is true but for some bloggers frameworks are difficult to maintain i use thesis and tested other frameworks but for bloggers looking down the road it is good to use a framework
I think that is what puts off most of us the cost of these theme framework can be very expensive but after your blog has made some cash then you can buy a framework for your blog.
I donºt need and i donºt use frameworks,make my blog slow
If you have have the money using frameworks for your blog is recommeded. BUt to those who do not have sufficient money and just started blogging it is impractical to spend money for framework.
WordPress could be a good solution. It is light and has a great extensibility. Caching plugins do usually an excellent jobs, especially if you prefer static content, galleries and so on.
Frameworks provides a standard interface for collections that fosters software reuse and also provides algorithms to manipulate them.It provides useful data structures and algorithms that reduces programming effort due to which we need not to write them ourselves.It provides high-performance implementations of useful data structures and algorithms that increases the performance.