Wow! I never thought I would get the time to do this, but I finally have – after 5th customization I have done for a client who wanted Thesis. At first, it was a pain to learn all of the hooks. I know how to code and I know WordPress. (You would think after being neck deep in it for about 7 years now.)

However, I was not impressed. I could care less that Thesis is geared for SEO. After all the awesome people in the blog community sharing how to make your site more SEO-friendly, plus the fact WordPress already comes SEO friendly out of the box, it was a no brainer. . . do not waste money when you can do it yourself or get a theme from another company that gives more flexibility on how you can customize your theme.

After looking at the Thesis Showcase, even you would not be impressed. The sites do not have much difference in design and seem cookie-cutter. Unfortunately, FamousBloggers.net has not been added to the showcase as it goes far beyond what has been featured there. If more sites were shown to be of the same calibur as FamousBloggers.net, then I think people would be inspired to try more. The few skins out there are nice, but do not demonstrate much flexibility. And the premium skins – not much there either.

I admire a lot of people who have taken the time to put together a marketable product for WordPress users because it means they care and know how rough it is when you just want to put a site up, but do not know how to. I want to see Chris Pearson design the Thesis site itself in a way that is inspiring for other developers and designers to strive to meet and beat. I admire that he put the time, imagination, knowledge, and money into building Thesis, but there is so much that could be done than delivering a product and just giving a forum and the bare minimum on tutorials.

Is the WordPress community itself like that? – NO WAY!!!

Of course there are plenty of sites that offer tutorials for Thesis, but they do not reach the depth that designers and developers who want to go that extra step. In a way it is both sad and disappointing.

Unfortunately, because of social media and branding, people are looking for more than just SEO, Usability/Accessibility, and Support. They are looking to have a unique presence online.

You can get an awesome theme at Themeforest for $27-$50 and the developer will even answer your questions. There are lots of free themes in the WordPress theme directory that you can even change to suit your own needs.

I am not totally writing Thesis off. For anyone who will sit and read any of the tutorials available out there on Thesis, great – it is for you. For those wanting a more dynamic website, go elsewhere, especially if you are a business or an individual trying to brand yourself properly without having the “blog” feel.

I will be offering some free Thesis “skins” in the future here at WPAddict.net, but I am focusing on more about putting together a decent theme to offer for free that can be a blog and a dynamic site.

I know there may be people responding who are Thesis users and that is fine. I am not bashing Thesis, but asking you as users to strive to reach beyond the cookie cutter and rock your site out so it looks better than the other Thesis themes out there.

Your thoughts?

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