If you’re a self-hosted WordPress user, you know there are so many themes out there that it can get overwhelming sometimes. I’ve met a lot of people who find random cute WP themes only to find that they’re super glitchy and hard to customize. That’s always frustrating especially if themes were pricy.
As I mentioned in last week’s post on web hosting, when I moved to WordPress, I learned a lot of new vocab. After doing a little research, I found that I needed a framework (parent theme) and a child theme. The framework theme acts as the backbone of a website, so when WordPress does its random updates, your design remains intact. The child theme is where you can make a lot of fun customizations with CSS.
Genesis is a framework theme with tons of beautiful child themes to choose from. When I saw that Genesis was the top recommended framework theme from WordPress itself, I went ahead and made the investment. Since then I have learned how to customize Genesis from the inside out. Angela and I both use Genesis as a framework and absolutely love how flexible it is. Read on to learn why we think Genesis is amazing for bloggers, biz owners, and creative entrepreneurs of all kinds.
Why We Love the Genesis Framework
Genesis makes it easy for non-coders to have beautiful websites. In order to use Genesis themes, you have to have a parent theme (the Genesis Framework) and a child theme of your choice. There are thousands of Genesis child themes out there for every type of blogger and biz owner. Lately I’ve been working with the Foodie Pro child theme a lot (any food bloggers out there?!) and it’s beautiful. I also love the clean setup of Modern Studio Pro.
The Genesis Framework and all child themes from Studiopress are mobile responsive. And tablet responsive, and all of that. As you probably know, everyone’s gotta get on the responsive train now with Google’s new guidelines. Genesis makes it really easy to format your site for all screen sizes.
Genesis has its own special plugins to make your site seamless. With Genesis, you can mess with codes if you want or you can simply use plugins to change up your layout, add widget areas, etc. Some of my favorite plugins are Genesis Title Toggle, Genesis Simple Edits, and Simple Social Icons.
Developers can create and sell child themes using the Genesis Framework. This is a really cool perk of Genesis if it’s done right. If you are willing to take the time to seriously customize a child theme created from the Genesis Framework, you’ll gain credibility and bloggers will definitely be interested in what you have to offer. Click here to learn more about “the rules”.
There are endless tutorials out there for Genesis users. Studiopress, the creators of Genesis have a huge library of amazing tutorials on their website. They’ll teach you all about the basic structure of your theme, as well as how to customize each section. Another resource I love is Sridhar Katakam’s website. I have a monthly subscription to his content and I always find answers to all of my random Genesis-related questions. It’s so worth the $10/month for me because I end up using at least a few tutorials each month for different clients. I also love that so many bloggers within my niche use Genesis. I’ve found a lot of awesome tutorials via Bloglovin’ and Pinterest!
Do you use the Genesis Framework, or are you interested in using it? I always love seeing how people customize their blogs and websites with it. If you have any other recommendations or if you make your own themes, please share!
PS – This is not a sponsored post, but it does include affiliate links. Also, shameless plug – I design and develop WordPress sites using the Genesis Framework through my biz, Earl Grey Creative! If you’re interested in working together on a pretty new design, send on over an email. :)
Sarah Noel says
Great post! I’m considering moving from Blogger to WordPress, so this is perfectly timely. Do you need to know code to customize your Genesis theme or just graphic design? Can you develop a home page with it (that’s not your blog)?
Sarah Noel | http://www.sarahsmirks.com
Jennifer says
Hey Sarah! No you don’t really need to know code. For the most part, Genesis child themes allow you to choose different colors, upload your header, etc. without coding. Sometimes coding is needed to make big customizations but Studiopress provides code snippets that you can just copy and paste. :) And yes! You can just create a static homepage.
Cristina says
I love Genesis so much! I actually spent the day writing about it. After using it for about a year, I can’t go back to building sites from scratch. I used to worry so much about the quality of my code, but Genesis makes my work so much easier and I can focus on design.
And I’m also a bit obsessed with the Foodie Pro theme, though I haven’t bought it yet. I’m afraid I will use it for all my clients.
Jennifer says
I feel the same way about Foodie! I’ve only used it for clients who have already purchased it but yeah, if I bought it I’d probably use it for every project. Love how clean and versatile it is. :)
Gina says
Excellent post! I LOVE Genesis- especially those specific plugins for it! Thanks for sharing more about it :)
Jennifer says
Thanks Gina! Isn’t Genesis the best?! I’m always discovering new cool things about it. :)
Monica says
I purchased Genesis framework a few months ago but still cannot get it all. I guess it’s because I’ve never used child themes before and it’s just odd to me to get used to it. It’s a whole new designing process to me. But hopefully, one day I’ll be confident enough to work with it.
Lovely Witches says
Hey! I’m currently looking at moving from Blogger to WordPress so this is all new to me. If I were to buy Genesis, would I then have to buy a child theme or could I make my own (with very minimal coding knowledge)?
Jennifer says
Hi there! Genesis comes with a sample child theme that is free and can be customized however you’d like. It does require coding knowledge, but the StudioPress website is full of tutorials. Otherwise you’d have to buy a child theme separately or have one designed. Hope that helps! :)