i dont get genesis yet – help!

[robortsmith]

Hi,

I've bought genesis but still need convincing as to why!

I need to do some wordpress sites for various clients - i dont intend reselling themes.

so I'd rather start with a blank theme to build the clients sites around.

I know html / css etc and wonder if i'd be better to do templates from scratch? i have chris coyers digging into wordpress and theres little mention of frameworks and it seems much easier to manipulate the actual files in a child theme.

I don't yet "get" genesis.

is it for people who cant code or am I missing something? the reasons listed are

1) security - you can update the core without affecting child themes. how is this diff to normal child themes i can surely just update wordpress then?

2) seo - whats the diff between having genesis and just installing something like yoast?

3) security - if i'm updating everything is it any more secure than this?

can someone explain if genesis is the way forward to learn wordpress as it just seems v complicated to do simple things like altering layout that would take me 2 mins in html?

thanks!

[nutsandbolts]

The Genesis framework is a wonderful starting point for client websites. The problem with a completely custom theme is that it will eventually become outdated - as coding standards change, a WordPress update could break the custom theme. When you use Genesis, the framework is kept up to date, while your child theme is simply a skin that changes the way Genesis looks and behaves. That means your clients are getting a website that can always be updated and doesn't require a rebuild every time a new feature becomes popular.

To answer your questions, yes, a child theme alongside any other parent theme can typically withstand updates to WordPress or to the parent theme. However, as I mentioned, if the developer of the theme stops updating the parent, updates to the WordPress core could break the theme in the future. Because Genesis is widely used and supported by a large company, it's unlikely that it will stop being supported.

You can install Yoast for SEO on any site, including a site running Genesis. But since Genesis has SEO settings built in, a plugin isn't necessary unless that's just your preference.

Genesis is considered very secure as the code has been reviewed by Mark Jaquith, one of the developers of WordPress, to be sure it is compliant with web standards as well as with WordPress itself. Anyone can create a free theme and stick it in the WordPress repository, but that doesn't mean the theme is safe or even that it's being maintained. Genesis is constantly reviewed to be sure that users are receiving the best possible experience and themes that are free of vulnerabilities.

I understand where you're coming from - I built static HTML sites for years and the transition to WordPress was tough. I hated it for the first year or two because HTML was so much faster and easier for me. But as I've become more comfortable with PHP and with WordPress, I would never go back to using HTML again, especially when it comes to mobile responsive design and development.

It takes some time to adapt to the Genesis way of doing things - you'll be primarily working with PHP functions and CSS when building a child theme or customizing an existing one. But once you learn the framework and build a few sites with it, you'll see why it's great and saves so much time.

I hope that helps but please let me know if you have other questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

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Andrea Whitmer, Owner/Developer, Nuts and Bolts Media
I provide development and training services for designers • Find me on Twitter and Google+

[robortsmith]

thats great thanks.

re the updates if i'm just creating my own theme from standard wordpress is that in effect a child theme so the main wordpress would get updated and my theme would get updated. or is that a parent theme. bit confused as basically saying i dont want to buy a theme but want to create a site from scratch. if this is a case is genesis still best rather than creating it from basic wordpress?

thanks

[nutsandbolts]

If you are creating a completely from-scratch theme (meaning you aren't using anything as a base but are writing all the code), that is considered a parent theme. WordPress updates shouldn't break it unless your code becomes deprecated in future versions of WordPress. But if you intend to customize the theme as far as colors, etc. go for different clients, you'd want to create a child theme to hold all the customizations.

But if you're building a theme based on one of the default WordPress themes (Twenty Twelve, Twenty Fourteen, etc.) that's considered a child theme and should have its own folder, files, etc. Hopefully that makes sense.

---

Andrea Whitmer, Owner/Developer, Nuts and Bolts Media
I provide development and training services for designers • Find me on Twitter and Google+

[Andrea Rennick]

bit confused as basically saying i dont want to buy a theme but want to create a site from scratch. if this is a case is genesis still best rather than creating it from basic wordpress?

Basic WordPress still needs an activate theme. You cannot have a WordPress site with no theme.

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[robortsmith]

it would have a theme though - the theme i create from scratch. how would updating this be any different to a child theme in genesis? still bit confused what its giving me sorry!

[Susan]

I’ve bought genesis but still need convincing as to why!

I guess I'm confused. You bought a product, but you need to be convinced as to why you bought it? Only you can make the final determination as to why you bought it. 😉

[robortsmith]

ha fair point! i feel i need it but still not sure why!

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