Anyone who has read our blog over the years knows that we love the Flexsqueeze theme…and that hasn’t changed. We’ve been using it for years and think it is awesome and we will continue to recommend it, particularly to newbies because it makes changing and editing a theme super simple. It’s extremely powerful and has some amazing features.
However, just lately we have been using the Genesis Framework by Studiopress on one of our other sites and have started to get a real liking for it. It’s not as user friendly as the Flexsqueeze theme in terms of making changes to a site but it looks really clean and we like it.
We’ve been having problems with this site for some time now. For some reason it seems to crash frequently and Hostgator keeps shutting the site down because they tell us it is using too many resources. So thats when we decided to upload the Genesis Framework because it is very lightweight (or so they say), so hopefully it will speed things up a bit.
Speaking of Hostgator shutting down the site, the last time they did it, they forgot to put it back up again. So for a few weeks this site was gone completely. We thought it was up, because they had given us access to the site in order to make changes but no one else could see it. We didn’t realize until one of our readers emailed us about it.
We moved from Bluehost to Hostgator in June because we thought that the problems of our site crashing was a Bluehost problem. But that wasn’t the case…the site still crashed with Hostgator. The only difference between the two is that Bluehost didn’t shut down our site – but Hostgator did.
Either way, there is something wrong with this site to make it repeatedly crash, so we uploaded the Genesis framework, not that there is anything to suggest that the theme was the problem, and we have also removed a multitude of plugins. We’ve had this site since 2008 and over that time have uploaded a lot of different plugins, some we didn’t even know if we needed anymore but were too afraid to remove in case they actually did something on the site. So hopefully this will do the trick.
What is the Genesis Framework?
The Genesis framework is essentially a WordPress theme – or the framework of a WordPress theme. Actually it’s both. It can work as a theme on it’s own, although it is pretty basic. So what you need is a Child Theme to go with it. The framework, in the words of the Studiopress team “…acts as a design, security and SEO foundation for your website.” and the child theme is the “pure design element that rests on top of the framework”. It’s what makes it look pretty.
The child theme we use for this website is the Lifestyle Theme. I like it. It’s clean and it can work for any niche. It’s also quite easy to change the color of the theme. They give you a number of different options in the theme settings including teal, blue, charcoal, grey, green, pink, purple, tan and yellow.
How Does it Work?
In order to get the Genesis themes working, both the Genesis framework and a Child Theme need to be uploaded to the Themes section of a WordPress blog. Once both are uploaded it’s the child theme that needs to be activated.
Layouts
You can change the layout of the site pretty easily with Genesis. It comes with a number of default layouts that you can apply to the entire site under the Theme Settings section. Plus you can also change the layout for each individual post or page if you like.
Using Hooks
What’s my opinion on hooks?…they’re great if you know what you are doing but not that easy if you don’t. Hooks are what some themes use to allow you to add content to certain parts of the theme that you may not have had the ability to do with a regular theme. For example, if I wanted to add a text box at the end of every post I could do that with a hook. Or I could add a content area just under my header that appears on every page of my site, or just on one page only.
What makes using Hooks a lot easier is a free plugin called Genesis Simple Hooks. It’s a must if you have a Genesis theme.
Everything Just Seems to Work
My favourite thing about Genesis is that everything just seems to work with it. For example, you see the Amazonian Profit Plan image in the sidebar?…that is a text widget and it has some code in there with a link to the image so that it all shows up. Now all I did when we upgraded to the Genesis theme was put that old code back in. I was expecting the image to be too big for the sidebar and I’d have to tweak it to fit…but I didn’t have to do a thing. It just went in and adjusted it all to fit.
It all just seems to look good without much effort.
What I didn’t like was the default font. It’s way too small and a strain on the eyes to read so we upped the font size for both the paragraph text and the post titles. We had to do that in the stylesheet which brings me to another point that if we are comparing this theme to the Flexsqueeze theme in terms of ease of use, I would go with Flexsqueeze every time. If I want to change the font in a Flexsqueeze theme I don’t have to look at any code. I just click a tab and type in the size of the font and it’s done.
Other Features
- Mobile Responsive – This is pretty much a necessity these days. You want your site to look good on any device.
- HTML5 Ready – HTML is the code used to create websites and it keeps evolving and changing. HTML5 is the next revision and the Genesis theme is ready for it.
- Schema Microdata – You would have seen schema when you have done a search in Google. Those search results that show a video or author thumbnail are examples of schema. Now I’m still researching this bit but from my basic understanding it seems that you have to do a bit of work first to get this going.
- Child Themes – The beauty of the Genesis framework is there are a lot of different themes to choose from. As we mentioned previously, we went with the Lifestyle Theme but there are plenty of others. If you have multiple websites, then you might even want to invest in their unlimited pack which includes every theme they make plus any new ones added in the future. We are considering this ourselves.
- Unlimited websites and developer license – What I really love about Genesis themes are that you can use them on as many websites as you like. There is no extra cost for this. Plus, if you are a developer and want to create websites for others, you don’t need to buy a developers license.
- Good code – I’ve seen a lot of reviews for this theme and many mention how well written the code is. They try to keep the theme as lightweight as possible to make it very quick and responsive.
- SEO Settings – Genesis includes it’s own SEO settings but if you have another SEO plugin of some sort, it will automatically turn them off to allow your other plugin to work.
Our Final Word
This is an excellent theme and one we would highly recommend. I’m loving it more and more. However, if you aren’t comfortable with code and are looking for something super simple to use then go with the Flexsqueeze theme. Don’t get me wrong, the Genesis Framework is simple to use straight out of the box but if you want to start making changes and you have never played with your stylesheet or functions.php or any of those things then you might struggle until you become familiar with the workings of the theme.
I totally agree with using Genesis. I have been using this on several sites and it is more lightweight and the support for these themes are great too. If you get stuck someone in the forum or in support will help you sort it out.
I’ve only just signed up to the forum. I’m sure I’ll be using it over the next few days. I am still making changes to the site.
I have been using the Genesis Framework for a few months now. And I own several of the themese. If you really want to make life easier for you then head over to Cobalt Themes and pick up a copy of the Genesis Extender Plugin. It is $49 and it is unbelievable. It allows you to change everything on your theme colors, fonts, widgets. Without knowing any CSS or code. It evens has a CSS Wizard built in so you don’t need to know CSS.
Think FlexSqueeze on steroids. I am not an affiliate just a happy customer. Here is the link – there are several videos on the site that explain everything. For the time that this has saved me it has more than paid for itself. Super easy to use.
http://cobaltapps.com/downloads/genesis-extender-plugin/
I’ve been looking at that Charles but I think you just sold me on it. Thanks!
Thanks for posting that Charles. That is a super hot tip. I was aware of Dynamik, but not Extender which is perfect for someone who already has a Genesis theme installed and not building from scratch.
I went ahead and purchased the plugin. I started by using it to remove the title from one of our pages. It’s going to come in handy.
Hii
Well written article….i support genesis….genesis has improved the blogging arena…thanks for the article.
I’m inclined to agree. After researching Genesis for this article I realised just how good this theme really is.
so sorry to butt in, I am just here to test commentluv
No problem Andy…test away!!
I had similar problems with hostgator…they restricted access to the site to certain ip addresses because it was using too many resources. I added the WP Super Cache plugin and it seemed to fix the problem. I’ve been looking at getting a premium theme so this is food for thought.
I had to put the WP Super Cache plugin on as well at Hostgatores request. I think it has helped.
I personally preferred the host site GoDaddy
I’ve actually heard a lot of negative reviews for Godaddy hosting. Mind you, you see a lot of negative reviews for most hosting companies so that’s not saying much.
Hey Paula!
Welcome to the Genesis Club :). I have been in love with them approximately 6 months now – I switched my entire portfolio of websites (cca 20) to their design (plus some customization of course).
What I cannot figure is why you don’t switch your hosting provider. Hostgator is fine and all but if you drive your site as a business, you should treat it as well. There are professional solutions out there like WP Engine or Synthesis, which has even the same company behind as Genesis Framework.
I was actually looking at Synthesis the other day. It does look good. I didn’t know about Wp Engine but they are very similar to Synthesis. Might have to do a bit of comparison research. Thanks for the tip.
Hey Paula,
I can vouch for WP Engine. I have my Amazon authority there. The best support I have ever seen. They speed up my site by over 200%!! And the thing that is the best, they vouch the security in the manner that they will restore the site if it ever gets hacked.
What customers dont like about them is that they run so tight security that they dont allow some plugins to be installed.
That can be a deal breaker for some. Do they actually state what plugins they don’t allow? Most likely automated plugins for one.
I took your advice and moved to WP Engine. Will be writing a blog post about it.
Sure they do,
Disallowed plugins. Another thing I like about them is that you can forget about cache and backup plugins, since they do it :).
p.s. You might want to consider changing favicon, since it is universal for Genesis framework :).
I just Googled how to remove the favicon in Genesis so will be doing that tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.
And thanks for the link to the plugins. There’s nothing there that I would desperately need to have anyway so not a deal breaker for me.
nice article genesis is great theme work. i have a question how to remove genesis fevicon “G”?
I just changed mine now using the instructions at the link below. Not sure if it has worked yet. Apparently it can take some time to show up.
http://www.techjay.com/2013/01/how-to-add-a-favicon-on-your-genesis-child-theme.html
Two thumbs up for Genesis from me.
“Genesis” is awesome!
And Thanks to Paula for sharing this amazing post! :D
I liking it more and more every day.
Genesis definitely is a super-awesome framework. I moved to the same an year back on a couple of my blogs. However, there are some challenges as well. Earlier, I could blindly change a single.php or index.php blindly and see my changes asap but here there’s a steep learning curve to use hooks. Second issue is that in order to have a very unique looking website, you need to spend a lot of time or hire someone. Most genesis based sites just shout out ‘I am Genesis’ without major changes in its user interface :-)
I agree with you there…it’s definitely not that easy to use hooks which is why I use the Genesis Extender plugin but even then you still need to be a little savvy about what you are doing.
Genesis is one of the best frameworks out there. They offer exceptional support. Even though it requires a bit time to learn the framework at the beginning, it is a great investment of time and money.
Yes, probably not a good theme for a complete newbie unless you don’t want to change anything.
Hi Paula,
I haven’t been on your blog in a while, dealing with Google Panda issues, and thankfully have recovered nicely. Anyway, I really like your new Genesis theme on your site. It’s clean and modern.
Regards, Ken
Good to hear from you Ken.
I definitely am quite taken with the Genesis theme. We use it on any new sites we create now.
Great post! I purchased Genesis a few weeks ago and have moved exclusively to building Genesis Child themes. I was spending a few days to convert PSD to WordPress but now it takes a few hours. I definitely recommend this framework.
We’ve been using them for a while now and ended up buy the Developer pack so we could download all the themes. We are slowly moving each of our old sites over to the Genesis theme.
I must say its not a bad look. Not too flashy but a structure nice look. It took me a while of going through themes to find the right one for me and once i saw it i knew i struck gold!!
I know what you mean. We decided to buy the complete theme pack because although I like this Lifestyle theme, for some of our other sites, it just didn’t work as well.
Hello paula ! It’s a long time to visit your site. When I opened it, I was like “am I in some wrong place?” then I read this post. You have chosen it for your convenience and it has awesome features indeed. But I think previous theme was your identity and that was playing the role of your place. Anyhow this is also cool one and definitely easy to use.
Bluehost and Hostgator are part of the same family…they are brother and sister under the same corporation. Moving from one to the other will not change anything. Thank goodness you are with another hosting provider.
I am a person who switches from this to that, which I am looking to a theme to put me into satisfaction and I’m going to try this. Hope it finally does on me :D