Genesis Framework from StudioPress

In February of 2010, the Genesis Framework from StudioPress was released, and I’ve been slowly starting to migrate over to using their stuff since it came out. Brian Gardner is the Founder of StudioPress and a really great guy. I’ve found the StudioPress/Genesis Framework community to be by far the most helpful and creative group out there. It also helps that some of my local design friends (Dave Bonds, Nicole Nicolay, Reggie Nicolay, Chad Johnson, Agent Evolution folks) are all huge supporters of Genesis and work regularly with Brian on cool projects like AgentPress.

Genesis is a Framework and there are a ton of Child Themes designed by StudioPress available, and even more that are now beginning to be designed and sold by other designers. Perhaps it was because I had a head-start understanding frameworks from using Thesis, but I found the switch to Genesis to be extremely user-friendly, and the community was always there for any questions I had. I started using Genesis for some Cleave Design projects, and was really happy how they turned out. You can see two examples of Genesis powered sites here: Presbymergent (using the Executive Child Theme) and D’Oliva Olive Oil (using the Enterprise Child Theme). I also designed my new Dazed Dad blog using Genesis and the Agency Child Theme.

In addition to the amazing community, the plethora of really professionally designed child themes and the ease of customizing Genesis, one of the best things for someone who designs/runs a lot of sites is the 1-click upgrades. I honestly have no idea why Thesis hasn’t implemented this, but with the 1-click upgrade of Genesis, I’m not sure why anyone who is in charge of keeping a lot of sites updated would NOT choose to work with the Genesis Framework.

What are you waiting for?

So – if you’re looking for a really amazing WordPress community of designers and coders to work with, you should head on over to StudioPress right now and pick up a copy of the Genesis Framework. And please, don’t take only my word for it. Mashable is already calling Genesis the successor to Thesis, and it’s been interesting to see folks who have switched over recently, particularly from Thesis. Brian Clark from CopyBlogger is now using Genesis and obviously supports Brian and the crew. And another long-time Thesis user, social media guru Chris Brogan, switched over to Genesis and talks a little about it here.

If you’re looking for a new theme or framework, I can’t recommend StudioPress and the Genesis Framework enough. Great stuff for a really great value – and they have a StudioPress Affiliate Program that you can join to make a little money as well.