I’ve been a loyal Thesis theme user for the past few years (read my original Thesis Theme review here), using the framework for most of my WordPress sites. I’ve found it to be super flexible, great for SEO, and well coded so that it always loads super fast.  It has helped me to grow from a blogger with a few page views here and there, to where I’m now making a second income from my sites. In a few words, Thesis Theme is awesome for beginning and experienced bloggers alike, and you wont’ regret using it!

Up until this newest release one of my few complaints about Thesis was that it wasn’t always the easiest to customize the theme unless you were ready to dig into the weeds of CSS and PHP coding.  I am the first to admit that without the amazing support forums that Thesis has (very responsive helpful forums by the way), I would have been lost many times. I’m not a coder, even if I pretend to be every once in a while.   I’ve been hoping for a while now that with their newest version the folks at Thesis would make the theme more accessible to average folks, allowing people to make more meaningful CSS and layout changes without digging into the code.

Now that Thesis 2.0 has launched it appears that they have done just that.  Thesis has been updated to the next generation making the theme responsive to different sizes and devices, making it easier for the average user to make changes to the design, and even allowing dummies like me to create their own custom page templates. Awesome!

Thesis 2.0 Is Now Here. Here’s What To Expect

Thesis 2.0 has just launched today, October 1st 2012, and it is a light years jump forward for new and old users alike. Here are just a few of the things you’ll find in the new version of Thesis.

Setup A Custom 404 Page

Having a great and useful 404 page for your site is a must.  With the older versions of Thesis you could create a custom 404 page if you wanted, but it would end up requiring a bit of PHP code, and wasn’t exactly for novice users. I’ve actually been using a custom 404 page using a plugin from a third party.

The new custom 404 pages that Thesis will now allow you to setup will mean that I can get rid of that plugin, and start using the one built into Thesis.  It will also require zero coding on my part since it’s part of the in-built functionality.

New Landing Pages And Other Custom Layouts

I’ve used landing pages in a couple of different spots on my site for selling an ebook that I created, as well as for selling products, or just having a page to get people to sign up for a mailing list.  Creating those pages in the past wasn’t impossible, there were plenty of tutorials showing you how to do it, but it wasn’t easy.  In fact, it took me hours to come up with mine, test it, and get it working. To be honest, it still doesn’t work 100% correct.  With the new Thesis 2.0 that should all be fixed. I’ll be able to create custom templates for any of my posts or pages using their easy template editor, that won’t necessitate you know a bunch of CSS or PHP code.  Love it!

So you want to have one page have  a content area on the left and a sidebar on the right? Set it up in the template editor. Have another page with no sidebars, but a different footer? Set it up!

Support For Skins For Thesis

Skins were available for Thesis before the new version launched today, but it wasn’t always an easy proposition to get them working.  With 2.0 Thesis will now fully support setting up skins within the interface, allowing you to easily switch to a new design or look with a minimum of fuss. You can then even modify skins using the skin editor in order to tweak it and get it just right.

Boxes – Thesis Add-Ons

In past versions of Thesis you were able to do some basic customizations in the Thesis design options area, but making more in depth customizations to add something to your pages may require you to add things your custom_functions.php and custom.css files.  In other words, a little beyond most beginning users. With Thesis boxes you can add an array of pre-built functionality with the new boxes to the site, without a bunch of code.  I’ll have to explore this more and see some more of what you can actually do, but it does seem promising.

CSS Packages To Customize Your Site

In the past if you wanted to customize the way your site looks or behaves you would often end up going into your custom.css files and making changes the CSS code.  I’ve learned a lot about how it works, but even with all that I’m still no CSS expert.  I usually have to go to another site and find a tutorial or something else to get the code I need.

So I was happy to hear about the new updated Thesis packages, which will basically allow the average non-techie blogger to customize Thesis to their liking without ever touching a bit of CSS code. There will now be pre-built custom CSS packages provided by DIY Themes, and you can then customize them to your liking using the built in Thesis menus and CSS package editor.  Change the fonts, sizes, colors and more of your headings, titles, sidebar, borders, etc.

Not only will it be easier to edit your CSS now, but Thesis will also be releasing a bunch of CSS packages over the next year, I believe for free. Definitely a plus!

Buy It Now!

Thesis 2.0 is launching today, October 1st, 2012, and the old price will remain for at least a short time according to Chris Pearson (the mastermind behind Thesis).

It’s official. Thesis 2 arrives on October 1, 2012. Shortly after launch, we’re going to be changing our pricing structure and benefits packages to nail down the value that we provide.

So if you were hoping to buy Thesis anyway, you’ll want to jump in quick before the price goes up. If the rumors are correct the Developer’s license (to use Thesis on unlimited sites) will go up from  $164, to $197.  For a single site personal license, will go up from $87 as well.  So buy it now before it’s too late!  Click on the button below for more details or to buy!