Thesis 2.0 Review

October 2, 2012 - Last Modified: October 2, 2012 by Hesham Zebida 9,804

Editor Rating
Rated 3.5 stars
Very Good

Thesis
Reviewed by: Hesham Zebida
Published on: October 2, 2012
Last modified: October 2, 2012

After a long wait, Thesis 2.0 came out. So, I thought while testing it out for the first time, I should share my thoughts about it in a detailed review. You can also read my other Thesis review for 1.8.5 that I’ve published a few months ago on the blog, so do you know the main differences between the old release vs the new Thesis 2.

FYI, you are reading the first Thesis 2.0 review on the web, I’ve checked and found a couple of reviews that has been written before the theme was released, I don’t know how, funny though! People are trying to sell you what they don’t know about! So, I decided to make this review very detailed, so expect a long read.

To start with this review, I decided to install Thesis 2 on a fresh WordPress installation, so then I can test it out and have some fun before getting into the bottom of it. I keep reminding myself that I have to upgrade all my thesis skins to work with the latest version of Thesis to support my happy clients.

So, that’s my goal now. However, I may not upgrade anything, I maybe decide to go with another approach!

For example keep developing the old version of the skins for Thesis 1.x, and develop new skins for Thesis 2, especially that DiyThemes team decided to keep developing both versions, so if they function differently, why bother?

That’s what I will discover now!

How to install Thesis 2.0

The installation process is pretty simple, just like any other WordPress theme. Yes, for the first time, you can install Thesis within the WordPress Themes uploader, then activate it. No FTP is required, neither the annoying file permissions change that is a must in Thesis 1.8.5, pretty cool.

However, I note that Thesis 2.0 show a blank page when you try to preview the theme before activating it. So, basically you can’t use the Live Preview to look before you leap! So, let’s go a head and activate Thesis 2.0

Here is what you get… Boom!

You will get a new website inside your dashboard 🙂 this is cool though, and I can see there is a new menu on the top with a few tabs, which make me think of a bunch of features. Also, I noticed that all sidebar admin menu items under Thesis has gone.

The only thing I don’t like is the “Click to get started!” button is not aligned from the top, and the notifications has no padding, small things, but didn’t expect them!

Anyways, let’s hit the “Click to get started!” button so we can read how to get started with Thesis 2 …

You will be taken to a new screen that show the progress of installation, that was super fast, and looks like the installation was a successful.

Now, let’s do the next step which obviously clicking on the “Return to Thesis” link, so let’s return to Thesis…

Once you click on that link, you will be taken back to the main Thesis dashboard, but now you can actually read the instructions on how to get started with the theme. Basically that page has all the basic that will help you get started with the theme, so make sure to go through it to the end.

Thesis Tips by Chris and Missieur

After a few clicks on the admin page, you will realize that Chris and Missieur are giving you some cool tips, introducing new Thesis functions, and even share some history lessons about Thesis. Actually, you will discover that Missieur knows a lot more than Chris!

I’ve never seen this before in any other theme options page, good to see you guys 🙂

Site Options →

Now… Let’s go through Thesis 2.0 settings starting from the Site options:

Thesis HTML Head

The Thesis HTML Head tab has everything related to the Head area of your site, it’s really cool, especially that you can drag and drop every single element to simply change its order. Also, you can make a shift + drag boxes to remove them from the page.

Here… I am wondering what’s the big deal about ordering the Head elements?! I really don’t know!

On the right side, you can verify your site in Google and Bing, plus get your Google authorship ready by adding a rel=”author” tag, this tag will show on every page of your site, it’s simply as entering your Google+ ID Number. But, what about multi-authors blogs? If you run a multi-author blog, then you can enter each author’s Google+ ID Number on their user profile page. Pretty neat and handy!

Thesis Tracking Scripts

This is the second item in the Site menu, it takes you to a page with a simple form to enter tracking codes to your site. You can enter your Google Analytics tracking ID and the theme will do the rest, and also you can add other tracking scripts.

Thesis 404 Page

Yet another new feature that allows you to use a custom 404 page. This can be done by simple create a new page (normal WordPress page), and add the custom message that you would like to show, then choose it in the 404 options. Very easy and straight forward, probably the best way to create a custom 404 for WordPress.

Home Page SEO

The last item in the Site menu is Home Page SEO options, it’s where you should put together an awesome home page title, description, and your main keywords.

Here… Make sure not to touch the Meta Robots options unless you know what you are doing, as the options page says it’s “not recommended”, I just can’t think of a reason why someone would set no-index to his/her home page, well… of course unless they want to create a retarded website!

I recommend you read this very detailed article about using Thesis SEO Options and Settings.

Thesis Skins →

Thesis 2.0 allows you to install more than one Skin at the same time, on same site, and switch between them, however it doesn’t look like you can actually run more than one Skin at the same time.

Select Skin : (Two Skins included)

Thesis 2.0 comes with two Skins, the Classic Skin (the usual Skin that we use on 1.8.5), and another Thesis Blank Skin (basically an empty page) so you can start designing your own blog the way you want it to be from scratch.

The cool thing here is you can preview a skin in the development mode as an administrator, and you can edit the Preview Skin, but your site visitors will continue to see the current Skin that is active on the site. This indeed gives a high level of flexibility while customizing your site.

Thesis Skin Editor

This probably the fanciest piece of code in Thesis 2.0, this may look weird and uncomfortable to some people at the first look, but I assure you, it will be your best friend in a few hours. I am talking here about drag and drop template builder that will save you a ton of valuable time, and gives you the guts to edit your pages’ layout anytime.

Do you remember Thesis Open Hook plugin?

The interesting thing here is Thesis Skin Editor killed Thesis Open Hook plugin with its drag and drop, easy to customize, Skin editor.

Remember when we used to add a lot of code snippets to the custom_functions.php file?

In Thesis 2.0, you will probably forget about almost everything you used to do with Thesis 1. Most of it can be done now with only a few clicks or drags/drops!

Now, there is a new HTML editor, a new CSS editor and a new images uploader that will help you forget about the old school of customizing a WordPress blog.

Thesis Boxes & Packages →

This is another story, and probably another level of development has been reached!

Imagine that you now can upload little snippets of code or CSS styles and add them to the flow of Thesis without having to use FTP client again in your life!

You can think of Thesis Boxes as WordPress plugins (this is only an example), and you can say that Thesis Packages are CSS styles that you can load directly via a traditional uploader, then once you have them running, you will have more functionality on the site.

The question now is, how to make boxes and packages?

Another cool thing about Boxes and Packages is that once Thesis developers and designers catch the idea, you will see tons of them produced in no time!

New Custom Meta Boxes →

Yes, a punch of changes has been made to the Thesis custom meta boxes, I really love these modification because it will reduce your jumping and scrolling, how? Everything set of options that was grouped in one meta box, it has been divided into separate meta boxes, so you can simply get rid of those that you don’t need to use by simply hiding them within the WordPress Screen Options, and keep your post editor page clean as possible.

For example, Thesis SEO options has been separated. The most important part for SEO now is Title Tag and Meta Description, search engines grab and display search results based on these two fields, Google no longer give weight to Meta Keywords like before, so you can go ahead and hide the Meta Keyword within the Screen Options. And, do the same thing with every single meta box that has a feature you don’t use or need.

An upload image button has been added to the Thesis Post Image and Thesis Thumbnail meta boxes, this small addition means a lot to me since I use Post Image on every single post I publish, and I got tired scrolling up and down the page, now.. no more scrolling, do the job in one place! These are the features I like because it increase the user experience.

And, guess what? You can create custom templates, then use them on any page or post:

For example, there is a custom template to create a landing page that comes with the theme, once you create more custom templates, it will show in the drop down menu under Thesis Skin Custom Templates meta box, so you can create several templates and choose from:

So good so far!

My Thoughts →

Alright, now that we’ve made a great tour, I’ve walked you though the main Thesis 2.0 features, and showed you how it ended as a totally different product than its older version, it became so clear that version 2.0 is different in almost everything -except the old hooks which I knew it has not been changed- anyways I’ve talked about a few things that I like about Thesis 2.0 in my review above, so here is my thoughts and personal opinion about other Thesis 2.0 stuff:

No documentation, no tutorials

When 2.0 was released, I didn’t find any documentation at all, so it maybe confusing, but that’s OK, there is one page with basic information to get you started, which I think is useful for those who are already familiar with the theme. But, if you are new to Thesis, then I have the feeling that you will be lost! So, I hope that my Thesis 2.0 review gives you a sense of what to expect, and explains to you how easy it is to install the theme and use it.

Too many notices when debug mode is enabled

I can’t stand that, both the back-end and front-end are full of notices, I can easily say that this isn’t a developer friendly release!

Drag and Drop doesn’t always mean easy to use!

The drag and drop in Thesis looks cool, but it’s not so clear. I know it’s not an easy job to build a template builder, I’ve seen many that really sucks. And, I was expecting this to be more easier to use. Anyways, I won’t judge it in my review, I will just let you tell me what you think about it if you had a chance to try it.

What I think is, most of developers expect people to love and start using their themes or plugins once they install it, they -mistakenly- think it “really” takes a few minutes to build a page with drag and drop type of interface! But this isn’t always the case. In real life, no matter how easy it is to use, you will find many people struggle!

No boxes, no packages

And, no one knows what exactly they are, or when we will get them!

Upgrade from 1.8.5 to 2.0

If you are thinking about it, then don’t!

I don’t understand this “Thesis Legacy Helper” plugin, this is the plugin that DIYThemes provided for those who want to upgrade from 1.8.5 to 2.0, the plugin description says:

What’s the difference between Thesis 2.0 and older versions? Pretty much everything. This plugin is for people upgrading from older versions to Thesis 2.0. Logged in users will see the new Thesis skin, Thesis Classic, while your normal site visitors continue to see your previous version.

Huh?… I really don’t understand what’s the purpose of this plugin, and I can’t recognize this as an “upgrade”!!

If you want to use Thesis 2.0, then use it only on a new site, or learn how to WAIT!

I see that DIYThemes team rushed this release to satisfy their members, but it’s hard to call it a complete release, at least not for me. I expect a new update pretty soon to fix the minor issues, plus documentation, tutorials, boxes, packages…. etc.

P.S. I didn’t expect to give it a low rating, especially that I’ve already done that with my 1.8.5 review! But I just can’t give it more than that today! I think the theme is good and has many creative ideas, but the launch wasn’t anything from what I expected, and there is no material to work with. I will be updating the review latter on when something new comes up.

What about you?

Have you got a chance to check it out?

How is your experience so far with Thesis 2.0?

About Hesham Zebida

Follow @hishaman

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

{ 132 Responses }

Mercedes says:

Excellent review and especially helpful. I'm just looking for a theme that meets my expectations of functionality, and I'm analyzing some. This is going to help me and clear my doubts. Thanks for sharing. Greetings.
Sire says:

I only found out about Thesis V2 yesterday. I updated the one blog that uses it and even after activating it I got a white screen. Checked the forums and found I wasn't the only one. Went back to the old version. Never did like Thesis, but I thought I would give them another go with this new update. I should have known better.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Sorry to hear that Sire. There is no upgrade between Thesis 1 and 2, they are totally different themes, and it requires some work to get your site up on Thesis 2 while keeping the same look and functioning!
  - Sire says:
    
    Luckily for that otherwise it would have been a lot harder to get the blog back up on the old theme. I don't understand why they made the new theme so different that you have to work at getting your blog to look the way it did before the update.
Sam Jablanski says:

Thanks for your honest review. I was thinking about purchasing Thesis and read your review on the 1.85 version and was disappointed to hear the Yoast SEO plugin conflicts with Thesis current SEO settings. Did they add some feature in the 2.0 version where the SEO settings can be disabled? If not, I probably won't use Thesis.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Sam, It's still the same in Thesis 2.0, and just for your information... I never needed to use Yoast SEO plugin on any Thesis site, even here on FamousBloggers.net, Thesis Theme's SEO features is quite enough in my opinion.
Vivek says:

Author or lets say its developer says its drag and drop theme framework. But I think its nothing like that. First thing is that, the whole layout is too confusing to me and secondly their is almost no tutorial on thesis 2.0. The true drag and drop theme is Pageline and they are truly the most easiest theme for any blogger, webmaster or internet marketer.
Deborah Anderson says:

Good advice, to install Thesis 2.0 on a new site, rather than upgrading. The first thought I had was, "where are my hooks?" I am a coder, so I go straight for that spot. I don't feel that I am in need of the "easy way" but respect that non-coders and non-developers appreciate that. Also, I am all for trying new things (I'm weird, I admit it), so I dug in on two sites. At first, all I wanted to do is go back to 1.x with familiar nomenclature, instead of things like boxes and packages. But, I am starting to see the sun come up over the mountain and see some value. It appears that I may be seeing what Chris was promising.. It is a way to still use my coding (albeit, logging in and writing my code the old fashioned way), but using that code in a drag (don't forget that shift!) and drop method. Considering I develop a lot of sites "in a weekend," this will make it quicker, and yet allow for non-cookie-cutter looking sites. -Deborah
Lisa says:

Thank you for this review. I have been using the previous version which I thought was a piece of cake. Now I'm lost. I encouraged a friend to download Thesis because I thought it was so easy and now I think for a non-developer it's not so useful. I have to study and study to figure this thing out - and with limited tutorials and the whole "skin" thing, I'm frustrated. Why did they do this? And once you've purchased 2.0, can you download the previous version? I set up a website for a friend who has NO worpress experience, let alone working with Thesis and now I feel bad for having her download this version. :( Plus, now I have to work a lot harder to help her.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Lisa, really sorry to hear that, what they actually did is releasing a "new theme", so it's not considered an upgrade for the previous version of Thesis. Yes, you still can download the older version within your account, and they will keep supporting it, so basically you can switch back to it. I would recommend you look up some Skins, you may find something that fits your friend's blog, I have a couple of Skins and a few cool Boxes over at ThesisAwesome.com that you can check out.
  - Muhammad says:
    
    Hi all, i also like to share my feeling related to thesis 2.0.3, i got a project, i thought that it would be easy for me to develop projects on thesis, because i have developed so many projects on thesis 1.x, but when i installed thesis 2.0, i just shocked, the new theme sucks, Please if some one like to use thesis then go for a old version new version really sucks. As this article writer says no documentation, nothing at all, no hooks and filters working and also sometime the default template classic v1.0 not works. So if any of the diythemes member reading this article, please man create something which is similar to what you have developed before. I just have to say that thesis 2.0 have nothing to do with thesis 1.x versions. and it really sucks. I am a developer even i got problems with development, so how can i say that it would be easy for someone to develop with no experience... i must say you diythemes members, you really have no idea what you developed in this case (version 2.0). No means to harm anyone, i just want to share my feeling, i just get frustrated from this theme.
Robb S says:

Some very good insights. However... "I just can’t think of a reason why someone would set no-index to his/her home page, well… of course unless they want to create a retarded website!" ...or the site is still in development and having search engines indexing things that will likely be changed, added to, or removed would be a problem. The "long read" we are asked to prepare for could have been a bit shorter if you didn't spend the first 250 words explaining why you wrote the post. A sentence would have sufficed, beyond that for me it got frustrating and frivalous - as did a tutorial about how to install in what is billed as a 'review'.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  mmm... Not sure if you actually get what I am talking about! You have an option in WordPress to tell search engines Not to index your site so you won't have a problem with that while developing a site. So, you won't need to set your site's home page to no-index, or at least I never needed that before! (that's only my personal opinion and experience). Since the time of writing this review till today, it still non sense to set no-index for home page even if you are in development mode! Well... Not everyone knows what is Thesis, so not everyone have your experience, that's why I came up with a long introduction! Well... maybe I was in a good mode :) Sorry it came out little long for you.
DRG says:

Thesis, the best theme ever seen :) Thanks for the share.
Vishnudath says:

How to move all my Meta Values (titles, descriptions) form thesis 1.8x to thesis 2.0 ?
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  You don't have to move anything, it should move by itself once you install Thesis 2. (of course this in case you have thesis 1.8.5 installed before on your blog). P.S. Please, get support from DIYThemes.com support forum, this is not a place to ask such questions.
Pete Diamond says:

Thanks for the review. As I write this comment it has been 1 full month since the release. I decided to wait a month before trying 2.0 again. I'm not messing with my 1.8 based sites; I'm building an experimental 2.0 site from scratch. I'm a marketer and an end user who wants to build my own stuff and from my point of view Thesis was misrepresented from the get go on how easy it was for a non-techie. I've been using it for a couple of years so I've gotten better but it has cost me a lot in lost productivity. I know I could have hired someone to do it but that's not my style so I realize much of this was self-inflicted. As for 2.0 I'm not sure how the launch could have been done more poorly, Chris may have damaged his product and reputation for some time to come even though I believe 2.0 will eventually evolve into a decent platform. When I say decent I mean as far as wide scope usability. It may have great capabilities as it is right now however if the documentation and support aren't there then it's not useable for someone needing guidance. It might be great to have your own jet and free fuel but if you don't know how to fly it, it will only cause you frustration. What I believe would help would be more effort towards useability vs capability in the short term to sooth the frustration of those who can't get a basic site up. I'm trying to build a site and it seems that there have been upgrades since the first tutorials were made so they are obsolete in areas. Handling it in a forum is an inefficient and time consuming method. A time out on the development and and a few days of making simple, easy to follow tutorials on how to build a basic 2 column static main page, blog page and the usual about, contact etc from scratch would help a large segment of their clientele, especially new customers. I think I'm going to like 2.0, however I'm a patient person and I like figure stuff out but I certainly wouldn't mind it if 2.0 had been released in a better fashion and I was figuring out nuances instead of just trying to get something up. There's an old saying that rings true here. "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."
Asif says:

Thesis 2 is pretty good for the people with some CSS knowledge but general people wouldn't have a clue. I dont think not many people will be willing to use thesis 2 any more. Hey Hesham, are your skins are Thesis 2 compatible yet? Cheers
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Once Thesis 2 gets its share of development, it will be ideal for everyone! Compatible is irrelevant, as I said in my review, Thesis 2 is a completely different theme, so it requires its own Skins (Skins that are made especially for Thesis version 2). I got a couple of Skin though, one free and the other one I call it the BlogSkin 2 which has the main BlogSkin functionality.
jeni says:

Hello Sham, I watched the video tutorial from BYOB site, first it was very impressive, but when I was the one to create my own customized template, it seemed to break my head. It took me whole day to create a header. I could say, the old version of thesis was just fine for me where you will just check in the design options. My impression is that, the tutorial is not satisfactory , lack of documentations, and seems a lot of bugs. I hope sooner, this difficulty of mine will just go away.
JasiJou says:

Aww...well this is kind of disappointing. I used Thesis 1.8 on an old blog and loved it. I'm a novice at best when it comes to the technical stuff. But the plugin was great. Then my site was compromised and I decided to give iThemes a try (big mistake) I HATE their drag and drop set up as it is totally confusing. So I was ready to jump back to Thesis, but I can't do this drag and drop thing all over again and it not be well thought out. Hopefully theiy'll update the fixes soon.
Jatin Singhroha says:

I did love Thesis , but i use Genesis Framework on my blogs , Thesis Awesome provide awesome themes for Thesis . Thanks a lot .
Jean-Luc Benazet says:

I waited for Thesis 2.0 until it was announced it would come out on October 1st. I installed it pretty much straight away when it became available, and despite NO guidance from the developer attempted to install it anyway. And what a huge disappointment! My old site had gone completely, only replaced by a blank page with a box with an Edit button in the lower left corner. That's it! I played with it for 4 days, tried everything, and was still left in limbo! So much so that I even stopped using Thesis 1.x as I was gutted with the developers, and change theme altogether! Not going back! :(
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Jean_Luc, I understand your point when you said "NO guidance", but what I don't understand is how come you've installed a new version of theme of your live site?! Man, you need to test things before you actually use them, even if everyone tells you something else, you got to test it by yourself. Also, FYI. you can switch back to Thesis 1.x anytime after trying Thesis 2.0, you won't lose any of your data or design..etc.
Pritam Nagrale says:

I am just trying to learn thesis 2.0 by testing on other demo blog but not able to understand this fully. As you are suggesting not to upgrade from 1.85 to 2.0, I am thinking to upgrade in next few days until I am comfortable with this.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Good to know you are safe! However.. Just to clear things, there is no upgrade bridge between Thesis 1.8.5 and Thesis 2.0, deal with Thesis 2.0 as you are dealing with a new Theme.
webbie says:

Thanks for the review! Does anybody know if its possible at this point to purchase Thesis 1.8.5 from somewhere? I'd like to own both, 1.8.5 and 2.0 as well.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  You are not actually purchasing version 2.0 or version 1.8.5, you are just purchasing Thesis Theme! You will be able to download both versions within your account though.
Fahad Tiwana says:

Hello Hesham, Great review. I am currently in a fix between two themes, the Thesis with one of the custom skins OR this:
(xx link removed by editor)
Which framework is better from the SEO and Speed point of view? Regards
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Thesis has the most important SEO features that you need.
Ileane says:

Excellent review Hesham! I think you covered all the highlights of the new Thesis and I like how you gave us the point of view as a skin developer and as a blogger. I know I plan on waiting and I was glad to hear that they will continue to develop the old version. Thanks for all the advice and I'll keep following your signals for when to go for it!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Thanks for stopping by Ileane, I can tell that Thesis 2.0 will be my favorite framework, my head is spinning right now, full of ideas, and looking forward to develop some cool stuff for 2.0 soon! My only consideration (and that's why I recommend that every one shouldn't hurry up and do an upgrade) is that 2.0 need some testing to make sure that we actually can use it safely on our blogs. Thanks for your trust, I appreciate it.
Lisa E says:

Thanks for writing this. It really helped me make a decision. I was really considering Thesis (I'm currently a Headway user looking to try something else), but seeing that there's no documentation or tutorials yet, I can't do it. Perhaps I'll wait a while. I may try Woo's Canvas, but not sure about that. Seems like there could be some limitations I might not like.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Lisa, Nice blog you have there. Whither you go with Thesis or Stick to Headway (both are good frameworks), just make sure your theme has what you need. Also, you may consider try them out first, then go with the one that you think is best for your business, investing time at this point before making final decision is a good idea.
Beth Drummond says:

Thanks for the thoughtful review! I am a true newbie who bought thesis 2 based on pre release reviews and the track record of 1.8. While I know- I know very little about getting this thing up and running I was more than relieved to find out that the lack of info out there was not because I couldn't find it - it just was not there! I have also felt encouraged that this program will give me the flexabtility to create an commerce site. Us non-tecky newbies (and those who help us) should not fear having to learn a few things which will give us much greater freedom and control of our sites down the road. There are lots of "!big box sites" where you can find cookie cutter websites - but there is very little room to change them or try to make an original statement. I will have to wait for some helpful documentation before I can do much with the program but I feel optimistic that it may just be what I was looking for!
Richard Bohn says:

Thanks for your valuable comments (and the discussion!) on THESIS 2.0! I like everything I see. As eager as I am to jump in, I will hang back and follow your lead @hishaman. Just keep a healthy discussion going so that we can all get up to speed as soon as possible!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Thanks Richard, I appreciate your trust.
Matthew Horne says:

Ok so a couple of points from the comments. Trust me once you get it, it is simply an amazing theme, boxes and packages are on there way, I already made one and more to come, my feature box on my site will be turned in to a box with skins. Skins for themes are coming too. Patience I say, the docs are coming too, people demanded its release, so it was released, its new, its different, its brilliant, devs are working on it hard to produce tonnes of content in terms of tutorials, boxes skins ect. Give it a few weeks and there will be loads of stuff out there for you to choose.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Nice Box, it's number 4 in history on Thesis 2.0 :)
  - Matthew Horne says:
    
    lol, when you put it like that it sounds interesting. I also am using your author box, i think it was you that created it. I modified the css a little though and remove the stylesheet from the contructor, moving it to a package to maintain the single css for thesis.
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      Sweet!
Mike Chiasson says:

I was pumped to see a new version out because all the previous ones had new features but this one blew my mind. Wayyyyy too different with 0 documentation, 0 videos, 0 training. I'm an experienced average user and their new skin editor makes about 0 sense without a follow along. I still like the product but this was a failure of a launch. I'm sure others are struggling with the problem of refusing to try and stick with 1.85 as well and be behind on versions, etc. Ugh.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  What if they planned the launch this way? (because there is no other way) It could take for ever to write a documentation, you see.. documentation and development never ends, so maybe it was the only way to get this thing out! P.S. Just found this work around to convince myself!
Robert Tyson says:

Thanks for helping to shed some light on how to use the new Thesis Hesham - as you point out there is precious little out there to help right now! I am testing it on a secondary site of mine; I have to say it's not intuitive but let's see how we get on as we get our heads around it in the coming weeks and months. Certainly I won't be moving my main site off Thesis 1.8.5 until I see the benefit in doing so. Hopefully their evident faith in this version will prove justified - I do get the sense that some of the new features should be pretty powerful, even if I don't understand exactly how yet!
serge says:

Hi Hesham, thanks for the honest opinion. To add from me ... well , it will be the mess in the beginning, hope it will not last. As far as the boxes are concerned , here is one http://thesistut.com/2012/wordpress-featured-image-and-thesis-2-0-sucks/ a must when you use wordpress featured image with thesis 2.0 ( i do not really understand why they have not dropped the support for thesis post image as it is obsolete to my point of view) good luck with your learning curve :)
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Nice one Serge, keep them coming! Thesis 2.0 is really is really impressive. One thing that I like, you don't need to create an option page any more ;)
  - serge says:
    
    sometimes I'm not sure if i prefer the T2 or building a custom options page... it will certainly pass me over in a week or so ;)
Arafin Shaon says:

Tnx Hesham bro for your honest review.. I’m totally loving the new features. But to be honest it seemed me very complicated. I have been experimenting and trying to work it out from last couple of days. But heard time! I think I've to spend few more days to understand it batter. We're expecting soon you thesisawosome skins will be available for version 2.0 :)
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Every new tool looks complicated at the beginning, then latter it will be your best! P.S. I had to to remove your luv link, sorry mate but you guys are good at predicting the future faster than it should be!
  - Arafin Shaon says:
    
    Lol.. Choice depends upon you whether you will keep the luv link or not no problem mate and as fare as prediction is concerned you can say that :)
Angela Booth says:

I love Thesis, but 2 is just hard to handle. Sadly, I don't have hours to spend trying to get a sense of the theme. Although it looks great, I don't want a framework, as much as I just want a THEME. Something I can get up and running in a couple of hours, max. I've gone back to 1.8 for the time being. Luckily Thesis saved all my settings. Although I'm disappointed, I hope that once developers create some skins etc we'll have a solution for people who don't want to build their own theme... Life's too short.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  I hear you Angela, But, trust me.. It's only a few days from now (a week max) and the skinning math will be solved!
Onuora Amobi says:

I tested this out on one of my demo sites and I have to say - garbage. Thesis 1.85 = genius. This one is a mess. The bottom line is if Thesis is now MORE complicated to understand and LESS intuitive to use, it doesn't matter how fantastic the end result is. They should have built on the strengths of the old framework. This is too hard to understand and I am a VERY technical person. I got it for free since I was a customer but it's just going to lay on the shelf. Maybe StudioPress can take advantage of this fail and do a better version of Genesis.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Man, garbage?! Let's see what you will think of it in a couple of weeks from now :)
  - Onuora Amobi says:
    
    What's happening a couple of weeks from now pray tell?
Josh says:

Thanks for the review Hesham. Does Thesis 2.0 work with the Yoast SEO plugin? From what I know, thesis 1.8 and the thesis framework all along does not work well with Yoast SEO. It doesn't allow Yoast to control the titles and other settings once its installed, unlike a few other frameworks which gracefully give up their built in SEO settings (Woothemes and Genesis are two of them). Would appreciate it if you could shed some light on Thesis 2.0 and Yoast Wordpress SEO plugin. Thanks!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Josh, The thing is Thesis do not turn off its SEO functionality when you install Yoast SEO plugin (this is an old story, and and I know... Thesis founder won't give up the SEO part of thesis for any plugin). I did a quick test before replying to you, and things are still the same. So, you will end up having a little of conflict or let's say duplication in the site meta, but... Ok.. let me explain something very important, two cases: Case (2) : You run SEO plugin on a blog for a while, then you decide to install Thesis, you won't have a problem if you don't use Thesis SEO options, just keep using the WP SEO plugin like you always do. Case (1) : You run your blog on Thesis, then you decided to install the WP SEO plugin, in this case you will have some SEO issues, and you will have to do some stuff to get rid of Thesis SEO! I hope I explained it well. I personally don't use Yoast's SEO plugin on any of my Thesis sites, I don't need it! Even here on FamousBloggers.net, I never used any SEO plugin since I launched the site more than 3 years ago, I depends on the Thesis SEO, and it's doing pretty well.
  - Josh says:
    
    Thanks a lot for the answer Hesham! Thesis SEO is powerful indeed but I would prefer to let a plugin handle SEO. Useful when I want to move from Thesis to another theme in the future. There are also some features in the Yoast plugin that Thesis doesn't have. Would you know how to hack Thesis 1.85 and Thesis 2.0 to let WP Seo 'take over' and manage the seo bits? Pearson said it was easy to do: https://twitter.com/gyitsakalakis/status/248085804101038082 Would definitely appreciate it. I'm a Thesis fan, except for the SEO part. :)
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      You don't need to hack anything, really! Here is the easiest way to do it, check out the SEO Data Transporter plugin that is made by the guys over Genesis. This plugin allows you to transfer your inputs SEO data from one theme/plugin to another. I've used it once, and it worked great. However, I recommend you do some testing before you actually run it on your production site. (testing is always worth even though it takes a lot of time). Good luck!
      - Josh says:
        
        Thanks for the reply Hesham! I've used SEO Data Transporter before actually, it works perfectly. What I'm actually asking is what code to edit or remove in header.php so I can use Yoast SEO plugin WHILE using the Thesis theme. That means I'm using the Thesis theme and Yoast SEO at the same time and I'm allowing Yoast to control the SEO parts. If you see the tweet I linked in my previous reply, there was some discussion on what filter to edit. This solves the duplicate meta problems... so far I've not seen any website publish tips on doing this.
        
        Hesham Zebida says:
        
        Oh, sorry.. I didn't sleep well for the last week or so :) Yes.. I won't hack any core files of a plugin or a theme, I would go with the second option which is not to use the custom fields! But, I know you've already used them, so I will simply delete them, how? Using a plugin like Delete Custom Fields. After installing and activating the plugin, go to WP > Tools Delete Custom Fields. Then in the drop list choose each Thesis SEO custom files and simply delete them: - thesis_title - thesis_description - thesis_keywords P.S. Again, I've tested the plugin and it works fine, but again.. test please! P.S.2. There is a way to replace Thesis meta in the head with WP SEO meta, but it's not complete, and not clear to me!
Nick says:

Honestly, I played around with Thesis 2.0 for a bit, after having read your post and a couple of others, and I think it's an incredibly inefficient and confusing way to lay out a framework. There's NO WAY that newbies and novices will ever be able to wrap their head around classes, ids, selectors, packages, boxes, etc. It's SO much work just to get very basic things done. And in their rush to release it, the lack of solid documentation is just terrible. It used to be much easier to change basic CSS for things like fonts, backgrounds, etc. Then they charge more money for each client site! I think Catalyst is leaps and bounds beyond Thesis 2.0 (unlimited sites), and even newcomer Ultimatum handles MANY things better than Thesis 2.0 (also unlimited sites). Then there's Pagelines, Headway and Genesis (to name a few others). It's a shame that people just keep parroting "Thesis, Thesis, Thesis" no matter how much they fail to keep up with other frameworks. They're the Basecamp of theme frameworks, in my opinion. They were outdated (with a pretty unappealing backend) and missing features that competitors had, then after a long wait, they come out with a half-baked product, while others were creating competitive - and often times more complete - solutions (ApolloHQ, TeamworkPM, DeskAway, Do.com, Trello, Asana, etc). It's a shame, really. Unless I'm missing something, or the version I'm using isn't quite complete, I won't even bother trying to figure this mess out. Doesn't look intuitive or the least bit enjoyable. I seriously urge anyone who's considering learning something ALTOGETHER different (which Thesis 2.0 is) to look around at other solutions. You already can't really migrate or export, so you might as well check out some of the competition. The guys over at Catalyst are super helpful and are always striving to improve. Ultimatum is pretty new, but the developer has included some really neat features. Heck, even RocketTheme would be a better choice, in my opinion. They allow so much flexibility and customization, with way better documentation. Sorry to be so down on Thesis, but I figured I'd give people some info on alternatives, in case they'd focused so much on Thesis that they lost sight of other options.
- Scott says:
  
  Nick, Thank you so much for this lengthy post. I am in the middle of choosing a WordPress framework for a web design business and Thesis was one of my top choices. The problem I see if I chose Thesis is my demographic is complete NEWBIES and your review sealed the deal for me, Thesis is out. There is no way I can choose Thesis with it being as confusing as you said. What would you recommend for the complete Internet idiot for a solid framework? I do plan on doing basic configuration all the way to full configuration depending on the tier the customer selects. I'm leaning towards Genesis because of the wealth of child themes. I'd be interested to hear what you'd pick and why? Thanks
- Matthew Horne says:
  
  Thesis 2.0 is different, that is your problem, I have used tonnes of frameworks and as far as i can tell thesis comes out on top. 2.0 isnt hard to use, it simply different, in a few weeks time people will find it a breeze. On the forums i see people with zero coding experience giving it a shot, after a few hours or a few days playing around they got it and love it. I see apparent devs on here bitching saying it's too hard, I mean come on, it took me less than hour to get to grips with, I dont expect the average person to do the same, but for devs it should be simple, just like when new versions of css, html ect come out everyone moans, instead of getting stuck in to something new and staying on top.
- Matthew Horne says:
  
  woo themes are terrible, from a optimization point of view, timthumb? come one, if you want to run a site at a snails pace then thats all very well and good. Headway - unstable if modified, cant optimize efficiently due to functions breaking it you so much as breath to hard on it. Genesis, slow sluggish, too much code behind the scenes. Again difficult to optimize, makes use of the dreaded timthumb script. I have optimize pretty much every theme variation you can think of, thats what i do, that my main line of work. There is no better theme out there for optimizing a site for the big wide world of the web. 2.0 will only get better, people never like change, but they simply grow a custom to it.
  - Matthew Horne says:
    
    Just to clarify, i mean optimize in the sense of efficiency, page size, speed and overall control over scripts.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Nick, First of thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I totally agree with you that it's confusing, but what can I say?! everything new is confusing at the beginning, then we get used to it over time. I remember most of people hated to wait, they were complaining a lot (including myself) that there is no updates, now and after 2.0 is released it's pissing us off more even :) I like the UI of Catalyst, and I wish Thesis' settings pages were melt into WP nicely! But trust me on this, Thesis 2.0 has a few features that I never saw in a theme framework before. P.S. I've released a new Skin for Thesis 2.0 Today (one week after the release) Plus three Boxes. No documentation, No help! It's a proof that Thesis wasn't that hard to learn. And, by the way, I was working on a plugin that has some of the functionality of Thesis 2.0 , but it was never finished, anyways.. No one (including me) will need it, especially that Thesis 2.0 do it all and much much more. Looking forward to see good documentation and updates from DIYThemes in the few coming days, and I hope it will change your mind and you start liking it again. And thanks again for sharing your thoughts and opinion. Much appreciated.
- Scott says:
  
  Really appreciate the amazing advice. Any updates on Thesis 2.0 now that we are in Nov? Considering it vs. Genesis.
hybridstyle says:

Fleecing by DIY Themes and AppSumo Selling Thesis 2.0
Rich Cook says:

When you say don't upgrade, do you mean using the plug in? I am only upgrade/moving to 2.0 on one site. Although I'm running v1.8.5, should I download and install v2.0 as a new theme? And yes, I am not worried about learning on this site. It's damaged at the moment and needs fixing anyway...I figure its better to fix in v2.0 then try to sort it out in v1.8.5 (which I've tried and cannot do). I'm not afraid to start over, either. But I am running on this site so ... full install of v2.0 or upgrade via the plug in? Thanks for the advice and great review.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Using the plugin dosen't upgrade anything! Actully the plugin was removed totally from DiyThemes.com site yesterday, I think because it was confusing. However, the upgrade is not imposible, it's a matter of time and some work, all depends on your old customization, and whither you want to move it to 2.0 or leave it behind. Yes, deal with Thesis 2.0 as a whole new theme.
Jessie B says:

Thesis is an awesome and most seo friendly theme as far as i know. Although i am using the older version but i'll upgrade it to newer one as i have read this post of yours. thanks for sharing this info. :) Jess
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Goodl luck!
Justin Wheeler says:

This was a great review, and I have to say big Kudos on being the first review out there from someone who had actually used it.. Has to be said it took me a while to completely understand Thesis 2.0 and now I am getting there I am kind of blown away. Whilst I am sure there will be many bugs in this first release of version 2, I am really excited by the additional potential this can give. I would recommend that you start with the thesis 1.85 skin which will give you a good understanding of how it all works. Whilst some aspects are a bit complicated and you need I think at the moment to have some understanding of CSS at least in terms of what different attributes mean, this really does have the potential to be the most flexible theme out there. I am really looking forward to seeing what some of the skin developers like Themedy and others get up to. Incidentally @BryanThompson you set the WP menu you want inside the various templates, so it bypasses the theme locations. See this screenshot: screencast.com/t/giLObimsbD (http:// at the front removed)
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Justin, Thesis 2.0 reminds me with the Headway theme when they first launched 3.0 and recived unexpected anger wave from their members! People didn't understand what Headway was all about, and what made it worse if there were no documentation from any type. The same thing happended with Thesis 2.0, but let's say once people get the whole idea and discover the hidden tresures, I am sure they will stick with Thesis for the rest of their lives. Thask for stopping by.
Puneet Sahalot says:

Launching Thesis 2.0 without documentation was a big mistake. I spent some time playing around with it and absolutely love this new thing. Apart from feature requests for export/import settings, bug fixes etc. I feel that there is a lot of scope for UI / UX improvements in Thesis Skin Editor.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  I totally agree with Puneet, I am having a hard time because there is no documentation! But, I totally like the idea of the visual editor, and I think it will create a new dimention for developers and designers! P.S. I appreciate if you add this one to your Thesis 2.0 resources post.
  - Puneet Sahalot says:
    
    Hi Hesham! Because of caching I couldn't reply back to you the other day. I have added your post to my list of resources :) Cheers!
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      Thanks mate, I appreciate it.
Mr. G says:

I'm very disappointed with how this product was launched. I was expecting more from guys like Pearson and in particular Derek Halpern. Why him? Because he calls himself the Marketing Guy for DIY and this was a massive marketing fail.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Well.. Maybe it was planned this way since the beginning, and everything it going according the plan ;)
Varun says:

Hey say if i use Thesis 2.0 im i supposed to remove my existing SEO plugin like i use SEO Ulitmate should i remove it prior installing this theme?
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  You don't have to remove it, I think you ca continue using your SEO plugin with no issues!
  - Varun says:
    
    But what would you advice ? Should i stick with the SEO plugin or should i stick with Thesis SEO options ? Bit confused ..
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      It depends, if you have a big website, then stick with what you already have, if you are starting and want to get your SEO served from one place "Thesis", then do the change right now!
Dave K. says:

Trying it on a test site and I really don't get it. I've been with Thesis for years, but I think I'll wait before installing on any live sites. It really needs a tutorial and a few example modules to play around with. Agree that this is not an upgrade: it's a whole new framework.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Dave, I hear you... I see some tutorials start coming, I actually did one quick tut that may help someone to understand how to create custom templates. I hope more will soon this week!
akhilendra says:

Great Insight info Hesham, i am using Blog skins so anyway i will be waiting for you to release your updates for that. But it seems as if there are more cons than pros.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Cons is not relevant here! Belive me.
Bilal Ahmad says:

Hi Hesham! It is great review and I absolutely agree with all the points you mention. First i really don't understand why i will need to arrange the Head Section of my blog. It has nothing to do with designing of the blog. How to upgrade from 1.85 to thesis 2.0? I don't have any idea. We need a tutorial from Thesis developers so that we can upgrade without loosing any part of the current design. We will have to spend hours to learn how to use thesis 2.0 and who have time for this. Chris has released this theme in very hurry but just launching the new version is not going to make thesis 2.0 popularize. They think it is a new theme with some great features, but how the end user's are going to benefit from its features. We don't know yet. No one has any clue about how to actually use the theme. It looks very complicated. I hope Chris and his team will resolve all these queries as soon as possible.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Bilal, I keep thinking about it, but ca't figure out why the "arrange your head section" option, but then I tell mysel, there must be something, every feature should be made for a good reason, so let's see what is it all about, I hope they mentione it in the documentation. There is no straight forward way to upgrade betwen 1.8.5 and 2.0, so try to deal with Thesis 2.0 as a whole different theme. (this is more relaxgin). I don't want to bak to school, specially these days :) but spending time learning what is Thesis 2.0 all about is worth it. I know that Chris and the DiyThemes.com Team are working hard to get things done, let's just give them some time.
  - Matthew Horne says:
    
    Actually this plays a role, basically some boxes can be created to target the head. Next point, it is also very easy to order styles and scripts, so in my case my style sheet is at the very top, because according to studies this helps render the page quicker, and my own testing confirms this, You could create a box that targets the head for say adding Iphone meta information, at the end of the day its about choice, I had the choice to move my css to the top, which I always do, but now it takes 2 seconds not 5 minutes or more digging through my templates or creating functions to move it around.
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      No doubt it's way fixable than any other framework in the market!
Toby Elwin says:

I appreciate the review. The last thing I need is to go down a rabbit hole of frustrations. You've convinced me more than ever to hang on the sideline, let them figure some items out, let users point out (solve) improvement needs, and I continue to create content, not futz with conflicts. Plus, I can not even find where to download 2.0 even though I am running 1.8.5 on 3 sites and a card-carrying fully paid DIYthemes member, so, already they make it too difficult. A wise man said, "If you want to play on the cutting edge, be prepared to bleed".
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Toby, haha.. yes same here! You see, if you are a busy guy, then let it go, and stay away from it... If you have some free time, then play with Thesis 2.0, I assure you it worth it. I think the diythemes.com site was having a re-design, so the guys was uploading files and stuff, that's why the download page and links wasn't there, it's up now though. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
Sjef X. says:

Strange review. You are focused on details that irritates you. I was very critical about the whole fuzz around 2.0 and especially the complete unreliable release promises, but in my first impression I'm quite positive despite the rough edges around the release. It's not exactly Microsoft, Apple or Adobe releasing something, so as the small company they are I personally give them a lot more slack on things as tutorials etc. I think the whole new product has indeed enormous flexibility in setting up sites, and you can come very far without coding. First promise of Chris I know that actually seem to be met.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Trsut me Sjef, this is a positive review!
Abhik says:

When I tested Thesis 2.0 on a new WordPress installation, I was amazed with the look of it. But then, my reaction was, OMG, Why? Not going to use it on my blogs.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Let's see what will happen latter, give it some time and when new skins start dripping, I think you will change your mind :)
  - Abhik Biswas says:
    
    I am sure I will. Specially when you upgrade BlogSkin for Thesis 2.0 :)
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      Not sure when I can do that, but for a start I think it's a better idea to create a new skin first, then maybe upgrade the BlogSkin. Working my ass on my new skin for Thesis 2.0 though!, and it will be FREE for all ThesisAwesome.com members ;)
      - Abhik Biswas says:
        
        That's awesome. :)
Raj says:

That's whole lot more than a review, you have covered everything in detail, since it has debuted just now I am pretty confident that Thesis will take WP to next level like it made earlier when it was debuted for the first time..
Chitra says:

Awesome review Hesham! Nothing can beat this one. Its very in-depth. Looking forward to buying this theme.
Rahul Kashyap says:

Awesome Review. Really Thesis 2.0 wp theme is very important for every blog. now this is good for every one really good features. thanks for sharing this :)
Rahul Kuntala says:

Hey Hesham, I'm a BIG fan of Thesis. I've been using it for a long time on my blogs.. and I'm really satisfied. About version 2.0??? Nothing can BEAT thesis, that's what I can say now! Great review :) I think I've to install that plugin to upgrade now (or should I wait some more time??) Cheers!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  There is no complete upgrade between 1.8.5 and 2.0 !!
Vit says:

Hi, Hesham. Thesis was a really good theme, I used it before. However the 2.0 version is great according to its options :) As for me I'm not going to upgrade, I would better use it on the new blogs.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Glad you got it :)
Rex Riley says:

I've been on Thesis for three years and was seriously disappointed with 2.0. It's pretty clear nobody thought to run this thing by their core audience: non- to-modestly techie folks who want an SEO-friendly framework to build nice sites. To me 2.0 is a giant step BACKWARD and it's insane they didn't release with some serious documentation (another sign they don't understand their own market). Chris tweeted that people would have had to wait another 30 days for complete documentation, which begs the question: So? We'd been waiting months already. In fact, after hyping the Oct. 1 release they even managed to miss that. Just really, really disappointed in this product and the entire approach to it. Thesis 1.8.5 is fine and you can build a site 5x faster with it than 2.0. What does that tell you?
- Oliver Nielsen says:
  
  Thesis 2 seems rushed out the door, with little polish. It also feels like Chris Pearson didn't test it with any real users before very late in the development cycle. I had hoped Thesis 2 would be less techy, but it shows up as a lot MORE techy than Thesis 1. Basically, I don't see the point of the weird CSS editor, when it still requires the user to understand CSS concepts. And the UI is clumsy as hell. Large fonts and poorly laid out popup windows.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Rex, I feel you, but I suggest you give it a second thought! Thesis 2.0 rocks, and the coming a few days will proof it.
Lisa Irby says:

Really great, detailed review. I'm diving in now. Thanks so much for this!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  I hope you will enjoy the new Thesis 2.0 Lisa!
Bryan Thompson says:

Upgrading from Thesis 1.8.5 to Thesis 2.0 is just about as significant as upgrading from Thesis to either Headway or Genesis. It is a completely different package. I am heavily invested in Thesis having worked with it almost exclusively since 2008. I spent 20 minutes in a native install of Thesis 2.0. Here's what I learned how to do. 1. Replace the footer attribuition link 2. add a widget to the widget holder for the Visual Builder. What I could not figure out... 1. How to add a header image 2. How to change background image 3. Understand the navigation system (it doesn't use Wordpress navigation as advertised in Thesis 1.8 dashboard) 4. Much of anything else. While I can see much potential, (the ability to put widgetized items into posts, for example, looks appealing), to see this as an upgrade from Thesis 1.8.5 is misguided. If you have a current Thesis 1.* installation and are considering an upgraded, do it as Hesham suggests in another installation and as I suggest to treat this as a migration to a whole new theme.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Bryan, I see that you got the idea eariler than many people that I know. It's a new whole theme, and we don't have much option than deal with it this way. Reagarding the stuff you mentioned... 1- There is more than one way to show a header banner, but it's litle hard to explain them in a comment! (I hate it when I have to write 1000s words to explain one thing, apologize for that). 2- - You can use the CSS editor for that. 3- There is a Nav box in the visual builder that deals with WP menus. I hope you found your way through Thesis 2.0 in the last couple of days though! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it.
lawmacs says:

Great review hesham had a sneak preview seems it will be a while before i go live with it because the custom file seems missing in action so what are going to do with all those skins that is what i have to learn. Thanks for the heads up
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hi Gary, Yes, it will take some time, but I think it will go viral as soon as people realize what they can do with it!
Adrienne says:

Hey Hesham, Thanks for the heads up about this because I would have thought it would be like any other upgrade since I'm not a designer or very technical at all. I did set my theme up myself although it is still have basic and simple. That would totally freak me out if I were to switch and then find out what a huge mistake I just made. Thanks for clarifying this for me. ~Adrienne
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Adrienne, I must say that upgrading is not a good choice, I know your layout is simple, and probably you can do it, but it will cost you a lot of time, so the best way to go is to take it easy and test Thesis 2.0 for some time before applying it on a live blog. Glad I could help in any way!
darren says:

Yeah, this was disappointing. We design in both Thesis and Genesis, and I think unless this get's better fast...we might be migrating solely to Genesis. I love Thesis, but it isn't a business-building application right now and hasn't been in a while. V2.0 was my hope that it would turn around. Now, I am sure there are going to be iterations and improvements that make me double-back and take a second look but right now, as is, Thesis (the framework and the business) needs some care and feeding. And I hope they do get it right because I do love the framework.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  The fact that 2.0 is totally different than 1.8.5 makes it hard to believe that we'll have to put a lot of hours into it, so I think we don't have to upgrade any of the old sites, probably a better idea is to apply it on new site first. Yes, it deserve a second look, and I am almost sure you will find it interesting to work with once you get used to it.
  - darren says:
    
    But you will inevitably run into security issues that will require updates, so you might as well bring them all along before there is a security issue or exploit. Or they just stop supporting the 1.x versions.
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      I know they won't abandoned 1.x any time soon, especially that I think 1.8.5 is one of the best versions, but you got a point here! Anyways, this is my feeling now, and most of the time I say I won't do it.. then I just do it :)
- Scott says:
  
  Darren, You aren't the only developer thinking this way. I've been doing a lot of research regarding Thesis 2.0 and Genesis and many developers are deciding to make the switch completely to Genesis. For me, the complexity of Thesis 2.0 makes it extremely daunting for my clients (who are Internet newbies) to use.
Raaj Trambadia says:

Hesham, somewhat surprised to see 4.5 stars, and somewhat agree to it as well. Surprised because of their 'complicated' launch, which they knew that was being awaited by hundreds of users. Even though this is the first impression of 2.0, it has left a very bad impression to many. Agreed simply because I know that sooner or later, it will work out well -- sorry, great!
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Oh that's a 3.5 , for a second you make think I made a mistake, but no.. I rate it 3.5 however I think it will have a great future. The launch sucks probably because the limited time, and development require a lot of it!
  - Raaj Trambadia says:
    
    Oh I didn't see it properly. Well, yah, it deserves 3.5 or 3. Let's hope for something great from the team.
DiTesco says:

Very in-depth review Hesham. I like it and it seems that there is more to look forward too. I'll follow your advice and wait a bit more, although I may be playing with it soon, just like you :) Thanks for the review, saved me a lot f time..
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hey Buddy, I think that Thesis 2.0 is excellent theme, but it's totally different that what we have now, basically it will take me a few weeks to upgrade famousbloggers.net, so I am not going to do it unless I came up with a new design! I see Thesis 2.0 with a great future, but we don't have to force the upgrade! It will be great for brand new sites.
  - DiTesco says:
    
    I agree. I just uploaded the new Thesis to a demo site and I can't pass a "blank white page". Not as easy I though it would be or I am doing something terribly wrong. Anyway, playing with it for a while and see if I can make "something" visible :)
    - Hesham Zebida says:
      
      Just dropped my frist Thesis Box in the free download area of ThesisAwesome.com ;) Not a big thing though, but good for a first try!