Thesis, what’s that…?!
No, seriously. Thesis has had some “interesting” coverage over the years but Chris Pearson is still going strong and the business is still here, providing a lot of value for a lot of people.
And they just announced their 2.1 Beta that comes with an all-new “Classic Responsive Skin.” If you’re a developer and have a license then you already have access to it.
And yes, I have a developer account and used the product historically – I haven’t used it in years though.
Here’s the update from Chris for your reading pleasure:
Back around Christmas 2012, I stopped Thesis development for a couple of weeks to focus on themes, options, and the general process of running sites with WordPress.
And as for the results of my little hiatus? I decided everything was a damn mess..but I realized we could all be interacting with our themes (and sites) in a BETTER way. I’ll explain.
For starters, everyone who runs a website has to undertake similar actions to get their site “battle ready.” With WordPress, this is generally accomplished through a confusing, disorganized combination of settings and plugins.
It’s bad enough that the settings are poorly organized and tucked away in all corners of the WordPress admin. It’s even worse when you’re juggling settings and plugins to ensure that you’ve done everything you need to get your site ready for the big time.
This is insanity.
Websites are confusing enough already, aren’t they? Shouldn’t you have all your mission-critical site building tools, such as Google Authorship and Analytics (among many others), in one easy-to-manage location?
And do you REALLY need a plugin for everything? (Seriously, do you even want to think about this stuff?)
I like to keep it simple. I don’t want to tweak settings in 500 different locations. I don’t want to work with poorly-organized option panels, and I damn sure don’t want to keep track of a bunch of different plugins and bog down my site with more…ugh…STUFF.
I bet you’d like your website to be simpler, too.
And that’s what Thesis 2.1 is all about.
Better organization. Clear actions. Powerful tools. Impressive results.
With its new Skin controls, Thesis 2.1 can turn even the greenest newbie into a world-class typographic designer or a color-scheming genius.
Thanks to an updated Golden Ratio Typography formula, Thesis can now adjust your entire layout when you change your font OR font size. (I’m serious—this thing is now tuning for individual FONTS!)
Better still, the new color scheme picker uses the Pythagorean theorem and a dash of creativity to put nearly unlimited color scheme possibilities at your fingertips.
Thesis 2.1 also features a simple, clean interface design that invites you to explore possibilities rather than sifting through dozens of options.
And this isn’t just bogus marketing speak, either. Nearly all options panels induce some degree of analysis paralysis for users.
(If you haven’t heard of the psychological term analysis paralysis, it’s a reference to how people have a tougher time making a decision as the number of options increases.)
We took great pains to reorganize Thesis 2.1 to avoid the pitfalls of analysis paralysis, and this resulted in two “big wins:”
Big Win #1:
The interface feels clear, open, and inspiring rather than intimidating and oppressive.
Big Win #2:
You, the user, end up thinking more about your desired outcome than the interface, options, or tools you used to get there.
And this is the hallmark of good software—it gets out of your way so you can let your ideas shine.
Thesis 2.1 is the start of something great, and I’d love for you to take it for a test drive today. To get the beta, please visit:
http://diythemes.com/thesis/developers/beta/version-21/
If you decide to beta test Thesis 2.1, you can provide us with feedback in a special location in the DIYthemes forums:
http://diythemes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?54-Beta-Testing
Finally, thank you for being a DIYthemes customer. I sincerely hope you LOVE Thesis 2.1 as much as we do.
Chris Pearson and the DIYthemes team
PS: The official release date for Thesis 2.1 is dependent upon the results of this next round of beta testing, but for now, the tentative release date is June 25, 2013. See how that says “tentative?” Yeah, that means don’t go to your blog and quote that as the release date. This is just FYI, ya dig?
PPS: Thesis 2.1 is mature enough that we can now begin to ship and sell official Thesis Skins. The first two, which you will receive for free, will be the Social Triggers and Pearsonified Skins. These will arrive after the official release of version 2.1.
Are you a Thesis and DIYThemes fan? What are you using it for these days?
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