The first quarter of this year, I became in interested in WordPress theme frameworks. The biggest advantage of a framework is that it provides a tool to build a WordPress site from scratch, without much coding – or no coding at all.
In order to get a grip on this topic, I started with some stock-taking. Since I did not have the time to examine all 40+ frameworks, I condensed the first listing to a long list of twelve. Eventually, I ended up reviewing ten WordPress frameworks:
- Builder
- Catalyst
- Dynamik Website Builder
- Genesis
- Headway
- PageLines
- Thesis 1.8.5 & Thesis 2.0
- Ultimatum Theme
- Xtreme One
The question that indisputable pops-up is: What is the best framework? And I guess the answer is: none of the above. Since actually, the question should be: What is the best framework for you?
The best framework for you, is the framework that offers the best fit for you based on your current expertise, experience and expectations. In this post I try to provide a summary that will help you answer the question yourself.
Choosing a WordPress Theme Framework
Creating a website requires structure and styling. The structure of a WordPress website is constructed of HTML and PHP, and the styling is composed with CSS.
So in what extend does a framework support you in creating the structure and styling of a website? Does the framework offer drag-and-drop? And does it require knowledge of PHP or CSS to complete a website with a given framework?
Another important consideration are child themes. Several frameworks allow you to create a child theme next to the framework in a separate folder. With others you build the website on top of the framework – not all let you export the website as a child theme. Some developers prefer child themes, especially regarding client projects. How important is this to you?
The following table summarizes the answers to these questions for the reviewed frameworks – with some special attention for those supporting drag-ans-drop:
Drag-and-Drop
Four frameworks allow you to create page layouts by drag-and-drop: Headway, PageLines, Thesis 2.0, and Ultimatum. Only with PageLines you will have to code the CSS manually. With Headway, Thesis 2. 0 and Ultimatum you can compose the styling with point-and-click.
Builder
Creating layouts is quite easy with Builder, and the framework supports child themes. For the creation of CSS, Builder offers the Styling Manager plugin. All-in-all, Builder supplies a complete system to create a WordPress website.
Catalyst
The Catalyst framework offers a complete system for creating layouts and styling – both by point-and-click, without coding. With Catalyst you can build websites fast and easy on top of this framework, which you can export as a Catalyst child theme. Technically this child theme is a not a child theme to the Catalyst Website Builder but to Catalyst – you only need Catalyst to run it, not the Catalyst Website Builder.
Dynamik Website Builder
The Dynamik Website Builder uses the Genesis Framework and offers comparable features as the Catalyst Website Builder. A comparison of the two was published here last week. Although you create a website on top of this framework, you can export it as a Genesis child theme. This child theme is a not a child theme to the Dynamik Website Builder but to Genesis – you just need Genesis to activate and run it, not the Dynamik Website Builder.
Genesis Framework
The Genesis Framework is a powerful and flexible framework that does support the use of child themes. When you want to create custom websites with Genesis, you will have to code. Part of the PHP coding can be achieved by applying pre-cooked PHP available on the internet. An easy alternative – and a stepping stone at the same time – is facilitating a ready-to-deploy child theme for your website.
Headway
Headway is a true drag and drop framework. Adding a new widget area is as simple as drawing a box with your mouse. Really! It is almost magic. You can create custom layouts without touching any code, and for the styling you only have to point-and-click – again no coding needed. And last but not least, Headway supports child themes.
PageLines
Your first experience with PageLines will probably be comparable to mine; a bit confusing because of all the available boxes. When you are passed that, it is really a very nice framework that allows you to drag-and-drop custom page templates. Although PageLines does offer some basic styling by point-and-click, you will be coding CSS sooner or later. PageLines supports child themes.
Thesis 2.0
October 2nd, Thesis 2.0 was released as a successor to Thesis 1.8.5. Thesis 2.0 looks promising, but it is not a finished product. Unfortunately. In addition, Thesis 2.0 is completely incompatible with 1.8.5. The past month, the Thesis 2.0 User Guide has increased from one to three pages! Customers who have purchase Thesis 1.x can still download and get support for v1.8.5. New customers do not have that option, they can only acquire Thesis 2.0.
Ultimatum
Ultimatum is another framework that allows you to create websites without coding. Layouts are created by drag-and-drop, and styling is a matter of point-and-click. The current version does not support child themes. Word is that the next major update, which has been announced for November 22nd, will be able to support child themes.
Xtreme One
Compared to the other frameworks, Xtreme One looks a bit like a no-frills framework, however working with it is really quite straightforward and therefore easy. Building page layouts is a matter of pointing-and-clicking. For the styling however, you will need to code CSS manually. Xtreme One does support child themes.
My Personal Thoughts
Basically, you do no need to know any PHP to work with these frameworks. Genesis is an exception, but only when you want to get the most out of it.
With the StudioPress child themes and the Genesis Extender you can even avoid coding PHP with Genesis. The Genesis Extender was reviewed last month, by the way.
With most frameworks, you do not even need to know how to code CSS. However, a little knowledge of CSS will make your life a lot easier.
The only framework that I cannot recommend at the moment is Thesis – especially for people who do not have any prior experience with Thesis 1.x. The main reason? Thesis 2.0 is still work in progress.
And I am a bit worried about Xtreme One, since it seems that there is not much going on lately. Their last blog post, regarding the release v1.5.2., is dated May 15.
My first website was a pre-CSS, table-based creation. Fortunately, I am currently quite comfortable with CSS and do not mind coding it with a text-editor like Notepad++. However, since I am not a trained coder, I am very happy with these WordPress theme frameworks.
My ultimate goal is to create websites based on Genesis child themes which I have build from scratch myself. Actually, you only need a few lines of code to create a basic Genesis child theme. In the meantime there are enough alternatives.
Recently, I have been working with Catalyst, Dynamik Website Builder, PageLines, and Genesis of course – I enjoyed working with every single one of them.
And I am very curious for the next version of Ultimatum, which is scheduled to appear on the framework’s first anniversary; November 22nd.
I have to admit that I am a bit relieved that I have been able to complete these review series on WordPress theme frameworks. Of course, I will continue following the products mentioned in this post, and it will be my pleasure to keep you informed about my findings.
Hopefully these series, and especially this post, will help you choosing the best framework for you. When you think that I have missed a spot, or when you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or drop me a note.
Bill Patterson says
November 2, 2012 at 18:39Just wondering what you thoughts with concrete5 as compared to wordpress. I am taking on wordpress but have been playing with concrete5 since it is more about website layouts and less about blogs such as wordpress. I just built a personal site to see the basics of C5. Take a look…your thoughts; http://www.billanddonnasadventures.com
Wil says
November 2, 2012 at 19:42Hi Bill, welcome. I am sorry but I am not familiar with concrete5, so I am not able to compare C5 with WordPress. When I got interested in content management systems, it was my intention to start with WordPress and after that have a look at Joomla and Drupal. Well, I never got passed WordPress.
The statistics of W3Techs show that WordPress is used on 17.2% of all websites. Joomla, and Drupal follow with 2.8 and 2.2%! And I am sorry, but Concrete is not mentioned in the list. Of course when it works for you , it is OK!
It is true, WordPress was originally developed as a blog engine. However, nowadays you can deploy WordPress for biogs as well as for all kinds of business websites. The main difference between the two, is that a blog is post-focused – it is build around the blog feed – and a website is page-based. WordPress serves both kinds of sites very well.
You have build a nice site with C5, but you might get in trouble when your list of Places Visited keeps growing. In WordPress you would use posts for this kind of entries, and pages for the other parts. BTW, even a blog can have a static homepage like your website has.
Does this help? Anyway, Happy Travelling!
Ovidiu says
November 4, 2012 at 10:00Any thoughts on a decision: Ultimatum vs Headway? I’ve tested the Headway demo but am still waiting to get access to an Ultimatum demo…
I really liked the Headway demo but was worried a bit about the lack of some features, only to find out I can buy extensions to get them which seems a bit counterproductive to me, while after watching a couple of videos demonstrating Ultimatum it seems, and I repeat it seems as I haven’t yet had access to a demo, that Ultimatum either has all the features you need or you simply use an existing plugin…
Anyway, I’d love to hear your 2cents on these two products.
Wil says
November 4, 2012 at 10:58Hi Ovidiu, welcome to wilwebs.
Headway and Ultimatum are both drag-and-drop framework. Both offer you the tools to build about any website without the need to code. I think your learning curve with Headway will be a little shorter than with Ultimatum.
However, Headway’s price tag is a little higher, and you will have to pay an annual fee with Headway – when you appreciate updates and support after the first year. These recurring costs are reasonable though, and definitely worthwhile when you will be developing websites regularly – your own or for clients.
The main difference at the moment, is that Headway supports child themes, while Ultimatum does not. The next version of Ultimatum, which has been announced for November 22nd – Ultimatum’s 1st birthday – should allow you to create child themes with Ultimatum too.
As you will understand, I am really exited about Ultimatum’s new version. Of course, I will be reviewing the new version of Ultimatum – within a week after its release.
Hopefully this helps you to make a decision. Please do not hesitate when you have any further questions or remarks. Take care – Wil
Ovidiu says
November 4, 2012 at 11:18Thanks for the explanations Wil, one last thing I was wondering about:
I really like the way Headway lets you simply drag “boxes” thus allowing any height/width for them while Ultimatum seems to offer you fixed “proportions, i.e. 33%/33%/33% or 25%/25%50% etc.
BUT after giving this some though, as much as Iike the Headway way of doing it I guess most of the time I will end up using some traditional proportions anyway like Ultimatum offers…
When it comes to Headway I also appreciated the way you could design and preview your changes immediately in the back end without having to go to the front end and refresh the page…
Anyway, I hope I get my Ultimatum demo access pretty soon as I’d like to make use of the current deal to get the developer edition for 57$
Wil says
November 4, 2012 at 12:11You are welcome, Ovidiu.
Yeah, it is amazing, that you can simply “draw” a widget area with Headway. Keep in mind that CSS is box-oriented and that page layouts are more of less derived from grids.
It is true that you can follow the progress of your styling more easily with Headway because of the WYSIWYG preview. A sort of a workaround when working with Ultimatum might be using two browser windows rather than two tabs – you still need to refresh, but is is bit more comfortable.
Hope you will be able to play around with Ultimatum soon – Wil
Tom Dolan says
November 12, 2012 at 04:28Hi Wil,
Your information has had me riveted to your site for the past few days. After about 3 years with a free WP theme, I’m ready to get my site cleaner looking, technically current, and attractive for potential clients. Although I haven’t posted a new video for over a year I still get views on the site, on YouTube and in iTunes and that has encouraged me to renew my commitment to my viewers. After my searching through Premium Themes I was drawn to Genesis + Child Theme/Megalithe. I am not a Code-trained-person, but I have learned how to change some simple CSS settings for font, color and size(by trial & error.)
All that said, I am very excited to finally move ahead but I haven’t spent my money yet to buy Genesis. I just want to make sure I don’t create a bad experience where I’m stepping into something I know little about. This may be a common fear when site owners decide to change/upgrade their website. So what I’m wondering is this:
In all your investigation into these themes, when You looked into working with Genesis + a Studio Press Child Theme, did you come away feeling that there are enough Resources on the web to help someone(me) if I get stuck putting my new site together?
Finally, Thanx for all the effort you’ve invested in publishing this great resource of information.
Tom Dolan
Wil says
November 12, 2012 at 08:34Hi Tom, I am pleased to hear that my posts are helpful to you.
Like you, I am not trained coder either. Fortunately, that is no longer a prerequisite for setting-up and maintaining your own website. On the other hand, I think that everybody willing to have a site up and running themselves, should have an understanding of CSS – at least at a basic level. It will make your life a lot easier. You have already passed that stage – well done!
Tom, I can assure you that there are more than enough Genesis resources out there. I guess my First Look on Genesis is a good starting point. Not only will it help you to get started with Genesis, it also includes the main resources.
The current StudioPress forum is already a valuable service point, staffed by experienced and responsive Genesis professionals. In addition, StudioPress will be launching a brand new customer portal in the cause of this week to increase customer experience even further.
And when you think you are stuck, do not hesitate, let me know. It will be my pleasure to help you on your way again. When you are a little like me, I am sure you will grow into Genesis. And otherwise you can always turn to the Genesis Extender for your child theme customizations.
BTW, StudioPress Megalithe is an excellent choice. I have reviewed this child theme over at WPReviewLab.
Let me know if there is anything more I can do for you. And good luck! – Wil
Tom Dolan says
November 21, 2012 at 01:58Good Morning Wil from a Chilly Tokyo,
Last night I was looking at the Megalithe Theme and I carefully read the Comments list below the Theme on the StudioPress site. One point got my attention and gave me pause. Several people said they liked the Theme but thought the Font was too small…?? Frankly I never considered “Font” to be an issue.
The Free Theme I’ve been using has 5 Fonts installed and I never thought about Font Size very often. I have, in the CSS, manually changed some sizes to increase them to 15 or 17 or larger size. But frankly, I have no idea what kind of result I’m going to produce until I update & preview the page. If I like I keep it, if not I change it. Now, that’s a time consuming operation and I wonder if I’ll have to do that frequently with Magalithe. I may misunderstand these comments on Mergalithe.
BTW, I have, in my searching around for info, seen your posts on several Theme Comments of various Theme Makers. That being the case, I’ll ask you out right, as my site is is essentially a video-tutorial blog on the Home page, do you think Megalithe is a good choice for that end result? One Comment says the Home Page is set-up as a Blog but changes when a Widget is added to the Page and that confused me.
Of course, I’ll have another 4-6 pages eventually to include audio and eventually a Store page…maybe WooCommerce. That’s the plan so far and I’d love to get started. I’d really like to hear your Comments….
Thanx Wil,
Tom Dolan
Wil says
November 21, 2012 at 10:45Hi Tom,
It is still morning here, but I guess almost evening in Nippon.
Indeed, font size does not have to be an issue. What matters is the holistic appeal – when I may say so. When you compare the font sizes of the Excecutive demo and the Megalithe demo, than there is no doubt that the Executive theme uses a much bigger font size. The complete Executive theme is with a 1140 layout more bold and extravert than the 960px Megalithe theme. Question is, what impression do you want to make, or what atmosphere do you want to create on your site?
BTW, you can import about any (Google) font into any theme with a little CSS – just like Megalithe’s default Open Sans. So I do not expect that the (number of) fonts will be a problem. And unless you change your taste about the preferred font size often, I would not know why you should have to alter the font size frequently. Usually that is a one-time operation with customizations.
By default, WordPress displays the dynamic blog feed on the homepage. Alternatively you can apply a static homepage, which you can set manually in case the theme does not take care of this. Usually StudioPress themes with a (static) widgetized homepage like Agency detect whether you are using a widget area on the homepage. When yes, the theme will apply the widgetized home template for your homepage. Otherwise the theme will display the blog feed on the front page.
With Megalithe, however it is the other way around. If you want to use the theme with a blog-style homepage, you will have to set the blog template as a static homepage (Settings >> Reading). So you can use Megalithe as well as Executive and Agency (just as another example) for blogs as well as for business theme. The Megalithe and Executive theme in addition, are also suitable for portfolios.
When it comes to audio and video it is crucial whether you are hosting these media on your own site, or that your will be hosting your media on sites like YouTube. When I am correct, you opt for the latter, otherwise you would be needing a video/audio/media player plugin – and more bandwidth. WordPress allows you to embed media from 16 sites simply by pasting the URL on its own line, so it should not be a problem to use Megalithe for videoblogging.
WooCommerce is a great e-commerce solutions and can be integrated with Genesis child themes with the Genesis Connect for WooCommerce plugin. When you are planning to focus on digital products, you might also want to consider Easy Digital Downloads.
Hope that helps. Let me know when there is anything else..
Greetings from an almost winter cold Netherlands,
Wil
Tom Dolan says
November 22, 2012 at 05:55Hello Wil,
So nice to hear from you regarding my concerns. I awoke this morn to discover your return comments and too, an email from StudioPress re: a limited Sale of their Genesis+Themes. So I suppose that’s the little push, well that plus your excellent guidance, I needed to move forward. This will be interesting as I have no idea what happens to my present site style when I hit the activate button on the Megalithe Theme. But…I’ll let you know.
Thanx again Wil,
Tom Dolan
ps// I checked the box below re: email followup but I don’t know if that means I can email you or you can email me. Enlighten please.
Wil says
November 22, 2012 at 07:48Hi Tom,
When you switch to Megalithe, you will probably have to set a static blog page – in case you want to display the blog feed on the home page – and reshuffle some widgets.
Have you ever considered setting up a local WordPress installation, so that you can test new themes and plugins?
When you have checked the Notify box you should receive a notification about this comment by e-mail.
You are welcome, Tom. – Wil
Tom Dolan says
November 12, 2012 at 10:07Thanx for the feedback Wil. I’ll get into the upgrade this week and keep you posted as I move along. ~ Tom
Tim Bednar says
November 19, 2012 at 22:50Just noticed that not too long ago, you had Ashford in your lists (which I appreciated).
http://www.wpfy.me/taking-stock-on-wordpress-theme-frameworks/
I’m just wondering what made you settle on your criteria: like drag and drop. Or what the impact of frameworks like Genesis have had on the marketplace overall.
Thanks,
Tim
Wil says
November 20, 2012 at 11:52Hi Tim, thanks for dropping by.
Drag and drop was and is not a prerequisite for me. Since I am not a coder myself, the most important criterion for me when I made the selection from the 40+ WordPress frameworks is support.
With support I am not only referring to a responsive and searchable support forum (= knowledge base), but also to the availability of tutorials and a decent set of documentation.
In addition, I also judged the framework’s community – a larger community is generally accompanied with more blogs offering even more tutorials and code snippets.
Take care – Wil
thedoglett says
May 24, 2013 at 18:31A quick question about Catalyst Dynamik if that’s ok – is it possible to have multiple full width wrappers on a site?
From what I’ve seen you can have a full width header and footer wrapper but the content seems to be held within a fixed (although possibly responsive) width div.
I tend to design sites which have several full width wrappers, each with a fixed width div inside it.
Here’s a site which does a similar thing to what I’m trying to explain: http://www.tone.co.uk/about/ (not my site, just an example of multiple wrappers).
If Catalyst can do this then I’d probably go for it as I’m using Ultimatum at the moment and although I love the way it works, the support has been pretty flaky with regulars trying to help out but the developer appears to have either lost interest or is struggling to support it but isn’t telling anyone. A shame, but there you go.
If you could let me know if this is possible it would be appreciated!
Wil says
May 25, 2013 at 10:18You can achieve this with Catalyst/Dynamik as well as with Genesis/Dynamik (Website Builder), although the two offer a different approach.
With Catalyst/Dynamik you use a combination of custom layouts and custom widget areas (hooks).
With Genesis/Dynamik you do this by means of conditionals and custom widget areas (hooks). The advantage of the latter is that it allows you to create a little more advanced layouts – depending on the conditional tag applied.
In both cases, you choose for a stretched (fluid) wrap, and in both situations you can add a CSS class to the custom widget area regarding, hence you are able to add a custom styling too.
Edit:
In first instance, I thought, yeah that is no problem.
But when I understand correctly, what you need is a div2 inside a div1, where div1 is browser window width and div2 centered and with a transparent background. Is that correct?
Unfortunately, you cannot achieve this with Catalyst/Dynamik or Genesis/Dynamik (Website Builder) – at least not without some additional coding.
However, I have done this with iThemes Builder. You can verify that here:
http://ithemes.com/2011/03/15/how-to-set-full-width-to-modules-in-builder/
http://ithemes.com/codex/page/Builder_Tips_and_Tricks#How_to_have_full_width_.28100.25_wide_background.29_modules
thedoglett says
May 25, 2013 at 12:03Cheers Will, that’s what I wanted to hear! I’ll give Catalyst a go – with the 30 day money-back guarantee you can’t go far wrong.
Thanks for a smashing blog – some really interesting stuff here which has helped me research the various frameworks available.
thedoglett says
May 25, 2013 at 17:48No worries, I’m quite adept at coding so its not a problem and I got it working by using custom hook boxes etc!
Wil says
May 26, 2013 at 07:29You have nailed that fast. Hats off!
Tom Dolan says
June 15, 2013 at 08:45Hi Wil,
Finally removed the under-construction Post and have populated all the Pages to get going. The final achievement was correcting the Header-text loading issue on the Mobile site.
No one seemed to have an answer to the Title text loading 2 seconds after the rest of the Header elements. Having a late-nite epiphany, I changed the Header text from the Themes “Oswald” to arial, which I have used throughout the site. Amazingly, the Mobile version loaded almost instantly on the iPhone & iPad. So I went thru the site and pulled out the rest of the Oswald. There was little left as I had by this time replaced it with arial.
The site looks pretty good, and compared to the slick B&W photo site I began with, it’s definitely not the same…but it’s mine.
Well, just a quik update. Hope all is well with you,
Tom
Wil says
June 15, 2013 at 08:53Hi Tom,
You have done a terrific job. Hats off.
Regarding the Oswald font, it can make a difference how you load a font. You can either link the font from the
or @import it into the CSS. Apparently, the latter can cause a little delay. Although 2 seconds seems a bit long to me.Anyway, you have nailed it!
Enjoy your weekend – and your site,
Wil
Sean Davis says
June 19, 2013 at 19:21You hit the nail on the head saying that you have to pick the framework that’s right for you. To take it one step further, you have to pick the framework that’s right for your specific project… each time.
I was a big time Thesis guy for quite some time. I had plenty of success with Thesis 1 and I got into Thesis 2 in its earlier stages as well. The community reaction to Thesis 2 pushed me away, though. Not because Thesis 2 was bad (it’s actually pretty freakin’ great) but because people just didn’t know how to use it and didn’t want to learn.
A few months after it dropped is when I realized one size does not fit all with WP frameworks. I found myself as a freelance developer that didn’t want to use any of the current frameworks on the market. So I built my own… it’s called Volatyl.
I made it based on commonly requested functionality from clients and I left out a lot of things that people were losing when switching from theme to theme… like SEO options. I kept it simple and within a framework’s true space… HTML structure and a library of useful code. You should check it out when you get a chance.
Anyway, great write up here. Hopefully people will soon realize that you should pick the best tool for the job… not the tool they like the most for whatever reason.
Wil says
June 22, 2013 at 09:18Thanks for joining the discussion, Sean.
DIY Themes has just released the beta of v2.1. I will have a look at it in the course of next week. May be it is just me, but my impression is that DIY Themes is not treating its community with the respect it deserves.
The WordPress framework market is getting crowded. I think you took the right exit points for VolatylThemes. I wish you good luck building a community.
BTW, a way to retain your SEO options while switching themes is turning to a theme independent plugin for the SEO, like Yoast’s WordPress SEO.
All the best – Wil
Johan van Seijen says
August 16, 2013 at 18:18Hi Wil,
I stumbled across your article on best WordPress frameworks. It might be interesting to know that I work at probably the only Dutch premium theme provider around: Nexus Themes. We have our very own framework with which we build themes specifically for small business owners. Reading your article and taking a look at the feature categories I’m very interested what you think of our framework. I don’s see “front end editing” anywhere and, as far as I know, none of the best framework support this maintenance notion. We do and it would be cool if you take into consideration one of our themes at Nexus Themes. Send me a msg on Twitter @vanseijen and I will provide you with a free theme.
Thanks for this great article 🙂 and hope to hear from you.
Kind regards – Johan
Wil Ransz says
August 21, 2013 at 12:07Hello Johan,
Your comment and website have made me curious; so yes, I will send you a message.
Talk soon – Wil
Nuno Miguel says
January 29, 2014 at 05:10Dear Wil Ransz,
Could you please inform which genesis child theme are you running in your blog?
Thanks.
Regards,
Nuno
Wil Ransz says
January 29, 2014 at 05:31Hello Nuno,
The Genesis child theme I have deployed here is Dynamik.
Dynamik is a special kind of child theme, since it allows you to create your own custom layouts by point-and-click and export your work as an independent Genesis child theme.
You can read more about it in this review on Dynamik or check all posts tagged with Dynamik Website Builder.
Let me know when you have any more questions.
Take care – Wil