Free Customized Thesis Skin and Genesis Child Theme [WordPress]

I have been a fan of open-source software ever since I first learned of it over 20 years ago. I do get annoyed at times when I see it promoted with more of a religious fervor than a focus on the practical benefits of the product. However, all in all, I am a supporter of open-source and was pleased when the Thesis Theme for WordPress recently went to a Split GPL licensing (GPLv2 for the PHP code, with the stylesheets, js, and images remaining proprietary). In celebration of that, I am making the custom code I used for Thesis freely available.

Also, since I have recently switched to the Genesis Theme instead of Thesis, and have made some customizations to it, I am freely releasing my customized version of the sample Child Theme that is provided with Genesis.

The Thesis code consists of 3 files: my custom_functions.php, custom.css, and thesis_alloptions.dat files. The files are available for download in this zipped file.

The Customized Genesis Child theme code consists of the entire Genesis Child Theme directory and files, with my modifications to the functions.php, style.css, and an archive and search page. This is available for download in this zipped file.

Now, before you get all teary-eyed thinking that this is such a wonderful thing, please note that I am not a professional coder. The code is not intended to impress anyone. It’s only intended as a starting point for anyone looking for examples of how to customize their Thesis implementations.

Some additional caveats:

• Much of the Thesis custom_functions.php file and the Genesis Child theme functions.php file contains code that is highly-specific to Keener Living … they have Keener Living URLs, adsense code, and so on … you will need to replace that code with code specific to your site. Please take care to ensure that you do not use any of my images or other linked files … if my logs show that they are being used by other sites, I will have to move them, which is an aggravation. I included a couple of image links for thoroughness of illustration, and I rely on you to help ensure that it doesn’t backfire on me.
• The dat file is exported from my Thesis Options Manager Panel, using version 1.8beta1 of Thesis … for you to import it successfully into your site (I suggest using a test site to begin with), you will probably need to have Thesis 1.8beta1 installed. However, the custom_functions.php and custom.css files should still be useful to you, even if you don’t use the dat file.
• You need to own Thesis before the Thesis Custom code will work for you, and you will have to own Genesis before my custom code for it will work for you. That is, I am NOT including the Thesis code itself and am not including the Genesis code itself. If you do not already own Thesis, you can obtain it through my Thesis affiliate link. And, if you do not already own Genesis, you can obtain it through my Genesis affiliate link

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I am a huge fan of Thesis and, more recently Genesis. I was the first to buy Thesis when it came out, because I have admired Chris Pearson’s coding skills for a long time. In addition to pixel-perfect code, he also focuses on ensuring your web pages load FAST. Similarly, I have admired Brian Gardner’s skills for a long time as well, and can attest that he has a similar focus with Genesis. (I use WebPageTest to test the page-load speed of any designs I try out. Thesis and Genesis beat the socks off of other designs that I have tested.)

Having my code laying around not doing anything for anybody but me seemed like a waste. Hence, I decided to make it available, in hopes that it will help those who are just getting started in implementing Thesis.

Finally, screenshots of both customizations are provided below:

The Thesis Skin:

The Genesis Child Skin: