The potential for the Thesis Theme is like no other theme in the history of WordPress. Thesis is not just a theme; Thesis is every theme. There literally isn’t a theme that currently exists that can’t be made by customizing Thesis. It would be more appropriate to think of Thesis as the Photoshop of web design. In the same way Photoshop makes pretty much any graphic, Thesis can make any website.
However, there are still a few tools that a smart web designer needs when using Thesis. Now remember, I use a Mac. I don’t discriminate against PC users, I just think you are conformists in your own way. Nevertheless, my perspective is that of a Mac user. I will therefore promote software that may only be available on Mac, but I’m sure a savvy PC user can find an alternative.
- Transmit: Transmit allows you to upload and download files via FTP. Duh. Why do I recommend it? Because it makes your life infinitely easier. For instance, when you are editing your custom.css file in Dreamweaver and you save, Transmit automatically loads it to your server. That is great and it saves SO much time. Another cool feature is when you have multiple custom.css files open [because you have the developer's license] and you go through and save them all, Transmit will automatically save the files to the proper server. I was editing three custom.css files and two custom_function.php at the same time and had to suddenly save and quit. Needless to say, it went fast and efficiently, thanks to Transmit.
- Dream Weaver: O.k. I know a ton of people think I am crazy for editing CSS and PHP in Dreamweaver, but I don’t care. It comes as part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I think it is sufficient for the needs of most designers. It color codes all the CSS and PHP [so do others, I know] and I just think it is incredibly easy to use. Is it the best? No. But, if you already have it because you bought the creative suite, you really don’t need anything else.
- Photoshop: Without Photoshop I would be totally screwed. Photshop is great for everything from the obvious graphics work, to finding colors, measuring and extracting. Hell, I can’t think of a single reason to not own Photoshop other than slothfulness. Basically, Photoshop is tan essential tool to totally customize your Thesis Theme design.
Using Thesis is the best way to make an awesome website that has the best SEO on the market. But, Thesis does need some help getting its job done and I believe Transmit, Dreamweaver and Photoshop are the perfect companions for a foursome of hardcore web action.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Cyberduck is a great (and free) alternative to Transmit which has been a bit flaky for me lately.
As far as editors go, no offense but Dream Weaver is pretty bad. Some great editors on the Mac are: TextMate (best editor ever, although you do have to be a hardcore user to learn to fully appreciate its abilities), Coda and Espresso.
For CSS, there is a little app called CSSEdit which is (IMO) the best CSS editor out there. All the mentioned editors can edit CSS, but CSSEdit is (as the name nicely implies) made specifically for editing CSS and is great for that use.
I agree that Dreamweaver is a little weak on CSS and PHP editing, but the point is that it is sufficient. CSSEdit does look really neat though. I think I’ll try it!
I’ve been a DreamWeaver user since version 2.0 (currently on CS3). Since switching our main site to WordPress, and Thesis in particular, I have found DreamWeaver pretty much useless/overkill. I also recently switched back to Mac after a very long absence. Although I still have CS3 Web Premium Suite running in VMWare on Win7 on the Mac, I’ve taken a shine to CSSEdit and Coda which are native Mac apps and seem to do exactly what I need. I just won a copy of Espresso but haven’t had a chance to play around with it yet. I also use Transmit for FTP and haven’t had any problems; Photoshop, while I own a copy, I’ve *never* gotten the hang of
I actually like Dreamweaver but that is partly because it comes packaged with the Adobe Suite and I didn’t feel the need for yet another program. For editing CSS, I love using Firefox’s plugin “Firebug” as it lets you easily apply real-time changes to a website without actually altering anything.
Filezilla works well for FTP for me.