I love the way so many Thesis users have customized Thesis Theme to give their site a unique look and extra functionality. Here is a list of some my favourite Thesis Theme sites, in no order of importance.
** Update – Don’t forget to check out the new 1,000+ Thesis Sites Gallery – video, images and links to them all **
I have listed sites in terms of their most worthy design elements.
So here goes – 20 mini site reviews…
The following “mini site reviews” briefly touch on one or more great features. They are by no means a comprehensive appreciation or critique of the site.
For a comprehensive site review, check out my review of Making Project Management Better.
I’m a Virgo, so there’s always going to be something that can be improved!
1. Translucent Design
BothTeamsPlayedHard.net – this site uses black and white contrast very well. It’s sidebar uses a translucent background for extra dynamism.
2. Paper Head, Text, Sidebar
Otherbs.com – I should mention at this point, that I don’t necessarily endorse the views portrayed by the sites reviewed or linked to on this post, or anywhere else on my site for that matter. OtherBS uses a nice image for a header. I like that much about the site…and there was that article on… :-) I also like the way bold typewriter style text is offset within articles as callouts and the solid colour used as a background to the sidebar.
3. Single Column
AcreeStudios.com – Apart from the fantastic use of a single column (nearly as good as Kristarella’s!), they use this amazing random feature with their images. If anyone works out how this is done, please let me know. I spent ages on this site when I found it.
4. Overlap
Blogepreneur.com – this site has since dropped out. I did love the way it cut up an image to have its header overlap with the content area.
5. Background Images
DIYNinjas.com – this site changes its appearance from time to time because the guy who runs it is a talented programmer. It’s worth bookmarking and visiting from time to time. Check out the other sites they have – amazing! The background images on the site when I visited were worthy of including in my list of favourites.
6. Page Numbers
Mangasverdes.es – not really sure what this site reads like but the page number usage is great.
7. Attribution, Header Image, Ad Boxes & Downloads in PDF
Simplemom.net - A lot of love and care has gone into creating this site. What is does particular well is attribute its image sources. It’s header iamge and overall design is always beautiful, creative and interesting. It certainly is not a boring site. It uses ad boxes to great effect and promotes available downloads really well also.
8. Loud, Bold and Meaty
ExtremeJohn.com - if you love opinion, fun and a man loving life and sharing his experiences – also a lot about blogging – then this is the site. This site is well customized with very good design sense.
9. Tabs & Background
Creativityist.com – the tabs on this site are so life-like. The cork-board background also adds to the overall utilitarian feel – a place for thinking creatively. Great design for the topic.
10. FAQ Plugin
Pet-snakes.com – this is an amazing site about…snakes for pets! It’s FAQ section is the most ingenious. But before going there – have a look at the hover function on nav tabs in the menu! The nav tabs have a background image on hover. very sneaky. This site uses the faqtastic plugin.
11. Gallery
Blo.grtd13.com – Ron Dubin Photography is one of my favourite sites. Check out his gallery pages.
12. Colourful & Sexy
Meganfoxbuzz.com - a dash of colour (hot pink to be precise) and great use of sexy images. This site once sported a great background but has since gone classic black.
13. CSS
Elderguru.com – Great use of CSS and design elements to give impact to an otherwise conservative topic.
14. Design Elements
Shineinc.org – spectacular, elegant and simple design.
15. Custom Multimedia Box
Toddblog.net – There is no doubt what this site is about.
16. Header
Justagirlintheworld.com – Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s site is polished. She obviously knows her stuff when it comes to coding and it shows. You can learn a lot just from her header – it is full of links! Very clever use of CSS. Some great ideas for using the feature box, footer or header.
17. Technology
Fetidus.org – FETIDUS stands for The Foundation for the Ethical Treatment of the Innocently Damned, Undead and Supernatural. No kidding! This site is very well designed but best of all uses audio to showcase its offerings.
FETIDUS.org, home of the sci-fi/horror audiobook FETIDUS: The Damned Heir by James Durham. Join us in the post-apocalyptic world of Art Blanchard, as he takes on a thrilling, twisted case set in the fetid alleys of Washington, DC, circa 2034.
Listener discretion is advised: The audiobook contains adult subject matter, including language, adult situations and violence.
18. Feature Box
Cuteoverload.com - uses the Feature Box function adding custom code to have multiple links and images. Also uses colour to great advantage with lots of really cute images, typography and background images.
19. Colour,Design, Content & Newsletter
AbsentWillowReview.com – the colour and design on this site simply rocks. The stories are great and the newsletter (you will need to sign up to this free newsletter) is awesome. It is sent via email in pdf form once a month. They launched late last year and are on fire!
20. Atmosphere, Content & Animation
TimberwolfHQ.com – This is one of our first sites and despite having made tweaks to nearly all of our Thesis sites since their inception, this one was designed and left alone. It just has that perfect atmosphere to match its content. We use categories that make sense and have an animated image throughout for “smudging” with white sage incence. The Wowzio widget also provides movement and previews of content on the site.
** Update – Don’t forget to check out the new 1,000+ Thesis Sites Gallery – video, images and links to them all **
Tell Us About Your Thesis Theme Site
If your Thesis theme site has some great customizations, plugins, use of colour and is a great example of pleasant-on-the eye design, leave your link in the comments for us to consider for future site reviews. Or, drop us a line using the contact form.
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for putting me at #13 . . .
Thanks for the link to Creativityist and the kind words about the tabs.
You’re too kind, I appreciate it… ;)
R(etc… )
http://www.rondubinphotography.com
Thanks for the mention here – but my site is not a Thesis theme mod :)
Good list, however – cheers!
Whoops! What you have done with your header – all of the links – we Thesis users can replicate using the feature box. I hope you get a bit of traffic at least. :-)
heya!!!
can you plz help me out
m starting a new education based website and want to use thesis as my theme with 3 column
but m facing 1 problem that i want different sidebars for different page i.e. different links in sidebars on different page
if you provide me with coding 4 this i will b grateful to u….
Djay @ what you want to do is simple with Thesis Theme.
You can select 1, 2 or 3 solumns, you can add the Widget Logic plugin and choose what you have appear in your sidebar for the home page, single (post) pages and category pages. You can customize the multimedia box to show specific images with links for each page or category or keep it random.
All you have to do is decide how wide you want each sidebar, how many sidebars, whether you want your sidebars left and right or both left and both right. You make your selections in your Thesis dashboard once you have changed your theme to Thesis. Using simple radio buttons, check boxes and drop down menus you make your selections. You can add your values and text and links just as easily if you want particular widths for example.
Once you buy the Thesis Theme you have access to the Thesis forum where you get all of your questions answered. Sites like this one also answer all questions you have as well. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Link at #6 doesn’t work. Otherwise, great post and great resource. Many thanks!
Thanks Stijn, the link works now.
Sweet! I designed #4. :) I don’t know why it’s been taken down, but it was a fun design to work on.
Thanks for the article!
[rq=109373,0,blog][/rq]Top 15 Reasons to Be a Vegetarian
Great post and great resource. Many thanks! I appreciate it…
Thanks for great compilation…
Hey, I think I’ve got a great site design. Check it out, I’d like to know what you think!
http://caffeineriot.com
/<3
.-= Kara´s last blog ..24 oz. Will Make Us Proud =-.
Caffeine Riot looks great – will review it shortly as a great dark theme with sweet css.
.-= Somone Bull´s last blog ..100+ Mashable’s Best Ever Lists =-.
Sweet, thanks!
/<3
.-= Kara´s last blog ..AMP Lightning =-.
These great sites give me the inspiration to do better with my Thesis-themed sites. I want to get away from the generic Thesis look but it’s the graphics and overall design that I have problems with.
.-= Zotrim´s last blog ..Weight Loss Pills That Work =-.
really cool examples – thanks a lot!
.-= Andreas Dittes´s last blog ..Research & Results 2009 =-.
I’m planning to migrate to thesis soon and what could be a more inspiring design tweaking list than this one? Great list, thanks :)
.-= TechChunks´s last blog ..The Apple’s Journey of Evolution from 1976 to 2007 =-.
Thanks for the Thesis review. I’m leaning towards giving it a shot (and will definitely use your link if I do).
I’m new to Word Press (but not web development). It seems like every time I switch themes and get it customized to the point that I love how it looks, I find some bit of functionality that doesn’t work any more (for example, I just found that my RSS subscription link is broken, which using a slightly tweaked “A Dream to Host” theme). I’ll get it all working one of these days… :)
The backend of Thesis is full of drop down boxes to paste rss feed, header and footer scripts and there is only one custom_functions.php file (to add anything fancy) and one custom style sheet. No other files need tweaking. If there is something specific you would like to know, compared to your current site for example, shoot me an email via the contact form. I sometimes switch between the default theme and Thesis to debug a plugin or two and all settings remain between themes including functionality. The Thesis Theme structure is controlled via a simple WYSIWIG dashboard and you only have to tweak the styling. It really is great for dealing with redundancy of plugins, etc.
I have carried out one thesis theme site. I read your article and get more info that I think to be great for my reference. I visited your blog for the first time and just been your fan.
20 mini site reviews from your post are excellent and informative. I like the style of creative writing. These thesis theme sites are very nice and give me in-depth information.
I really liked ‘Extreme Johns” blog, great design and personality that kind of matches the blog theme and feel, which is what I think we should be going for when we customize. Great post :)
have just now installed thesis theme; i am right in the middle of an ocean now , seems i shall have to forget blogging for a few days and learn thesis customization first.
I’ve taken a before screenshot. Let us know when you are finished and happy with the look of your site.
Some great tips for customizing thesis and Mini Sites.
Excellent post, thesis is a awesome them but its customisation is very difficult…these resource going to help lot.
I have been using Thesis for a month now, and was able to customize the look with a little extra ccs, a custom php function, and using hooks.
I’m already getting search traffic and comments, so Thesis is working great for me.
This is a Thesis adaptation that I just completed. There are still tweeks that need to happen but thought I’d share. http://www.fromthecoffeehouse.com
I like the design for casual chatting. I never realised getting a translucent background was as simple as adding a few lines of code. Thanks for the example. The Cantarell font doesn’t show very well for my screen. I can’t see all the letters, some drop out and others don’t connect all the way. Your second font Candara however renders nicely. Verdana and Arial look cleaner again but that would be boring – yeah!?
hey, that great collection
i will try to add mine in future list like this :)
The Cantarell font doesn’t show very well for my screen.
That is one awesome collection. Lot of great looking sites.
Wow – wouldn’t know that some of these are Thesis.
Looks as though Thesis will be my next theme.
Problem is, I don’t want to biuy the theme and then have to pay again for someone to customise it.
Are there plenty of tutorials out there?
Absolutely! The Thesis Forum is packed with tutorials and tips and many Thesis users who have customized their site have at least one tutorial or an article to where they got the info.
Here’s a link to just one of my own articles with links to hundreds of tutorials at other Thesis users sites.
Thanks
Just taken a look… great list of resources.
Must have taken you ages to put that together.
Might just push me into buying Thesis.
Thanks for sharing these tips. i will make my blog more beautiful with these tips
can you please tell me how to customize the feature box in thesis_18?
Here’s some great articles to get the most out of your feature box:
http://diythemes.com/thesis/thesis-theme-feature-box/
http://www.wolf-howl.com/blogging/visual-slider-thesis/
http://www.emptycabinmedia.com/thesis-feature-box/
http://www.thesishacker.com/using-the-feature-box