Being that most of us are working against multiple deadlines at one time, we need to be able to save ourselves as much time and headache as possible, and help prevent ourselves from unnecessarily re-inventing the wheel. That is why frameworks are such a time and life saver in the development arena. (Actually, frameworks are simple time savers regardless of whether or not you are facing a deadline.)
These standard code containing frames come with the basic ‘shelves’ that you need for your project, you just have to now fill these ‘shelves’ however you see fit…and possibly tweak some of their settings.
Whether you use your own or one of the pre-made frameworks listed below, you will need something to prevent you from having to write the same basic code project after project. It would be like writing sheet music and having to draw the lines on the paper yourself before you started piling on the notes.
So that is where frameworks come in the picture. They cut out the perpetual repetitiveness of placing all the code that accompanies your web based WordPress projects.
All of the themes included here are completely free to use for both personal and commercial projects. For a more in depth look at what WordPress Frameworks are, see Wordpress Theme Frameworks Explained.
Child Themes
One of the benefits of using frameworks is that they allow for the creation of child themes.
WordPress child themes inherit the functionality of the parent framework of your choice. They generally only contain two files, a style.css file and a functions.php file along with any image folders, script folders and include folders necessary for the child theme.
To create a child theme simply upload the parent framework to wp-content/themes then create your css file beginning with the following code. Make sure that the “Framework Name” is the same as the name of the folder of the parent framework.
/*
Theme Name: Name
Theme URI: http://themesite.com
Description: A description of your theme goes here
Author: Author Name
Author URI: http://authorsite.com/
Template: Framework Name
Version: 1.0
*/
Tutorials and Links
- How to make a child theme for WordPress: A pictorial introduction for beginners
- WordPress Child Theme Basics
- Exploring WordPress Frameworks and Child Themes
Thematic
Thematic is a free, open-source, highly extensible, search-engine optimized WordPress Theme Framework featuring 13 widget-ready areas, grid-based layout samples, styling for popular plugins, and a whole community behind it. It’s perfect for beginner bloggers and WordPress development professionals.
For a much more bells and whistles kind of package for your framework needs, Thematic is an awesome, fully loaded WP framework for a wide range of users. Naturally, with all the extra features and included goodies, Thematic comes with a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you will find almost all your framework needs right at your fingertips. Not to mention the resourceful community that has sprung up around this framework ready to help out when and where they can, provides some peace of mind.
Thematic Features
- Fully Search-Engine Optimized
- Includes a sample WordPress Child Theme for rapid development
- Ready for WordPress plugins like Subscribe to Comments, WP-PageNavi, and Comment-license
- Fully compatible with All-In-One SEO and Platinum SEO plugins
- Multiple, easy to implement, bulletproof layout options for 2, or 3 column designs
- Modular CSS with pre-packaged resets and basic typography
- Dynamic post and body classes make it a hyper-canvas for CSS artists
- Editable footer text—remove the theme credit without harming the theme
- Options for multi-author blogs
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 2/5
GPL Licensed: yes
Power of Framework: 4/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 13
Documentation: 5/5
Tutorials and Links
Hybrid
Hybrid is a user-friendly, search-engine optimized theme framework, featuring 18 custom page templates and 9 widget-ready areas, allowing you to create any type of site you want.
Speaking of frameworks that have an awesome community behind it, Hybrid is one such framework where you can find extremely in depth tutorials and documentation to assist you all from the community supporting it. Want bells and whistles, too? Well, Hybrid has those as well. Along with a flexibility to be adapted to whatever type site you are looking to put together. Hybrid is another high ranker among framework users.
Hybrid Features
- Search-Engine Optimized
- Print CSS File Included
- 14 custom page templates
- Advanced action and filter hooks
- Basic Theme and Footer Settings
- 20+ Language Packs
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 2/5
GPL Licensed: yes
Power of Framework: 5/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 9
Documentation: 5/5
Tutorials and Links
WP Framework
WP Framework was created to serve as the starting point in WordPress theme development.
It accomplishes this by providing you with commonly used functions and features that modern WordPress themes should have. So when you start a brand new WordPress project, using WP Framework you’ll already have the basic functionality set so you don’t have to worry about mundane tasks like creating the loop, or recreating all the standard template files.
Let us ditch the learning curve for just a moment while we discuss the next WordPress framework, WP Framework. Catchy title, no? Anyway, WP Framework takes us back to basics so that you can get started without all the elements that often complicate the other frameworks. Even though these complications are often related to the customization factor of your project.
WP Framework Features
- Search Engine Optimized
- Modular CSS includes ( reset.css, base.css, screen.css )
- Favicon & iPhone webclip placeholder images
- Basic print.css Stylesheet ready for printing web documents
- jQuery enabled + screen.js (an empty .js file pre-loaded and ready)
- 3 sample layouts
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 4/5
GPL Licensed: yes
Power of Framework: 3/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 1
Documentation: 4/5
Tutorials and Links
Whiteboard
Whiteboard is a very basic framework of Wordpress. It is designed to speed up the process of designing and coding a Wordpress theme by eliminating the time spent on Wordpress’ back-end PHP that is used in every theme.
Whiteboard is clean, noted, and compact (only 76KB in size – unzipped!). It includes all the standard PHP tags and PHP files needed for a Wordpress theme – plus a few extras.
Once again, for the minimalist developer who likes to start with little more than the basics to build on, Whiteboard may just be the framework you are looking for. Priding itself on its relative lightweight and usability this framework focuses on providing the basic WP PHP code for the back end without the excess that tends to gum up the works and slow things down for the user.
Whiteboard only includes the basic back-end PHP, a CSS reset and a list of all of the DIVs included. One of the most basic frameworks available.
Whiteboard Features
- Categories Page Template
- Archives Page Template
- Pagination Posts
- Socialization Links
- A list of all the included divs
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 5/5
GPL Licensed: no (licensed under Creative Commons BSD)
Power of Framework: 2/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 1
Documentation: 1/5
Tutorials and Links
Sandbox
Sandbox is a powerful tool available for WordPress theme designers and developers. The Sandbox can be easily designed just with CSS, so beginners will feel comfortable not bothering with PHP.
Experienced developers and designers can accomplish almost anything with minimal work, thanks to the rich, semantic markup and profusion of classes dynamically generated by the Sandbox.
The next framework I wanted to take a look at is Sandbox. This framework has strong appeal to two different classes of user. Those profficient developers who can comfortably manipulate the PHP, and therefore, they can easily tweak this framework to make it fit their needs. And those beginners who would rather just focus on the CSS end of the framework, and leave the PHP as written. Either way, this dynamic framework is an awesome starting point.
Sandbox Features
- Full Widgets compatibility
- Valid XHTML 1.0 (Transitional)
- The basis for your own GNU GPL-licensed theme
- You can totally customize it with CSS alone—no need to bother with other files.
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 3/5
GPL Licensed: yes
Power of Framework: 4/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 2
Documentation: 4/5
Tutorials and Links
- Using The WordPress Sandbox and The Blueprint CSS Framework Together
- Getting a sandbox theme running on wordpress.com
Buffet
Buffet is a theme framework designed not only for the theme developers who will be using the theme actions and filters to create the child themes, but also for the end users who would be able to add and remove what they want.
Another key feature of this framework is the usage of extensions. Theme developers can group a set of action and filter functions into a class and register it as a theme extension. With it, users of the child theme itself can enable/disable that extension easily whenever they want via the options panel.
Buffet is another powerful framework tool focused more for theme developers, and also loaded with another steep learning curve. Loaded with features, this flexible framework offers developers so many options when constructing their themes that not only simplifies things for the developer, but allows for easy customization by the end user as well. Buffet’s strength and the amount of modifaction it allows by both parties involved, make the learning curve that it comes with worth the tackle, especially if you are all about developing themes.
Buffet Features
- Search Engine Optimization
- jQuery powered comments form, SuperSleight for IE6, Superfish menus and jBreadcrumbs included
- Packaged with CSS Frameworks – comes with 960gs and Blueprint CSS
- Theme Options – organized in tabs, with features such as custom RSS feed links and custom footer messages
- Theme Extensions – allow end-users to enable/disable features using the extensions feature
Breakdown
Ease of Use: 2/5
GPL Licensed: yes
Power of Framework: 5/5
Number of Wiget-Ready Areas: 4
Documentation: 4/5
Tutorials and Links
That is all from this end…
That is pretty much all I had to say on the subject, but that does not mean there isn’t more to say. So leave your thoughts in the comment section to share your two cents. Ever used one of the frameworks mentioned above? What did you think of it?
Custom Search
Alex Denning (17 comments)14 December 09
Tis true that frameworks are popular, but the only way you’re going to find out which one you prefer is by downloading them and testing them out. And then forking and creating a personalised version of your favourite. I’ve got a personal framework with all the bits of code I use all the time and it’s brilliant in saving time. Well worth doing.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
Very true on having to try them to find out which is best for you. However, I thought that by giving these comparisons, people might be able to better choose which ones to try first for what they want to accomplish.
I’ve been working on my own personal framework as well and it’s coming along. But for now I’m using WP Framework.
aravind (2 comments)14 December 09
Great post.
Frameworks really makes our work easier. At least some of them make beginners confused though.
I have my own frame to work on my projects. I make modifications and update them very often to make it more powerful. It’s kinda getting ready for a public release.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
I agree, you need to have a good grasp on theme development before trying to implement a framework. They’re shortcuts for experienced users rather than learning tools which they’re often confused with.
So are you going to publicly release your framework? If so I’m really excited to give it a try
Max (4 comments)14 December 09
Just wanted to say that I find SEO Optimized options to be limitations rather than features of the framework. Framework should help you build things, not provide options out of the box where you have to overwrite function in order to get things working. There are plugins for that
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
I think there’s room for full featured frameworks as well as the skeletal frameworks. But I will admit that having a huge functions file is one of the reasons I don’t care for child themes. I figured that it’s just because I’m not that experienced with functions yet.
Andy Beard (3 comments)16 December 09
Thematic is heavily loaded with filters & hooks as well, so it is relatively easy to switch things off or add your own preferred SEO functions in functions.php.
I am not sure “ease of use” is a realistic measure – I am not really much of a programmer but have managed to do things with filters and hooks in Thematic that programmers wouldn’t have thought of.
I don’t think anyone should attempt to use a theme framework who isn’t at least capable of tinkering in PHP.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)17 December 09
Is that a limitation of the frameworks though (That some experience with PHP is virtually required)? No framework here stands out particularly highly in the ease of use approach I imagine, the only great differentiators would be their documentation and support. Maybe that’s an area of improvement for them?
Design Informer (5 comments)14 December 09
Like Aravind, I also use my own framework. It’s just a lot more simpler and easier to use, but in the future, I would like to try out Thematic, I have heard lots of good things about it.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
Thematic has a huge learning curve but once you get the hang of it does provide tons of options. However, I’m not sure I would replace a custom made framework with a premade one.
Yael K. Miller (2 comments)14 December 09
@Angie Thanks for actually doing a comparison where you describe the different frameworks and rate it — I appreciate it. I’m sick of posts that are just lists without talking about the items.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
No problem! I agree, I think people should elaborate when they do list posts, give their thoughts on each item listed.
Devin (1 comments)14 December 09
Frameworks have sped up development time for me a great deal. I started using WP-Framework because the easy learning curve, and then moved into Thematic which opened up the world of hooks and filters.
I think once you start using something like Thematic or Hybrid, you can even speed up development more by building your own set of child themes that can be used based on the various needs of the project. I’ve built ones that have theme options set, for example, or dynamic stylesheets. It really opens up a lot of possibilities.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
Thanks for the suggestion! I think that creating child theme frameworks is a great idea. It would be extremely helpful to at least have a blog, a portfolio and a magazine child theme to start with.
Gerd (2 comments)14 December 09
Very good comparison. But I miss the word “Thesis”
Neysan Zolzer (1 comments)14 December 09
You forgot the most powerful: THESIS!
Gerd (2 comments)14 December 09
Sag ich doch.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)14 December 09
@Gerd & @Neysan – I didn’t forget Thesis, I’ve just never used it since I can’t see shelling out $80 just to try it out and see if I like it. So I decided to make sure all of the themes compared here were free.
buzztone (4 comments)14 December 09
@Gerd & @Neysan – Thesis is in my view not a framework like the others discussed here. I see it as one of many commercial non-GPL themes that are now available with lots of user configurable options for people who don’t want to look under the hood when tuning their WordPress.
paul (11 comments)15 December 09
there’s a new trend coming with on the fly / instant theme building with plugins such as “elastic” which is free, there is also a comercial theme which offers this functionality.
Basically, you can “visually” build your theme with a GUI.
Blogger Den (1 comments)15 December 09
I honestly wasn’t even aware there was such a thing as Wordpress frameworks… but I really like it! I’ll try some of these out and see how they can work on my blogs.
Brian Purkiss (24 comments)15 December 09
Thanks for for featuring Whiteboard!
I’m actually in the process of redeveloping Whiteboard. Setting up a dedicated site and everything. (http://whiteboardframework.com/)
More features, power, and documentation.
Though I’m still gonna stick to the lightweight foundation of Whiteboard.
Just kinda an FYI.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)17 December 09
That’s great Brian! I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s to come!
Fahdos (1 comments)15 December 09
Thanks for the detailed post. This is very interesting and clears up many of my question about which wordpress framework sould i use.
I’m interested in Thematic, so i’ll give it a try.
Designerfoo (1 comments)15 December 09
Great content! Great frameworks, would definitely look at Sandbox, not a big themetic fan!
Keith Davis (60 comments)15 December 09
Hi Angie
Never used a Wordpress Framework in fact I had no idea what a framework was.
Much wiser now and certainly know where to go to find one. Thanks for that.
I’ve heard of Themantic, Hybrid and Sandbox so that says something about the power of advertising.
Looks like there is no clear winner, all have pluses and minuses.
Ease of use versus functionality. I guess it depends where you are in the learning curve.
Chrissie Brodigan (3 comments)16 December 09
Excellent roundup. As a power-user of Thematic for a number of my clients, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Buddypress Theme by Thematic, I sense that it’s going to become a pretty popular framework for us in the coming year: http://buddypress.org/extend/themes/
Michael Martin (1319 comments)17 December 09
I can definitely agree with you there, there doesn’t seem to be any clear winner at the minute. I kind of hope it stays that way for a while, there’s nothing like some competition for innovation!
Chrissie Brodigan (3 comments)17 December 09
As Wordpress grows it’s user base it’s interesting to note that there are a lot of people who don’t understand the “Why framework?” question — it’s easy to say it makes things easier, but why, how, etc.? And, as we look at what social elements and 2-way conversation integration can do to design, user experience, and workflow I think it could be a really useful topic. $0.02;)
Angie Bowen (63 comments)17 December 09
Thanks for the comment Keith
. There’s definitely no best framework. It all depends on what you need for a particular project and what works best for you. I use a few different frameworks for various kinds of projects.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)17 December 09
@Chrissie – I’ve looked at buddypress but haven’t actually tried it yet. I’ll happily give my opinion once I get around to it though
I think the main advantage to frameworks is how much time they save. Instead of having to write the same preliminary code over and over, frameworks give you a powerful starting point saving many hours of work.
Chrissie Brodigan (3 comments)17 December 09
@Angie I’ll look forward to your review of Buddypress, I’ve just started working with it for a client who will be running for Congress. We wanted to test it out v. building ontop of Kickapps API or Ning.
Saving time is a great selling point. I just wonder (if pressed) how you would answer more of the “Why frameworks” – is there more to it than time saving (in your opinion). Maybe a look into how large or participatory the community around each framework is – or how a developer inspires community to contribute to the framework?
And, of course, free v. paid – outlining those challenges that CMS creators and advocates continue to yammer on about.
That said – awesome post!
Simple Health Tips (4 comments)16 December 09
nice article.. frameworks are popular.. it really reduce our work.
buzztone (4 comments)17 December 09
Really surprised by the Documentation: 5/5 given to Thematic. Don’t get me wrong I think Thematic is great – but I find the documentation very limited. In particular the wiki A Guide To Thematic appears static & I note there has been no response to several requests to open this up in the Thematic Forum.
Angie Bowen (63 comments)17 December 09
You’re completely right in that the Wiki could use some major work. However, with them having very helpful forums, I bumped their rank since you can pretty much get any question answered quickly. Apparently unless it’s a request to make the Wiki better lol.
buzztone (4 comments)18 December 09
I agree Thematic Forum: 5/5 but I would rate Documentation: 2 or 3/5.
It appears that one of the best ways at the moment to learn more than the basics or really understand Thematic is via the Forum. However that is really cumbersome and seems to me to create a lot of duplicated effort by people now looking to use this great framework.
Good documentation along with strong community support and effective forums is one of the keys to successful open-source projects including WordPress itself. I expect that this will again be very important in determining in the longer term which of these frameworks get most widely used.
At the same time is looks to me like some of the workload in the Thematic Forum could be reduced or eliminated by better documentation. Given the level of interest in Thematic it would seem to make a lot of sense to open the wiki to the community of people interested in using Thematic.
Ian Stewart (5 comments)20 December 09
Buzz, the Guide is open again for editing. Not sure how that got fegrazzled like that—or missed. Anyway, it’s fixed.
buzztone (4 comments)21 December 09
Great news Ian
If you are using Thematic and would like to contribute “anyone interested in helping out with documentation can Register as a Wiki Editor”.
Tommie Hansen (1 comments)17 December 09
Why on earth would really … anyone use a wordpress framework? Wordpress is simple enough — don’t need a bloated framework on top of it! Why not just roll your own sort-of-framework that you prefer and expand it (or contract it since you coded it so well) WHEN needed instead of having immense CODE-BLOAT from X,Y,Z that you actually don’t need in the current project.
Josh Stauffer (11 comments)29 December 09
I actually second this. I hate useless code. If I’m not using it, I delete it. I prefer less clutter.
viettel adsl (1 comments)17 December 09
Thanks for the detailed post but can you gave me an advice about the best suitable framework? Include the featured and ease to modifie ?
Angie Bowen (63 comments)17 December 09
I really don’t think that there is one best suitable framework. They all have their pros and cons and different frameworks work better for different types of projects. It’s just something you have to experiment with.
Keith Davis (60 comments)17 December 09
Angie
What we need is a ranking in a particular category, the way they do with cars i.e.
Which is the about town runabout winner?
Which is the small family car winner?
Which is the family saloon winner?
Which is the sports model winner?
Only joking… I can appreciate how difficult it must be to pick “the best”.
I think that you have hit on a very popular topic with this post.
Photoshop Downloads (1 comments)18 December 09
Personally I can tell you that I fount the Thematic theme too complicated for myself to customize. (tho i dont have alot of experience) I ended up removing most of their special functions but alot of placesim stuck and cant find out what files and lines do what. I have also tried the Whiteboard theme framework and I truly love it for the ease of doing anything and the Wordpress Codex is relevant and helping when working with that framework.
Design Your Own Clothes (6 comments)20 December 09
Great reviews! I like how all of the frameworks except from one are ranking only 2/5 on ease of use. I havent tried all of these yet but the ones i trire dwere not easy to use at all. Glad to see you also have found a framework that you rank 5/5 on ease of use! I would have never have found it if you didnt write this post. So thanks!
Tom (10 comments)17 December 09
Nice list!
i tested a few of them.
Hybrid i like most!
Anupama Rao (1 comments)20 December 09
really famous and popular WP frameworks. thanks
Hafiz Rahman (1 comments)21 December 09
Would like to chime in and add that you can actually make child themes out of any non-child theme, be it a “framework” or just plain-old theme like, say, Kubrick.
Other than that, thank you for the this great resource. Must have been pretty time consuming gathering all this information into one post.
David Radovanovic (1 comments)21 December 09
I started using thematic about three websites ago and I’ve been pretty happy with it’s most obvious strengths:
modularity – takes upgrades without a hitch
extensibility – a strong selection of hooks and actions
price – thematic if free and the child themes are very reasonable
My two cents.
Thanks for your article.
New York Themes (1 comments)21 December 09
that is a nice review of wordpress frameworks,
check out http://carringtontheme.com, another popular framework for WordPress, that is worth reviewing, and did i mention FREE
James
nythemes
Jauhari (5 comments)21 December 09
All of this framework really cute
I like to explore Carrington Theme is cool too
Thomas Clausen (2 comments)21 December 09
I’ve tested thematic and Hybrid. And Hybrid took the price for me. Justin Tadlocks frameworkis fantastic. And Justins support in his forum is without parallel. He’s omnipresent
Mariano (1 comments)21 December 09
This is a FABULOUS post. I think we’re going to be seeing more and more frameworks developed for Wordpress, OR the new default theme will be more like a framework than an actual theme.
Interesting things coming for 2010! Looking forward to it!
e11world (1 comments)22 December 09
Very nice and detailed explanation. This actually really helped me pick what I need to do for the next 2 projects. Thanks a lot!
Jan Egbert (2 comments)22 December 09
What does “ease of use” mean for Theme Frameworks? What criteria do you use to conclude on usability of a theme framework? I like the idea of comparing frameworks, but I’d like a more in depth review. I’m personally using Hybrid and I’ve experimented with Thematic. It was the support and documentation for Hybrid that made the change for me.
There is also a discussion going on about this on the Hybrid Ideas forum: http://themehybrid.com/communi.....-framework
new media marketing (1 comments)23 December 09
Frameworks really cuts off time in developing a webpage. It saves not only time but money in return.
Thanks for sharing this!
Oluniyi David Ajao (1 comments)23 December 09
Thanks for the suggestions. Aside Hybrid Theme framework, they are all quite basic. I am yet to come across free frameworks that beat their premium counterparts.
Josh Stauffer (11 comments)23 December 09
Please correct me if I am wrong but can’t a child theme be used with any WP theme? Can you only use child themes with frameworks?
Thomas Clausen (2 comments)23 December 09
It’s ties to the framework Josh. You can see this in the stylesheet,where it says
Template: NAME OF THE FRAMEWORK THEME
See Justin Tadlocks nice explanation here: http://themehybrid.com/themes/hybrid/child-themes
Keith Davis (60 comments)24 December 09
@Thomas
Justin Tadlock is a name that keeps coming up in association with Theme Frameworks – obviously from his Hybrid theme.
I know very little about Frameworks but I’ve taken a look at Thesis – impressive, very impressive but not cheap – and I’ve started to look at Hybrid. In fact I’ve just joined Hybrid as a free member.
Do you have any thoughts on Hybrid? Bearing in mind that for “ease of use” Hybrid scores 2 out of 5.
With a score like that a beginner find it difficult to use?
Paul @ HeadwayTips (3 comments)24 December 09
Table of results:
ThematicHybridWP F/workWhiteboardSandboxBuffetEase of Use2/52/54/55/53/52/5GPL LicensedYesYesYesNoYesYesPower Rating4/55/53/52/54/55/5Widget Areas1391124Documentation5/55/54/51/54/54/5
Paul @ HeadwayTips (3 comments)24 December 09
oops – guess no html
links of london bracelet (3 comments)25 December 09
i need a wordpress for seo (promote rank).
would you give me some advise? thanks
WPExplorer (6 comments)27 December 09
Frameworks are supper popular, but they are completely different bread of Wordpress theme development. I find it faster to design and program my themes from scratch than having to learn that specific framework than work with it. I have always found myself doing twice the wor.
I guess if you find one you really like and stick with it, it can be really helpful.
Jan Egbert (2 comments)4 January 10
If theme framework developers do things the wordpress way, this is not a problem. I’ve worked with Thematic and Hybrid and both of them really expanded my knowledge about WordPress.
Rajesh Kanuri @ TechCats (3 comments)29 December 09
frameworks helps the users to begin with the theme customization and helps in making things better.. although premium thesis is still the best framework available in the market..
Armando Sosa (1 comments)30 December 09
Hi! I’ve done myself a theme framework, but following a very different approach. Instead of going with the parent-theme-with-alota-hooks I’ve tried to mimic the MVC paradigm (found on Rails and CakePHP for example) the best I could to make a real programming wordpress framework.
It’s open-source and hosted on Github: http://github.com/soska/dte/
Sorry for the spam, but I’m pretty much unknown on the community and I’d like to share what I’ve done with everybody else.
Crystal (3 comments)31 December 09
Thanks very much for the roundup. I’ve been trying to practice my Wordpress theme-ing more so lately so I can start releasing free and premium themes to the community, rather than just custom build them for clients depending only on what they need. There is definitely a learning curve when it comes to remembering to style everything when you don’t have a direct checklist of needs from a client in front of you, so I’ve been planning on experimenting with some frameworks like this.
I’ll definitely have to check out a few different ones and do my own review!
autai ptfe (17 comments)1 January 10
Great Poster !
Lars Tong Strömberg (3 comments)3 January 10
Great stuff!
Seems quite a few quite sophisticated frameworks are emerging fast right now. It struck me that although you list 6 of them, there is still a couple you could add to the list: Thesis, Ashford, Headway, Carrington just to mention a few.
As for me, I am using Thesis (happy) and Thematic (quite happy), the latter one on your list.
Mohsen (1 comments)3 January 10
Great and in-depth article. very useful. I was looking for such a great review.
Thanks
Ferry Booking (2 comments)5 January 10
I’d like the WP Framework one. Very nice article!
Drew (1 comments)6 January 10
Hum.. I didn’t even know these existed. I am doing a redesign and might look into trying one of these.
James (10 comments)11 January 10
Good themes.
Aashish (3 comments)11 January 10
I have never used framework, but I have bookmarked it..I’ll give it a try in my new theme.
Gr8 Post
Patrick Daly (1 comments)12 January 10
Angie, great write up! I’m curious about what you think could make Hybrid easier to use. I’ve developed a number of child themes and plugins for it and one of my goals in doing so is to make it easier for end users to modify Hybrid. So if you any suggestions ways that could make it easier to understand and easily manipulate I’d love to see what I can do about it!
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Tech Maish (6 comments)16 January 10
This is great list. thanks for sharing.
SJL Web Design (10 comments)19 January 10
I’ve never actually used a wordpress framework but my work colleague keeps ramming Thematic down my throat, so I might have to try it out.
Andrew (6 comments)26 January 10
I’ve checked some of these Theme Frameworks out, and I think they are quite good. I’ve use Thematic and WP-Framework for two projects before, and they certainly make life easier for porting an existing HTML/CSS design to WordPress
Hayloft Media (3 comments)28 January 10
I definitely get you wanting to only list frameworks that are free, however, I do have to make a plug again for Thesis. Even though it is not free, for those who build a lot of Wordpress sites, it is cost effective and makes deploying a wordpress blog or website that is extremely search engine friendly and flexible a cinch. I’ve enjoyed working with it on many projects and community and developer support is top-notch.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)30 January 10
You’re right that a lot of frameworks are cost effective, and well worth the money. The idea with this post was just that we were taking an angle on the topic; instead of mixing free and paid together (Because the 2 certainly aim at different markets), we chose to just tackle the free ones.
Nothing wrong with paid ones; they’re all fairly cheap (At least, compared to how many hours you’ll pour into your blog they are!) and can be well worth it.
Jolt (1 comments)5 February 10
Liking the Thematic format for wordpress.
cmswind (1 comments)11 February 10
Nice Post.. I haven’t used it. But now going to try it out.
effects of outsourcing jobs (1 comments)16 February 10
i have seen the frame works, but i am using the child, and ordinary frame works, but in some like white board, and sandbox are taking time to make , than the themetic
Man Van Richmond (19 comments)17 February 10
This is a great post, Written and it have tutorials for support. I also like the screen shots that help in discussing the topic.
eveevans (1 comments)24 February 10
I already used Thematic, WP Framework and Hybrid framework for Wordpress, and my favorite are:
1- WP Framework
2- Hybrid
3- Thematic
In that order. In my opinion WP Framework is the best, and the way you extend it is easy. Thematic, is good, but if you want to change the normal way that it function, you have to be prepare for a headache, in this part Thematic is really really bad. Hybrid in the middle, isn’t good as WPFramework, but isn’t bad as Thematic xD.
Khalid Janjua (2 comments)8 March 10
very impressive blog and awesome posts..
KenDawes (1 comments)9 March 10
Hi,
I see all the the info re Framework, et al… But when I have run into sites using them, they don’t seem to be update-friendly at all. Have you looked at the Atahualpa theme? To me it’s like Thesis on steroids…AND it’s free. The HTML and CSS (and more) are readily available to mod in the interface and it update friendly. It’s easy to use!
Take a look at it and I would like to know what you think!
Ken