WordPress 3.0 and the Socrates Theme
OK, so Thursday was a very frustrating afternoon. I wrote to you about two Webmaster Tools sites (Google and Bing: join me tomorrow), and when I tried to save the post, Firefox decided to lock up and freeze. I write very quickly, so there was no time for WordPress to do the saving, so… I have to start over. Grr… The upside is that I write pretty quickly.
First, let me say that I like WordPress 3.0. I don't usually install a completely new platform, as I've said here before, but I have another blog that I just started (TheMovieDiary.com, if you're into movie reviews). Since it was an export from the old Overcome Everything blog, I wasn't worried that I'd lose anything, so I tried it. Nothing bad happened, so well… I upgraded on this blog, too.
All went well, until I tried to enter my tags. Then, pffft!!! I can't enter them from the "Add New Post" window. It's not a WordPress issue because there's no problem on the newer blog. It could be Socrates or it could be the plugins I use for SEO, one of them being Yahoo suggest. Not sure which, but that's the only problem I've had to date. I'm not going to point any fingers. I could even be HeadSpace 2, who knows?
But if it is Socrates, I don't give a hoot and here's why…I love, love, love this theme! The customization is just amazing. You'll notice that I changed my look again, as I'm often doing. With Socrates, there are so many different choices and they're adding new stuff all the time. It's great! I love it way more than Thesis, which is a total pain in the ass, if you ask me.
With Socrates, you can add an image easily, just as you do with WordPress normally. No issues. With Thesis, you can do that, but if you want to create a thumbnail for the summary post at the bottom, you have to resize your image and then, upload it to get the URL to plug in. What a pain! Plus, the multi-media box is bullshit, unless your video is teeny tiny so nobody can see what you're talking about. Any normal sized video hangs over the side. I never use it for that reason, and just do the embed code thing inside the post. That seems to work fine.
But Socrates is really easy. You have to decipher Thesis. I have over the last year or so because that's all Tellman wants to use. It looks OK. I don't mind its appearance, but the functionality is advanced. If you're a new blogger, stick with something free, or try the Socrates theme. It asks clear questions that you can understand, not geekspeak. Though I have a pretty good handle on that, not many folks starting out do and well… Thesis needs a translator.
For example, Thesis has two customization screens: Thesis Options and Thesis Design Options and you have to make adjustments all the time to them. If you want to include a category in your top navigation, and it's a new category, you have to go in and change things. In Design, it gives you stuff like "Framework." Hahahaha… not for newbies, my friends. The only thing I really smile at with Thesis is that the button where you save changes is called the "Big Ass Save Button," unless you change it. But there are no design options. Not a single header image, nada.
With Socrates, you can pick your colors for anything. You can choose from dozens of header images and several different backgrounds. It's easy to change fonts, add Analytics, and it's just user-friendly as hell. Plus, it allow you to use AdSense or ClickBank Hop Ads, and rotate buttons in the top right-hand corner with ClickBank or other products of your choosing. It was very convenient for me to add Spider Language, for example. Love it!
If price is a consideration, Thesis will run you $89 for a single-use license and $164 for a developer's license, which allows you to add the theme to unlimited sites. Socrates, on the other hand, is only $47 for the single-use license and $77 for multi-use license. I was lucky and ordered it right off the bat. I got an unlimited license for the $47 price, and I've used it on three of my blogs so far. The Movie Diary blog is another Socrates theme blog. Notice how different it is from this blog.
OK, you have to be told, but I will be paid for this, if you decide to buy the Socrates blog theme from my links. But that's not why I love it. I'd love it even if I wasn't paid! It's a Joel Comm/Dan Nickerson product, too, which makes it really cool. Joel and Dan are always on the cutting edge and I really enjoy seeing everything they do. It's always quality and well, they're just really nice people, too. So, yeah… I tout it. And I think it's cute that it's named after Joel's dog. Ha!
But I bought it. 
