Upon the release of Thesis 1.7, I was disappointed in only a few things; however, there are three things I would love to see in the near future releases.
- Advanced Feature Box Controls & Options*
- Customizable & Integrated Navigation Menu*
- Mobile Features
- Multiple Custom Page Layouts & Options*
*Granted that Thesis does have some features that already address these in a very limited format, there is a lot of work that needs to be done with these.
First, in Thesis 1.6, it said, “Expect your display options to improve dramatically in a future release!” So I was expecting, and there was nothing. Nothing? Yes, nothing. However, they do have a consistent track record of producing some fantastic releases and upgrades, so hopefully there will be more in the Thesis Options pages in the future. However, there is a fairly decent text tutorial by godhammer in the Thesis Support Forums, which I will also be documenting what I did on one of my sites. However, both Dynamic Content Gallery and Featured Content Gallery (which I believe Dynamic Content Gallery is much simpler & easier for the non-techie) have tutorials on how to use them with Thesis’s Featured Box (DCG tutorial, FCG tutorial).
Second, while Thesis has improved the way that they do their navigation menu, for someone who wants more user-friendly customizable control, it is still lacking. However, the NAVT plugin works exceptionally well. I love their drag and drop functionality; however, one is stuck with the order of pages, categories, and external links. However, there are some hacks that can enable a person to manipulate the order of their tabs. However, it is not user-friendly in that regard. Why not create this section where all of these are interchangeable and selectable and adaptable very similar to the NAVT plugin.
Third, I am surprised that Thesis has not yet produced something like the Carrington Framework where the theme can be converted to a mobile-friendly site (possibly through a plugin that is later enveloped into the core files), further increasing SEO for the Thesis theme (to me the only hanging fruit left for Thesis to execute). However, not just to take on what another theme does, but to take it and improve it is the key. So for Thesis to take this to the next level, it would be awesome to see a mobile-friendly theme with a mobile-friendly admin.
Fourth, one of the things I was trying to figure out for the longest time was how to create a variety of custom pages using Thesis. However, I didn’t really want this feature in just the pages, I wanted it in posts. I wanted the ability to customize the sidebar based on the post and/or page. When I bought Genesis, I finally found part of what I wanted. One of the features from the Genesis theme is the ability to have both a universal and in-post layouts that differ (see a comparison between Thesis and Genesis). However, what would be better would be the ability to have different widgets (or array of widgets on the sidebar) that can be assigned to different layouts.
