If you’ve been around this site for any length of time, you know that I’m a big fan of the Thesis WordPress Theme. I use it for 4 of my sites because of it’s ease of use, superior SEO, and because it sets the gold standard for beautiful typography and awesome support via their forums.

It’s been a little while since the last release and update to the theme, but today the folks behind the theme released the version 1.8 Thesis theme update.

For those of you who have been holding off on purchasing the theme because it was still too tough for you to install header or favicon graphics, this version will be the one that probably gets you to take the plunge. As a part of this upgrade Thesis now includes header and favicon uploader tools, which means you no longer have to mess around with FTP sites, custom.css files or or other more advanced things in order to get your header graphic to show up. You just choose the graphic from your desktop, and hit the upload button. Done!

Features Of Thesis 1.8

Thesis 1.8 offers a plethora of great new features that will make it the easiest version of Thesis to use… Ever.  From the Thesis site:

1. Header Image Uploader

Adding a unique header image is a great way to personalize your site. The problem is, simply adding a header image does not ensure proper SEO or good usability. Web ninjas know that header images should be clickable, CSS-based, and SEO-optimized, and let’s face it—this all sounds pretty technical.

Fortunately, Thesis 1.8 steps in and saves the day. Instead of dealing with all that technical mumbo-jumbo, you only need to upload your desired image, and Thesis will do the heavy lifting for you. It’s easy, optimized, and oh-so-simple.

2. SEO Character Counters

Did you know that search engines will only show a specific number of characters in <title> and <meta> description fields?

No worries. Put your fingers away, because you don’t need to touch your computer screen to count characters anymore. Thesis 1.8 helps you work within these constraints by offering character counters on appropriate input fields throughout the WordPress interface.

3. New Google Fonts!

Who doesn’t love having a slew of fantastic fonts to use on their site? Thesis is now the first premium website framework to support the Google Font Directory, which gives you access to 28 web-fonts for free!

And the best part? These fonts are web-safe—they’re served directly from Google servers, so everyone can see your fonts no matter what browser or operating system they have!

4. WordPress Nav Menu Support

One of the most awesome improvements in WordPress 3.0 is the navigation menu builder, and Thesis 1.8 offers full support for this exciting new feature. Best of all, if you choose to use the WordPress nav menu, you’ll be able to tweak its design by using Thesis’ existing nav menu design controls! Win-win!

5. Category/Tag/Taxonomy Page Options

In version 1.7, I introduced a new “Page Options” system that allowed you to add SEO details like <title> and <meta> content to category and tag pages. There are three notable changes to this system in version 1.8.

First, I’ve moved all of these options to a more logical position: inside WordPress’ category and tag editing pages. Now, you’ll be able to edit everything in one place without having to bounce around between different pages inside the admin interface.

Second—and this is my personal favorite feature in version 1.8—you’ll be able to add a unique headline and unique content to every category, tag, or taxonomy page on your site! This has huge implications for SEO, and even better, it will allow you to create pages that are more useful for your users.

Third, Thesis now offers full support for custom taxonomy pages in addition to category and tag pages. Should you choose to use custom taxonomies on your site, you’ll be able to benefit from Thesis’ incredible customization controls and unmatched SEO prowess.

6. Favicon Uploader

Favicons are a great way to extend your site’s brand, and Thesis 1.8 contains a simple favicon uploader that you can use to add one of these babies to your site. Like the header image uploader, the favicon uploader is extremely simple—just upload your image, and Thesis handles the rest of the work for you.

7. Custom Loop API

As far as developers are concerned, the new Custom Loop API is probably the most exciting, powerful, and flexible tool that I’ve ever added to Thesis. The premise is simple:

The Custom Loop API allows you to target and modify the content area of every type of WordPress page and, if you’re so inclined, every page of your website.

In other words, this is the ultimate custom template system. For an in-depth look and some examples, check out the Custom Loop API documentation.

So if you’ve been holding off on buying Thesis because it still seemed to difficult to get your site to show up the way you wanted, now is the time to jump in on the deal – because you can easily customize your site with a custom header graphic and favicon – simply by uploading it via the WordPress dashboard.  So head on over to Diythemes.com and buy it today! (My recommendation is the developer’s option so you can use it on as many sites as you want. )

If you click on the link below I will get a small affiliate fee if you choose to purchase the Thesis theme. I thank you in advance!

This post is tagged Thesis, Wordpress Themes