Recently a rumour hit me: Prices for the upcoming Thesis 2.0 will rise. Perhaps. With WordPress 2.9 being under development for an unknown amount of time DIYthemes might be considering a price increase for Thesis 2.0
I stumbled upon the possibility of Chris Pearson (pearsonified.com) changing his business model in the near future while thinking about Thesis 1.6 actually being very cheap. – When I discovered Thesis 1.5.1 a few months ago I was just happy (read my Thesis usage report) and felt proud to have become a part of the ever-growing and totally awesome Thesis community.
Plus 50% would still be cool
Let us assume DIYthemes is going to make Thesis 2.0 about 50% more expensive. Easy calculation:
87$ will turn into 130.50$ and 164$ will then be 246$
Do you think it’s too steep? Nope, that’s exactly what I thought. Thesis 2.0 would still be “cheap” – I like the Dutch phrase “goedkoop” better :-) Those who are really into having a great WordPress theme right out of the box will still have it. What’s wrong about 50% (43.50$) compared to an approximately 500% (priceless) increased user experience?
Thesis 2.0 Affiliate Calculation
I do already own Thesis 1.6 and I’m quite happy with my developer option. I am not only allowed to use Thesis on as many blogs as I want (own) but also am I invited to “sell” Thesis.
That simply means I’m able to earn money with that thing. I love it!
I would (in a very selfish way) appreciate a price increase as my 33% will stay 33% – the outcome of course would be even more compelling:
33% of 130.50$ is exactly 43.50$ and if you are a mathematician you’ll realize that my paycheck is as high as the absolute increase itself :-)
With a developer option sold I would still grab 33% and thereby hold a whopping 82$ in my hands. So, from a “avid” point of view it would be a geat advantage to see DIYthemes push the price of Thesis 2.0
Bottom Line: Thesis rocks!
As Thesis will just rock in whatever version, any price is okay. Put aside the other “professional” themes available for WordPress. Just concentrate on what you want, what you give and what you receive.
Thesis 2.0 pricing could even increase about 100% and I would still be bound to confirm: I LOVE THESIS.
Encouraged (indirectly) to write this post by Costa @ blogigs.com
{ 11 comments }
Nothing like bias to gloss over a price hike…
Since Thesis is no longer the number one theme in the game, I’ll go with the one that offers everything Thesis does plus a Visual Editor for $87.
Which would that be, please? I’ve not run into a theme that could claim back #1 status.
I’d say it wouldn’t be long before the new Headway theme (with its visual editor) offers a bigger draw than Thesis. Perhaps I should have said “top theme” as opposed to “number one”, since Woo users might feel their theme is number one. Same with iThemes and Press 75, etc.
But yeah… with the visual editor for non-coders and coders alike, plus full CSS and HTML options along with the license options on Headway, I’m swaying more toward that for my new site.
@pete Have you actually tried the new Headway theme? Sounds like you haven’t. Total control over the elements does not mean a better solution. It will often lead to jumbled messed up sites.
Over the past 24 hours I’ve spent roughly 5 hours tinkering with the new Headway 1.5b theme. Personally I think what they are trying to do is noble. I like the idea of bringing the power to the individual regardless of CSS knowledge.
That is great, but when an experienced wordpress user has issues making a decent looking site that isn’t jumbled or floated funny I just can’t say that it will be the new top dog.
I suggest that you give Headway 1.5b a spin if you haven’t. Spending hours trying to create a coherent site because you have to edit multiple system template is a joke.
Their editor is powerful and has a “WOW” factor, but there are just flat out — TOOO many options and they are ineffectively displayed. The average joe WILL get lost. I would not recommend this theme to my MOM, let alone someone who has 0 knowledge with wordpress.
Personally I can’t WAIT to see what the response is from the general themes community.
@Pete - I headwayed straighly to their website and I was just inches away from actually purchasing the theme, just to see the difference. But I ended up reading through their advertorial texts and lost interest very quickly.
Headway rocks. That is for sure. But I am not the “average joe” who doesn’t care about CSS, XHTML and stuff. I do care! I like to see my skills improving. Thesis is a perfect framework for those willing to learn and make progress.
Headway seems to be the option for those who actually do not want to benefit from a framework “as-is” to improve their skills. Headway looks great and is highly customizable – but I want to use custom functions and dig into the hooks :-)
Let alone pricing… who cares if he benefits from what he buys?
@Nick - Oops, spent all my lines on answering Pete, sorry! Just one thing: I’m also very curious about the response from the themes community! I think Headway is going to be the HUGE underdog…
@Nick – I’ve purchased the dev. version of Headway and have dug into HW 1.5 over the weekend. I disagree that there are too many options, but to each their own. I also had a Thesis dev guy (and someone who builds from scratch as well as other frameworks like Frugal and Sandbox) to play, and she also loved the options from both fronts (visual editor and non-visual editor).
@Ramses – I agree that Thesis is perfect for building and for those who care. But you can do all that in Headway too, with the Hooks system and full control over the CSS and HTML coding. I like it personally because I’m not a coder so the visual editor aspect is awesome (for me); but it’s also built for coders as well. Just an FYI, Clay (the developer) has been known to not like Hooks because he’s a hands-on coder, but he knows that others like them – so I think that answers a lot about coders getting dirty with it. :)
At the end of the day, I think it’s great that Thesis has some genuine competition which it hasn’t really had up to now, and it’ll be interesting to see how Thesis 2.0 stacks up.
End of the day, it’s us who are the winners :)
I have to disagree with what you’re saying about Headway being just for non coders. Thesis was made by coders, with coders in mind. I’ve been a web designer for years, and Headway’s system allows for custom functions, css, and hooks under the hood. These, in addition to the visual editor, are extremely powerful tools.
I have used Thesis, and compared to Headway, I find that Headway gets the job done (for me) faster and more efficiently. Does it have bugs? Yes. But so did Thesis in the earliest versions.
On a side note:It hardly seems relevant to complain about bugs in a beta.
Considering the visual editor is a new type of technology, I’m willing to allow it time to grow and solidify.
I’m struggling to see where most of your comments have come from. I’ve seen the Headway community from all sides and I can tell you it is a growing, supportive, and productive one. And personally, I think “total control over elements” does provide a good solution. The more control, the easier the modification.
Hi Corey,
thanks for stopping by and sharing your opinion.
I’m sorry for making a statement that generates misunderstanding!
Headway of course is not only for non-coders, it’s for everybody – just as Thesis is.
As you might have realized, I’m currently maintaining a 99% pure Thesis Theme site, so it’s only natural that most of my visitors think about Thesis as the best tool to work with. You apparently think that Headway is…
I’d love to have both communites being fusioned – but that is never going to happen ;-)
Money rules the (WordPress Theme) World.
You could see where my misunderstanding would be. =) I’m not entirely sure what 99% pure means, but I’ve apparently found that Headway is the best tool for myself, whereas Thesis is the best tool for one of my friends. I see no reason why the two communities couldn’t be fused. If money were truly the only reason for developing wordpress themes, I think we’d see crappier support and much more price-based competition.
Oh, and being fusioned is not grammatically correct…”fusioned” actually isn’t a word. Sorry, that was bugging me. Good luck with your blog and have a fantastic day!
It means that “ilovethesis.com” is about Thesis. Not 100% but 99% – that is because I like to watch out for competitors (like Headway).
–
Oh, cool! You found a mistake AND told me. That’s nice. What I meant was “merged” or something similar ;-)
Thanks again for taking your time to discuss things like that!
Besides: I cannot see other problems than money in this very case… What do you think would be a problem for both communities joining? If you see any.
I never said I had any problems with the communities joining. *shrug* And you’re welcome. Happy to help.
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