Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the StudioPress Themes:

What’s the difference between a Framework and a Child Theme?

A website framework (ours is called Genesis) is a powerful type of WordPress theme — a “supertheme”, if you will.

A child theme sits on top of that framework and handles all the design and layout aspects of your website.

In talking about all this, it helps to think of your website as a car.

WordPress acts as the engine of your car.

Genesis (the framework) is the frame and body of the car, and is the basic design, security, and SEO foundation of your website. In handling all the core code, Genesis also helps to “future-proof” your site, so all your customizations won’t disappear when it comes time for your one-click software upgrades.

Lastly, a child theme is the pure design element that rests on top of your framework — the cherry red paint job on that car. Or blue. Or black. Pink. Green. You get the idea, whatever works for you …

For a very clear picture of how all this works, check out StudioPress 101.

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Do I need to buy Genesis?

Yes.

Genesis is the design, security and SEO foundation of your website, and your child theme. Just like a paint job needs a car, you’ll need to have the Genesis framework in place to make the child theme run.

Find out why Genesis is the foundation of any smart WordPress design.

Do I need special software or system requirements to use your themes?

Like any website, you’ll need to own your own domain and have WordPress installed on a web host of your choice. If you’d like a host that completely manages your WordPress and Genesis installation for you, we can help with that, check out Synthesis managed WordPress hosting.

You’ll also need to have a basic understanding of how to move around and work within the WordPress dashboard. For some help with that, here’s some great resources for getting started.

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How many sites can I use the themes on?

You can use any theme package you purchase as many times as you’d like, on as many websites as you desire. The purchase of theme packages allows you unlimited use of the themes, as well as unlimited support.

In other words, we do not restrict your use to a specific number of sites, or a specific period of time in which they can be used.

Learn more about more about how you can use Genesis here.

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Can I use Genesis for clients? (To sell sites to clients, for my hosting company, for multisite sales, etc.)

Absolutely.

You are welcome to use our themes to develop full websites that can be sold. We do not restrict the use of our themes to turnkey sites.

However, the buyer of the custom site you build with Genesis will not have access to our customer portal, unless they purchase directly from us.

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What is included in the Pro Plus All-Theme Package?

The Pro Plus All-Theme Package comes with every theme we’ve built — including the Genesis Framework itself — and every theme we’ll build in the future.

You can take a look at all of our available themes here.

The Community Themes from the StudioPress design community are not included in the Pro Plus All-Theme Package. This is because those themes are documented and supported by the individual developers who built them.

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Can I use your themes with my WordPress.com account?

WordPress.com is a blog platform service that hosts your site. Although our child themes will not work with WordPress.com (because they require self-hosting), we do sell a handful of our specialized themes on WordPress.com.

You can find our WordPress.com themes here.

If you decide to host your site yourself, and have purchased one of our themes through WordPress.com, we’ll gladly give you the theme that you purchased — along with the Genesis Framework — once you switch over.

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Do your themes work with mobile devices?

All of our themes display beautifully on mobile devices.

We also have a growing number of themes that are specifically designed to be “mobile responsive”, allowing your theme to automatically adapt to any mobile device on the market.

Find a forum of our mobile responsive themes here.

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Can you recommend a theme for my needs?

With 40+ themes to choose from, we’re likely to have one that’ll work for you.

Most of our themes have built-in color and layout options available, so you’ll want to keep that in mind as you’re scanning through the preview images — know that you can customize each to your particular taste.

When looking for a theme requiring the fewest customizations, we suggest visiting the demo page of each theme that interests you, and choosing the one with a landing page that most closely resembles your ideal site.

If you’d prefer to cut straight to the chase, a few clicks on our theme chooser might help you pick the perfect theme in a matter of minutes.

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Will StudioPress customize my theme for me?

Although we don’t provide custom design services for any of our themes, we do have a list of trusted, StudioPress-approved developers that we highly recommend.

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Do you have an affiliate program?

If you’re a content publisher, web designer/developer, or small business owner looking to generate income by promoting premium software products for the largest (and fastest growing) WordPress framework, our affiliate program could fit your bill.

Click here to read the details on our StudioPress Affiliate Program.

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How can I get on your recommended developers list?

If you’re interested in becoming one of our featured developers or designers, please send your information to developer-submissions@studiopress.com.

We’ll review your submission and let you know if we think it’d be a good fit.

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How can I sell my themes in the StudioPress Community Marketplace?

We’re currently not accepting any new themes into the Community Marketplace. The best way to know when we do, is to sign up to get the latest StudioPress news (any option in the right sidebar will do).

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Still have questions? No worries. Contact us here, we’re happy to help.