A Thought for the Genesis Team

[Jezella]

On reading your reply Robert I register a great deal of passion for the product where you defend it well. I note also your 2000 posts so it might be considered that you have got to grips well with what we are dealing with.

I complained about documentation so the question becomes what do I need documentation for? Before I answer that, let me point out that if I am looking for documentation that would suggest that I am prepared to learn and am willing to make an effort without everything being on a plate. So, back to documentation and what I need. I’ll step through this as though I have just started with Genesis if not a bit before. I say before as this is where the problem really starts and I shall use myself as an example where it must be borne in mind that not everyone is proficient in html, css and the like.

I have Wordpress installed working fine and now I’m eager to develop my website. I want my name at the top and so research a fabulous amount of information on the Wordpress site where I start to learn the ins and outs of how Wordpress works. Soon I’m thinking that I want more than the 2010 theme and initially go for the freebees, all very closely related to Wordpress itself. I start to understand about child themes and have a little play and all is working well. All the time I’m reading, reading, reading on the internet and I’m hearing great things about Thesis and Genesis so I’m hooked and opt for Genesis. I pay my money down load and install and all works well. I tinker with the admin interface and create test posts and I’m real happy. Next I want my name and logo at the top so in effect I’m becoming a developer. No problem, I understand to some degree the ins and outs of WORDPRESS. I do the right thing and lookup under the developers section of StudioPress and discover hooks! What are hooks – I’m not fishing. This is my first confusion. Here from my point of view, the documentation is poor.

At this point it becomes a little more difficult for me to NOW explain my exact feelings as I NOW understand what hooks are. If you compare this http://dev.studiopress.com/introduction-hooks produced by StudioPress and the outstanding efforts of Nick as here http://designsbynickthegeek.com/tuto...-the-framework you can see a huge difference.

I think that one of the biggest problems is that when one opens a genesis file they see almost nothing. The reason for this needs to be explained as in how Nick has done. It is pointless having a documentation system that fails to take the reader from the basic to that of the more advanced. It should be done step by step in a clear and concise way and it should be done without reference to more advanced topics. I will admit that my coding knowledge is not great but I should not find myself referring to the Thesis documentation to try and gain an understanding of Genesis.

The first reply to this post by hiller54. Does this not tell you something. I almost feel that I am in battle with Genesis/StudioPress. This is not the case, the product is fantastic, the price is fair and the licence is good and to my mind and especially considering that it is a newer product, given time could potentially knock the socks off Thesis.

The time I am spending writing this post is nothing more than my effort to improve Genesis and hopefully assist other not so knowledgeable users.