StudioPress

What do you like best?

The return on investment for me using StudioPress' Genesis framework has been immeasurable. For a low, one-time cost you get lifetime updates to Genesis, allowing you to focus on developing and support child themes (which takes a fraction of the time compared to creating stand-alone themes). Let WordPress and Genesis do the heavy lifting of functionality while the child theme drives the look and feel. Using their readily-available child themes, I can stand up new sites for clients in a matter of hours. Developing sites from the ground up can often be done in a week or two, start to finish. I've been using the Genesis Framework since it's inception and have built hundreds of sites, and my entire business, on it.

What do you dislike?

For the cost, nothing at all. The Genesis framework is regularly maintained (especially now that it's been acquired by WPEngine), has an abundance of developer documentation, and has never given me any trouble. There is also a wealth of information available across the internet for more unique/abstract development support.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

I prefer Genesis over the "one-size-fits-all" theme builders (ie. Divi, Elementor, etc.) because there is so much less bloat. When you aren't having to accommodate hundreds of different industries and design ideas, you don't need as much code. Of course, that means the themes may not be as "flashy" as those built on dedicated theme builders, but any developer could add those flashy elements if truly necessary... (but they aren't!).

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

The biggest benefit for me, and ultimately for my customers, is the ability to create completely custom WordPress websites at affordable rates for small and micro businesses. My customer-base isn't often in a position to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a website, so I'm able to create amazing sites for a fraction of the cost because so much valuable functionality is baked right into Genesis.