(Genesis is the theme framework, and Prose is what’s called a Child Theme.)
So what’s a theme framework, anyway? And why is it a good thing for your blog?
Here’s the scoop:
When it comes to web design, form and function need to be separated
In other words, how your web page works (what are sometimes called “back end” elements, like the code that Google analyzes to figure out your search engine placement, or the security code that keeps evildoers from hacking your blog) should be separated from how your web page looks.
Why? Because those back end elements need to be updated from time to time. Security evolves, SEO evolves, WordPress evolves, and your page function needs to grow with those things so that everything works the way it should.
But the last thing you want is for your carefully designed web page to suddenly look completely different because you updated your WordPress theme.
That’s the beauty of a framework. When you click that button to update Genesis, it automatically takes care of all of those security and SEO issues for you. But it doesn’t touch the design of the page, because that’s handled by “child themes.”
OK, so what’s a child theme?
So, the framework handles all the stuff you don’t see — the SEO, the security, etc. It also handles things like making your plugins work the way they’re supposed to. The theme framework is all about how the site works.
The child theme is in charge of how the site looks. The colors. The layout. The typefaces.
The child theme controls the “look and feel” of your site. And the exact same content will have a very different feel depending on how that content gets presented.
The nice thing about child themes is that with the Genesis framework, you can change them in just minutes.
That means you can take a funky site with a handmade flavor, like our Bee Crafty theme, and in about two minutes you can give that site a sleek professional gloss by switching to the Enterprise theme.
And you’ll never touch the important “behind the scenes” code that make your site work exactly the way you want it to.
The biggest security hazard for most blogs
Unfortunately, bad guys are everywhere, and blogs get hacked every day.
The most common culprit? Bloggers who haven’t updated their theme or their WordPress installation because they’re worried it will mess up the look and usability of their sites.
Outdated software is a major security hazard. One of the key reasons Brian Gardner developed the Genesis framework in the first place was to make updating his theme code one-click-easy.
When it’s easy for you to update your WordPress theme (and your version of WordPress) and you don’t worry about anything breaking, you’ll do it more quickly. And that keeps your blog (and your readers) safer from hackers.
Let’s sum it up: why frameworks are better
- The framework-and-child-theme model is more secure.
- It allows for better, cleaner code (which helps your SEO).
- It keeps plugin compatibility issues under control.
- It lets you change the look of your site virtually instantly, without breaking anything.
- And it lets the theme framework adapt as SEO and other factors evolve
So in case you were wondering why Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, said “Child themes are the only way you should build your WordPress site on top of a framework … ,” well now you know.