I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about the Builder theme by iThemes. I’ve been hearing about how innovative it is, and how easy it is to make a lot of different layouts with this one theme.
I managed to get my hands on a copy, and you lucky Theme Lab readers will now get to see just how easy it is to set up your own Builder-theme-powered site. In this review, I’ll go over:
- An initial overview of the Builder theme, including set up and the various theme options
- How to use Builder’s custom layout feature and how to apply it to your pages
Check out the rest of the review after the jump.
Setting It Up
Initially installing Builder is just like any other theme. Once you get the zip file, just extract the “Builder” folder and upload it to your /wp-content/themes/ directory. Activate it in the “Appearance” section of your admin panel.
This is what Builder will look like on a plain WordPress install. As you can see, right now it looks pretty plain. Basically just your blog surrounded by a ton of widgetized areas to the top, right, and bottom.
Overview of Settings
You’ll notice a new menu in your dashboard entitled “My Theme” after activating the Builder theme. Unlike admin menus added by themes from other companies which include their logos and such, themes from iThemes appear to have completely unbranded menus. This can be useful if you’re setting up sites for a client.
Start Here – This is a page with links to unbranded iThemes video tutorials, which I believe may be included in every iThemes theme. If you would rather replace this page, there is a tutorial link titled: How to change this Tutorials ‘Start Here’ page to your own custom URL.
Settings – I noticed in the original set up there was just a Home link and no other page or category links visible. This page will let you include you build your navigation menu with a choice of page and category links.
After you’ve set up your widget areas, you can also turn off the rest of the blank widget areas you’re not using (remember the original screenshot where they’re all displayed, for identification purposes).
You can insert tracking code (such as for Google Analytics) and place it in the header or footer. More often then not, this code is placed in the footer, which is the default setting.
Also there are a few SEO options, such as using post tags for meta keywords and disabling indexing of category archives. Both of these SEO options are turned on by default.
All in all the settings are pretty straightforward, nothing too overwhelming.
Custom Layouts
Now, what you’ve all been waiting for. This custom layout engine is really what sets Builder apart from other ordinary themes. Instead of showing a bunch of screenshots with text, I thought it would be better to create a quick Screenr video to demonstrate how to create a layout and use it within the Builder theme.
The one column layout I did in the video was pretty simple, but remember all the possibilities with different combinations of modules, widgets, etc.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Builder did what I expected: easily build layouts directly from the admin panel, and without editing code. One thing which I would like to see would be a style editor with the ease of use similar to the layout builder. Maybe even something on a layout-by-layout basis. Even though I value consistency, having different styles on different pages may be a good option to have.
From what I hear, Builder may have a simple style manager coming soon which allows for easy edits of universal style elements, such as fonts, colors, and things like that. When this is done I think it could really benefit all you “noncoders” out there.
Pricing – The Builder theme costs $127, and I know that may seem pretty expensive especially compared to other paid themes which rarely exceed $75. Keep in mind these things though.
- Since the theme is licensed under the GPL, you can use this theme on as many sites you want with no restrictions.
- Since the theme is so flexible, you can use this one theme as a base for a number of completely different sites.
Conclusion
Please note this post is riddled with affiliate links. If you don’t want me to make money, you can always go directly to iThemes.com to buy the Builder theme.
This is my second review of a paid theme (with the first being Aperturious). I know most people visit this site through search engines and such looking for free WordPress themes, however I would like to start throwing paid WP themes in the mix soon, whether it be affiliates, or maybe even direct sales (hint hint).
Anyway, hope you liked the review. I’d really love to hear your thoughts on the Builder theme in the comments.
Thanks for the great review Leland. A specific sentence in your Final Thoughts gave me the inspiration for the current design I’m going for with the style editor for Builder.
You said, “style editor with the ease of use similar to the layout builder.” Shortly after reading that sentence, I thought of a really cool way to structure the style editor. I just hope that I can put the concept to code while keeping it easy to use.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for the comment Chris, nice to know my review provided some inspiration to the creators of Builder.
Great article, was just looking around for reviews about this, very clear to me
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All I’ve been trying to figure out is how it compares to the Thesis theme. It seems both of them are solving the same problem. Which is better? Thoughts?
My first thought is “apples and oranges.” I disagree that they are solving the same problem.
Thesis does not have built-in layout building functionality like the Builder theme does. Builder also does not have as many built-in “SEO” options as Thesis.
Builder theme is well worth the money. I am currently working on 3 sites that are completely different concepts and functionality. My initial reaction was that there is no way one theme would provide all that i needed for three completely different sites. I was wrong. Builder theme combined with the free billboard they are offering right now seems to fit the bill perfectly.
It was well worth the 127. DDSlider from codecanyon makes a beautiful plugin for the content section in builder as well. Very easy, very novice skills can accomplish a professional build..and quickly.
Buyer Warning, Builder only works with 9 Themes, not the full arsenal you get when you buy the all access themes pass. The purchase page is deceiving, leading one to believe that all themes work with builder, when in reality, only 9 themes work, and those 9 are bunky and limited at best.
When I realized this, I immediately asked for a refund, simple mistake I thought, right? Well, the folks at ithemes REFUSE to issue a refund, despite the fact that it was only a few hours after I realized this shortcoming.
So now I must pay for something that I am not going to use, and they have been very uncooperative in that they’d rather keep my money, than issue a simple refund.
On the Builder purchase page it says “9 Bonus Child Themes.” Not sure how you got the impression it works with all of iThemes’ themes.
Did you purchase the All Access Pass?
Leland, Kevin’s taking the ugly route here …. we did refund him (after he threatened us with this type of smear campaign despite the fact we have a clear no refunds policy and like you mention the sales page is pretty clear) but now he’s taking his frustrations public.
And we don’t take threats lightly ….
First time in 2.5 years that someone has exposed their character this publicly for their own mistake, but can’t help what people decide to do with their time.
We’ll just invest our time more wisely … in the thousands of happy, overjoyed customers who love what we do and support us with their hard-earned money.
Thanks for the clarification Cory, I figured it was some sort of misunderstanding.