I’ve been using Genesis Framework for years. Clients like it too. After started using Genesis few years ago, I never look back. I use it in every single project I had.
For most of the time, when developing custom theme for clients, I realized that I’ve been doing the same thing over and over. So, I started looking for “starter” child theme so I can reduce the development time. If you’re like me, you’re lucky because I’ll be sharing a list of 5 Genesis Starter Child themes to be used in your future projects.
Sample Child Theme
Sample Child Theme is the official Genesis child theme by StudioPress. The style.css file will have the same exact style as the latest Genesis theme and it comes with blank functions.php file. Nothing much. If you want the simplest child theme, this is for you.
Download: Sample Child Theme
Base Child Theme
This starter child theme was developed by Bill Erickson, a WordPress Consultant and developer. He specialize in Genesis and one of the contributors to Genesis 1.9. Base Child Theme is one of the earliest starter child I theme I tried. I comes with lots of useful codes such as metabox, custom shortcodes, widget and many more.
Personally, I love the way he manage all the custom files.
Download: Base Child Theme
Info: Billerickson.net
Starter Child Theme
This is a starter child theme by Jared Atchison. I’ve used his starter child theme on most of my projects. This starter child theme also comes with lots of cool features such as HTML doctype, responsive menu, footer navigation some other custom files. This theme also includes few styles taken from the Twitter bootstrap.
Download: Starter Child Theme
Info: Jaredatchison.com
Bones
Bones comes with lot of comments and makes it lot easier to use if you’re building your first custom theme. Bones includes the option to use LESS or Sass to create your CSS.
Bones was first released as a premium starter theme where you’ve to pay $5 to get a copy. Luckily, the developer, Eddie Machado recently decided to release it for free! However, donations are always welcome.
Download: Bones for Genesis
Info: Themble.com
Genesis Sandbox
Genesis Sandbox is built off of the 1140 Grid. It is more robust and mobile responsive. Besides lots of custom files, it comes with many admin options. Besides, it also comes with styles taken from Twitter Bootstrap.
I personally never use Genesis Sandbox on any project but the latest version, Sandbox v1.1 really caught my attention. I think I should start using it for my future project.
There are three versions:
- Sandbox free
- Sandbox for designers
- Incipio
However, at the time of writing, only Sandbox free version while the other two are still in development.
Download: Genesis Sandbox
Info: Genesissandbox.com
Which one should you use? This is hard to say. I highly suggest you try each one of them, remove any unnecessary custom files, mix and match or build your own starter child theme on top of these 5 starter child themes.
Sometimes you won’t need to use any of these starter themes. Instead, use any of the existing child themes available on StudioPress and start customizing it to your liking.
If you’re not using Genesis Framework, you really should. Don’t forget to get your own copy of Genesis Framework.
superb topic, I am on the hunt for ultimate wordpress theme too, but havent found it yet, might actually give a try to genesis (although it is not free).
is this blog running on custom genesis theme as well? i really like it, actually i envy it a bit
best regards
Awesome… Thanks a lot
This is a great list of Genesis starter theme to check and help new developer to learn. Thanks for sharing
Yeah, I forget to told you that in 1024px screen width your page is kinda stripped, may be it’s because your break point is exactly 1024px, and the overflow is set to hidden. You forget to account scroll bar width that is about 20px.
Thanks for noticing us. We’re working on a new theme. Can’t wait to see the result.
You made my work a lot easier. I think Sandbox is the best one to go with. Which one do you is the best with most options ?
Well, it depends on the project. For stylesheet, I prefer to use the original Sample Theme from StudioPress since it’s the most updated stylesheet. However, for functions, there are lots of additional codes that I can borrow from other Genesis starter theme. Simply said, it’s a mix of few starter themes
Great article! I use Bill Erickson’s starter, myself.
What I’d really like to see is an uber minimal starter child theme for Genesis, along the lines of Underscores. Know of anything like that?
Ideas are innovative and unique!! These tips provide quality custom genesis starter themes build up. Keep posting these ideas it’s really beneficial for beginners.