Getting the Most out of Genesis

Josh Lee

About Me

  • Developer since 2006
  • WordPress developer & consultant since 2010

Contact Me

@joshleecreates

blog.joshuamlee.com

Why Use a Theme Framework?

The case for frameworks

  • Build sites faster with more features
  • Create consistency for easier code re-use
  • Get the security update benefits of a much larger team

Other Frameworks

Thesis

Divi

... so many more

Why Genesis?

Why Genesis?

  • The best framework for content marketing

  • Very developer-friendly

  • The most WordPress-y

Out of the Box

Out of the Box Features

  • SEO Metadata

  • Multi-column Layouts

  • Page Templates

  • Widget Areas

Great Plugins

Great Plugins

  • Genesis Simple Sidebars
  • Genesis Simple Edits
  • Genesis Simple Share
  • ... tons more

 

(find all of these in the WordPress.org plugin directory)

Developer Features

Developer Features

  • Functional Templating (no code duplication)

  • Easy to turn off or modify built-in features

  • Incredible code reusability

There is a learning curve...

Learning Curve:

  • Child Themes

  • Hooks & Filters

  • Debugging

  • Undocumented Hooks

  • Functional Templating

Child Themes

Child Themes

A child theme lets you override specific files from a theme without modifying the original theme

 

This is very useful for modifying CSS


     

Anatomy of a Child Theme

Anatomy of a Child Theme

  • style.css

  • functions.php

  • templates

All it Takes

/*
    Theme Name: Bootstrap Genesis
    Theme URL: http://ironcodestudio.com/bootstrap-genesis-theme/
    Description: Bootstrap Genesis Child Theme.
    Author: salcode
    Author URI: http://ironcodestudio.com/
    Version: 0.8.2
    Template: genesis
*/

(Refers to the folder name of the parent theme)

Warning

Not all base themes will support overriding PHP functionality

But Genesis Does

Genesis Supports Child Themes:

Hooks & Filters

Hooks

A hook is an anchor for you to run code during certain events, such as:

  • A page is requested

  • The scripts are printed in the page header

  • The main “loop” for the page is run

Hooks

Actions run during a typical request

Filters

A filter is like a hook, except that you can manipulate incoming data and return a new result

Hooks and filters allow you to modify core behavior (or other plugins or themes) without modifying or overriding the original code.

Genesis Template Hooks

Genesis Template Hooks

  • Genesis uses hooks to build up the page template and render the results of the loop

  • Now you can modify templates without overriding them

  • No longer necessary to duplicate entire templates or manage nested sub-templates just for small changes.

Genesis Templates

Call genesis() at the end of a php file with action hooks and filters.

Which Hooks to Use?

Which Hooks to Use?

Let's live code...

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