Believe me, I know the feeling. I own Thesis, Headway, Genesis, ThemeMX… you name it, I have owned it, and have tried it, and as much as each of them really do have their own place within my library of themes here, different purposes and so on, each of these themes really do stand out above many other themes out there. Why? Because they are flexible, they are easy to use, and they are maintained.

So, What’s The Big Issue Here?

I’ll tell you what the big issue with almost anything is. It costs money. Yeah, that is a pretty big problem if you ask me. Why? Because you have to be certain that its actually right for the job. Fair enough. Lets get started.

ThemeMX is not a typical theme for WordPress (Click here to see what I mean). Lets get this one out in the open already. What it is, well… its more like a framework that extends the use of WordPress, and makes it work more the way that YOU want it to work rather than the way that the theme designers intended.

This is why people buy frameworks rather than themes these days. Think about it this way – since WordPress was first released many years ago, has Matt Mullenweg ever given thought to adding SEO functionality to WordPress? Nope. That is why a framework is a good investment, because the theme makers are hell bent on adding the functionality that people actually want to see.

That, and most of these themes have great communities that really like to help each other get the most out of the theme as well. You have to actually buy your own copy of ThemeMX to get access to their community though.

What’s So Special About ThemeMX?

As I mentioned earlier, it is a framework that serves to extend the functionality of WordPress, plus act as a theme at the same time. Oh, and its kinda pretty too, regardless of which browser you use to view it. See a demo of ThemeMX in action by clicking here.

If youre looking to advertise on your blog, the framework has a feature that they call “Instant Advertisements” which allows you to simply paste in your code that your advertising networks have supplied, and you will start serving ads. This is something that many themes just do not do. Luckily, ThemeMX does the job, and does it well.

If you want to offer a newsletter on your bog, or start recruiting leads to a mailing list, the “Squeeze Me” function allows you to add a customizable optin or squeeze form to any blog post or page. Very handy, and much better looking that those ugly templates that you get from Aweber, that’s for sure!

Oh, and lets not forget customization. I totally hear you when you say that you dont know HTML, CSS or PHP. Neither do I. That’s why I love using ThemeMX. I dont need to write a single line of code – I just use the in built customization panel, which gives me more than enough room to change the overall look of my blog without having to get a degree in web design.

That said, if there is something tricky that I want to get my web guy to work on, the theme also supports custom CSS modifications as well, but you’re probably not going to need that. Whether you are a designer, or a code newbie, the theme just works.

Is It Really Worth it Though?

That was the question I asked at the start, so I really need to get around to answering it.

Frameworks are very user specific – if you like the functionality, then you will get a huge amount out of the theme. As for my experience with the theme, I have had no problems with it. It updates regularly, meaning that it is compatible with all versions of WordPress as they are released. The functionality just works perfectly, and the theme looks good.

Not much else I could ask for really. So lets be blunt for a moment. I work for a living online, and my business relies upon the stability of the platforms that I use, whether it is solution (A) or in this case, ThemeMX. I trust ThemeMX as a solid platform, it works for me,  and that is why I am recommending that if you are sitting on the fence right now, you stop thinking about it.

Go and grab yourself a copy of the theme for yourself by visiting www.theme.mx

Please note that this framework is to be installed if you want to be able to use any Theme Hybrid WordPress Themes, as this is the framework in which these themes are based upon. This framework is also what we are using on Top WordPress Themes, and as such, is a demonstration of what is possible using this framework.

DEMO

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This is a unique Gallery WordPress theme which is built on the Thematic framework. This theme will allow you to create individual galleries which are easy to navigate using categories in the drop down menus.

Gallery is packed with loads of cool features like a jQuery slide hover effect on thumbnails, lazy loading for thumbnails (great if using a lot of thumbnails on one page), built-in social media links for each gallery item and seamless integration with the following plugins: WP-PostRatings, BuySellAds plugin, and Contact Form 7.

If you’d like an endless wall of thumbnails, LazyLoad allows you to show as many posts on the homepage as you’d like, allowing your users to scroll endlessly down the page without having to load hundreds of images right away. This effect mimics “endless scroll.”

Gallery also supports WordPress 2.7 threaded comments for an elegant commenting experience.

We can say as much as we like about this theme, but in all honesty, youre going to want to try this one out for yourself. It is just an absolutely stunning theme, and a breeze to use and install. For those who have never installed a theme and framework, we have prepared a nice little tutorial for this one.

And for those who prefer text:

To use the Gallery WordPress Theme, you will need to follow these installation instructions:

1. Download the latest version of Thematic.
2. Download the latest version of the Gallery WordPress theme.
3. Unzip and upload both themes to your “wp-content/themes/” directory.
4. In WordPress, go to “Appearance > Themes” and activate the “Gallery” theme.
5. To change the number of items displayed on the home page, go to
   “Settings > Reading” and change “Blog pages show at most” to 28 (4
   rows) or 35 (5 rows) or more for the LazyLoad plugin to work its magic. LazyLoader will automatically delay loading of thumbnails that are out of the user’s view.

DEMO

DOWNLOAD THEMATIC FRAMEWORK

DOWNLOAD GALLERY