Having developed websites by hand as far back as 1995, I have followed the evolution of how websites are made with keen interest, due in large part to my aversion to website development pain. Justin Tadlock’s Hybrid theme framework represents a very welcome leap in website creation pain management. Here are 10 reasons why developing WordPress sites in Hybrid is a pleasurable thing to experience!
But first a quick intro: my first taste of anything CMS-like was Dreamweaver 1.0 from back in mid 1997. The “templates” feature (those pesky .dwt files) were amazing in their day for those of us not sure what an .ASP page was. Then followed ColdFusion and databases. Then ActionScript and Flash. Then followed PHP and more databases. Then Mambo. Then Joomla. Then several other CMS experiments including some homebrewed ones. Then sadness. Then Expression Engine and some joy. Then WordPress 2.8. Then Hybrid and a rebirth of web development joy. OK – done with that. You get the picture now.
So what is so great about the Hybrid theme framework? Here are 10 reasons you should check it out. No, I’m not on commission (like some, ahem, other framework situations out there). I’m an unpaid third-party end-user who pays his own way. But let’s get started.
10 Reasons to use the Hybrid Framework for WordPress
- Support
Justin Tadlock has provided nothing short of exceptional support. Other forum members know this, and fully well understand the time and effort he puts into running the support forums and keeping up on Hybrid development. So forum members also do a great job helping out with support issues. The community is fantastic. All my support questions are at least responded to in a matter of hours, and not one has trailed off without being resolved. When you log in to the support area and your profile, the first thing you see is a list of your support questions in a super-clean list, with the time of the last update anyone has made to your request, along with their name. I love this feature because I can see my progress from the first question (how naive!) up to the present (a little less naive…). I find that on this or that tough topic, manh times I want to go back to the very-thorough answers that are provided for me and re-read. More often than not, Justin or someone else will provide a link to an external resource, usually one that needs to be read carefully. All of this astuteness makes one want to work hard not to post superfluous support questions and prove to the community that I can actually read. If it were only so on all forums
. - Skeleton
This is my favorite thing about Hybrid. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are a CSS Hero, it most certainly is. Skeleton is a Hybrid child theme with ZERO CSS defined. However, everything that can be defined (all the classes) are in the main CSS file ready and waiting for you to fill in the blank. A unique approach Justin takes is using careful indentation to organize the classes hierarchically, which makes scanning them even easier. So, as a developer, all you need to do is pop open Firefox with Firebug installed, hover over an element you want to style and it get the line number in the CSS. You pop over to your favorite editor, make a change in 2 seconds and refresh. Basically, you can take a simple PSD web design through this process in an hour or two and have a working template ready to go. Wow! This blog (bonfx.com) is a Hybrid child theme developed from Skeleton, by the way. - CSS
In addition to how the CSS is laid out (see “Skeleton” above), Hybrid also supplies ready-made access, commented out by default, to Eric Meyer’s Reset, The Holy Grail layout, several pixel-based line-height typography solutions, along with the option to include the most basic set of typography and formatting of the basic Hybrid theme. There is simply no way to lose if you know your way around CSS. It’s just a time saver. Never waste time on these repetitive web development chores again! - Hybrid Themes
Hybrid is a framework, but comes with a default theme called Hybrid. So, there is the Hybrid Framework with a base theme called Hybrid. But, there are also another half-dozen incredibly high-quality child themes ready and available for free. Hybrid News is very popular and is a much sought after layout. All of the templates are better quality than most templates you will come across. The code is lean and mean. They all share a sophisticated approach to typography and feature a tasteful and welcome use of white space in the layouts. Ahh…no gratuitous transparencies and glittery stuff cluttering up a too-busy layout! - Child Themes
Creating child themes are incredibly easy thanks to WordPress 2.9 combined with Hybrid’s unique development approach. You can take any of the themes (see “Skeleton” above) and quickly and easily create a variation of it without having to modify any of the source code. For instance, if you like Hybrid News child theme, but want to change several things around, following some simple instructions will set you up with your own “My Theme” ready to install in a development environment, and ready for you to customize away. - Hybrid Hooks & Filters
WordPress is known for it’s easy-to-use hooks and filters, once you know what they are. If you don’t know what they are, I can’t go into that here. Google it. But if you do know what they are, know that Hybrid offers many more unique hooks and filters to speed up the process of customizing your site to your hearts content. Hybrid is about reducing the amount of time spent coding to get to great customizations quickly. Take a look at this list here and you’ll see what I mean: Hybrid Hooks and Hybrid Filters. - Hybrid Widgets
One of the great features of WordPress is it’s widgets. It makes adding standard types of content to primary and secondary and other areas very easy. Hybrid takes and one-ups many of the stock WordPress widgets and adds a slew of features based on standard WordPress functions. Widget Logic is also available for all of the widgets, which allows you to control when and where and how each widget shows up using simple WordPress conditional statements, right in the widget flyout. So simple! Saves a lot of time! - Search Engine Optimization
There is no need for all kinds of plugins to optimize each post for search engines. While there are some great plugins out there for sure, Hybrid makes the need for them pretty much moot, as all the SEO functionality you are going to need (after your excellently-written and original content on a topic other than “ipods”, “how to make money blogging”, etc.) to get good site rankings is built right into the post form. It’s all right there. Install Hybrid and take a look! You don’t need anything else except good content and some goals. - Free & Inexpensive at the same time
Hybrid and it’s child themes are free for the taking. The code is GPL, and Justin Tadlock is vocally and thoroughly for the open source community. But what differentiates Hybrid from some of the other commercial CMS frameworks is that while the code is free, it’s support you have to pay for. But, a full year membership is only $25 bucks. The fee seems like it should be a lot more considering how much goes into Hybrid and what you get out of the support forums. I’m more than willing to pay that annually without thinking about it. It was clear from my time spent noodling around the site and the nonmember support area that the paid support was serious and high quality. It was also clear that Hybrid was a very serious product. I spent the bucks early in 2009 and honestly have to say it’s the best $25 bucks on anything web related I have ever spent in my 15 years of doing web development. I’ve paid ten-time as much for other licenses, and paid even more for other software packages and proprietary solutions. I’ve paid a lot more to consultants over the years too. Nothing beats, for me, so far, my investment in Hybrid. I encourage you to drop the bucks and jump in the deep end today. You won’t be disappointed. But if you are, feel free to complain to me here on the blog
. - I’m going to pull an old trick here and suggest you re-read reason #1 again. It’s so important, I wanted to mention it twice.
If you have any thoughts about any other WordPress theme frameworks to balance out these objective views, please post them below. I’d love to hear more about the other framework available, and how they compare to Hybrid.
I have no use for Justin’s support at the moment, but I do have use for the software he’s producing so had no hesitation in coughing up a measly US$25 to become a member.
He’s really ahead of the curve on theme frameworks it seems. There others out there doing similar things, but Justin is the only one who is working on anything I’d consider using myself.
Agreed. Hybrid is one of those rare projects where form and function are walking in lock step.
Great article, well done, I couldn’t agree with you more, I have been using Justins themes since a very early ‘Options’ theme and haven’t looked back at all. I would agree the $25 is a mere pittance compared to the knowledge and support you get from the Hybrid theme forum…
Hi FB: Yes, it does seem that $25 for all that you get is kind of almost a free pass. What many people don’t realize is that a lot of the help given in the forum is really WordPress help, and not just specifically Hybrid help.
I just want to say thanks for writing the article. This just made my day a lot better.
Well it’s the least I could do for all the web development good vibes you’ve brought around this past year, beyond signing up as a member for a few bucks. Here’s to 2000 new members in 2010
.
Doug
One quick correction: I believe the $25 is per year, not lifetime. Great article!
Peter: You are correct. I fixed the text and will be signing up shortly for another year.
hey doug,
Is there a great theme for us designer dummies? I saw someone using this one:
http://diythemes.com/thesis/
what’s your opinion of it?
brian
Thesis is a high-quality theme framework, no doubt. My honest opinion is that there is more than a little bit of hype over “how easy” it is to really customize it. If you go through the gallery, you can see that the general work of “non-designers” is to change a few simple things like colors and fonts, while producing layouts that are generally “same-ish” from one site to the next. The promise of a really beautiful and unique site is dangled out there for the unsuspecting and CSS-challenged blogger, but it seems that as clever as Thesis is, it produces gads of “same-ish” mediocre sites. My opinion about that is strictly limited to the non-designer. In the able of hands of a budding or seasoned web designer who gets around CSS to one degree or another, some great mods are possible.
Now, search this term: “why do all thesis sites look the same?”
On the first page of results from Google, I found this article: “Buying Thesis? Read This Before You Do!” at http://bloggingwithsuccess.net/thesis-review
Read this pertinent quote:
“Thesis is a theme framework. And that means that it comes with a child theme used by 99% of Thesis blogs. Really, how can someone pay $87 and still afford to have the same look as everyone else? To give the theme a different look, you either need to use your coding skills (which, unfortunately, many of us do not possess!) or hire a designer.”
…and…
“For Non-Coders, Thesis Is a Nightmare: If you are not good with PHP, CSS and HTML, Thesis will be a nightmare for you! Want to know how much you can customize without editing code? You can select the number of sidebars, their positions, homepage layout, change 2 or 3 other settings and that’s it! Without coding, you can not even add a header.”
Put these two facts together and you see why so many sites look the same. Now why is there so much marketing-hype around it? Well, Thesis has a tried and true affiliate model. You sign up, write a review, paste a link to the website and if it results in a sale, you get a commission.
How many “reviews” like this are on the web for Hybrid? None, because nobody has an incentive to write a “review”.
I’ve written about Hybrid because it’s as powerful as Thesis, but has none of the hype, sugar-high marketing glitz, and false expectations.
The bottom line is this. If you want to customize your site, take your $87 and spend $25 at Hybrid for support and the other $62 on the top selling CSS books at Amazon right now. You’ll come out way ahead in the end. If money is not an object, just hire someone to customize Hybrid for you and call it a day!
That’s my two bits anyway. Your mileage may vary…
Wonderful article.
I’d like to add one more reason.
11. Understanding how WordPress really works by using the Hybrid Framework
I first heard of WordPress in the fall of 2006 and have used it ever since. I’ve spent my first years Googling for themes and plugins not learning anything but some minimal CSS knowledge and some occasional WordPress Codex browsing. Theme developing kind of scared me off. Ever since I started using the Hybrid Framework I learned more than I could have imagined. I learned about hooks and filters and I see myself using them more and more. Hybrid Framework and Hybrid Support and Documentation made me understand how WordPress works.
Hi Jan: My sentiments exactly. There is no bait and switch with Hybrid. If you jump into Hybrid, you are really going to learn.
On that note, I think the most poorly explained feature of the WordPress system is Hooks and Filters. Even as a developer, I had a hard time understanding what those where. It’s such a different paradigm. Someone needs to make a nice graphical chart which could explain it in about 2 seconds
.
Hi Douglas: Just wondering, do you find it easier to start with the Skeleton template and build the css from scratch, or use an existing template like Hybrid News and modify the existing css? In the past, I have gone the “News” route, but am starting to think maybe the blank css slate is the way to go. What are your thoughts?
Hi Peter: I think the only way to know for sure is to take the same design and go both routes and see what is easier. It depends on the design for sure. If I was going to do a simple Hybrid theme (header, 2 column, footer), I’d start with Hybrid and tweak away. The 3 column site I just completed had far too many little custom elements for me to get my head around implementing around a structure that was already in place. However, there are some things I realize Skeleton might forfeit. For instance, Hybrid has some special typography functions like preventing widows. It might be worth learning to work with Hybrid in all cases for some features like that (now and in the future). I’m not 100% sure of what else I might be giving up – maybe someone could chime in (Justin?).
What I like about Skeleton is that I’m starting with a blank slate on the screen and in my mind. I find that very valuable. But – and this is a huge factor – as my knowledge of WordPress and Hybrid and the Hybrid CSS grows, my need to start with Skeleton may diminish. If there are clear benefits for starting with Hybrid or any of the other themes, I may look that way. As it stands, the sites I’ve done with Hybrid so far have not required anything feature-wise or layout-wise from the core set of themes, so Skeleton has made the most sense. The first 3 sites I did are customized Hybrids and the next two were from scratch with Skeleton.
So if I’m dithering, it’s because I’m not 100% sure either way. I think I’ll post a question about the exact differences between staring with Skeleton vs starting with Hybrid.
[...] 10 Reasons to use the Hybrid Framework for WordPress [...]
I’m teetering on a fence right now. To the left of me is Hybrid and all its iterations, that seem tantalising but challenging for a beginner verging on intermediate WP developer.
To the right is Atahualpa. More fully specced, and definitely theme rather than framework (although didn’t Justin himself assert that Hybrid isn’t so much a framework as a naked parent theme? That sounded wrong…), Atahualpa overwhelms the uninitiated with options but rams everything you could possibly need and tweak into one station. Plus the in-built SEO is, like Hybrid, undoubtedly a star performer.
I’m leaning more to the right than the left at the moment, favouring the flexibility and simple options of Atahualpa – but this might be more easily accredited to laziness and ‘easywayoutitis’ than anything else.
I think it depends on your needs. If you just need a good one off theme for a site, any configurable theme will do. But if you are going to develop a theme from a design you want something like Hybrid that focuses on core skills like CSS, PHP, and WordPress fundamentals like hooks, filters, and working with the loop.
Ok, you’ve convinced me to try Hybrid. I’ve used Thematic for a few sites, and it’s pretty decent – probably has a lot of the same features as Hybrid, but your 10 points have convinced me maybe Hybrid does it better, and I’d sure love to have the kind of forum support you’re talking about.
I’m currently working on a site using Simon WP Framework and I’ve liked it better than Thematic mostly because it’s a bit simpler, I prefer it’s default styling, uses 960.gs for a grid and some basic resets & typography sheets. It doesn’t have all the hooks, filters, templates, and widgets that Hybrid & Thematic have, but I’m getting handy with creating my own templates & widget (areas at least) and haven’t used hooks & filters much. It sounds like Hybrid is a great place to start experimenting with them more often.
Joe – Go for it! There are a few extra goodies you can install, namely Hybrid Widgets and Hybrid Hooks. You’ll at least want Hybrid Widgets, and you might want Hooks if you don’t want to write code in your functions.php. It makes it easy to try things out right inside of WP, which might lead you to the next level.
your article made me want to give thesis a try.
sorry I meant Hybrid , haha
Hi again,
I just switched my website to Hybrid. I used the skeleton child theme as a base.
I really like Hybrid, lots of customization possibilities and Justin is very helpful
Hi Paul: Please share a link if you can!
sorry, just saw your reply, my name links to my site.
here is a recent design:
http://treehousecommunity.ca/
Very very cool. I saw it load and saw fonts blip in…are you using swfir or something else or were my eyes tricking me? Or was that just the alt text? What other js solutions are you using on this if any? I like the big, colorful design. I’d love to hear any pros and cons about making this site…
Hey, I love the look of the hybrid framework.
I tried installing and activating it and it worked fine. When I installed a child template (tried 3 different ones), I was able to view the preview. After activating the child template, my entire site crashes. All that I can see are my previous favicon and a blank page. I can’t even access my admin panel.
I’m not sure if I’m missing a step, but I’ve tried inactivating all of my plugins along with other steps, but nothing seems to work.
Any thoughts?
Hi Jay: If you can’t access the admin panel, it might be that a path got corrupted. If you aren’t able to even log back into the site via the admin panel, you might have to do some database editing from your hosting control panel. There are a million things this could be. If you are stuck this is definitely a case for Hybrid Support. This will put the whole community on the task for you…
Hi Douglas,
I found out what the problem was… I hadn’t changed the name of one of the folders that I uploaded during the installation. Now that I have it installed and working, I’m pretty happy with the hybrid framework.
Thank you for this detailed review! I’ve been a user of Hybrid for a few months and I always install it on client sites as an optional theme. Nothing but good things to say about it! But I had been dragging my feet on purchasing the premium support because I’m not a designer, I don’t pretend to be, and figured I didn’t need the extra help. However, your review convinced me to take a deeper look at the site and I see now I can use some of the premium tutorials. I’m pretty excited! Thanks again.
@ Amy: Most welcome! When I find something that works, I like to shout it from the rooftop.
[...] looking for an excuse to upgrade/change your WordPress theme, look no further than this article on 10 Reasons to use the Hybrid Framework for WordPress. The theme framework itself is designed by Justin Tadlock who provides timely personal support [...]
[...] 5 reasons to use the Hybrid Framework for WordPress just aren’t enough for you, you can find 5 more reasons to use the Hybrid Framework for Worpdress by following the [...]
Thanks for pointing out the 10 reasons. I think you just convinced me to use this framework for my next WordPress project. Its nice to hear that the SEO part is built in from the start.
@ Henning:
I haven’t regretted it for a second. Remember, the support is really amazing, well worth the few bucks after you download the framework for free.
I had to skip the last few comments so I could reach for my wallet
I was just about to do it anyway and this post put me over the edge. It was time to update my getting-tedious-to-maintain website. Hybrid, here I come.
@ Kristinn: Good move! You won’t regret it
I’ve been using Justin’s parent theme: Prototype. It’s been fantastic for learning and better understanding the ins and outs of WordPress.
I haven’t cut over to that yet – another learning curve! I can’t tell if as a one-off site designer I should meddle with Prototype or stick to true child themes.
Thanks for the post, I’ll definitely use this for my next wordpress blog!
Cheers,
Mark C Johnson
Just a quick note on the Atahualpa versus Hybrid issue.
I’ve developed customized designs in both and Atahualpa is a nightmare compared to Hybrid. In Atahualpa you get a quick start and then you tend to hit a ceiling where you become forced to break the theme to get the job done. In Hybrid it’s the opposite, there is a bit of work to set up your own childtheme based on skeleton or tweak an existing one, but the more tweaking you do the easier it becomes and there just isn’t a ceiling to hit.
Also upgrading a customized Atahualpa site is usually a horror and a lot of things break. Upgrading a customized Hybrid site seldom break anything.