Opting for the Genesis Theme Framework brings a major benefit: a vast array of child themes. Each theme serves as a distinct foundation for altering your website’s design and ambiance.
The broad spectrum of child themes available with Genesis makes it an excellent framework for crafting various types of websites, ranging from simple blogs to sophisticated business platforms. This feature is particularly advantageous for those who create websites for clients or manage multiple personal websites.
However, with some research, it becomes evident that there exists an entire ecosystem of free Genesis child themes, available for download. Impressively, many of these themes are of high quality.
Top Free Genesis Child Themes of 2014
Check out the top picks for free Genesis Child Themes below. If you’re not keen on spending on a premium child theme, this collection of free themes will be incredibly valuable to you. To further enhance your website’s functionality, especially if you’re using one of the Best Free Genesis Child Themes from the 2014 collection, consider integrating Aweber Scripts Addlead for a more effective email marketing strategy. This tool complements your website’s design and user experience, offering a seamless way to connect with your audience.
Each of these themes is compatible with Genesis 2.0 and is designed to be mobile responsive, ensuring they look fantastic on any device they’re displayed on.
- Diligent by Claro Themes: Diligent offers a sleek design ideal for consultants and small businesses. It features four different page layouts and six color schemes, along with a Feature Image slider to showcase key pages. Additionally, Diligent includes FontAwesome support, providing access to a vast array of scalable vector icons;
- Nameless Pro by Monica Guerra Leiria: An upgrade of the Nameless free child theme, Nameless Pro presents a cleaner interface and a new landing page template. This theme is highly adaptable, with a fully widgetized home page and seven color options;
- Jano by Jan Hoek: Jano is a single-page Genesis child theme, perfect for product or service-based websites or for displaying a portfolio. It incorporates the Waypoints jQuery library and animate.css for an engaging scroll-to-element effect;
- One-Pager by Sridhar Katakam: Sridhar Katakam’s first Genesis child theme, One-Pager, is ideal for single-page sites. It features multiple horizontal sections with a smooth parallax effect. A unique feature is the navigation bar that changes as you scroll through different sections in the demo;
- Personify by WPSpeak.com: Personify is a Tumblr-style theme, optimal for simple, personal blogging. It offers three color schemes and a responsive top menu, making it suitable for small devices. This theme is especially well-suited for personal blogs;
- Bigg by Ian Nuttall: Bigg transforms the concept of Digg into a Genesis child theme. It’s designed to showcase popular posts prominently on the homepage, making it an excellent choice for sites rich in visual content;
- Tote by Themedy: Tote presents a stylish Tumblr-like design, ideal for personal blogs. It features a seamless infinite scroll, continuously loading posts as you scroll. The theme also offers Themedy short-codes, allowing you to integrate sleek buttons, informative boxes, and stylized list items. To download Tote, you need to subscribe to the Themedy mailing list;
- BloggingCage by Kulwant Nagi: The BloggingCage theme is well-suited for new blogs, offering a clean design with an appealing color scheme and fonts. It adheres to a traditional blog layout with a content area, sidebar, and a full-width header. This theme also includes standard ad spaces for monetization. To access this theme, subscription to the BloggingCage mailing list is required;
- Simplux by MediaCairn: Simplux stands out as a versatile magazine-style Genesis child theme. It offers six layout options and six color combinations for greater customization. Additionally, it includes a custom CSS editor, allowing style adjustments directly from the WordPress dashboard, enhancing its adaptability for various content types;
- Scholar by Calvin Koepke: Scholar features a striking design with its prominent image background, suitable for sites that want to make a bold visual statement. It provides six different layout options, catering to diverse presentation needs;
- Muse by WPSpeak.com: Muse is tailored for photographers, showcasing their work through a grid layout on the front page. It offers four color schemes, a fully responsive menu, and support for the WordPress Theme Customizer, making it a strong choice for visual-centric sites;
- Mobile First by Brian Gardner: Created by StudioPress founder Brian Gardner, Mobile First is designed primarily for blogs, with a special focus on optimizing the mobile user experience. This theme’s mobile-first approach ensures a seamless experience for smartphone and tablet users. To download Mobile First, a subscription to Brian Gardner’s mailing list is required;
- Portlight by Genesis Awesome: Portlight offers exceptional versatility as a Genesis child theme. It is ideally suited for showcasing a portfolio, but its adaptability also makes it a great choice for blogging purposes. The theme includes a dedicated options page, facilitating effortless customization to fit various content and style preferences;
- Eiji by Andrei Chira: Eiji is a compelling option for business websites. It distinguishes itself with a dark background and a feature slider on the homepage, creating a professional and engaging online presence. This theme is tailored for businesses seeking a modern, sleek web aesthetic.
These themes extend the utility of the Genesis Framework, catering to diverse needs ranging from portfolio showcases to business websites, each offering unique features and customizable options.
Themes for Developers
Are you interested in crafting your own Genesis child theme? For developers embarking on this journey, it can present some challenges. Fortunately, the Genesis developer community has made significant contributions in this area. There are several ongoing projects that provide a robust foundation for developing your child theme. I highly recommend that aspiring child theme developers explore these resources.
Trestle
Key Features: Trestle offers an admin settings page, prioritizes mobile-first CSS, enables auto-installation of favorite plugins, and includes custom shortcodes for enhanced functionality. You can find more information and download it at MickeyKay’s GitHub repository for Trestle.
Bones Theme
Key Features: This theme is designed with mobile-first CSS and is Sass-enabled for more advanced styling options. To explore more about Bones Theme and its capabilities, visit Themble’s website.
Genesis Sandbox
Key Features: Genesis Sandbox boasts features like smooth scrolling, multiple navigation areas, and support for Twitter Bootstrap, making it a versatile choice for developers. For further details and access, check out the Genesis Sandbox website.
Additional Noteworthy Genesis Child Themes
While the 14 free Genesis child themes highlighted above stand out, there are other commendable free child themes available. Below is a compilation of additional child themes that are available for download, offering a variety of options for different preferences and requirements.
- Adaption (Demo);
- Autobahn (Demo);
- Ayoshop (Demo);
- Breakpoint (Demo);
- Center (Demo);
- Charisma (Demo);
- Code Chirps (Demo);
- Concise Theme (Demo);
- Copyblogger 2 (Demo);
- Dedicated (Demo);
- Divine (Demo);
- El Blog (Demo);
- Equilibre (Demo);
- Fluid (Demo);
- Fremedy (Demo);
- Greetings (Demo);
- HallowPress (Demo);
- Jemma (Demo);
- Just Read (Demo);
- Latitude (Demo);
- Minny (Demo);
- Pin It (Demo);
- Pristine (Demo);
- Photomode (Demo);
- Stargazer (Demo);
- TeeBox (Demo);
- Terragon (Demo);
- Unfiltered (Demo);
- USA Pro (Demo).
Conclusion
The 2014 Best Free Genesis Child Themes collection showcases a diverse range of options suitable for various website types, from business-oriented to visually driven themes. It includes themes like Diligent, Bigg, and Muse, highlighting the adaptability and mobile-responsiveness of the Genesis Framework. Additionally, it caters to developers with customizable themes like Trestle and Genesis Sandbox. This assortment serves as a valuable resource for those seeking to enhance their web presence with versatile and cost-effective Genesis Child Themes.