After being delayed for a few days due to technical challenges regarding the coincidental release of WordPress 3.4, Headway Themes, makers of the Headway theme (you’d never guessed that would ya?) just launched their fancy new, long awaited aaaaand much anticipated: Extend marketplace.
The idea is to sell Blocks (Headway extensions) as well as Headway child themes.
So how is the new marketplace?
There’s currently only three child themes and four extensions for sale right now, but I’m sure more stuff will come in the nearby future. I must say I’m not very impressed with the design of the three themes. Had I been in charge of Headway Themes, I would have hired a famous hotshot web designer to do the job. That would create some hype, respect and interest in the WordPress theme community. WooThemes did that as an industry pioneer when they started up. I remember being amazed by the possibility of having a beautiful Elliot Jay Stocks designed theme to mess around with.
What is Headway anyway?
The Headway theme is a so called theme framework, which basically means a super flexible theme that’s visually bare-bones so that you can easily customize it yourself, to achieve a fully unique website design.
I personally much much prefer to work with a real theme framework like Headway opposed to cookie-cutter premium themes like WooThemes. To each his own though. It also depends on your skills: Theme frameworks require that you know your way around HTML, CSS and maybe even a little touch of PHP. WooThemes on the other hand, are generally delicious and ready for instant consumption by anyone hungry for nice theme;-)
Glenn Dixon says
iThemes Builder has what – SIXTY child themes? Headway now has 5. It is inconceivable. It’s like the pilot had a stroke and the plane is in a tailspin…
Oliver Nielsen says
Not really. Headway is meant for people who wanna do their own, custom design, easily. Child themes are not, and probably ever will be, a priority by the Headway team and community.
That said, I have a child theme coming up that will be free for those on my email list, so be sure to sign up now! It’s almost ready, so will be released very soon.
PS: Number of child themes is not a good way to measure quality;)
Glenn Dixon says
Oliver – so is iThemes – so are all the frameworks. Besides, didn’t you, in this very post, state that your were disappointed in the theme design, and that child themes are good for ‘respect and interest’?
Any way, I just find it interesting that something that should be fairly easy was so delayed and then eventually so minimal. If creating themes with Headway is so easy – there ought to be a hundred child themes by now, right? *shrug*
Oliver Nielsen says
Interesting questions Glenn. Would be good for an interview with the Headway team.
My own take is that Headway and iThemes have different business models. iThemes has a “get all our child themes for $197” business model, akin to StudioPress/Genesis. Headway obviously has a different business model and focus.
They’ve created their Extend marketplace, started it up with a few themes built in-house, leaving the rest up to third party designers.
It is *never* easy to *design* something, regardlesss of the technical tool used. Case in point, look at your own site. Design requires skill and takes time.
Glenn Dixon says
It seems to me that the business models are very similar. The main difference up front would be what exactly is included in the basic and developer packages. iThemes appears to include more at lower levels, but both offer plugins/blocks/child themes, etc.
Regarding my site, was that a compliment or a jab?
Oliver Nielsen says
Something being denoted a “Developer Version” doesn’t imply that there will be a multitude of bundled child themes.
The two companies business models are not similar. Headway Themes didn’t promise to produce a million child themes in-house, to bundle in a StudioPress / iThemes manner. It will most probably never happen, so if that’s what you were expecting from them; I guess it won’t be a white christmas for you this year, sorry.
If you feel iThemes has some attractive child themes you could make use of on your site, and overall offers you a better deal, why didn’t you just go for it? That’s the beauty of capitalism and freedom of choice;-)
Glenn Dixon says
Oliver – you presume that I was aware of iThemes back when I made the choice to purchase Headway…
re: child themes – I’m still surprised that there aren’t 100+ in the extend store. Any one who owns a Headway license can make one and sell it there, profiting off of the existing user base, right? Seems like a no-brainer to me. And yet a year after 3.0 is released there are 4 in-house themes and 2 3rd party themes. Maybe the demand just isn’t there? Not sure.
Any way, not trying to fuck with your affiliate sales, just genuinely curious…
Oliver Nielsen says
Well, you can still switch to iThemes. I have licences for many different frameworks, theme clubs and premium plugins. You gotta research and gain experience with various solutions to find the tools that suit you best. What may be my cup of tea may not be yours, and vice versa.
You are (probably…) right there isn’t much demand for 100+ child themes in the Headway community. I think it’s because Headway really is the most user-friendly theme framework that truly does not require much custom coding, enabling anyone to design their own website. Universal, applicable design skills still needed though, as they always will, no matter which framework one’s using to achieve his or her goals.
Is Headway perfect? No. Is it usable now? Yes. I use it daily for my (local) clients. And trust me: Headway will only become better in the nearby future;-)
Danny Brown (@DannyBrown) says
Six months later and it’s still pretty threadbare. Compare to Studiopress child themes for Genesis, or even the Catalyst guys and their child themes, and you have to say it’s pretty disappointing.