From WordPress Frameworks to Themes and Beyond: The New Direction of Kolakube

Since 2012, Kolakube has been known as a leading provider of skins for the Thesis framework (back when you could still call it that). In Marketers Delight, I had created arguably the most popular and powerful premium Thesis skin ever.

Alongside Marketers Delight, I created a few other popular skins that helped get my name out there, and helped a lot of people build amazing websites. When Thesis 2 came out, I raced to rebuild Marketers Delight and release it. It was another huge success.

But something just didn’t feel right about the direction I was headed…

It’s a scary thing to feel like you’re not in control of your own business.

In my case, the more I grew as a developer and better understood the web and my customers, the more constricted I felt building my own products based around somebody else’s business and vision.

I’m a thinker, developer, and designer. I like to think big, develop from scratch, and design freely. All on my own terms.

Theme frameworks are great at a lot of things, but I’ve never used one where I didn’t run into limitations, or had a difference in opinion in how things should work. As much as I enjoy using Thesis, it’s no exception.

To me, limitations mean lower quality products. I mess up a lot of things when it comes to business, but I do not released half-assed products filled with workarounds.

Now, scale that up to reach, and my products were merely white noise to anybody who didn’t use Thesis. I wasn’t just selling my work, I had to sell somebody else’s first.

I trust that I have enough knowledge and experience to build my own products, and have the ideas that will take them off. To do all of that in an ecosystem that isn’t mine will only hinder what I believe I can create and accomplish.

What started as a luxury eventually became a crutch. Progression is the name of the game, and I’m ready to kick off a new era here at Kolakube.

Building Meaningful WordPress Themes

At the time of writing this, I’ve created and released two WordPress themes.

In February, I released a blogging theme called Chronicl. This got my feet wet in WordPress theme development, and taught me about the pure power of WordPress without a framework, and how to build a theme that favors decisions instead of options.

Then, just a few days ago, I released a new theme called Spotlight. Spotlight is more for creatives, and comes with 3 plugins that integrate into it. This taught me about modular development, and the benefits of building functionality into a plugin vs. a theme.

With each theme I build, my goals and ideas for what I want to accomplish at Kolakube became a little bigger, and my vision clearer. I’m starting to see that even though my products are different, they share many things in common.

These similarities help me paint a better picture for the business model I want to build Kolakube around, and further strengthens the philosophies I have about building websites.

What that really means, though, is that I’m figuring out how to build better products for you.

Products you can use to make more money with your business. Products that help you build the website of your dreams, and take care of the technical side of WordPress. Products that allow you to focus on building your own products, and creating content.

Quantity will never be the focus here at Kolakube (it honestly never has), because quality and meaning will always rule here.

Here are some of the most important things you can expect from any Kolakube theme, now and in the future:

1. Meaningful themes built with intent and purpose
2. Fun features you and your audience will enjoy using
3. Beautiful, responsive designs that look and function great on any device
4. Automatic updates, so you always have new things to look forward to
5. Easy to read content with beautiful typography
6. Lightweight code for faster page load and better overall performance
7. Developer friendly, and easy to modify with Child Themes

I gave my best attempt to back these philosophies up in Chronicl and Spotlight, and can’t wait to further improve them alongside new products as I go.

A Last Quick Word…

To everyone who’s continued to buy my products and supported me along the way, I just wanted to say thank you.

I’ve been pretty quiet the past year and a half, and a lot has changed in my personal life (I got my first apartment!) that I unfortunately prioritized over other responsibilities.

I have a lot to talk about, a lot to teach, and a lot of products to build. I’ve honestly never been so excited in my life.

I don’t know where I’m going with all of this now, but I just hope you’re intrigued enough to follow along. If so, enter your email address below to join the Kolakube newsletter where I’ll send you my best advice and tips for building a better website for your business.

Photo Credit: Outlaw_Pete