Thesis is the awesome theme which lets you make your website or blog look just as you want it to be. You can do lots of customization with this theme without having to do much coding. There are awesome stuff called “hooks” in thesis which makes you put an entity anywhere you want it on the blog.

In this post I compile 5 cool thesis customization tips that are must haves. Make use of them; it all depends on how you want your blog to look like.

1. Full Width Navigation Bar Above/Below Header:

In order to go to full width framework, you have to first opt for that. Go to Thesis -> Design Options. Under Site Layout, expand HTML Framework and select Full-Width Framework in that. Next, paste the following code in your custom_functions.php file:

function full_width_nav() { ?>

remove_action(‘thesis_hook_before_header’, ‘thesis_nav_menu’);
add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_html’, ‘full_width_nav’);

For styling the navigation bar, paste the following code to custom.css file:
/***Nav Bar Style***/
.custom #nav_area {background: #5A0A0A;}
.custom ul.menu {background: #5A0A0A; border:none;}
.custom ul.menu li a, .custom ul.menu li a:hover {background:none; border:none;}
.custom ul.menu li a {color: #fff; font-size: 1.2em; font-family: "Myriad Pro",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight:normal;}
.custom ul.menu li.current a:hover, .custom ul.menu li a:hover {color:#DDC359;}
.custom ul.menu li.current a, .custom ul.menu li.current-cat a {color:#DDC359;}
.custom ul.menu li a:hover {color:#DDC359; text-decoration:none;}
.custom ul.menu li li {background: #A61212; margin-top:1px;}
.custom ul.menu li li a:hover {background: none;}
.custom ul.menu li li:hover {background: #5A0A0A;}
.custom ul.menu .rss {border: none;}.custom ul.menu .rss a, .custom ul.menu .rss a:hover {padding-right: 16px;}
/***End Nav Bar Style***/

Don’t forget to change the appropriate colors to match your theme.

2. Custom Header Ad:

You can place a 468X60 banner ad towards the right side of the header as you see in this blog.

For that, you have to place the following code in custom_functions.php:
function my_header_ad() { ?>

add_action(‘thesis_hook_header’, ‘my_header_ad’);

Apply the following styling to you header ad (paste in custom.css):
.custom #leaderboard_ad { float: right; position: absolute; width: 468px; height: 60px; top: 30px; left: 550px; }

3. Custom Category Navigation Bar below Header:

If it is quite important for you to display categories in the homepage at a prominent place, a secondary nav bar is the right choice. Here’s how to add it.

Paste the following code in custom_functions.php
function fullwidth_cat_nav() { ?>

add_action(‘thesis_hook_before_content_area’, ‘fullwidth_cat_nav’);

Style your category nav bar using the following code (paste in custom.css)

/*** Begin Category Navbar Style ***/
/* Initialize the menu */
.custom #cat_menu li {
height: 25px;
position: relative;
float: left;
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 12px;
letter-spacing: .05em;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
.custom #cat_menu, #cat_menu li a {
background: #5A0A0A url("images/bg_main_menu.gif") repeat-x scroll 0 0;
border: none;
height: 30px;
}
.custom #cat_menu li a {
display: block;
padding: 0 15px 0 15px;
margin: 0;
text-decoration: none;
text-align: left;
line-height: 30px;
color: #FFFFFF;
}
.custom #cat_menu li a:hover{
background: #5A0A0A;
color: #FFFFFF;
}
.custom #cat_menu li ul {
position: absolute;
visibility: hidden;
}
.custom #cat_menu li:hover ul, #cat_menu li:hover ul a {
visibility:visible;
background: #5A0A0A;
width: 140px;
text-align: left;
font-size: 10px;
}
/*** End Category Navbar Style ***/

Again, you may have to play with the colors.

4. Change Page and Category Order in Nav Bar:

You may want to change the order in which the pages and categories appear in the navbar. Page order can be easily changed from the WordPress admin. Go to Thesis Site Options -> Navigation Menu. You can now drag the pages up and down by pressing and holding the mouse over any particular page. You can also edit the names of the pages in that list (this is cool).

To change the category order in the custom category navigation bar you have to install a plugin called category order. Then under Posts you will see Category Order. Click that and you can drag and drop the categories in any order. You can change the order of the sub-categories also by clicking the more button.

5. Facebook Like Button Before Post

In order to add a Facebook Like button just after the post heading and before the post content, you need to paste the following code into custom_functions.php file:
function facebook_like_button(){
global $post;
?>

}
add_action('thesis_hook_before_post','facebook_like_button');

Let me know how things work for you. If you have any questions or comments, I am glad to hear and answer.

What? You haven’t got Thesis Theme yet? Click here to get this rocking theme and rock the blogosphere! Find All Answers runs on this awesome theme.