Yesterday, after five years of using the Prose Theme from StudioPress, I finally decided to give my website a makeover and switch themes.
The theme I went with was the Daily Dish Pro theme.
In this review, I’ll tell you why I settled on this theme after considering a bunch of other themes.
Why I Switched to Daily Dish Pro
My previous site design featured the Prose Theme from StudioPress, a WordPress theme which I loved using because of it’s simple layout and because it had all the features of the Genesis framework like built-in SEO, landing pages and feature boxes.
Not too long after I started using the theme, StudioPress discontinued the theme which meant that it wasn’t going to get any more updates and they weren’t going to sell it anymore.
I still kept the theme because I loved how my site looked and I thought switching would break some of the stuff that I had already built. Some of my posts had the feature boxes and I had landing pages.
I also didn’t want to have to install a plugin to manage the site’s SEO.
However, I did consider switching themes after I found MyThemeShop themes but they didn’t have the features I mentioned above. They did have additional features that StudioPress themes didn’t have though.
After one of my posts in which I had embedded videos didn’t display well, I decided to check my purchased themes in my StudioPress membership area to see if there was any themes I could use.
Turns out the Prose themes content area was only about 590px wide and I needed a wider area. This is something that had bothered me before about the Prose theme.
I hadn’t exactly made up my mind that I was going to switch but then I previewed the Daily Dish Pro theme which I had bought probably 2 years earlier.
I loved the look of the site with this theme and since it also used the Genesis framework, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything breaking or having to replace anything.
So I went ahead and made the switch.
What I Like About Daily Dish Pro
The Daily Dish Pro theme I believe was originally conceived as a theme for the cooking/recipe niche.
As with all themes, this doesn’t mean that you can’t use the theme for other things. There is nothing about the theme that bounds it to that niche.
There are several things I love about the Daily Dish Pro which makes me want to use it not only for this site but for some of my other sites as well.
Clean and White
Having lots of white space and simple design can make your website look very clean and attractive.
I simply love that there aren’t many other elements added to this theme design-wise. It look like it’s just an improvement of the Genesis sample theme with a background.
I’ve thought about changing the background to the one I used previously with the Prose theme but I think I prefer the gray streaked background this one has. It works well with the gray accents used throughout the theme (eg. sidebar widget title background).
Looks Great on Mobile
As you know, all StudioPress themes are mobile responsive but you would not truly appreciate this until you’ve seen it on a smartphone or tablet.
The menu is condensed into a single tab in the center of the menu bar and drops down all the links when clicked.
All the other elements such as the sidebar widgets show up under the content area and look really nice and uncluttered.
Images and videos look great also.
Landing Pages
This is one of the reasons I didn’t want to switch to just any theme. I wanted to use StudioPress themes so I could have landing pages.
With the Daily Dish Pro theme, you can have landing pages which you create from the Pages section in WordPress. Just select “Page Attributes” in the editor sidebar and choose landing pages to create one.
Landing pages is a page template that removes the navigation and the sidebar elements so that you can have a focused page to sell a product on or capture email if you want to use it for a squeeze page.
This is a good feature for marketers and it works great with Daily Dish Pro.
Built in SEO
Again, just like all StudioPress themes, Daily Dish Pro has built in SEO so you don’t need a plugin like All-In-One SEO or Yoast to manage your SEO.
You can just use the SEO settings to set your sitewide SEO and the SEO settings in the page or post editor to set the SEO for the page or post you want to optimize.
This is a feature that I’ve only seen with StudioPress themes and one of the reasons why I love using the Genesis framework.
What I Didn’t Like About Daily Dish Pro
If I put anything here in this section, I would be nit-picking.
However, I’m not sure how I feel about the theme’s default font.
One one hand I feel it gives the content an elegant look but in a way, the numbers look weird.
The only reason I haven’t changed it is because it’s still very easy on the eyes and I’m afraid if I change it, the theme would just have a different look and feel.
The other thing I’m not 100% on is the use of all-caps for the content headings. Maybe I’ll get used to it after a while because none of my previous themes displayed headings this way.
Daily Dish Pro Is a Great Theme Overall
Overall, Daily Dish Pro is a great theme and one of the better themes from StudioPress.
I like that it’s a versatile theme, one that you can use for almost anything and any niche without the need for much customization.
I love using it for this website and I’m sure that you will find it useful for your next website or even a make-over of your current site or blog.
Check out the Daily Dish Pro Theme from StudioPress
If you have any questions about this theme or you want to know about something that I didn’t mention, holler at me in the comments and I’ll try to clarify.
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