Assistance with Installing Theme

benjy000

Hello,
I have created a new theme and uploaded it in the /themes directory along with the default themes. For some strange reason, however, the theme does not work and does not appear on the admin page where I should be able to set this theme as the default. Can anybody help me?

the new theme is accessible at bestschools.ca/forum/themes/new

Thank you

whu606

@benjy000

Have you edited the about.php file in your theme folder to include your theme's name? The name in about.php needs to match the theme folder name.

benjy000

Yes, I did that. You'll see it just shows this page cannot be displayed. please go to bestschools.ca/forum/themes/new

benjy000

Basically, if you go to http://bestschools.ca/forum/discussions, I want to keep the top portion (menu buttons and divider). I think the issue I'm having with page is not being displayed is because the theme is for an older vanilla. So, I would want to use Baseline theme for new vanilla, but change the accompanying files to create the exact same top portion on the site http://bestschools.ca/forum/discussions. I've tried doing this myself and I can't figure it out.

benjy000

If you go here http://bestschools.ca/forum/themes/ColorBaseline/ you can see the files that currently exist for Baseline. So, basically I would want to take the top portion and divider from http://bestschools.ca/forum/themes/new and migrate this into the top portion of ColorBaseline. I should be able to cut and paste the relevant items, but I've been having a very difficult time.

vrijvlinder

You need to post or zip your modified theme here so we can see what you did wrong...

benjy000

If you go to http://bestschools.ca/forum/themes/ you can see the original one (new), the theme I would like to modify (BaselineColor) and the theme I have tried to modify to look like new (test2015).

vrijvlinder

You need to look at the other themes and make sure you have the right files that typically go in a theme. 2.1 and above is vey different than 2.0 or less. Old theme stuff will not work.

Look at a newer version theme for 2.1 and see the kind of files it contains, you are missing files and file structure. your theme will not work.

benjy000

I've tried doing that and changing to a .tpl structure, etc. No luck. Basically all I need to copy is the top portion from the theme 'new' and cut and paste that into the theme 'test2015'. If you go to bestschools.ca/forum you will see what needs to be copied and pasted (theme is called new) from the top portion.

Ymris

As a complete n00b I'd love to know how to install a theme in the first place. When I've tried it gives me 'there is a problem' error.
I'm trying to install systhem into 2.1 Vanilla.

vrijvlinder

You simply upload it to the themes folder then you select it in the dashboard. The theme needs to be compatible with vanilla. Some themes are outdated.

Ymris

Thanks. The theme I'm looking at is:
https://vanillaforums.org/addon/systhem_theme-theme
I've unzipped it onto my Desktop and in CP uploaded it into public_html/themes. Or tried. I get the error message as I noted above. I tried it with another theme to the same effect.

vrijvlinder

the correct place to do this is in the forum folder

yoursite.com/forum/themes

I recommend to use Filezilla to upload into your folders.

To see the errors you need to check your CGI error logs from where you host this.

Ymris

Okay, thanks again.

R_J

@Ymris: Vanilla 2.1 has security issues and you should use Vanilla 2.2 instead.

Ymris

I'd like to but there I'm not sure I can get proper site admin to bother with it.

I note in Cpanel that there isn't an option to go yoursite.com/forum/themes.
The themes folder is in public_html.

R_J

Whereever your forum is installed, there is a subfolder called "themes" and you have to copy the theme folder in that folder.

In your case, it must look like that: public_html/themes/systhem_theme and in there must be the files about.php, README.txt etc

Ymris

I've just about done it, thanks very much.