How best to preserve mods to theme files?

I don’t know the answer, but I have the same problem.

I have hesitated to upgrade my default-theme because of my custom modifications I’ve made since I first met WordPress. Therefore I am still using my custom version of Kubrick from WP1.5, even though there is a newer Kubrick default in WP2.

I just don’t have a way to know all the little tweaks I made, they’re everywhere! I wish I had known more about how to do Commmenting in my PHP files, I should have put some /* Dgold Modified This!!! */

There is no really good way to do this with themes. Sorry. When you change themes, your hacks/mods have to be re-implemented.

However:

3) The addition of scripts needed to talk to external services (eg, Google Analytics). I’m obviously not counting stuff that’s inserted by plugins, since the plugin typically continues to work after a theme upgrade.

In these cases, you’d be best off moving these additions to a custom plugin or somewhere else outside of the theme itself. For example, Google Analytics requires the addition of a small bit of code into the header. This could be accomplished like so, in PHP:
<?php
function insert_my_google_analytics() {
?>
*insert Google code here*
<?php
} // end function
add_action('wp_head','insert_my_google_analytics');
?>


This would be theme independant, since virtually every theme calls the wp_head() function in the header. These are called “action hooks”, and you can find more about them in the codex.

Otto–Thanks for your reply. Not the best news, no, but at least I now know where to focus my efforts! ??

I’ll consider how best to manage these mods as my site grows and the mods mature, but for the time being I should start with a very basic followup: In the example you give, would insert_my_google_analytics() be defined in functions.php? I’m (clearly) not a WordPress maven or a programmer in any sense, but I’m certainly willing to learn.

Thanks again.

functions.php would be one place, but the problem there is that functions.php is part of the theme. It’s only theme independant if the theme doesn’t have it’s own functions.php.

my-hacks would be a better place, or write your own plugin to fill in these bits. I have a custom plugin specific to my blog where I put hacks like these.