Theme Switcher Simply Doesn’t Work

  • I want to install Ryan Boren’s Theme Switcher plugin, but I am having absolutely no luck. I have properly installed it, and all my other plugins work, but this just doesn’t want to do anything.

    Let me further explain:

    I upload my plugin (I’ve tried just uploading the theme-switcher.php file and uploading it in a theme-switcher plugin folder; neither works.) in my wp-content/plugins folder. I activate the plugin via my plugin manager and, simply put, nothing happens. No new Theme Switcher option is added to my options tab; there’s absolutely no sign that the switcher is alive and kicking. Is it supposed to be that way? Am I missing something here?

    Oddly enough, activating it will kickstart the Theme Switcher navigation on my sidebar (it’s currently removed, since I didn’t want people messing with it just yet), but again, there is no control panel. I’m assuming there’s supposed to be a control panel for it, because the French version has one. Or is that just a feature of that mod of the plugin? I would use the French version, because I technically can read it, but I’d rather stick with English for obvious reasons.

    Thanks for any help!

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)

  • Ah….. there’s no “control panel” for theme-switcher. You activate it, and insert the appropriate code wherever you want the list or dropdown to appear….

    I’m using version 0.3 (latest I think, unless I missed something – not unlikely considering). BTW, the “french version” isn’t Ryan’s, far as I know, but I could be wrong, and if so I’m sure someone will provide the correct info….

    Pretty sure Boren’s doesn’t have a control panel.

    …but I’d rather stick with English for obvious reasons.
    Don’t get this one.

    Well, if English is the OP’s first language, she’d likely rather have a plugin that’s based in English so that the docs if any would make sense without lengthy transliterative efforts.

    Thread Starter leliathomas

    (@leliathomas)

    Vkaryl, thank you for your prompt reply. ?? Well, I can understand how there isn’t a control panel. That’s where my main confusion was. Considering I wasn’t noticing any changes–and for some reason, my mind expected me to–I was not sure what was functioning and what wasn’t.

    And no, the French version isn’t by Ryan, but it appears to maybe just be a translation. I’m not entirely sure, since I don’t speak French all that well.

    So, if there’s no control panel, which is fine, how does one go about only showing the themes to the public that they want to? To do that, do you have to remove the classic and default themes? Just wondering!

    Thanks again!

    Thread Starter leliathomas

    (@leliathomas)

    alphaoide, the reason I’d rather stick with English is because I don’t read French. I just happen to have a good enough English vocabulary that I can make sense of the French version. haha

    Hmm. That’s a different problem entirely. If you use the theme-switcher, the public will see whatever you’re doing on a live blog. Can’t “block out” the dinking-around-with-it stuff.

    Somewhere on here a while back was a link to a different sort of theme-toy, where you could activate just the theme you were working on for you to see, but not the public, and I’m very sorry but I absolutely do not remember what it was called.

    I think it might also be one of Ryan’s so you might visit his site to check.

    Lorelle of the steel-trap mind might have a link….

    Thread Starter leliathomas

    (@leliathomas)

    Ah, all right! I’ll go searching. ?? Thanks for your help!

    You’re welcome, and good luck!

    Thread Starter leliathomas

    (@leliathomas)

    Lovely…the wonders of a good Google search! For anyone who wants the answer to my previous question, here’s the plugin vkaryl was referring to.

    I like your site. VERY nice….

    The French version is different from Ryan’s. I don’t know how, but once I managed to break Ryan’s and couldn’t get it to work despite all kinds of reinstalls and uninstalls. I installed the French one, though, and it worked very well. I only missed a couple of sidebar options, but that’s it. I’m not using the sidebar option anymore, but the admin interface is handy.

    I’ve tried both the French version and Ryan’s. Ryan’s works fine for me including using the correct style when you use “pages”. The French version doesn’t switch the style correctly when using “pages”. It goes back to the orginal theme style.

    However, the French version has the option to select what themes you want included and excluded when you call it. Ryan’s doesn’t and that would be a good feature in Ryan’s to add.

    The problem with the French version is that it is written for old WP version 1.2. I found this comment in the source code.

    Since I’m not good at php, do you think someone could add the either add the control panel option to Ryan’s version or bring the French version up-to-date to WP 1.5?

    Thanks, jim

    “Ryan’s doesn’t and that would be a good feature in Ryan’s to add.”

    Version 0.3 of Ryan’s ThemeSwitcher checks for the ‘Status’ line in a theme’s style.css header–which will be implemented in WordPress 1.5.1. So if you use something like this:

    Status: draft

    along with ‘Theme Name’ and so on, ThemeSwitcher will bypass that theme in its list. Use Status: publish (or remove the Status line) to tell TS to list it.

    Oooh. That’ll be nice, Kaf. Make some tweaking much nicer!

    I’ve seen references to Ryan Boren’s updated Theme Switcher here on these Support Forums as recently as September 2006, but the link leads to a dead end. Any idea where I can put my hands on it? I mean, that was one of the great things about WP and now it seems like there’s no decent theme switching plugin for WP anymore? WTF?

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)
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