sholarpk

ok, XAMMPP will be next. … thanks.

Yes.. I cannot make the simplest connection to this MySQL database environment. The ‘testmysql.php’ in root that comes with the package does not work, so there is something deeply wrong with my WAMP install. I cannot access my MySQL database for WordPress using any of the users and passwords that I defined. I have uninstalled the entire WAMPserver package and will try another.

I turned off Windows Firewall and tried again. Same result.

I also tried adding a second user ‘test’ with an ultra-simple password, and put those into wp-config.php. I double-checked the name of the MySQL server host, and that name is also in wp-config.php. I run install.php again, and I get the same error. No specific source of the error! The database server is still running!

The problem is, what it says is inaccurate compared to what I see WP actually doing. A styles.css containing only a comment, plus a set of completely empty *.php files results in that stub “theme” not being recognized as such by WP Dashboard. What am I supposed to think of this SILENT failure mode? (Not my definition of quality.)

If the WP community actively discourages development of themes from scratch, then the status quo in the WP release (i.e., providing no “minimal” set of theme file for beginning development from scratch) is the way to go. Otherwise, the installed WP package should include a set of minimal files ready for theme development from scratch, like every other development-ready software product in the world.

You don’t want to know my opinion of WP’s docs. I used to make a living writing software product documentation.

If WP Dashboard is not going to intelligent enough to fail properly when the proper minimal set of themes child folder files and file contents aren’t recognized, then please provide copies of such a set of files with the WP package out of the box! Don’t allow this poorly handled failure mode to stop the very new user dead in his/her tracks!

Better yet. The WP package should provide this minimal set of themes child folder files and file contents out of the box. There is no good reason for this to be an issue for the very new user! Fix the package, or fix how WP Dashboard handles this error mode!

That’s a bad failure mode. I’m just getting started at WP, and I can’t get a new child folder under ‘themes’ to be recognized at all. (The new folder contains only a styles.css containing the standard comments block, all other *.php files emptyi.) No error message from WP at all. Horrible failure modes. No responses to my questions on this forum. Very disappointed in the package so far.

… This Dashboard behavior seems to be different …