how to preserve header images & logo
 

Some (or all?) Atahualpa upgrades remove my header images, logo, favicon. How can these items be conserved during upgrade?

see HOWTO: upgrade Atahualpa to a new version

Hopefully with WordPress 3.4 there will be some ability to change themes to put your header images in the media library or other area. Then the theme might be able to preserve your images durning an update

Here is my problem: Essentially updating Atahualpa replaced my custom logo with its standard green flower logo, and I need to know exact steps for restoring my logo every time Atahualpa updates.

My logo is a graphic that I designed from scratch, which disappeared and was replaced by the green flower 'logo' you currently see when I updated the Atahualpa theme. I made backups yesterday of my databases, but the logo replacement in the theme is a custom tweak that my original geek isn't available to teach me the steps for.

Here is a somewhat vague reply I am trying to work with:

"You need to edit your header.php file. Go in there, look for an H1 tag within < symbols (if I type it here weird things happen) and delete the code that calls up that image (img tag). Do NOT delete the a href= tag, or it wont' link back to your home page. Replace that img tag with the HTML code for referencing an image (you'll have to use the hard URL for that image, which is http: // www . whatever the url is where your image is currently at) so ultimately it should go something like this: h1 > a tag within that > within the a tag is your img tag > end of a tag > end of h1 tag. If you're a total newbie in HTML, I can do it for you for a fee, but between that and some googling you can figure it out."

The reason I am still unclear on what to do is that in my Godaddy wp-admin I found files named admin-header.php and custom-header.php but don't know if either of these is what the reply I received referred to. Also, I don't know where the editing of the header.php file is to be done. I.e. is the reply above referring to some unmentioned HTML editor or within Wordpress (I didn't see an editing option for the header logo there), or perhaps within Godaddy somehow?

Respondent(s) please provide step-by-step instructions that don't omit anything. Thanks a lot!

You don't need to tweak any theme files. You just need to upload your logo image into the /atahualpa/images folder and reference the file name in the "Show Logo Image?" box that is in the Style and Edit Header Area section of the theme options. If your geek friend edited the theme files it was because he didn't understand the Atahualpa theme.

The one thing you have to keep in mind is that when you update all theme files are overwritten and images such as the logo, header images, or favicon will have to be re-uploaded. There are some ways of getting around this but is a bit more involved to explain. What I mentioned above is the simplest method for doing what you want.

We generally recommend using the manual update method as outlined here.

I have similar problem. After I updated the theme, my logo image disappeared, and the logo image file was gone. I thought it's simple fix, and I didn't pay much attention. Today, I uploaded the logo image back to images folder, and put a corrected name at logo area. I checked few times, no logo. But my header images works fine without uploading any files.

@ScalableSite - If you are using the original image that came with the theme they will be there during an upgrade. As for the logo...

• Do you have caching plugin active?
• Do the logo name and the name in the logo box EXACTLY match (upper/lower case etc.)
• Can you please supply a link to your site? Troublshooting issues without seeing the problem is at the very least more time consuming and sometimes impossible.

@jadenemayla - Have you figured your issue out yet?

I was dealing with the same problem until I found that using relative paths was mitigating the problem for the favicon and the logo image (not the header images). Both are now in a folder I created (wp-content/uploads/atahualpa) and I refer to these via a relative path in the Atahualpha theme configuration. Each time I update the theme, both are now preserved.

Still no fix for this? How annoying. I want to do automatic updates, and yet preserver my header image. Simply allow ATA to accept a relative path for the header image, instead of demanding we use the folder in the theme folder. This is an easy fix. Juggledad: can you get it on the docket for the next update?

Can this be overcome with a child theme, and a subfolder in there?

If you will provide this easy fix I'll check it out and if it works get it into the next version?

I have not mastered all of the nuances of the ATA backbone code, so someone that has, such as yourself, would be best to actually write the specific code. But it took me just seconds to figure out the basic idea:

First: inside atahualpa/functions/bfa_rotating_header_images.php :

Add a switch or override that will accept a variable from the ATA settings. This will be a new user input which, if set, will bypass the majority of the function in bfa_rotating_header_images.php. Ideally, this variable will be just like the favicon page's setting, where you can set a relative path to a specific file on the domain. The perfect solution for the header would similarly accept a relative path, but not to a specific file, but to a directory "../../../../../images/header/" for which it will still offer the rotating image feature if there are multiple files in that directory. I'd prefer an option to, instead of typing ../../../../../, selection some option where it will go from the WP install top level, which would make things easier to figure out. So, check a box "relative path from blog's top level?" to yes, then my relative path is just "/images/header/".

This additional user input and explanation of how to use it then goes inside atahualpa/functions/bfa_theme_options.php.

I would like bfa_theme_options.php to also be updated in the explanation of favicon.ico to explain that it too will accept a relative path. And it would be nice to simply check a box that says "override this functionality and use the default favicon.ico at the top of your blog's directory?".

With the above two functions implemented, I could then use auto-updated from Wordpress, and not lose my images. That is my highest desire now. I've built a child theme, and this is the only thing left that's forcing me to manipulate stuff, and thus delay any update until I have time. I know the values of testing any update first, so going the manual route allows this. However, I do my testing on a testing mirror. So if it looks good there, I just want to hit "update" on my live site, not upload pictures again, and be done.

Another way to deal with this is to use static image code, if you have a single image or the code provided by the CIMY header image rotator, if you want multiple rotating images in place of %image. This also has the advantage of various transition effects and links for the images.

ahh but the devil is in the details right. Would you be willing to fund the development of this?

Sounds fair:

I hereby offer US$20 donation (paid via PayPal) to whomever writes the code (and submits the said code for the coming Atahualpa update) that performs the following:

1) allow the user to select a static header image (or folder of multiple images, for those desiring rotating header images) in any folder outside of the theme folder, relative to the blog install's top level (that is, relative to ABSPATH)

2) allow the user to select to use the default favicon.ico at the blog top level (ABSPATH) in lieu of the built in theme options for favicon.ico

3) ensure the above changes are retained through auto upgrades of the theme

4) add the necessary comments in the Atahualpa Theme Options describing these features for the user

Perhaps someone else among those that first submitted the posts above will offer a matching or similar donation too.

Regards,
Derek Beck

I estimate between figuring out what to do, coding it, testing, documenting this will be 4 to 8 hours of time, so this means someone could earn between $2.50 and $5.00 per hour....

I think I'll pass.

I've had life throw me a few expensive curveballs in the last few weeks, so I'm strapped. But perhaps one of the other posters above can offer a matching or better donation?