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There will be no more development for Atahualpa (or any other theme), and no support. Also no new registrations. I turned off the donation system. I may turn the forum to read only if it gets abused for spam. Unfortunately I have no time for the forum or the themes. Thanks a lot to the people who helped in all these years, especially Larry and of course: Paul. Take care and stay healthy -- Flynn, Atahualpa developer, Sep 2021

Wordpress Themes - WP Forum at BFA » WordPress Themes » Atahualpa 3 Wordpress theme » New Versions, & Updating »

Child theme or not?


  #1  
Old Apr 26, 2012, 06:48 PM
gsa1
 
2 posts · Mar 2012
Hello,
I'm a newbie to WP and Atahualpa, and I want to set up my Atahualpa theme correctly before I start to customize it.

Assuming I want to make a number of customizations to the theme, should I create a child theme so Atahualpa will update with my changes correctly for future updates? If so how? (send me a link to instructions if possible, please)

What's the best way to prevent problems with future updates to the theme?

Thanks!
-Gary
  #2  
Old Apr 26, 2012, 06:59 PM
juggledad's Avatar
juggledad
 
23,765 posts · Mar 2009
OSX 10.11.5 WP 4.x Atahualpa(all) Safari, Firefox, Chrome
all the atahualpa 'options' are stored in the database so they carry forth over theme upgrades, no need to create child theme, you shouldn't have to update the code.
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  #3  
Old Apr 26, 2012, 11:45 PM
Knut Sparhell
 
34 posts · Jun 2010
Fredrikstad, Norway
"No need to create a child theme" is an arrogant statement. Or just incomptetence.

I use child themes of Atahualpa. I need to, especially after php functions had to be removed from theme options.

The main problem is that all the fuctions ion functions.php lack the condition function_exsits. If I then create my own functions.php trying to override tha atahualpa functions it will fail.

Overriding theme files like index.php works.
  #4  
Old Apr 27, 2012, 03:50 AM
juggledad's Avatar
juggledad
 
23,765 posts · Mar 2009
OSX 10.11.5 WP 4.x Atahualpa(all) Safari, Firefox, Chrome
HTML Code:
"No need to create a child theme" is an arrogant statement. Or just incomptetence.
for all my experience with the theme I have yet to use a child theme with it.

Can you create a child theme - yes (I've created one for testing)
Do I think you need to - no
Might there be a case where it is needed - absolutely.

You need child themes with most themes because they are not as flexable as Atahualpa. I see it as one of the reasons that most people like Atahualpa.
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Last edited by juggledad; Apr 27, 2012 at 03:53 AM.
  #5  
Old Apr 27, 2012, 08:13 AM
Faffe
 
22 posts · May 2010
Sweden
The lack of child theme support is the reason I don't use Atahualpa for customized sites. Instead I use Suffusion.

I have also stopped regularly updating my Atahualpa themes because of all the manual steps involved (the header images and icons disappear).

I would really appreciate better child theme support, but there doesn't seem to be any interested in it. To bad.
  #6  
Old Apr 27, 2012, 08:20 AM
juggledad's Avatar
juggledad
 
23,765 posts · Mar 2009
OSX 10.11.5 WP 4.x Atahualpa(all) Safari, Firefox, Chrome
Faffe, I don't understand why you say there is no child theme support. You can create a child theme with Atahualpa.

The reason that header images were in the theme folders was a WORDPRESS THEME REQUIREMENT (a bad one in my mind) prior to WP 3.x. Same holds true for the removal of PHP in the theme options, it became a Wordpress theme REQUIREMENT (a poor one in my mind, but I don't make the requirements).

With the new ability for themes to use files in the media library, I'm hoping that the theme will be updated to use it. Never the less, you always have had the option to replace the %image with a new widget area, put a widget like 'Dynamic Images' in the header and your issue with header images is fixed.
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  #7  
Old Apr 28, 2012, 12:45 PM
Knut Sparhell
 
34 posts · Jun 2010
Fredrikstad, Norway
One example is when you need to change the loop. In the Atahualpa Options I find this statement:
Quote:
To edit the loop or to add custom code before/after the loop, manually edit index.php.
You should never edit a theme file that you haven't written yourself, because it will be overwritten by an update of the theme. Create a child theme.

There may be many good reasons to want to modify the loop, above the loop or after the loop. This was the reason for earlier versions of Atahualpa to include custom PHP as part of the theme options, to do this. An example is to add support for special treatment of custom content types, the post format taxonomy or custom taxonomies.

Atahualpa may be flexible, more flexible then most themes, but not endlessly flexible. And there are things that Atahualpa just doesn't support, or let you handle flexibly.
  #8  
Old Apr 28, 2012, 12:51 PM
gsa1
 
2 posts · Mar 2012
Hmmm... there doesn't seem to be a consensus here...

If I do a child theme, is there any potential down side to it? Will it be more challenging to customize?

Can anyone direct me to a link of the best way to set up a child theme to Atahualpa?

Thanks
-Gary
  #9  
Old Apr 28, 2012, 01:33 PM
lmilesw's Avatar
lmilesw
 
10,176 posts · Jul 2009
Central New York State USA
I feel creating a child theme will add complexity you don't need. It is true that you MAY need to move some image files into the new install of Atahualpa should you decide to upgrade but that has never been much of an issue for me.
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  #10  
Old May 1, 2012, 03:49 AM
lourdesjberg56
 
7 posts · May 2012
Los Angeles California
I think you just needed an upgrade. I did not have to create a child theme, seems to be working with me
  #11  
Old May 1, 2012, 11:59 AM
Knut Sparhell
 
34 posts · Jun 2010
Fredrikstad, Norway
See http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
You just need a style.css to start with. Put it in a separate folder in the themes folder.
You may then copy over other files from atahualpa, like index.php and start modifying the loop. In this case WordPress will ignore those original files.

Because the original functions.php functions are not inside function_exists() checks, you will have trouble redefining those functions. By not using function_exists in it's functions.php file Atahualpa does not actively "support" changing the functions through a child theme.

Last edited by juggledad; May 1, 2012 at 12:16 PM.
  #12  
Old Dec 10, 2012, 02:02 PM
Blob
 
3 posts · May 2012
Hello Juggledad ,
I really have no clue on what to do for letting the a-child installation override the instructions to use the images which I want, instead of those given by default and switching back on each new updating of Atahualpa theme.

Of course I' ve placed the desired images in a folder's path as they are set in the Atahualps suite and set them via FTP on website:
Path: /www/nwpb/wp-content/themes/a-child/images/header/

Can anyone help by telling me what to do to let my a-child installation use them instead of those contained in the updating files?

The information given to use the workaround are not clear to me either on howto implement that and also I have not located in the options the instructions to follow to use
Quote:
Originally Posted by juggledad
With the new ability for themes to use files in the media library, I'm hoping that the theme will be updated to use it. Never the less, you always have had the option to replace the %image with a new widget area, put a widget like 'Dynamic Images' in the header and your issue with header images is fixed.
... where are these details described?
I presently run wp version 3.4.2 with Atahualpa Version: 3.7.10

Last edited by Blob; Dec 10, 2012 at 02:07 PM. Reason: typo
  #13  
Old Dec 11, 2012, 04:32 AM
juggledad's Avatar
juggledad
 
23,765 posts · Mar 2009
OSX 10.11.5 WP 4.x Atahualpa(all) Safari, Firefox, Chrome
Quote:
where are these details described?
precisely what details are you talking about?
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  #14  
Old Dec 11, 2012, 09:42 AM
Blob
 
3 posts · May 2012
I kept searching fixes to my issues and therefore my previous post is now obsolete.
Thanks anyhow for having read me so far :-)

Last edited by Blob; Dec 18, 2012 at 07:57 AM. Reason: Improve Content
  #15  
Old Dec 18, 2012, 05:15 PM
LenaTime
 
2 posts · Sep 2012
I am currently using this template...made a donation so I could remove the footer credit. (sorry I know it deserves all the credit it can get) But when the theme went through an update cycle, the original credit came back. So without a child-theme, how do you keep your changes from reverting to the original settings, such as the footer credit?
  #16  
Old Dec 19, 2012, 09:49 AM
lmilesw's Avatar
lmilesw
 
10,176 posts · Jul 2009
Central New York State USA
Unfortunately any theme file modifications such as the footer credit will have to be redone if you update the theme.
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  #17  
Old Jan 6, 2013, 09:50 AM
johanM
 
16 posts · Jun 2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blob
I really have no clue on what to do for letting the a-child installation override the instructions to use the images which I want, instead of those given by default and switching back on each new updating of Atahualpa theme.
One reason that atahualpa cannot find the mu's upload directory because "if ( file_exists(ABSPATH."/wpmu-settings.php") )" always return FALSE due to wump-settings.php no longer can be found in after wordpress 3. In such case, to use the image in the child theme directory, you need to copy the bfa_header_config.php from atahualpa function's directory to your child theme directory, modify it, and rename the function name to another name, include the new_bfa_header_config.php in your child them's function.php, then call the new function from your header.php. Or simple enough, create a 'phantom' wpmu-setting.php under wp's directory.

The reason Atahualpa was so popular because back the time wp and wpmu are two differ software, ata support both wps don't, however, today's WP is more flexible then ever, create a child theme would only make it robuster and not complicate at all. Lacking of support child time, there are more and more themes will be more flexible then atahualpa. You may check the download statistic from wordpress, the ata download times drop gradually.
  #18  
Old Jan 6, 2013, 04:03 PM
Blob
 
3 posts · May 2012
Hello joahnM,

As posted herein on Dec 11, 2012 10:42 AM, I'd like to point out that I have withdrawn myself from this issue as it is getting rather scope-less.

My point of view is that Atahualpa should comply to easy the child usage by simply changing the path of the images into a non erasable area of WordPress.
Please check my post in the WordPress blog:
The easiest way to get the images back after each updatng is to edit the file: "bfa_rotating_header_images()" in this way: " ...
################### images in /images/header/ (on regular WordPress)

$files = "";
$imgpath = get_template_directory() . '/child_images/';
$imgdir = $templateURI . '/child_images/';
$dh = opendir($imgpath);
..."
Or adding a feature to edit the following path in the Atahualpa Theme Options:
Header Images

All header images are located in /wp/wp-content/themes/atahualpa/images/header/. All images in that directory will be rotated. If you don't want rotating header images, leave only one image in that directory.

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