Classic Themes Expired - Say What?

[tman47]

I bought the complete package from Studio Press a few years back and I just went to install the Classic Streamline theme only to find out you can't save Admin settings anymore in later versions of WP - even with the mod to the theme-options.php page

I like this theme (and don't need the Geneisis Framework for this site), and considering the price I paid for the package (or if a person buys a single theme) I think an update should be made for the classic series if there is a problem that stops them from working with updates to the Wordpress framework.

These are not cheap themes and definitely should not become redundant within a few years - just because there is the Genesis Framework, does not mean previous customers should lose themes purchased a few years back due to a change in Wordpress.

That would be like any software company saying - sorry, we know windows had a few updates and it stopped you from using our software, so sorry, to bad, figure it out or buy one of new themes.

Studiopress themes are the most expensive on the Internet that I have seen - that should come with support for prior themes to keep them working - if these were 10 years old, that is different, but a few years is not enough to stop providing support and updates to keep prior themes working

MY CONCERN - will we experience the same issue down the road with the Genesis Framework and associated themes.

It is a known fact that changing themes after your site is established on Google may possibly effect your SERP standings

[DaisyOlsen]

As with any technology things will break based on changes in products that something is dependent on. This is the case with StudioPress Classic themes and is one of many reasons we have developed a framework that can be updated separately from the design, which is handled by a child theme.

We no longer provide users with Classic theme downloads and always encourage users to update to a Genesis based child theme rather than trying to fix a broken and outdated product.

Genesis markup uses best practices for SEO with a 3rd party audit performed periodically.

[tman47]

Originally Posted by DaisyOlsen

As with any technology things will break based on changes in products that something is dependent on. This is the case with StudioPress Classic themes and is one of many reasons we have developed a framework that can be updated separately from the design, which is handled by a child theme.

We no longer provide users with Classic theme downloads and always encourage users to update to a Genesis based child theme rather than trying to fix a broken and outdated product.

Genesis markup uses best practices for SEO with a 3rd party audit performed periodically.

Hi Daisy

I understand the issues and reasons for moving on with Genisis, but what if you have several sites built with the Classic themes, lots of mods, looks great etc and you don't want to change the site but add a plugin that requires a wordpress upgrade?

That is where it gets difficult, especially if it is for a customer - you can't really say, "umm. sorry, but if you want that little upgrade and plugin, I have to rebuild your website"

You can see where it can be a problem.

That said, I won't build any future sites with the Classic Themes. Will start on the Genesis path now.

Best regards...

[NicktheGeek]

The difficulty is that we cannot possibly guess what changes might happen in WordPress core. When the theme was released it was using the best practices for saving data to WordPress options table. That was back with WordPress 2.7 or so. WordPress changed things in 3.2 and again in 3.4. Those techniques are invalid an need to be completely rewritten.

That is why we moved to Genesis. As things change in WordPress Genesis can be updated while the child theme can be left alone. This is a much better system for future compatibility.

[tman47]

Well, in the long run that is understandable. Sure is a bugger though when you go and spend a day making mods and then need to make an admin change and ... oops, can't do it.

That said, I did find a solution, one I recall having to use a while back but I could not remember where - found it in the code of an older site and it works with WP 3.4.x

in the theme-options.php file simple replace the:

$settings = 'mods_'.get_current_theme(); // do not change!

With:

$settings = 'theme_mods_streamline_30'; // do not change!

The important part is to use the name of the folder the theme is in on your server - in this case it is "streamline_30" other themes might be "lifestyle_40" or "education_10" and so on

Hope this helps