Updating Template issue

Question

Hi there, first of all I need to explain that I am a newbie to Wordpress. I am very versed in Joomla so the question I have might not be a TT issue but rather a WP issue that I don't know about.

My question is.... Why is it that every time a do a minor tweek to my theme, upload and activate it that all the Widget positions and menu designation go to a default status instead of the settings I had for the previous template. The widget position names are identical. In Joomla the module positions stay in tact. In Wordpress I have to start all over again assigning my widgets and getting the unused ones out of there. Very time consuming when doing minor updates.

I am guessing that Wordpress widget positions are in the template where in Joomla they are in a system level so updating the template doesn't affect them. Is there any way to set widget items that are not affected by the template. Am I making sense?

Thanks for your insight in advance.
Kim

Answer 1

I have a similar question.

I am more familiar with WordPress and normally when you have installed a theme, you are informed about updates by the author. You can choose to install this update over your current theme, which will keep your settings intact.

What you are doing is not updating your existing theme, but uploading a new theme and switching to it. And therefore you are starting from scratch.

So how does this work with Template Toaster? How do we update our own theme? Or can we only upload a 'new' theme?

Answer 2

For those of you struggling with this, the best way I found to accomplish updates is to initially load the template into WP from the zip file and change the settings on it to the way you want them.

After that, use the file>export>folder option to export the updated template to a folder on your PC. Use an FTP client to transfer the updated theme files to your theme directory on your WP or other site (I just send them all).

This keeps the settings in WP and allows you to update your themes as needed. With my fast servers and internet the update process take about 20-30 seconds typically with a 2-3 template page site. I also have set my FTP program to only overwrite files if newer to speed things up just a little.

- Drew