A rather useful (fee-based) WordPress framework is offered by the StudioPress, folks. It’s called  Genesis, which also includes a bare-bones “Child” theme. Although this site does not use it, I have implemented it on other sites. Their themes are also quite nice, but whatever we chose, they all need the addition of several plug-ins and a whole lot of CSS tweaking.

There are always little customizations needed, no matter how suitable a Theme appears initially. The client always seems to want something that is either not built-in, or something taken out. Using a framework such as Genesis does not make tweaking any easier! Multiple processes and PHP codes are hidden in the Genesis folders (which one should never edit) so it takes a bit of PHP knowledge to modify or “hook” HTML, PHP and shortcodes to any of the existing Genesis hooks.

After much searching, and trying to do it the “hard way”, I realized StudioPress has a plugin for this. First step is to install it, but then what? Here’s where some PHP knowledge is required. I managed to make some modifications using the “Hooks” plugin, for instance controlling whether the date shows above every post or not.

Say ‘hello’ to web-based research, research and more research! I’m still trying to figure out if the learning curve required for modifying StudioPress templates is worth the trouble. Could it be easier to start simple, with the default 2010 WordPress theme?

Time to hit the support files for further info on “Hooks”. Right now it’s all gobbledygook to me!

It’s been a while since I posted something new, so I tried to log in – but was confronted with the WordPress install window. Where did everything go? I proceeded with the install script and was back “in”. Saw the “Update WordPress” warning so went ahead with that. No problem. Next an update to the theme I was using. Did that… and everything was back to a plain default, all posts and modifications I’d done were gone!

This was the perfect time to experiment with a restore from backup. I had previously used the wp-db plugin, and had a .sql.gz copy of the backup. Here’s the process:

Log into the server account (Bluehost) and open PHPmyAdmin. Select the appropirate database. Click the “Import” and upload the .sql file. It did a little processing and WOW… the site is back! Complete with my settings, posts, categories, design. Very cool, and good to know how.

Just make sure to regularly back up any WordPress installation! And update as needed, but be aware an update CAN screw up everything.

The whole process of setting up a WordPress installation needs to be documented. There are so many steps that need to be taking in the innitial stage that a list has to be made to remind us of all the steps! So many things need to be done before we even get to the “design” stage, and the CSS edits. All sorts of plugins have to be downloaded and activated/edited, and security settings need to be taken care of.

For instance… when browsing to a folder is the directory visible? This can be avoided in several ways, but it also depends on the host/server settings. We obviously don’t want anyone to see right into the folder contents.