To Code – the New Atahualpa WordPress Theme
My wife really hates “to code!”. That what she calls it when she has to do a PHP patch to some plugin or download she has.
It seems some developers love to “patch” or “bug fix” instead of releasing an already patch version… Likewise, some WordPress developers would rather you go to their website and download the latest version, and manually install it, rather than using the WordPress.org automatic update… Maybe they are hoping while you are there you will make a donation. Indeed, some developers not charge a sort of “support tax” before you are allowed to ask any questions! Mainly because they would rather you paid them for their paid version… Which may be why they do not support automatic updates from inside of WordPress for anything but the very simplest site…
Of course, if you put this all together, you would know I am talking about the very popular Atahualpa WordPress Theme.
My wife loves there theme and hates “To Code” their patches, and the lack of some very important features!
So a few other real coders and I maintain our own Super-Atahualpa. We sometimes call this the “To Code” Theme! It has major revisions of the a number of functions and additions of many features people want.
We have offered this to the Atahualpa development team, but they are busy working on selling their new ThemeFrame program. In fact we have noticed that since about Atahualpa version 3.5.3, features have been actually removed from Atahualpa – and bug-fixes abound!
The NEW “To Code” Theme
A couple days ago it was suggested to me that a group of us just fork the Atahualpa, which is pretty stagnant except for bug fixes anyway, and make a new “To Code” Theme!
To wet your whistle here are a few things in the new “To Code” Theme…
“To Code” Theme Features
1) The custom header image(s) would survive an automatic update!
2) The custom logo image(s) would survive an automatic update!
3) The custom favicon image(s) would survive an automatic update!
4) You can easily upload these images via the WordPress Image Up-loader! (No FTP needed to change images!)
5) You can add custom functions and rewrite functions as you wish, and they will survive an automatic update!
6) You can do #1 through #5 on a MultiSite install on a per site basis!
7) You can do ALL of the above on a WP Multi-Network install, also per site basis!
8) Basically, almost any customizations could be impervious to theme updates!
9) We may even have a way to put php code back in the theme inputs like before!
NO Bug Fixes!
One thing that is frustration for WP users is having to patch or replace files. “To Code” would have all patches released via a point release so that anyone can use the automatic update feature! Newbies will love this feature…
Your chance to VOTE!
If you would like to see the “To Code” Theme released, just say so with a comment below and if there is enough replies, we will do it!
To Code Partner!
Anyone wanting to join “To Code” this project, also comment about that, and what your skill level is.
Special thanks to Flynn
We wish to say to the Atahualpa developer Flynn. He may be busy on his new paid theme, but we still love the free one he created. However, we do think this theme has a lot more features that can be added, and we as a team intend to develop them in the “To Code” Theme, whatever the name may be, IF PEOPLE WANT IT!
YES! This site is running the “To Code” theme right now!
HI Lan,
I have a couple of sites that I have built/am building in Atahualpa, and I like it. I couldn’t really say my skill level, because I have taught myself, and when I get into trouble most of the time I manage to work it out. This bug on Atahualpa 3.6.7 has caused me concern because I don’t want to really MESS my sites up. I looked for fixes and came upon this post.
Someone suggested that I build my newest site http://inthebloginning.com with TwentyEleven but I had already worked with Atahualpa on two other sites including my main site http://influenSPHERE.com. After trying to figure out the SIMPLE TwentyEleven for about twenty+eleven minutes, I gave up and installed Atahualpa (3.6.7, the version with the bug.)
I am interested in learning more about To Code.
Thank you,
Michele
Hi Michele,
I loved the toilet-trees! (Go to her site if you are reading this and don’t know what I am talking about!)
I have not tried 20/11 however. I and my wife would like to learn one thing and stick with that for all our sites, and run them in MultiSite and Multi Network and not have too much hassle. Think about all your sites running on one server, with one WordPress and one theme! Saves time and effort and space! (All things you pay for!)
To give you a taste, all of these sites (and more actually) are running on one server, one database, on install of WordPress, and one copy of Atahualpa modified with To Code!
http://alantait.net/ – This site!
http://newliphe.org/
http://fgbmfi.net/
http://franciskong.acts-29.net/
http://naturespharmacy.org/
Each site is completely customizable from each other.
The To Code Fork (or whatever the final name we gave it) would basically be a stable track of Atahualpa, with added features like multi sites, multi networks and all the features mentioned above… We are thinking about adding in some features from Version 3.6.4 that were removed. Likewise we have a few extra additional features that Atahualpa does not have.
Plus it would all be able to be done automatically with update on the wordpress.org site. The whole idea is to make updates easier… and let multisite work.
Right here I am testing the water to see if there is enough support to make this a viable project…
So will this be released thru WordPress? Does this meet all the WordPress theme requirements?
Yes Paul, IF there is enough response, we will release it via WordPress.org. And yes, we are now in the process of meeting ALL WordPress theme requirements.
yes, Yes, YES!!!
I’ve done programming for years and years, but I’m just now teaching myself php and not at any level yet that I can debug the changes in Atahualpa. It’s my favorite theme by far, but these last couple of “updates” have got me almost thinking of finding an older version and downgrading it.
Well Diane, it sounds like a good idea… at first brush… However, the problem of your idea is the way this theme is released. In other words, NO VERSION is complete or bug free. There is no stable track or stable branch and nothing that does NOT need the BUGFIX updates… B4A seems to think this is an advantage (perhaps for them?).
All of the versions are here, http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/atahualpa/, but not any of them are free of bugs, you still need to go to the B4A site and download the right Bugfixes and then patch your version. And be sure to apply your bugfixes in the right order too!
This is one of the reasons we are really looking at doing this… It is just becoming more work for us to always patch, than doing it ourselves!
I would certainly contribute a monthly fee because I don’t have the skills to support it in another way … am just starting the above site in WordPress Network because my job was eliminated and am too damn old to be considered for another decent one. I’ve just got “network” to appear under tools and am confused but I’ll stumble through.
I would not consider this sampling illustrative of potential support. You won’t really know until it is available on WordPress for download. How do I begin to support if you are supplying?
Well Don, I am sure I would agree. This is not in any way a illustration of how to use Atahualpa. You would have to go to their website for that. What we have here is a place to make a decision… Do we just continue to support the PATCH for Atahualpa, or do we make a public project and fork Atahualpa and see what we (the public users) can do to improve in under a community project. Writing code is only one side of the issue, testing, documentation and support are also big issues. That is why we are taking time to see if this will work…
Hi there.
My question is ‘easy’. I have been asked to update a website that uses Worpress + Atahualpa. Looking for ways to modify the look on a safe way, I came to your site. Question is: How easily would it be to adapt to your theme… Non-disruptively?
It would depend on where your code is right now… For example, if you have the latest Atahualpa, you could actually use the exact same inputs and then just start making changes to add the advanced features. As far as we know, we accept 100% of the current Atahualpa settings unmodified. The question would be where (what Atahualpa version) are you at today?
One huge problem Atahualpa users are facing is the automatic update issue. It is just not designed to do auto updates… The new theme handles that easily… Therefore the new theme will be much easier to update… That is great once we are there but if you are running an old Atahualpa and need to find a way to move forward, I would suggest putting both theme in side by side and carefully migrating from one theme to the next.
Would I be interested? Absolutely! I was just looking for some info on the comma-space problem and came across your posts about to fix it. I would love to be able to update without breaking anything and not have to deal with discrete bug fixes.
Yes, we feel exactly the same…
The theme is mature and we would like to see a more stable branch. It appears by the replies we have gotten that most people would like the same… We would also like to reapply some of the features that have been removed (and added to the paid version)… We believe this theme needs more attention to just keeping it in line with with WordPress… It still has a lot of code for Word Press 2 and WPMU for which it is not unusable. Instead of one person, Flynn, who has done a great job to get us here… In stead of just Flynn working on the code in his spare time (he is mainly working on a paid theme writer program), we should make a serious effort to have the community maintain a major project like this… But the people at Bytes4All are not interested in what the ALL are saying! IMHO.
With that list of features, I’d definitely use it. It’s always a concern (to me at least) when I have to make changes to theme code ‘cos I KNOW that – no matter how well organised I am – I will at some point overwrite them with an automatic update.
Yes, I think anyone who has wrestled with the problems you have noted would jump at the chance to install your new theme. Especially, if it is free.
Richard Harris
Waikoloa, Hawaii
Hi Richard! Thanks for the encouragement and sorry about The Delay… I am planning to release one more Easy Header Fix and then come back to back with the first TuKod Theme beta release. I plan to add most of what has been removed back into Atahualpa and make it so the one button update works as well. I will also release an easy manual patch for people who want PHP In TuKod! I believe this can be done within the WordPress.org guidelines.
I should have the first versions of this posted by new years and running on this site!
Any updates on this project ?
Hi,
I love using this theme. However, it seems as if we accidentally upgraded or ithe theme upgraded by itself. a few weeks ago we saw the site and it looked much different. Now we lost many of our links, many others got renamed, or are broken. Our google adds also moved along with the bottom of our page. This is our site GreatestCollectibles.com
Do you have any suggestions instead of renaming and fixing all of the links and pages as we have hundreds of pages.
Thanks, Gisela
Hello Gisela,
This has been an ongoing problem with this Atahualpa theme, it requires a lot of patching in regular single site mode and in multi-site or even multi-network mode Atahualpa becomes a manual only proposition. I know this because I am the admin on both multi-site and multi-network sites running this theme. Each time I must patch and patch and patch.
The New ToKod Theme is under construction… This is a fork of the Atahualpa theme that specifically to address the issues you have. I am trying to get this out by the end of March. I am hoping to address the issues just like this one and add a lot of features back in that have been removed. If you can wait, you can see if this solves you problem. In the mean time, I would suggest you manually download and load the old Atahualpa theme into a different directory. Like “Alahualpa-Old” – then switch your site to that theme and it may start working again.
Hope this helps you.
Lan
Wow. I’m so glad I stumbled onto your site before I started using that monstrous theme on more than one site in multisite installation. I can’t believe that the developers of Atahualpa have not addressed these issues and are still releasing what amounts to nothing more than a disaster–and for FREE. Nobody wants to deal with a disaster, not even a free one. I installed this theme and was preparing to use it for another site, but I noticed that the logo I’m using on one site, was showing up on the new site in my WordPress multisite installation. And when I read what I had to go through JUST to get the logo to show up independent from other sites, I realized then that this theme is trouble.
Of course, when I read Gisela’s comment and your reply, I didn’t hesitate to deactivate this theme. The developers should be ashamed of themselves, and I’m going to write to them and tell them. And they have the audacity to ask someone to PAY for their “framework” and yet they can’t even build the proper FREE theme! If their free them is any reflection of their “skills”, there is no way I’m buying their framework (I considered it, but I won’t be buying it now because their Atahualpa theme is enough for me to deal with on ONE site).
Thanks for your tutorials; they’re very informative. And I do hope you are doing well after your surgery. Good health to you and your wife 🙂
@ Elizabeth
Yes, we have had the same feelings as you. Watch for the TuKod Kids release after school gets out for our Philippine summer (March 31). So it will be available (hopefully) in April 2012!
I am a newbie and about to install Atahualapa based on what seems to be old recommendations. Thankfully I found your site. But not quite following – is ToKod available to download and run in wordpress ? Desperate to begin without having to get caught up in changing things after.
cheers
Sorry about the delay, we had to recover from the twin shake-ups at MyDomain (they took their public DNS down) and Moniker (got bought out and stopped crediting checks to our account). But things are getting back to normal and we hope to have a beta out first week of August without docs, the docs we hope to have ready mid August, The beta will only be available at tukod.com
Not sure if my previous email actually went anywhere …
I am a newbie and was about to use the Atahualapa theme in wordpress when I found your site. Is the ToKod theme available NOW ? Cant quite make that out. I am anxious to begin and am afraid of getting caught up in patches and rebuilds now !
cheers
Sorry about mu delayed reply, because of the twin shake ups at MyDomain and Moniker, we have been very busy with 24,000+ site record changes. We are shooting for a release of mid August. A Beta should be released earlier on Tukod.com – but without full docs.