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Happiness Engineer at Automattic, lover of knitting, crochet, sci-fi and more

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Reset the Thesis 2.0 Classic skin

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Update 29 Oct 2012: Thesis 2.0.1 includes a more extensive skin manager (located via the Manager tab in the Skin Editor), which allows you to backup skin states and reset a skin to its default settings, so you shouldn’t need the below instructions. They should still work if you follow them though.

Hey, so you’ve just installed Thesis 2.0 and you’re trying to figure out what is going on and completely messed up the classic skin? You’re not alone!

This is my recommendation for resetting the classic skin to its default. DIYthemes might release an official method soon, but until then, this should work if your skin files are still in tact.

  1. Switch to the Thesis Blank skin
  2. find custom.php in wp-content/thesis/skins/thesis-blank/ (you will need FTP, or your host’s file editor for this) and insert the following code: 
    delete_option( 'thesis_classic_css_custom' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_css' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_vars' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_snippets' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_packages' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_templates' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_boxes' );
update_option( 'thesis_raw_css','' );
  3. Reload your home page (it should be blank unless you’ve played with adding HTML to the blank skin)
  4. Reactivate the Thesis Classic skin
  5. Save and Compile CSS in the skin editor
  6. Delete the code from step 2.

This deletes the classic skin related data from the database, so that when you reactivate the Classic Skin it loads its defaults back into the database.

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Comments

  1. You say:

    “find custom.php in wp-content/thesis/skins/thesis-blank/ (you will need FTP, or your host’s file editor for this) and insert the following code:”

    In my thesis 2 there is nothing skins folder. all I have is: /lib/skins/thesis-blank/skin.php

    Are you working with the beta version by any chance? The download version doesn’t work at all on my machine.

  3. Jay — Have you followed others’ instructions to replace the skin folder before? If so that probably would have lost you some files.
    I just did installed 2.0 on a site that hasn’t had any Thesis 2.0 alphas on it and the skin folders both have custom.php. Still if you don’t have it, it should work to just create it. You will need to add <?php before the code I gave if you’re making a new file.

  4. Kristen, thanks so much for this tut! Works like a charm. Now, I can play around with new version, however it’s still NEW animal for me! But, it’s better than yesterday’s mess.
    @Jay: I tried this above guide going throu –> wp-content/thesis/lib/skins/thesis-blank/skin.php. Open the skip.php via FTP and put the above code and proceed further.

    Make sure you empty the catch and restart your system. Hope this helps!

  6. Hi

    Thanks Kiristen for this.

    This is not fun, I just made the mistake (typed too fast) to add “&” in a custom “packages/single element styles” reference input box, and lost** all the standard “packages” and kill all CSS functioning. No CSS rendering on the site.

    ( lost** : the “packages” section just disappeared. I could add/create a new “single element styles” package, but the button was not clickable) Btw, I tried (ftp) to find the culprit and eliminate it, no luck.)

    This is way too fragile to do anything without being afraid to loose all modifications done before.

    Pierre

  7. Hey Kristarella!

    Thanks – awesome help! This was easy and helps immediately.

    Cheers from rainy Hamburg!
    Keno

  8. Pierre — That sounds awful, but I can’t replicate it. To test I went into the Classic skin, I changed the default links colour from the $links variable to &links. The only thing that happened was that my links were the default browser blue. I was able to go back in and fix it without issue.

  10. Nice Kristen!
    I got some time down from tending to my Dad early AM last night and I finally started watching Ricks vids and got a 2 Column Layout with a widgeted fat footer in place really easily.

    The Fun started when I attempted to make the Footer and Header Full Width and I ended up wonking up something pretty good and could not get it changed back.

    This has worked well thank you. \

    Cam : )

  13. Isn’t a simpler solution at installation to suggest to create a clean copy of the classic skin save it as classic_test or classic_sanbox, download it and upload it and work in the sandbox only. Then you’ll be able to switch or do it less cumbersome. I for instance deleted the 2.0 installation several times already.

  14. Kristarella,
    since you saw nothing in the debug file, I took to trying a demo site with a virgin MySQL DB, WP install, and Thesis 2 install. With those factors, the results are evident at http://scoop0901.net/wpTheme-test/.

    The actual site, http://blog.scoop0901.net/, is still blank — no matter what I do.

    I’ve uninstalled the theme from the install directory; followed the instructions above, sought all Thesis 2 refs in the MySQL DB and deleted them, reinstalled Thesis 2, made the changed to the /wp-content/themes/thesis/lib/skins/thesis-blank/skin.php file, then activated Thesis 2, followed the instructions above, and the site remains blank. All plugins were deactivated, so it’s not a plugin conflict.

  15. Maybe it is better to duplicate the skin, but changing the folder name probably isn’t enough you need to change the main class name and details in the skin as well. Also it won’t help people that have already mucked up their classic skin. In terms of simplicity, I think the two approached are actually much of a muchness (you still need to edit some PHP files to duplicate the classic skin).

  16. Any idea what happens is I install Thesis 2 into the directory with Thesis 1.85? I have always installed every theme and version update to its own dir, never dumping it on the old one, but copying to the new dir any needed files.

    • Dave — As far as I know it should be fine. It acts as a totally separate theme. I’ve did that in a test multisite install: one new site on 2.0, others on 1.8.5, one upgraded from 1.8.5 to 2.0. It’s all fine.

  17. Dave,

    Although it makes no difference whether you install in the same folder as your old version, some files may be over written and so if you decide to revert back to thesis 1.85, it might not work.

    This being so, Themes are themes and they should work as they should provided you have followed the installation instructions correctly. Thesis 2 installation is different from other themes so you better do some research on it.

    Thesis 2.0 has a steep learning curve and so I would keep both versions on the system.

    My 2p worth here!

  18. Hi

    I’m not trying to contradict Kristen in this (milage can varies) depending of “outside” Thesis configurations. In my experience with WP (just 4 years), I’v never had any problems “in any kind”. I just upload a folder located on my computer (via ftp) to my online WP /themes/ folder, enable it, BANG, that’s it. (my Host is BlueHost).

    I’v install T2 on pre-cloned test site ( Thesis 1.6 to 1.8 sites, updated them to current), sure I blew momentary 2 of them, in my torture chamber, but I use Kristen trick here to get them free from DataBase corruption, and was good to go in a few minutes. I’m sure next week, T2 will be more stable.

    My 2 ¢

    Pierre

    Pierre

  19. Beautiful! Worked perfectly to reset my pages in the Classic Skin. Now I can re-screw it up as I experiment and try to figure this out! Fun!!

  20. Hi

    Yep Rick, like I say “Full le Fun”.
    Then I wonder how this can “clean up the DB”. See, on one test site, it’s the third time I use Kristen trick on it, and it seem the site is getting corrupted more and more and more. So … I’m going to take a break with this T2v1 release for a while.

    Pierre

    • Pierre — if you want to send through an export of the options table that seems to be getting more corrupted I can take a look to see if I’ve missed something, but as far as the Classic skin goes, I’m pretty sure this deletes all related options, so the issue shouldn’t be on at end.

  21. @postrophe

    Have you tried installing on a completely new WP setup on your test machine? Just wondering if there is something wrong with the setup of your host.

    I have got Apache, MySql, PHP and WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal installed on my Windows 7 and I always try things out on my own machine before rolling anything out.

  22. Hi

    “I’m pretty sure this deletes all related options”
    Kisten, that’s what it thought. I never test anything in vanilla sites, only on pre clone sites ( with a variant of divers contents/plugins ). Amazing to see a 4 years old cForm working #1 on T2, without any kind of update.
    @Jay, dont worry about me, I was an accredited tester with Adobe and many other Pro softwares/or major Pro plugins since almost 30 years. I dont test Web stuff on localhost.

    That said, Kristen, I think DIY coderz need a few days break too, and compile the latest data. Digging in DB is not something my gig. ( I’m just a creative director dealing with input/output intelligence – whatever the medium ).
    I’m having some interesting conversation with my younger brother lately (he his a software director architect for a top ten private business in North America – Lol, he his managing a thousand coderZ out of his sailboat from somewhere).

    I’m positive that soon the T2 v1.1 will fix a few urgent things, so, .. I wont waist my energy to “fake fix” core flaws in T2. (T2 css is a mess).

    I had my apprehension about the “compiling” CSS engine (internal/external). Kinda a complicate thing to do even on localhost with “terminal” actions/commands.

    Pierre

  23. “@Jay, dont worry about me, I was an accredited tester with Adobe and many other Pro softwares/or major Pro plugins since almost 30 years. I dont test Web stuff on localhost.”

    Well in that you can recommend somephp books for a newbie like me. I am considering buying these but please recommend what is the starting point for somebody like me:

    <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/pro.....;>Robin Nixon’s PHP Crash Course [Paperback]</a>
    <br>
    <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/pro.....t;Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites [Paperback]
    </a>

    Thanks.

  25. Kristarella, my classic skin has been reset so many times, that I can testify your solution works. But what do I do when I like my html revisions and only want to reset the css?

    Thanks!

  26. Murray — To only reset CSS related stuff use:

    delete_option( 'thesis_classic_css_custom' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_css' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_vars' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_snippets' );
delete_option( 'thesis_classic_packages' );
update_option( 'thesis_raw_css','' );

    Boxes & templates are the HTML related ones, these others are the CSS related ones (although you probably won’t have any snippets because that was removed in one of the alphas, the code being there won’t do any harm).

  27. Hi Kristarella

    I am a TOTAL newbie so struggeled to find the file, then I did and replaced what is there with the above… it did not work… was I supposed to insert these lines between something else?

    Please could you tell me what this file should say (totally).

    Must appreciated.

    Steve

    • Steve — you needed to put the code at the end of the file it needs the <?php that was at the start of the file. If you put that at the very start if the file it should be fine.
      (On my mobile phone right now, so can’t really type the whole thing out.)

  29. Thanks Kristarella

    I un-installed wordpress then did a clean install and uploaded Thesis again. But at least now I know how to do it again if I need it.

    You are doing a fantastic job helping everyone, I hope people appreciate it, I know I do.

    Regards
    Steve

  30. Hi Kristarella — thanks for all the help you provide regarding Thesis. Before I completely muck something up, have you figured out how to “port” PHP code from custom_functions.php into the Thesis 2.0 framework?

    I read a post on DIYThemes where Chris Pearson replied that most people shouldn’t need custom_functions.php anymore (he was suggesting you can reproduce most things using T2’s drag-and-drop functionality), however we built a bunch of custom PHP code to access other databases, etc. that I really need to (somehow) keep alive. Thanks in advance for any advice!

    Cheers, Chris

  31. Hi @Chris

    As Rich explained, and I did so, you can in the /thesis/ root folder create a /custom/ folder and create a “custom_functions.php” file in it. T2 as been programmed to look and use that file.

    That said I use it mostly for global WP php snippets since T2 “Hooks” use different naming convention on some elements. Then, there are “custom.php” and “master.php” for Skin related PHP snippets.

    Pierre

  32. Thesis 2.0 make me thinking I am in space and have all the world in front of me but too far away lol

    Thanks for help I just mess with all and put it back.

    Christian

  35. Thanks Kristarella for this wonderful Post.
    It really saved my day 🙂
    I also would require some help on W3C Markup Validation… Is it possible for you to help me in it?

    Thanks again,
    Michael

  39. Thanks so much for the above! Very effective solution to a confusing problem 🙂 Surprised they haven’t added this work-around to the User’s Guide as I still had this issue on versions T2.0.1 / T2.0.2 – Cheers, Stu

  42. Hi,

    I installed version 2.0 and then updated to version 2.0.1, problem is the even though I rename thesis it keeps creating a folder above the themes folder which I found weird. is there any reason thesis create that folder or can i delete it.

    • Joel — do not delete that folder! It is where skins, boxes and packages are stored. It is essential (and although not very common there are multiple other plugins and stuff that store files in wp-content, it’s not completely unusual).

  45. Sorry if this is a bit off topic… I know you know your stuff and I just popped on to this page.

    Where can I find instruction on completely backing up my Thesis 2.0 WordPress blog?
    Would I need to back up the skin, and also a database of some sort (my posts, side bar, etc).

    Thanks K… You rock!

  50. Yes, this is only for Thesis 2. Thesis 1.8.5 (and I can’t remember how many versions before that) have a Manager item in the Thesis dashboard menu that allows you to backup, upload and reset options.