As I’ve mentioned before, I’m experimenting with the functionality and visual aesthetics that have been made available through the hard work of Justin Tadlock and other developers via the hybrid framework. My first challenge was to get the child theme called “structure” to work within the framework; after that, to dig into the tutorials and ask for help.

I joined as a “free” member just to poke around and see what was available; but as time wore on it became clear to me that I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish what I needed to without being a “theme club member”. So, I went ahead and spend the twenty-five bucks for a year. It seemed worth a lot more if you consider the wealth of knowledge share they’re building there. That, not to mention the incredibly fast help in what have been described as ‘highly secretive’ forums. [quote]

Hybrid affords opportunities for developers to land freelance work in those forums. They troubleshoot; they share ideas; they offer newly developed child themes. This is old-fashioned R&D, just like in the pharmaceutical industry and elsewhere – which costs money. As a result of the work they’ve done thus far, there are several free plug-and-play themes that are available to go along with hybrid; to my way of thinking that’s a BIG deal!! It’s also an incredible value when you look at the pricey wordpress clubs for themes that are out there.

But I suppose it depends on what you’re looking to accomplish. I am not only looking for lightweight pages and Search Engine Optimization; I’m looking for something that I can learn about so I can tweak and maintain it myself. This is a tall order when you consider I’m not a developer.

You can’t really put a value on the opportunity for educating yourself like this and Justin has made it incredibly affordable.

The Problem

Yesterday, I faced the challenge that I’ve created for myself in the past: install a theme, activate it, turn around and find myself with a blank page…and then, to my horror, try to log into the admin panel and find I can’t access the admin. In the forums, someone had mentioned that activating a theme shouldn’t be a problem; I can just go into the database and re-set it to the default settings to get back in.

I hadn’t made up my mind between “Structure” And “Hybrid-News”, so I had uploaded them both. In retrospect, that was probably a big mistake because none of them even showed up in a preview if you clicked on it from the admin panel.

Finding The Solution

Justin had encouraged me to go ahead and activate the “Structure” theme so that they could see what was going wrong. I did; and it went into never-never-land: MONDO BIG WHITE SPACE! In the past, I had hired a developer to get the site back online, but someone in the forum offered a suggestion that is worth its weight in gold to me: go into the database and re-set to the default settings. No big deal! THAT was what enabled me to get the site back online within mere minutes.

Although I’m not an advanced programmer or developer, I am stubborn and wasn’t willing to let the coding or the glitches in the coding get the better of me. I found the solution and the specifics at the wordpress forums; enough specifics to enable me to get back in.

White page = errors. So, find your error logs and see what’s causing it. likely you’ll have to go into the database, find wp_1_options and reset the theme and stylesheet fields to default to be able to get back in.

Check the theme’s installation instructions. you may need to have certain plugins activated to use it.

Success!

After having frustrated myself and a bunch of people in the forums yesterday (and ticking Justin off), I decided to just leave it where it was after I’d been able to restore the site.

This morning, with a cup of coffee and a refreshed attitude, I re-installed hybrid; took down hybrid-news; re-installed the hybrid child theme called “Structure”; checked the preview in the admin – and it worked.

Voila, here we are, it’s activated and working like a charm. Beautimus.

Now I am going to put on my adventurer’s hat and go exploring the possibilities.

Many thanks to Justin and the wonderful people in the Hybrid Theme Club and the forums for all of their patience with me.

I am proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. I am also proof that someone with very little technical ability can use the brilliant Hybrid framework. Cheers, and happy blogging!

I have to get to work and study up on the archives and categories pages because they’re not displaying automatically when “structure” is live- so you will continue to see me going back and forth. Bear with me as I continue learning, ‘kay?