Getting dashboard functionality into my new theme

  • I’m developing my first WordPress Theme on a local server. It is a child of 2014. My home page is basically up and running which was created using an html template I built from scratch. The header, footer, sidebar and index file and stylesheet (also some JS running a slideshow) are put together properly and functioning. There is also a custom menu I want to keep intact.

    As my theme is bare bones at the moment and the content is still in html I no longer have the dashboard options such as Menu and Widgets under Appearance which were supported in 2014. I’m not sure how to continue at this point, whether I should start digging into the PHP and functions, look for plugins, or write my own Theme Options page.

    Here’s the code for header and my index page to give you a visual idea of what I’m trying to say. Feedback, advice, directions are welcome.
    Thank you.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" <?php language_attributes(); ?>
<!--[if IE 7]>
<html class="ie ie7" <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>
<html class="ie ie8" <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<![endif]-->Ge
<!--[if !(IE 7) | !(IE 8) ]><!-->
<html <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<!--<![endif]-->
<head>
 <meta charset="<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>">
 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
 <title>Echoes from Calvary<?php wp_title( '|', true, 'right' ); ?></title>
 <link title="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?> RSS Feed" href="<?php bloginfo('rss2_url'); ?>" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" /><link href="<?php bloginfo('pingback_url'); ?>" rel="pingback" />
 <!--?php bloginfo('name'); ?--> <!--?php wp_title('-') ?-->

 <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_uri'); ?> "type=text/css" />

 <link rel="profile" href="https://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
 <link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo( 'pingback_url' ); ?>">
 <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" />
 <!--[if lt IE 9]>
 <script src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/js/html5.js"></script>
 <![endif]-->

 <?php wp_head(); ?>

</head>
<body>
   <header class="top">
   <div class="logo">
   <h1 class="ir">
    <span></span>
   </h1>
   </div><!-- .logo -->
   </header>	

   <article class="primary_menu">
    <nav class="menu center" aria-haspopup="true" aria-controls="p2"><!--<img src="responsive-single/submenu.gif" alt="">-->
   <ul id="p2">
    <li class="current"><a href="index.html">Welcome</a><b></b>
    <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Care</a><b></b>
    <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Connect</a><b></b>
    <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Outreach</a><b></b>
    <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Media</a><b></b>
    <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Times + Location</a><b></b>
   <li  aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Calendar</a><b></b>
   <li aria-haspopup="false"><a href="index.html">Give</a><b></b>

  </nav>
 </article>
    <?php get_header(); ?>
<div class="content">

   <section id="slideshow">
	<!--	slideshow -->
    <div class="slideshow">
		<img alt="Liberate 2014" src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/images/liberate_2014.png" width="960" height="439" />
		<img alt="Declare your faith" src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/images/declare_1.jpg" width="950" height="443" />
		<img alt="Not a member yet?" src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/images/not_member.jpg" width="960" height="443" />
	</div>

    <header class="contact_info">
	   <div class="info">
		<ul>
			<li>Text</li>
			<li>Text</li>
			<li>Text</li>
			<li>Text</li>
		</ul>
	   </div>
     </header>
   </section><!-- slideshow -->      

</div>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php wp_footer();
<?php get_footer(); ?>

<!-- JS -->

<script src="js/main.js"></script>
Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    What happened to the “Active” WordPress community I read about on the WordPress website?

    Does your child theme have a functions.php? Most of your dashboard options come from functions such as add_theme_support(), register_nav_menus() and register_sidebar() that are usually called in that file.

    Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    It is a child of 2014, so the functions.php file is in the twentyfourteen folder. I’ll have to check and see if it is being called from ?. Would that be called from the header.php file?

    Good point though. I’ll have to see if I can find it being called. I suppose I can just go into the twentyfourteen index.php or header.php and find the call code – right?

    The parent theme’s functions.php should be loaded automatically, so I’m a bit confused about what’s going wrong. If you switch to the Twenty Fourteen theme, do you have the Dashboard options?

    Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    Yes, when I switch back to twentyfourteen I have all of the options.

    I’ll go back and retrace my steps to see if I can give you the most accurate picture of how I can to where I am at this point.

    Better yet, would it be helpful to you if I upload it to my host server and you could take a look? I could even provide you with a username and password so you could get to the dashboard and access to the admin and folders and files.

    Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    I’ll go ahead and do that and post the link to it. If you could give me an email address I’ll send you a username and password in an encrypted email. I’ll be back with the link in a jiffy.

    Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    Well, I just don’t know. I uploaded my theme files into another instance of WordPress I had on my host server. Now I have all the options in the dash that 2014 has like I should. My slideshow is broken, but that’s another issue.

    I should have known, I’ve had other problems with WP acting differently on my host server than on my local server (Apache 2.2).

    You’re welcome to visit the site here: BSWD

    If you want to login to the admin let me know and I’ll give you the keys and you can take her for a spin.

    It’s great that everything’s working correctly now (except for the slideshow). I was checking around your site (at 4:56 PM, Mountain time) and I was getting a lot of 500 errors. Do you have access to the server’s logs?

    Thread Starter sonofadoc

    (@sonofadoc)

    Sure, you can access: here

    Of course the links on the navbar aren’t hooked up yet, but still we shouldn’t be getting 500 errors I don’t think.

    It looks like all the errors have to do with Jetpack and my dropbox backup.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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