Hello,
I'm a newbie to WP and Atahualpa, and I want to set up my Atahualpa theme correctly before I start to customize it.

Assuming I want to make a number of customizations to the theme, should I create a child theme so Atahualpa will update with my changes correctly for future updates? If so how? (send me a link to instructions if possible, please)

What's the best way to prevent problems with future updates to the theme?

Thanks!
-Gary

all the atahualpa 'options' are stored in the database so they carry forth over theme upgrades, no need to create child theme, you shouldn't have to update the code.

"No need to create a child theme" is an arrogant statement. Or just incomptetence.

I use child themes of Atahualpa. I need to, especially after php functions had to be removed from theme options.

The main problem is that all the fuctions ion functions.php lack the condition function_exsits. If I then create my own functions.php trying to override tha atahualpa functions it will fail.

Overriding theme files like index.php works.

"No need to create a child theme" is an arrogant statement. Or just incomptetence.

for all my experience with the theme I have yet to use a child theme with it.

Can you create a child theme - yes (I've created one for testing)
Do I think you need to - no
Might there be a case where it is needed - absolutely.

You need child themes with most themes because they are not as flexable as Atahualpa. I see it as one of the reasons that most people like Atahualpa.

The lack of child theme support is the reason I don't use Atahualpa for customized sites. Instead I use Suffusion.

I have also stopped regularly updating my Atahualpa themes because of all the manual steps involved (the header images and icons disappear).

I would really appreciate better child theme support, but there doesn't seem to be any interested in it. To bad.

Faffe, I don't understand why you say there is no child theme support. You can create a child theme with Atahualpa.

The reason that header images were in the theme folders was a WORDPRESS THEME REQUIREMENT (a bad one in my mind) prior to WP 3.x. Same holds true for the removal of PHP in the theme options, it became a Wordpress theme REQUIREMENT (a poor one in my mind, but I don't make the requirements).

With the new ability for themes to use files in the media library, I'm hoping that the theme will be updated to use it. Never the less, you always have had the option to replace the %image with a new widget area, put a widget like 'Dynamic Images' in the header and your issue with header images is fixed.

One example is when you need to change the loop. In the Atahualpa Options I find this statement:

To edit the loop or to add custom code before/after the loop, manually edit index.php.

You should never edit a theme file that you haven't written yourself, because it will be overwritten by an update of the theme. Create a child theme.

There may be many good reasons to want to modify the loop, above the loop or after the loop. This was the reason for earlier versions of Atahualpa to include custom PHP as part of the theme options, to do this. An example is to add support for special treatment of custom content types, the post format taxonomy or custom taxonomies.

Atahualpa may be flexible, more flexible then most themes, but not endlessly flexible. And there are things that Atahualpa just doesn't support, or let you handle flexibly.

Hmmm... there doesn't seem to be a consensus here...

If I do a child theme, is there any potential down side to it? Will it be more challenging to customize?

Can anyone direct me to a link of the best way to set up a child theme to Atahualpa?

Thanks
-Gary

I feel creating a child theme will add complexity you don't need. It is true that you MAY need to move some image files into the new install of Atahualpa should you decide to upgrade but that has never been much of an issue for me.

I think you just needed an upgrade. I did not have to create a child theme, seems to be working with me

See http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
You just need a style.css to start with. Put it in a separate folder in the themes folder.
You may then copy over other files from atahualpa, like index.php and start modifying the loop. In this case WordPress will ignore those original files.

Because the original functions.php functions are not inside function_exists() checks, you will have trouble redefining those functions. By not using function_exists in it's functions.php file Atahualpa does not actively "support" changing the functions through a child theme.

Hello Juggledad ,
I really have no clue on what to do for letting the a-child installation override the instructions to use the images which I want, instead of those given by default and switching back on each new updating of Atahualpa theme.

Of course I' ve placed the desired images in a folder's path as they are set in the Atahualps suite and set them via FTP on website:
Path: /www/nwpb/wp-content/themes/a-child/images/header/

Can anyone help by telling me what to do to let my a-child installation use them instead of those contained in the updating files?

The information given to use the workaround are not clear to me either on howto implement that and also I have not located in the options the instructions to follow to use

Originally Posted by juggledad

With the new ability for themes to use files in the media library, I'm hoping that the theme will be updated to use it. Never the less, you always have had the option to replace the %image with a new widget area, put a widget like 'Dynamic Images' in the header and your issue with header images is fixed.

... where are these details described?
I presently run wp version 3.4.2 with Atahualpa Version: 3.7.10

where are these details described?

precisely what details are you talking about?

I kept searching fixes to my issues and therefore my previous post is now obsolete.
Thanks anyhow for having read me so far :-)

I am currently using this template...made a donation so I could remove the footer credit. (sorry I know it deserves all the credit it can get) But when the theme went through an update cycle, the original credit came back. So without a child-theme, how do you keep your changes from reverting to the original settings, such as the footer credit?

Unfortunately any theme file modifications such as the footer credit will have to be redone if you update the theme.

Originally Posted by Blob

I really have no clue on what to do for letting the a-child installation override the instructions to use the images which I want, instead of those given by default and switching back on each new updating of Atahualpa theme.

One reason that atahualpa cannot find the mu's upload directory because "if ( file_exists(ABSPATH."/wpmu-settings.php") )" always return FALSE due to wump-settings.php no longer can be found in after wordpress 3. In such case, to use the image in the child theme directory, you need to copy the bfa_header_config.php from atahualpa function's directory to your child theme directory, modify it, and rename the function name to another name, include the new_bfa_header_config.php in your child them's function.php, then call the new function from your header.php. Or simple enough, create a 'phantom' wpmu-setting.php under wp's directory.

The reason Atahualpa was so popular because back the time wp and wpmu are two differ software, ata support both wps don't, however, today's WP is more flexible then ever, create a child theme would only make it robuster and not complicate at all. Lacking of support child time, there are more and more themes will be more flexible then atahualpa. You may check the download statistic from wordpress, the ata download times drop gradually.

Hello joahnM,

As posted herein on Dec 11, 2012 10:42 AM, I'd like to point out that I have withdrawn myself from this issue as it is getting rather scope-less.

My point of view is that Atahualpa should comply to easy the child usage by simply changing the path of the images into a non erasable area of WordPress.
Please check my post in the WordPress blog:

The easiest way to get the images back after each updatng is to edit the file: "bfa_rotating_header_images()" in this way: " ...
################### images in /images/header/ (on regular WordPress)

$files = "";
$imgpath = get_template_directory() . '/child_images/';
$imgdir = $templateURI . '/child_images/';
$dh = opendir($imgpath);
..."

Or adding a feature to edit the following path in the Atahualpa Theme Options:

Header Images

All header images are located in /wp/wp-content/themes/atahualpa/images/header/. All images in that directory will be rotated. If you don't want rotating header images, leave only one image in that directory.