What's in a Theme?
Unfortunately, I am being serious.
What is in a theme? We don't even know and it is so difficult to know the good one's from the bad. I am not just talking about appearance but in how they function and reliability.
For the past month, I was using a theme called Indie and upgraded to Indie Pro. Things were going along brilliantly, in fact, I was not even concerned that I had nothing of interest to blog about here at WA.
However, because of the Indie Pro theme by Template Express everything changed.
First, on my Disability site last month I ended up with my site being hacked. The problem was with the theme, but the theme producers refused to believe that it was possible for their creation to get hacked.
Hacking of themes, apparently is unheard of and it never happens! Well, I can say from experience that it does happen. I changed my theme and life went back to normal.
Having completed the Certification Course a few weeks back, I have been working on my new site to promote WA by studying in Bootcamp.
I NEED MY HEAD EXAMINING
You would have thought that I would have learned a lesson after what happened with my previous site, but no.
I used Indie Pro for my new site :(.
LAST NIGHT
Things have been going fine with the theme until last night. Read what happened in my blog from last night. https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/2laurent4/blog/not...
THE NIGHTMARE
The nightmare of my disappearing website was due to the Indie Pro theme. It somehow made my site vanish into cyberspace and locked me out. I could not login or see my site on any device that I looked on.
I did all the usual things of clearing browser cache and looking on other devices. I could not reload a backup because I had this set to weekly and it was not due to backup my site until Sunday.
Of course, panic set in and I did shed a few tears :(.
BACK TO NORMAL
Luckily we have an awesome technical support team who can work miracles when things go wrong. My knights in shining armour came to my rescue and now everything is back to normal.
MORAL OF THIS LONG STORY
Be careful which themes you use and as I said there is no way of knowing which are good and which should not be touched with a barge pole.
Backup your site on a daily basis, not weekly as you never know when disaster can strike.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/2laurent4/blog/wha...
Stay safe and learn from my bad experiences.
UPDATE
Following a brilliant idea from TanjaRita I have looked at how Wordpress deem themes to be safe.
Here is the link: https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/review/
Recent Comments
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It was certainly no joke at all getting hacked, my site was hacked last month, but it is ok now, so I can relate to how you felt, quite scary, Lis. ;(
Thank you, Jewel, and I am glad that you managed to restore your site after having it hacked.
I cannot understand what motivates people, who obviously have a talent, to use it in such a hurtful way! :(
Another problem is with plug ins. They may respond okay on one site and they work differently for me on another site with different themes. I thought I would follow the other sites with same plug ins I used on first site. Took awhile to sort and adjust. Was not the quick step I thought
Yes, plugins can also cause you nightmares. I think of them as use with caution and only if needed.
Definitely avoid it like the plague. It has too many bugs and problems plus it can make your life a real misery when things go wrong.
All the best.
It has been a nightmare and learning curve. One that I do not want to repeat. I much prefer having things run smoothly :).
I am glad that you found it helpful.
All the best.
I had inadvertently deleted my whole website a while ago. There was no come-back---60 hours shot and many tears shed ;)
I am so sorry to hear your devastating news. It is so heartbreaking to lose everything that you have worked so hard on like that.
I am also glad that you have not given up altogether.
I learned a lot from last night's experience and I am sure that you did as well during your nightmare experience. Lessons that it would be nicer not to learn the hard way.
Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes.
Lis.
The internet...blessing and curse at the same time. But everything is good when we have a happy ending. Thanks for sharing
You're welcome.
I also agree that all technology can be a blessing and a curse, but somehow we are not able to live without it in modern times.
Wow, I had no idea that some of these issues could be theme related. Did you pay for Indie Pro? If you did they should be reimbursing you.
Is there a theme review website out there anywhere? If not, maybe it could be your next niche ;)
I did pay for the Indie Pro theme, but it was only $19 so I am not too bothered about a refund.
Thank you also for the idea of a theme review site, I will look into that. It would be very helpful to everyone here.
Blessings.
Lis.
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Wow! I had no idea this could happen! Thanks, Lis, so much for this valuable info. So sorry you went through that. And that's the beauty of WA -- that we can share our good and bad experiences to help others. My mother's advice from her mother: "A bought lesson is a learned lesson." ~ Robbie
Hi Robbie,
Yes, it was bad times and I learned a lot of things the hard way. However, if I can prevent just one person from going through this experience with a theme then it was all worthwhile.
Your mother also sounds like a very wise woman and I totally agree with her :)
Lis.
Thanks, Lis. You are so right -- on both counts! :)