Fixing problems in theTemplatic WordPress Theme “Video”

Templatic makes some great looking themes. A client of mine chose their free theme “Video” for his graphics and video portfolio, based on the theme demo.

After uploading it, he kept getting Permission Denied errors when trying to update the Theme Options. After some poking around I found that in the theme’s /functions/admin-settings.php file, “777″ permissions are required when uploading a new logo or other items to customize the theme. I also found that the theme was looking for the directory /wp-contents/ instead of /wp-content/ in about five places in the same file- both issues starting at line 31. Since I don’t allow ’777′ permissions on my web server, and no file named /wp-contents/ exist, I just popped it open, removed the offending ‘s’ in wp-contents, and changed the required file permissions to something more secure.

This doesn’t sort out the problem of deciphering the complex use of sidebar widgets and over ten separate sidebars in unconventional areas of the theme to accomplish the cool look, but it’s a start. I like the look of the theme and I understand what Templatic was trying to accomplish…but it seems a convoluted way to display content that avoids using some of WordPress’ best content handling features.

I’ll try and reproduce the errors and create a more detailed post with my ‘fix’, as a quick google of the error messages returned many sites struggling with it, and if there is time, more about the sidebar configuration.