The plugin generated 327 characters of unexpected output during activation. If you notice “headers already sent” messages, problems with syndication feeds or other issues, try deactivating or removing this plugin.

I can’t seem to find anyone else who has had this problem with this plugin. And while I haven’t had any headers already sent messages or other issues, it concerns me and makes me curious to sort out what it means. In all my years of WordPress this is not an error message I have ever seen. What makes a plugin generate unexpected output on activation? What happens to this unexpected output?

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.

This snazzy New Orlean’s, fleur-de-lis royalty inspired background comes from the pattern editor at PatternCooler, which is one of the coolest resources for background patterns I have found.

Keep an eye on the site for more cool backgrounds from PatternCooler and other resources. I like changing outfits

Thus I apologize for the state of things here- my re-do is incomplete but I have been out meeting so many new people here in my new home of New Orleans that I really need to have *something* up here. Within the week, my portfolio and informational pages will be complete. In the meantime, feel free to email me for more portfolio links and information about my services.