Theme Test Drive Wordpress plugin allows you to safely test drive any theme on your blog as administrator, while visitors still use the default one. It happens completely transparently and they will not even notice you run a different theme for yourself. Best part is you can even set the testing theme options (if it has them) in the Admin panel while you are testing the theme.
Since version 2.0 Theme Test Drive features instant theme preview using a website thumbnail service.
You can also preview any theme by adding "?theme=xxx" to your blog URL. For example http://www.myblog.com/?theme=Default (theme name is case-sensitive!)
For all questions about the plugin please visit my WordPress forums.
Download
Installation & Usage
- Upload the plugin folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
- Go to the Plugins page and activate the plugin.
- Use the Options page to set the theme you want to test drive.
The selected theme will be visible only to blog administrator. Other visitors of the site will always see the default theme.
Note: if you use WP-Cache plugin, you might need to disable it (or setup to exclude pages)
Changelog
v2.6: Added user access level
v2.0:
- Instant theme preview using a live thumbnail preview
- Added "?theme=xxx" to your URL's to preview the desired theme. Example http://www.myblog.com/?theme=Default
Nov 29th, 2007 v1.0
* Initial release
Visit my other interesting WordPress Plugins or my WordPress theme Amazing Grace.
If you are looking for WordPress consulting services feel free to contact me
Hi! My name is Vladimir Prelovac. I am a computer engineer by profession and an adventurer by state of mind.
223 Comments
The Wordpress Development Team at Xieno has acquired a growth along with the growth of Wordpress itself. Our team is capable of providing almost any kind of solution, possible, in Wordpress. Despite of its powerful Bloging opportunity our Wordpress portfolio is consist of eCommerce Solutions, Photo Gallery, Social Networking, Link Directory, CMS enabled Informative Portal etc. Our team members are so efficient and quick, that can deliver any of such solutions in an unexpected short span of time and with an extra edge quality.
I have found this plugin to be virtually indispensable for theme development, included this plugin in my article
I am using Wordpress 2.8.6. When I try to activate the plugin, I get the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function wp_get_current_user()
Any idea how I can fix this? Is the plugin not compatible with 2.8.6? Thanks!
I am using it on my 2.8.6 installation so that should not be a the problem
Thanks for your efforts..
just wanted to check - this plugin will allow me to basically build another theme with all relevant content, photo's links etc on my existing domain name/site; and then once ready activate it and cancel the older/current theme? I'm really looking to swop my themes, but to keep the settings/content similar.
Thank you for any suggestions
I had the same problem as Sonia. Any ideas as to how to fix this?
It would be cool, if the theme could be selected from within the admin area, so that the URL would not need to be funky. That way, one could pick specific themes for posts or pages. I would very much like to be able to do that...suggestions?
Best,
Dainis
I have tried to install the Theme Test Drive and the moment I did activate it I lost access to all the sections of my wp-admin, the message was (by clicking any of the sections the same: you do not have permission to access this page) the only way back was to go to FTP and simply delete the plugin from the plugins folder.
Any ideas how can I solve this, it will be so handy to use such a tool to implement a new theme to my running blog !
I have the latest version of Wordpress installed.
Many thanks !
Hi Vladimir,
Great Plug-in. Have a theme from Ithemes(Flexx) and when I view the page and look under attributes... I see Parent, Order. With the theme from Flexx there are additions to this box which include Template ie in the Attributes box when I turn off your plug-in I see Parent, Template, Order. With your plug-in, the Template function does not appear.
... otherwise I can globally change the page templates rather than specific page templates which this theme allows in the Attributes box.
Look forward to your advice.
Ed
I am afraid I did not understand your question
I have the 2.0 version of wordpress and I downloaded the amazing grace blue theme, I can see the banner
but I cant get any content uploaded to my blog, is the version unable to handle the 3.1 theme? What am I doing wrong?
Version 2.7.4, downloaded from the WordPress site
WordPress 2.8.4
Using ...?theme=xxx works, but I haven't found an "option" in the plugin admin area to select a test theme.
Hi thanks for this cool plug-in -- however: for newest version 2.7.3, I keep getting these types of errors when I try to extract (using betterzip for mac) "on many of the files:
ERROR: The file bg.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect."
I get the options to "ignore and go on" or stop. I keep choosing "ignore/go on" and keep getting more errors:
The file help.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file home.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file idea.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file more.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file p1.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file paypal.gif could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file rate.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file twit.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
and then all the above errors begin looping again and now these appear:
The file previewbubble.js could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file readme.txt could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file screenshot-1.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file screenshot-2.png could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file themedrive.chk could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
The file themedrive.php could not be extracted. The password may be incorrect.
I don't know what the problem is or why I am having it, thus apparently means I am not getting all the files extracted to its plug-in folder. Can you advise with the solution? Thank you!
Hey I love your Theme Test Drive plugin. I had an idea that I would like to see if you could implement. Currently the WP editor only edits the activated theme. I would like to see if we could get an editor for the theme being "test drove".
I love this plugin, it makes testing themes so much easier than any other way. I would really like to see one feature implemented though. Being able to install from a zip file URL is very handy, but having the ability to upload from a zip file on your own computer as well would make it almost perfect!!
Good job!!
Vladimir, I keep getting the following error when I activate it ... Fatal error: Call to undefined function wp_get_current_user() in /nfs/c04/h02/mnt/63403/domains/reelseo.com/html/wp-includes/capabilities.php on line 920 Any ideas what this could be about? Thanks in advance as Id love to use the plugin.
Hi, great plugin! But it would be really cool, if you could render the internal links the way, they have a "?theme=[themename]" also, if the page once was visited with this GET parameter. Hope, you understand, what I mean - my english is not the best, sry ;)
Hmm, is there a way to use this plugin as a "theme chooser" for specific pages or posts? That would be kinda cool. Right now, I am messing with "page templates," and I have a theme I would like to use, but it looks like I would have to do some serious copying and pasting of code to make an existing theme into a page template.
At one point, I found some kind of plugin that allowed me to create a custom field to choose which theme a page would use. I'd like to find that again or figure out a way to make ThemeTestDrive do this.
Wouldn't that be rad?
Best,
Dainis
Hi, I love this plugin, but unfortunately when trying to activate it in a 2.8.4 Wordpress install I ran into problems. Is there any chance of updating what is such a great tool? Many thanks for your time and effort.
Hi, wordpress.org plugin list still tells that this plugin is not compatible with 2.8. Is that true? Could you update the information in the catalog if it is compatible?
i like it very good work man thank you very much. carry on.....
I saw some comments about Theme Test Drive breaking under WP 2.8 so I was reluctant. But today I went ahead and tried it anyway and it seems to be working ok.
I'm using the plugin on Wordpress 2.8.1 testing out a fairly complicated theme with a lot of customization in the admin panel. All seems to be working.
Thanks for a great plugin!
Nice plugin..Thank u this share..=)
Hi Vladimir!
Can you fix your fantastic plugin for work with WP 2.8?
Works great! This is a very useful plugin. Thanks.
Nice plugin. Thanks.
mersin
Nice plugin. thx :)
The plugin is great but dont work with WP 2.8. After activating, the admin panel become unusable. No access level stuff.
Than you.
This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
thanks you :)
this is very good and fantastic nice :)
Hello:
I wasn't clear as to whether or not there was an answer for me.
Will the plugin work if my index.php file is outside the wordpress directly and is located on the save located as the wordpress folder (public_html)? Or does the plugin expect to find the index.php file in the wordpress folder. Right now, putting index.php in the location described above shows the new theme but no content and a 404 error inside what would be the main content area.
Does not seem to work with WP 2.8. :(
Super!
Thank you Daniele.
This plugin really rocks, thank you Vladimir, I will post a review on my site...
thanks
” The plugin doesn’t have any advanced option to control. If you want to customize you can do it with the theme files.”
Okay, I think I see part of the problem, but I can still use some assistance.
I saw some directions on using "?theme=xxx," so I entered a theme name to test. When the theme was displayed in the browser, it was missing the content body.
My blog's address is http://www.urbanlandscapes.org. Not wanting to have /blog or /wordpress after the address, I moved the index.php file outside the /wordpress folder and up to the same level as the wordpress folder.
I'm not sure if the plugin is smart enough to be able to work even when index.php is outside the wordpress folder. I thought this info might help you out in order to help come up with a solution that will help me fix things.
Thanks again!
Hello:
For some reason, the plugin isn't working for me.
I tried it out on my WP blog, using Wordpress 2.7.1. I'm able to choose a theme fine, but when I view it via the admin account the old site is still displayed. To me, it looks as if a theme is selected, but there's some sort of disconnect that prevents things from working properly.
Any assistance on how best to fix this would certainly be appreciated; thanks!
Velanche
thank you
Thank you very much, an excellent share...These are really very useful...
Thank you very much so thats perfect! :)
Its really wonderful to have look at this site. I have been helped alot by reading the most valuable information.
greaat plugin.ı'm searching like it. thx : )
Thank you.
this is very perfect.
thanks a lots of for shared
it's what am i searching for thanks :)
Hi, thanks for this post. I think I'll be needing this in the future.
I am not a coder. I am new to WP also. Can I uduse Theme Twest Drive to work on the Theme I have installed in Preview while I try to make changes to the Theme I am using? i.e. not test drive a different theme- but use test as a tool for previewing changes to the theme I haam running and decide to back out or save depending on the results?
Thank you
Thank you very much a good plugin ^^
Thank you! This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
iTs useful
Hi there,
Plugin used to crash my whole WP admin panel (it said "you're not allowed to be here" until I deactivated it in the DB). But... I found the solution!
The plugin didn't work with my localized version of WP (French, in this case). Removed the language files and it seems to work fine.
Hope it helps!
omg, very usefull plugin, l m tring it now, wish u a very good luck.
thank youu
Hiya Vladimir,
Is there a way to rig this to create different theme settings if people are logged in? Basically, what I'm wanting to is not show my newsletter subscription widget, if people are logged in. Logically, then, I am wanting to show a widget only if users are not logged in. If this plugin would automatically show a particular theme to logged in subscribers, then I would just use the same theme twice, and add particular features for subscribers.
Does that make sense, and how could I do it?
Best,
Dainis
thanks....
thans ı love you
How do I actually view a new theme when I enable a test drive? I'd like to see what my home page looks like, where do I go to view it? (Clicking on visit the site at the top of the dashboard takes me to a page with my current theme).
danke admin:)
Also crashes in WP 2.7 for me. I read somewhere that your plugin requires PHP 5.0 or higher? Is that true?
Hi Vladimir,
Once upon a time I hacked up a Wordpress plugin that looks to accomplish the same thing that you're doing with your Theme Test Drive plugin. I haven't been blogging or maintaining the plugin beyond keeping it available to the public for a few years now and was curious if you had any interest in taking over the code I used and doing with it what you want? I'd also be interested in redirecting to this site from mine so that users looking for a properly maintained theme preview plugin could be steered to your website if that's something you're comfortable with.
Regarding my plugin, as I say on the site, I make no claims as to the usability/cleanliness/etc of the code I wrote and/or modified, but I've been hoping someone would take over maintenance of it or create their own plugin with similar functionality, which you look to have done here.
If you're interested drop me a note via email or on my site with what you'd like to do, but either way nice job on your plugin!
Yes, thanks for the reply.
I would like to allow visitors to test drive a theme. In the admin area the theme test drive is enabled and the access level is 10 (which is ignored if using the ?theme=xxx parameter).
I create a post which includes a text link to the theme folder to test drive - http://wpwatch.net/?theme=folder-name - and publish. When the link is clicked I am taken to the home page of my site and the requested theme does not appear. The address in the address bar is http://wpwatch.net/?theme=folder-name
I hope I have set this up correctly? Any help would be appreciated. I have a few plugins installed but not WP Cache.
The plugin works fine if I want to test drive a theme as the administrator, just not as a site visitor.
Can you explain 2.7 problems in more detail? The plugin should work without problems on 2.7
Its perfectly working in 2.7. Whats the problem?
One suggestion is that, widget testing should also be included in theme testing.I mean,when testing a new theme and deleting any widget in either new theme or old theme should not happened unless theme test drive is disabled.
If it's sounds weird, forget it!!
I can't get this to work in 2.7 either. Have you come up with a fix yet? I would really like to try this plugin out!
Thanks
Any Install theme test drive for Wordpress 2.7?
What is the problem?
Im read the source code but everythings looks fine!
Thanks (but really thanks) for that.
Thanks. I loved the plugin and it really (but really) helped in my site re-design.
Is everything else in your life apocalyptic? :)
Installed it and it completly crashed my blog.
there was an error called something like ERROR in /wp-includes/dontknowanymore and the error was like wp_get_user or something like that - anybody else having trouble with it?
Hey, this is exactly what I need to keep my website running whilst developing a personalized theme...which might take a bit longer since it'll be my first one :D
I love this plugin! Thank you
Hiya, I just wanted to say that this is an amazing plugin, saves me preparing a sandbox and moving over db-data just to see a preview ;)
Cheers!
Can't get the Test Drive to work in 2.7.
It won't install themes (it unpacks, then nothing);
after uploading a theme manually, Test Drive won't activate it (it says it does, but it doesn't);
There are no Theme options available for admin (tried the blue-grace theme)
Is this a competability problem?
Hi!
This plugin was perfect with wordpress 2.6.5 but now, on 2.7, it crush all wordpress administration control panel when activated...
Please fix this ...
Thanks a lot :D
Nice plugin. Thank you so much.
Wow..that was too fast. Thanks for awesome support!
Fixed it!
With the latest version, it seems, we can't choose the theme to install. There is a drop down box but nothing which will enable Theme Test Drive to use the theme on our blog? Pls fix this.
Nice plugin - but I have a question (of course)
I used the them editor to tweak the stylesheet of one of the themes I was test driving, changing some text from right-aligned to left-aligned in the header portion of the stylesheet. (I even remembered to save my changes). However, when I view the theme using test-drive, it appears as though the stylesheet was unchanged.
I should be able to do this, right? (Edit a them and the test the edits via test-drive). Any idea as to what I am doing wrong.
@Petra Weiss - Theme test drive are found udner "Design" menu on your blog admin panel
@Mike - if two themes use the same name for sidebar, moving widgets would cause the change
@W - I love users auto-figuring-out what to do :)
This is my most used plugin ever. Thank you so much!
I must be stupid, but I did upload the plugin and activated, and I cannot find anywhere the "options" you are talking about.
Have you got any other, clearer instructions on how to get this theme to display?
I am using this plugin and running a theme call LaunchPad while I am developing my site. If I have the plugin enabled and LaunchPad as the theme from everyone to view, I select the real theme from your panel, but the issue is when I am developing pages, the write panel does not list page templates?
Thanks,
Kevin
Hi Vladimir, first of all, great plugin! Is very, very helpfull in the design process.
The only thing is that I have a problem: when I configure the wordpress to be in spanish, I can't access to the blog admin. The wordpress show me: "No tienes autorización para acceder a esta página" (You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page)
Any ideas of what that could be? You want that I do some test?
Please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Also, I did see one other comment about widgets being messed up, but no response. Thanks!
Nice plug in. I was thinking I could configure everything in the theme test drive before i commit. I had portrait press live to my viewers which is one column on the right.
I then installed your theme and did the test drive on it. I then went to widgets and started moving widgets from the one column to even split them among the 2 columns in yours. Once I was done, I turned off test drive and my theme that was active to users was messed up bad as all the widgets were moved there too!
Is this how it works? I kind of expected movement of widgets to be independent among the two themes. My thought was I could test drive a second theme, set it up exactly how I want it, then do a live switch.
I am WP theme coder and since long time was looking something like this, thanks for giving such a wonderful plugin. Now I can show preview to my client without disturb the blog.
Cheers!
This is something I have been looking for sometime now. Thanks. :)
Hey,
I was using your plugin and now I cannot delete any theme from my blog. No matter what I do, they just re-appear. Any ideas?
I really enjoy your plugin, but have found a limitation. I am testing and tweaking a theme that uses quite a few custom page templates. When I manage pages with your plugin activated, the Page Templates field doesn't appear with the templates in the theme I'm testing. If I upload the templates to the directory of the theme visitors see, then they appear. Is this something you could check in to?
Thanks for the great plugin regardless though.
Solution: Use WP english version :D
and version WP 2.6.1
First, sorry my english
When I active the plugin, i don't acess to control panel. My WP is in spanish without others addons.
Thank for the plugin!
thanks again vladimir!
2.6.1 fixed my issue :)
i just screamed "YEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" with joy whilst my girlfriend tried to silence me...
honestly, you just made my day.
im obsessive and compulsive about my site :)
Cheeers!
Pete
Thanks Vladimir!
the plugin is activated now, (2.6) although i still have the number 1 next to plugins (suggesting that there is an update to be installed).
as far as I know, this was not there until your plugin wanted to be updated. I dont know if your plugin is the cause of this, but perhaps it might be.
can you suggest anything to me that may get wordpress to realise that all plugins are up to date, and non need updating?
thanks again for your advice!
I made a mistake with uploading the new version. Just delete file themedrive2.php from the server manually.
hello there
i just wanted to report an error with the new version of the plugin...
i had installed version 2.5.2 and it has offered me the oppertunity to update to 2.6
the only problem is, when i update this plugin, the original 2.5.2 remains in the list even tho 2.6 is downloaded.
if i activate 2.6, i get a fatal error, and if i try to remove either version of the plugin, i have the real annoying "1" next to plugin menu button suggesting that i still have an upgrade to get, even tho all other plugins are up to date. Also if i try to remove one of the versions of the plugin, it deletes both.
i tried removing ALL plugins, and i still get that "1" by plugins.
i dont know if its an error with this plugin in particular, but id really like to get rid of that "1" the by plugin menu.
please can u tell me where in the database i can find the references to your plugin, and also, if i remove the items in my database, will this likely fix my issue?
please reply if you can, it would be greatly appreciated!
btw, the plugin worked well before this
yours sincerely
Pete
Nick you could give the authors a link with ?theme=xxx and they would be able to check the theme.
Anyway I added user levels in latest release of theme test drive (v2.6).
Vladimir - thanks for this great plugin. I want to be able to change the level of user that has access to the test theme so I can have my authors test it out to look for bugs before we roll it out to the public.
Can you tell me how to do that? I assume it would just be a simple edit somewhere in the plugin code.
Thanks!
Nick
Hi, I was trying to use the ?theme=xxx syntax and it wasnt working... took me ages to realize that the theme name is case sensitive! Pls update your instructions to point this out :) (or fix case sensitiveness in a later release). Thx :)
JK.
good plugins .I will use it to edite my theme. thanks!
i think it nees an uninstall or delete theme option
thanks mate
tim
Hello Vladimir,
I've installed your plugin and it sounds great for a blog using only one theme available for the reader.
I'm using a plugin called "theme switcher" and it is absolutely great for the reader to choose it's own theme. But you can imagine that if I upload a theme (that I'm working on), every reader can switch on. And because of that I can't use your plugin.
So my first suggestion is : Is it possible to call a theme that we are working on on a different directory or to forbid unauthorized people ?
My second suggestion is about a directory on our local computer. As you know, it's really tiring to upload each time we've made a modification on a file specially when we are not a programmer.
So as your program is to make an admin to view à theme that no one can imagine on it's own computer, it could be a very great improvment for everyone who likes to personalize themes. This second solution will of course solve the first suggestion.
A 3rd suggestion would be to have a browse button where we can find out the zip file on our local computer...
Thanks for your answer. Best regards !
Yep you were right Vladimir. It's that dang Got Banners plugin. I disabled it and all it fine now. Thanks! I need to find another ad rotators now.
What you describe Josh seems to be a problem with another plugin not theme test drive. gb_add_pages is a function of Got Banners plugin if I am not mistaken. Do you use it?
Hi, I'm using your plugin and I'm getting a Warning when I enable it:
Warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'gb_add_pages' was given in /home/goatlip/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php on line 311
I'm on Wordpress 2.5.1 and it's only when the plugin is activated and enabled. It doesn' cause any errors, just keeps popping up in the admin area whenever I navigate to a new page.
Thanks, love it.
awesome , 10q
It might be a clash with another plugin as TTD works fine on my WordPress. Any other info you have?
Great plugin. Was enjoying it till this morning when I discovered something weird.
I upgraded to the newest version, and while the plugin was enabled, when I went to the write page, I was getting Ajax errors as if I didn't have the right permission. (Auto post save and changing the permalink URL in the post window wouldn't work). I had no idea what was causing the problem. I had 2 blogs on the same host with the exact same Wordpress version and plugins.
I then realized that I had your theme switcher running on one blog. I disabled it, and sure enough, the Ajax errors went away. Turned it back on one more time to check, and I had the Ajax errors again.
Just thought I would give a heads up.
I seem to have a similar problem as Denigris. I tested a Live Preview of a theme. I just can't change it to anything. Even after I disable the plugin completely the test theme is still there. I use Firefox 3 RC2 as browser and my Wordpress is at 2.50. I don't have WP Cache installed and I disabled the plugin an hour ago. Any idea what went wrong?
I love the concept of this plugin. It's exactly what I have wanted for a long time. I just hope I can fix my little problem ;)
When theme test drive is activated with another theme, that theme's option page will be displayed. It is a feature not a bug.
If the theme does not have an option page then no page will be displayed which is expected behavior.
> Vladimir Actueally i'm coding a theme which have an option page, when both my theme and your plugin are actives on my blog, no more option page, then i desactive your plugin and my option page is back ;) !
I think it's a sort of bug generated by the plugin, it seem like if the plugin made the link dissapear.
I hope i'm clear enough ^^
Bye
Fabien Thomas
When you activate a theme, then options of that theme are displayed and if it has none there will be none to show :)
Hi !
First, thanks for this very usefull plugin, i can't do without anymore !
But i've a question, When theme teste drive is active, the theme option link disapear , is it normal ?
Bye
Fabien Thomas
Perhaps you need to deactivate wp-cache or similar plugin?
Thank you for a very useful plugin. I always appreciate the effort that goes into great programming like this, and most especially when it is realeased open source. You obviously have worked hard.
I have a problem that may simply be incorrect useage on my part. I have great sucess with the instant preview - the preview accessed by clicking the theme link. However, when I use the full test drive by selecting the theme from the drop down box, and clicking "enable" I don't get the expected results. I open a new tab in firefox, and the old theme is still there. I click the "visit site" link, and the the old theme is still in place. Perhaps I could be redirected as to how to properly do this. I am using WP 2.5.1.
Again, thank you for a well thought out, and very useful plug in.
Denigris
So you want to list themes by directory? Why is that? I am just curious ;)
I have a patch for theme-test-drive that will allow you to use the theme directory (i.e. default) instead of the theme name (Wordpress Default). The patch also refactors themedrive_get_stylesheet and themedrive_get_template as they were pretty much the same code.
Please let me know where you would like me to e-mail the patch.
I have translated your plug in Russian, you can download it from here. I would be glad to translate and future versions of the plug.
http://www.alexnote.ru/wp-content/uploads/files/theme-test-drive.zip
Thanks you! This plagin is what i search for! Exelent.
Keep up the good work! 10q
Thank you
This plugin is great! I've been using it for a few weeks now while I tweak a design that I plan on switching to in the near future. Thank you!
Just released version 2.0 with some very cool new features like Instant Theme Preview!
This was exactly what I was looking for. Wordpress.org should incorporate this plugin into their next release. It's so practical!
@Mandy
Yes, that's exactly that, what the plugin does. If the theme has an option page, you can edit things there without any change to the reader but the admin
This sounds like a very interesting plugin as I am thinking of changing my theme at the moment. I'm going to give it a go.
Can you change or add things to the theme that you're viewing and it not appear to the readers?
very good!!thank you very much~~~
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
regards
你的插件的地址变化了哦！
eu que test drive apartir de 20R$
Great plugin, thanks !
Thanks http://www.trword.net
WRG-E-Commerce, Web Sites, Publicidade e MegaOmni - WRG
Muito Bom! Congratulations!
Eklentiyi Türkçe de kullanabilirsiniz.
Thanks for this useful plugin.
Turkish Version
Amazing and so effortless! Thanks a ton for this plugin, I will blog about it!
Your plugin is terrific! It certainly beats disabling the site via the Maintenance Mode plugin in order to tweak a new theme.
"to your folder" ...
You must upload the plugin in your own plugin folder of your wordpress blog, it has nothing to do with vladimir's plugin folder. normally you need a ftp (file transfer protocol) software. once you uploaded the plugin, you can activate in your admin area. if a new version has been released (theme test drive 1.1.1) you can also update with the new technique in wordpress 2.5 - just type in your ftp settings and wordpress does everything else.
@Vladimir: I'm going to translate version 1.1.1 now. But i also keep 1.1 on my server, because not everyone is using 2.5 :-)
Greetings,
Pascal
Hi Vladimir,
Greetings. I guess this is very trivial question, but it totally stumps me. Could you please tell me how to upload the plugin folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder? Where do I access this? I would be grateful if you could let me know. Thanks.
Sankar.
Simply great! :)
I rescind my comment. I guess it was operator error. I finally got my site reinstalled and working. Enabled the plug in and things are fine.
I can't duplicate the cause so don't spend any time researching this one. Sorry.
@Michael: great suggestion, will tinker on it.
@giulio: Grazie!
geniale!!!!!
dovrebbe essere un'opzione già inclusa in wordpress...magari nella prossima versione?!...
Hi,
suggestion:
wouldn't it be nice to have a link/button near by each Theme-Image to in the Admin Backend "Design-"/alias/"Presentation-"/alias/"Themes-" Page to Test-Drive a theme!?
It blanked out my site as well. I may have misunderstood how it worked. Once I selected one theme then another. I don't know if it worked on the first theme as that was the active theme.
I just tested Theme Test Drive on 2.5 release and it seems to be working fine on my installation. Will check this problem further.
Yes, the error with WP2.5 RC2 occurs also with 2.5 release:
Parse error: parse error, unexpected $ in /hsphere/local/home/akafazov/greentech-bg.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/theme-test-drive/themedrive.php on line 154
I just install WP 2.5. Theme Test Drive 1.1. work for me perfectly.
I'll check this, as I didn't have time to install 2.5 version yet. Thanks for pointing this out. Any more diagnostics are welcome.
I also use Release Candite 2 (tomorrow maybe RC3) and I also have this problem. Activate is not a problem, but I can't deactivate. So i must deactivate the whole plugin...
Hi,
I use the plugin, it works well but fails to activate in WP 2.5 RC2
Great stuff, thank you !
I stumbled upon your blog and plugin from another site. I will try out the plugin. Thanks.
Ash
very useful, thanks! :)
Your plugin… working great on WP 2.0.11. Thanks you.
Well done! It;s really cool! thanks a lot
благодаря
Отличная работа.
Szerintem ez az egyik legjobb plugin, köszönöm
Csaba
Nice work, I added your site to the links.
So i did. Here it is: http://www.wp-magazin.ch/workstation/ (Download ...)
I translated readme + php file
Pascal, by all means do so :)
Is it possible for me that I translate your amazing plugin in German? It's not a lot of text, but some German people don't speak English very good.
The plugin is located in the Presentation menu. You should update to latest version there were many security fixes since.
I am using 2.3.1 version and I can't find the plugin setting in the options page after I activated it. Help.
Great! I didn't think I would need this plugin but the need did finally arise and I'm so happy I found this.
Please update your link on the WordPress web site as it is currently pointing to: http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/theme-test-drive-plugin rather than the correct URL of: http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/theme-test-drive
But, there are problems if you change the widgets :\
Thanks for this great plugin :D
Thanks you for your plugin...working great on WP 2.3.1
Great stuff. Thanks!
That's first time I hear of that problem Jason. I would try upgrading to latest wordpress which is a piece of cake if you try Automatic upgrade plugin.
Hi,
I tried out your plugin on my wife's blog as she wanted me to work on a redesign. Upon activating the plugin, though, the plugin page, the Options page, and the main blog page all went blank. I had to FTP into the site and delete the plugin to restore the site. (Since the plugin page wasn't coming up, I couldn't just deactivate the plugin.) She's running WordPress 2.2.2. Any ideas?
Thanks,
-Jason
Great idea, great plug-in! Thank you!
Thank's for the plugin. This will make everything much easier and faster.
Thanks man it is really appreciated, it works like a charm.
You got it! :)
Wow, I love this plugin and am using it to edit as I convert one of my blogs to your Amazing Grace theme. Thanks so much for both of these. This may seem obvious to more experienced users, but I will throw it out there anyway. I am assuming that when I am ready to go public with the conversion all I have to do is disable the test drive plugin and select Amazing Grace as my new theme? Can it really be that simple?
I dunno Josh, I suggest you try the theme on a newer wordpress install and if it works there it's the wordpress. Then you can either upgrade your old wordpress which I suggest anyways look here http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/7-tips-to-insure-your-blog-against-web-tsunami or you can contact me directly and we'll try to debug the problem.
Hello,
I am trying to use theme test drive on password-protected website that is running an older version of wordpress2.02. The plugin is Not working. When I view the test theme as the administrator some of the new styles are applied, but the site looks messed up. Is this because Im using the older version of wordpress?
I would give you the link to the site, but since it is not a public website I can't...
Please help:)
非常好的wp插件，非常感谢你提供。不过你的中文版页面好像有点问题哦，麻烦检查下，thank you
Thanks! I was looking for something like this and it is what I need when I'm banging around my themes... I don't want things to look broken when I'm updating/deleting bits and pieces! Woot!!!
Thanks for the cheers, keep 'em coming :)
This is awesome, thank you so much. I've been testing on localhost, but then I have to import data, upgrade wordpress, etc. etc. Your plugin makes things so much easier, and it's even helpful for getting rid of themes that I don't want that are taking up space on my server. Thank you again!!
Great idea. Great plugin.
Thanks a lot.
Wonderful! Thanks!
Yax, what level you give me in D&D? :)
You are da man! This plug-in is awesome!
Thank you for this plugin!
Nice idea!
This was a decent idea. Big up!
Thank you very much for this plugin. I am re-styling my site, which is quite active and needed a way to develop a new theme 'behind the scenes'.
Excellent :)
Extra.
Thank you.
I just have to create my own theme now ;)
Muchas gracias! Lo voy a probar ahora!
Nice! Thank you so much. Hugs from Brazil.
Great plugin.
It works nicely for me on WP 2.3.2. I run the new WP Super Cache plugin, and that doesn't seem to cause any problems.
I mentioned your plugin on my blog.
thanks...
This is a great plugin, however what would make it even more great would be the ability to pick users instead of just the admin. So 2 people can work on 2 separate themes at the same time.
For instance Joe is working on the default wp template, Dan is working on a custom one, the main page then shows a template you chose to be displayed, possibly a placeholder.
very useful! thanks!
Simply awesome. In the past, I've always worked with a local backup copy of my site to test out theme changes. This makes it soooooo much easier to test changes, though.
For those above having problems, there's a good chance either a WordPress caching system (like WP-Cache or something else if there are other such tools) or your browser's cache is feeding you the old version. At the very least, clear your browser cache and try again if you aren't seeing the change.
I dont use WP cache... :(
?
This plugin really useful. I will use it in the futures. Since my blog design is update now. All the content have to stop writting because of this.
Are you using some kind of caching system, perhaps WP-Cache? If so turn it off. That should do the trick.
I have the same problem as intruduced here. The plugin dosen't work. I'm using ver. 2.3.1 of wordpress.
I press view site at the upper part of my admin page and I get the normal theme.
what can I do ?
thanks ,
shlomo
thank u for the plugin.. .i have always wanted such a plugin as most of the time, because of my ignorance bout programming n curiosity i do tend to play too much with my themes...
thanks again.
cheers
Vaibhav
Wowww thank you ... :), it will be very useful for my next website :). greatt...
Great plugin and much needed.
Thanks.
ARTEgami: The version is developed on 2.3 so it definitely should be running. If you are viewing your site as an administrator you should see the chosen theme. If you still have problems contact me with more details and we'll try to figure it out.
Hi,
Which Wordpress version do I suppose to be using?.
Because I'm running the 2.3 version, and although it says "Theme Test Drive Enabled for administrator with name of the them."
I am not able to see the theme that I was testing
Thanks for your time
This plugin is the BEST! Thank you so much!
Just tried it. Totally awesome! Thanks, Vlad!
Great plugin! Thanks heaps +++
Super!
This is a great idea, I have been waiting a long time for something like this. I agree the experimentation is not something the viewers need to see. Thanks
Thank you for creating this plugin. It is most definitely appreciated.
Brilliant...
Thank you so very much. I've been driving my readers crazy with theme experimentation. What a nice holiday gift.
Tortuca
http://garlinggauge.com
Thank you! This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
I just released a plugin last week that performs this same functionality. My plugin is called User Level Themes and can be downloaded from the Wordpress Extend website. I thought at first you may have ripped off my plugin but your looks nothing like mine so I guess that we both must have tackled this need at the same time! I'm glad to see that others are interested in this capability.
Works great! This is a very useful plugin. Thanks.
Brilliant! Thank you.