Theme Test Drive

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.

theme test screenshot 1 Theme Test Drive

Download

Download: Theme Test Drive

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

207 comments, newest first

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Hemen İzle 07.02.09 / 10am

Nice plugin..Thank u this share..=)
Consolegalaxy 07.01.09 / 1pm

Hi Vladimir!
Can you fix your fantastic plugin for work with WP 2.8?
Ali 07.01.09 / 12pm

Works great! This is a very useful plugin. Thanks.
mersin 06.30.09 / 7pm

Nice plugin. Thanks.

mersin
müzik dinle 06.26.09 / 10pm

Nice plugin. thx :)
Ivo Stankov 06.25.09 / 11am

The plugin is great but dont work with WP 2.8. After activating, the admin panel become unusable. No access level stuff.
koxp 06.24.09 / 9pm

Than you.
This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
müzik dinle 06.22.09 / 8am

thanks you :)
Döviz Kurları 06.17.09 / 6pm

this is very good and fantastic nice :)
Velanche 06.14.09 / 11pm

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.
Will 06.14.09 / 4pm

Does not seem to work with WP 2.8. :(
mcbozo 06.13.09 / 8am

Super!
Vladimir 06.12.09 / 7pm

Thank you Daniele.
Daniele Alano 06.12.09 / 5pm

This plugin really rocks, thank you Vladimir, I will post a review on my site...
okey 06.11.09 / 3pm

thanks
” The plugin doesn’t have any advanced option to control. If you want to customize you can do it with the theme files.”
Velanche 06.01.09 / 7am

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!
Velanche 06.01.09 / 7am

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
müzik dinle 05.20.09 / 11am

thank you
Yemek Tarifi 05.20.09 / 10am

Thank you very much, an excellent share...These are really very useful...
Altın Fiyatları 05.17.09 / 11am

Thank you very much so thats perfect! :)
D.RAMA MURTHY 05.17.09 / 7am

Its really wonderful to have look at this site. I have been helped alot by reading the most valuable information.
theme 05.09.09 / 7pm

greaat plugin.ı'm searching like it. thx : )
fatihh 05.01.09 / 12pm

Thank you.
iKaynak 05.01.09 / 8am

this is very perfect.

thanks a lots of for shared
Müzik Dinle 05.01.09 / 8am

it's what am i searching for thanks :)
Charlotte Web Design 04.30.09 / 10am

Hi, thanks for this post. I think I'll be needing this in the future.
Lawrence 04.29.09 / 9pm

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
said026 04.28.09 / 7pm

Thank you very much a good plugin ^^
Gürçay 04.27.09 / 6pm

Thank you! This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
小T 04.22.09 / 2am

iTs useful
nico. 04.19.09 / 5pm

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!
blogger tips 03.20.09 / 9am

omg, very usefull plugin, l m tring it now, wish u a very good luck.
turkadresi 03.16.09 / 4pm

thank youu
Dainis W. Michel 03.12.09 / 10am

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
lig tv 03.08.09 / 8pm

thanks....
ayka 03.08.09 / 7pm

thans ı love you
Scott 03.07.09 / 11pm

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).
okey 03.07.09 / 7am

danke admin:)
Paul Bartlett 02.24.09 / 10pm

Also crashes in WP 2.7 for me. I read somewhere that your plugin requires PHP 5.0 or higher? Is that true?
bitbybit 02.19.09 / 3am

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!
Stephen 02.03.09 / 6am

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.
Vladimir 02.02.09 / 9pm

Can you explain 2.7 problems in more detail? The plugin should work without problems on 2.7
sriraj 02.02.09 / 2pm

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!!
Stephen 02.02.09 / 2pm

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
Ian 01.31.09 / 8am

Any Install theme test drive for Wordpress 2.7?
What is the problem?
Im read the source code but everythings looks fine!
Vladimir 01.29.09 / 2am

Thanks (but really thanks) for that.
Pavlina 01.29.09 / 2am

Thanks. I loved the plugin and it really (but really) helped in my site re-design.
Mary 01.22.09 / 6pm

Is everything else in your life apocalyptic? :)
Huggy 01.22.09 / 5pm

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?
eFrane 01.21.09 / 9am

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
vik 01.11.09 / 2am

I love this plugin! Thank you
Alex 01.09.09 / 4pm

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!
Milly 01.08.09 / 8pm

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?
NotAlame 12.18.08 / 2pm

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
ferdem 12.11.08 / 10pm

Nice plugin. Thank you so much.
Navjot Singh 12.07.08 / 11am

Wow..that was too fast. Thanks for awesome support!
Vladimir 12.07.08 / 10am

Fixed it!
Navjot Singh 12.07.08 / 10am

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.
Reggie 12.03.08 / 12am

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.
cheryljns (cheryljns) 11.11.08 / 2am

@JimDuncan - The Theme Test Drive plugin http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/theme-test-drive can reduce some of the stress
Vladimir 10.28.08 / 12am

@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 :)
Pat 10.23.08 / 10pm

This is my most used plugin ever. Thank you so much!
Petra Weiss 10.11.08 / 3am

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?
kevin 10.03.08 / 8pm

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
Guillermo 10.01.08 / 5pm

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.
Mike 09.13.08 / 7pm

Also, I did see one other comment about widgets being messed up, but no response. Thanks!
Mike 09.13.08 / 7pm

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.
Zubair Ahmed 09.09.08 / 4pm

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!
Lovely Angel 09.06.08 / 2am

This is something I have been looking for sometime now. Thanks. :)
aditya 09.01.08 / 9am

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?
Selorian 08.23.08 / 1pm

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.
W 08.22.08 / 9am

Solution: Use WP english version :D
W 08.21.08 / 10am

and version WP 2.6.1
W 08.21.08 / 10am

First, sorry my english

When I active the plugin, i don't acess to control panel. My WP is in spanish without others addons.
Yoyon Sugiono 08.20.08 / 11am

Thank for the plugin!
Pete 08.09.08 / 3pm

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
Pete 08.09.08 / 3pm

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!
Vladimir 08.09.08 / 1pm

I made a mistake with uploading the new version. Just delete file themedrive2.php from the server manually.
Pete 08.09.08 / 1pm

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
Vladimir 08.09.08 / 9am

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).
Nick 08.09.08 / 8am

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
JK 08.09.08 / 2am

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.
web about money 07.17.08 / 4pm

good plugins .I will use it to edite my theme. thanks!
tim 07.12.08 / 10am

i think it nees an uninstall or delete theme option

thanks mate

tim
Laurent DUREAU 07.03.08 / 4pm

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 !
Josh 06.30.08 / 3am

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.
Vladimir 06.28.08 / 2pm

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?
Josh 06.28.08 / 3am

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.
televiziune online 06.24.08 / 10pm

awesome , 10q
Vladimir 06.17.08 / 4pm

It might be a clash with another plugin as TTD works fine on my WordPress. Any other info you have?
xorsyst 06.14.08 / 7pm

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.
Soundtrackgeek 06.12.08 / 7pm

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 ;)
Vladimir 06.12.08 / 1pm

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.
fabien thomas 06.12.08 / 11am

> 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
Vladimir 06.12.08 / 11am

When you activate a theme, then options of that theme are displayed and if it has none there will be none to show :)
fabien thomas 06.12.08 / 11am

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
Vladimir 06.05.08 / 10am

Perhaps you need to deactivate wp-cache or similar plugin?
Denigris 06.05.08 / 12am

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
Vladimir 06.03.08 / 4pm

So you want to list themes by directory? Why is that? I am just curious ;)
vericgar 06.03.08 / 2pm

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.
alexnote 06.02.08 / 10pm

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
alexnote 06.02.08 / 8pm

Thanks you! This plagin is what i search for! Exelent.
jocuri 05.30.08 / 9pm

Keep up the good work! 10q
jocuri 05.27.08 / 7pm

Thank you
Shane Holden 05.21.08 / 4pm

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!
Vladimir 05.18.08 / 8pm

Just released version 2.0 with some very cool new features like Instant Theme Preview!
Saif 05.16.08 / 3pm

This was exactly what I was looking for. Wordpress.org should incorporate this plugin into their next release. It's so practical!
Pascal 05.14.08 / 9pm

@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
Mandy 05.14.08 / 9pm

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?
xiaomo 05.12.08 / 1pm

very good!!thank you very much~~~
baron 05.10.08 / 11pm

hi. Thanks for plugin

perfect.

regards
Beach 05.06.08 / 1pm

你的插件的地址变化了哦！
richard da silva oliveira 04.25.08 / 7pm

eu que test drive apartir de 20R$
Edgar Pina 04.24.08 / 11am

Great plugin, thanks !
TrWord 04.23.08 / 3pm

Thanks http://www.trword.net
WRG 04.22.08 / 6pm

WRG-E-Commerce, Web Sites, Publicidade e MegaOmni - WRG
Muito Bom! Congratulations!
Hasan Yılmaz 04.19.08 / 10pm

Eklentiyi Türkçe de kullanabilirsiniz.

Thanks for this useful plugin.
Turkish Version
talina 04.09.08 / 8pm

Amazing and so effortless! Thanks a ton for this plugin, I will blog about it!
Jenn 04.09.08 / 6pm

Your plugin is terrific! It certainly beats disabling the site via the Maintenance Mode plugin in order to tweak a new theme.
Pascal 04.06.08 / 11am

"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
Sankar 04.02.08 / 3pm

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.
Jorge 04.01.08 / 9pm

Simply great! :)
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Mark 04.01.08 / 5am

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.
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[...] mal testen will, wie sein Blog bei einem Theme aussieht, für den empfiehlt sich das PlugIn “Theme Test Drive” von Vladimir Prelovac. Hiermit lässt sich das Theme nur für den Administrator verändern. [...]
Vladimir 03.31.08 / 5pm

@Michael: great suggestion, will tinker on it.

@giulio: Grazie!
giulio 03.31.08 / 3pm

geniale!!!!!
dovrebbe essere un'opzione già inclusa in wordpress...magari nella prossima versione?!...
Michael 03.30.08 / 11pm

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!?
Mark 03.30.08 / 8pm

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.
Vladimir 03.30.08 / 5pm

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.
Angel 03.30.08 / 3pm

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
LuFa 03.30.08 / 1pm

I just install WP 2.5. Theme Test Drive 1.1. work for me perfectly.
Vladimir 03.29.08 / 3am

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.
Pascal 03.28.08 / 7pm

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...
Angel 03.28.08 / 5pm

Hi,

I use the plugin, it works well but fails to activate in WP 2.5 RC2
Shane 03.28.08 / 11am

Great stuff, thank you !
Ash 03.27.08 / 11pm

I stumbled upon your blog and plugin from another site. I will try out the plugin. Thanks.

Ash
greedz 03.27.08 / 8pm

very useful, thanks! :)
Lola 03.25.08 / 7pm

Your plugin… working great on WP 2.0.11. Thanks you.
autotrader 03.23.08 / 10am

Well done! It;s really cool! thanks a lot
Vladimir 03.11.08 / 1am

благодаря
Admin 03.11.08 / 12am

Отличная работа.
homokhat 03.04.08 / 3pm

Szerintem ez az egyik legjobb plugin, köszönöm
Csaba
Vladimir 03.03.08 / 6pm

Nice work, I added your site to the links.
Pascal 03.03.08 / 5pm

So i did. Here it is: http://www.wp-magazin.ch/workstation/ (Download ...)

I translated readme + php file
Vladimir 03.02.08 / 7pm

Pascal, by all means do so :)
Pascal 03.01.08 / 2pm

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.
Vladimir 02.25.08 / 5pm

The plugin is located in the Presentation menu. You should update to latest version there were many security fixes since.
Grace 02.25.08 / 3pm

I am using 2.3.1 version and I can't find the plugin setting in the options page after I activated it. Help.
phoFuki 02.24.08 / 2am

Great! I didn't think I would need this plugin but the need did finally arise and I'm so happy I found this.
WordPress 02.15.08 / 8pm

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
Herzeleyd 02.14.08 / 9pm

But, there are problems if you change the widgets :\
Felipe 02.14.08 / 9pm

Thanks for this great plugin :D
allan 02.14.08 / 1pm

Thanks you for your plugin...working great on WP 2.3.1
Sven 02.11.08 / 8pm

Great stuff. Thanks!
Vladimir 02.11.08 / 7pm

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.
Jason 02.11.08 / 2pm

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
Tom 02.04.08 / 4pm

Great idea, great plug-in! Thank you!
Dunn 02.04.08 / 9am

Thank's for the plugin. This will make everything much easier and faster.
homaid 02.02.08 / 7pm

Thanks man it is really appreciated, it works like a charm.
Vladimir 02.02.08 / 10am

You got it! :)
Dan 02.02.08 / 1am

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?
Vladimir 01.29.08 / 11pm

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.
josh 01.29.08 / 9pm

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:)
KHui 01.26.08 / 6am

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
Empress 01.24.08 / 5pm

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!!!
Vladimir 01.24.08 / 5pm

Thanks for the cheers, keep 'em coming :)
JoLynn Braley 01.24.08 / 5am

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!!
absolon 01.22.08 / 11pm

Great idea. Great plugin.

Thanks a lot.
Courtney 01.21.08 / 10pm

Wonderful! Thanks!
Vladimir 01.16.08 / 9pm

Yax, what level you give me in D&D? :)
Yax 01.16.08 / 7pm

You are da man! This plug-in is awesome!
Leonardo Vergani 01.15.08 / 5am

Thank you for this plugin!
Nice idea!
Glowicki ProBlogger 01.13.08 / 11pm

This was a decent idea. Big up!
Simon 01.13.08 / 8am

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 :)
velelle 01.12.08 / 11am

Extra.
Thank you.
I just have to create my own theme now ;)
Rodolfo Palominos 01.05.08 / 9pm

Muchas gracias! Lo voy a probar ahora!
claudya 01.05.08 / 7pm

Nice! Thank you so much. Hugs from Brazil.
Jan Karlsbjerg 01.04.08 / 9am

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.
hendra 01.04.08 / 5am

thanks...
Rob 12.31.07 / 6am

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.
Costiga 12.30.07 / 3am

very useful! thanks!
Randy 12.27.07 / 10pm

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.
shlomo 12.22.07 / 5pm

I dont use WP cache... :(
?
Speed 12.21.07 / 5pm

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.
Vladimir 12.20.07 / 5pm

Are you using some kind of caching system, perhaps WP-Cache? If so turn it off. That should do the trick.
shlomo 12.20.07 / 3pm

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
vaibhav 12.19.07 / 5am

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
achmadbiz 12.17.07 / 9am

Wowww thank you ... :), it will be very useful for my next website :). greatt...
Scott 12.14.07 / 8pm

Great plugin and much needed.

Thanks.
Vladimir 12.13.07 / 9pm

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.
ARTEgami 12.13.07 / 8pm

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
Michael 12.13.07 / 7pm

This plugin is the BEST! Thank you so much!
Rudy 12.12.07 / 7pm

Just tried it. Totally awesome! Thanks, Vlad!
Susan 12.11.07 / 5am

Great plugin! Thanks heaps +++
Mendezki 12.10.07 / 5pm

Super!
Eric Bunde 12.09.07 / 5pm

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
KC 12.09.07 / 4pm

Thank you for creating this plugin. It is most definitely appreciated.
Tan The Man 12.09.07 / 4am

Brilliant...
Tortuca 12.08.07 / 10pm

Thank you so very much. I've been driving my readers crazy with theme experimentation. What a nice holiday gift.

Tortuca
http://garlinggauge.com
Hachi 12.08.07 / 3pm

Thank you! This is the plugin I've been waiting for!
Keith 12.08.07 / 8am

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.
janet 12.08.07 / 6am

Works great! This is a very useful plugin. Thanks.
Atomic Bombshell 12.08.07 / 12am

Brilliant! Thank you.