Introduction to Theme Overrides (BETA)

The Theme Overrides function in Wild Apricot allows experienced web developers to modify, tweak, or create their own themes for Wild Apricot based sites. It does this by replacing (overriding) various parts of HTML template of the site (which is generated based on your selected theme .

This functionality is only intended for experienced web designers Please read this page before you proceed: Advanced customization warning This is only intended for people with advanced web design skills. Incorrect use will result in malfunctioning of your website. NOTE: Our technical support team does not provide support related to Theme Overrides.

If you read the warnings and feel adventurous and confident in your web design skills, this will provide you with much more flexibility in site customization compared to other mechanisms we provide (see Website themes )

Getting Started

You can enable the Theme Overrides via Settings > Theme Overrides.

Click on [Enable Theme Override mode]. After enabling Theme Overrides you will be given the opportunity to download the HTML for your current theme. This page will also list all theme overrides (files which override standard template aspects) currently in use on your particular site.

Once Theme Override is enabled, a collection of folders will be created in your Resources folder under /Theme_Overrides/. These folders are empty, but match the folder structure of the Theme files that can be downloaded from the Theme Overrides page. 

Any file you place in these folders will be loaded instead of the original file of the same name. You can access these folders via webdav or through File Management.

See Template Engine Reference Guide for more information on using Theme Overrides

Troubleshooting

If your Override files contains errors, your theme could malfunction. On the public side of the website, a yellow message box will be shown in this case. There are two types of errors that will be shown in this box:

• Page requested errors: Any String Template parsing errors
• Theme related errors: These are critical errors. In this case system will use parent theme which is parent for current custom them (see Template Engine Reference Guide).
  • If something really bad happened with extended/custom theme and automatic switch to parent theme isn't possible - public user won't see anything besides usual "Site malfunction error"

You can log in to your website's backend to correct the problem.

Safe Login If the login box isn't accessible due to the customization, you can login by adding /sys/safelogin to the end of your domain name, like this: http://www.example.com/sys/safelogin

Once logged in, go to Settings > Theme Overrides. From here, you can:

• (1) Review errors (only theme-related errors, page-requested errors are able to view only from public mode)
• (2) Disable or Enable Theme Overrides mode
• (3) Rebuilt the current theme
• (4) Delete each overridden file

Disabling Theme Overrides will restore you back to the original Wild Apricot theme. Once you correct the issues with your override files you can then re-enable it.

Sometimes the theme file wasn't compiled correctly which is what may be causing the problems. Clicking the [Rebuild Theme] button will re-compile the override files. If that doesn't work you would need to delete the offending file, you can do so by clicking the [Delete] button next to the file name.

See also

• Website themes
• CSS Customization
• Customizing colors and styles
• Template Engine Reference Guide