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August 13, 2008
Perfect for Existing Build a Niche Store Owners who want to add a Completely Seamless Blog!
Over the past week I have learned two things from my readers: First, you don’t really want to convert templates on your own due to the technical aspect and second, you really need a solution for existing BANS stores that are already on the root of a domain!
I worked several days on this new theme and it was designed from the ground up, to be the perfect match of WordPress and Build a Niche Store. If you just want to see it in action… check out this link. As you see, this theme works REGARDLESS of where BANS or the Blog are installed!
Enter… the BANS-WordPress Integration Theme!
Installed and Running in less than 5 Minutes!
This theme installs so easily you will be up and running in less than 2 minutes after you have WordPress and BANS installed! I followed the lead of Dave and the way he broke down the original code and incorporated it into a single variable file to update all urls on the template! Thats it, change one file… upload everything and activate!
If you want to preview the installation directions, please click here.
I should mention that by using the Power of WordPress, you will forego any of the older content pages or ads you created in BANS. You can however copy the articles out of BANS and directly into new WordPress posts! Its a great way to get your blog started! The ads should be moved into a sidebar widget within WordPress and they will be available sitewide!
The original content pages will still display just fine, there are just no longer any links to them. If a user finds the site based on search engines, the site will look exactly as it does with the new look. In other words… no 404’s! Alternatively, you can always just add 301 redirects to the htaccess file.
Buy this template for $29.00 and use on as many domains as you like!
Show off your stores in the comments!
Mark
BANS-WordPress Theme FAQ’s
Q: Can I use Open Menu on this theme?
A: The theme is designed to work best with the Staggered store menu. Otherwise, the flyout menu carries so far down the screen, you cannot see it!
Q: My sidebars are empty, how do I fix it?
A: The sidebars are 100% Widgetized! You must add components inside your wordpress administration! See Step #3 of the Install doc.
Q: How do I change the header image?
A: Inside your wp-content/themes/BANS-WordPress/images/ folder, there is a blank header.jpg file. Open the file, create your own header graphic on top of it, save it and upload to your server in the same location.
Q: How can I put the store categories into the sidebar?
A: If you want your store menu in the sidebar, open the appropriate file WordPress theme folder. wp-content/themes/BANS-WordPress/
I am using the Left sidebar in this example, but both files are literally identical, with exception to the nade of the started div and dynamic sidebar reference.
Look at the code and you will see:
(Note: for the rsidebar.php file, the opening div will be “rsidebar”)
Open this sidemenutext.zip text file, and insert the code as pictured below:
The $bansurl variable with the main store do not pull (I have tried, if someone knows how, please tell me) into this file, even after calling the vars file. You MUST replace the domain section with your own store information.
You may also wish to the default name of th store, between the <h2> tags.
Save the file and you are done.
NOTE: This type of store menu force ANY widgets you add to the cooresponding sidebar to show BELOW your store menu.
Q: I do not understand the upload process, can you explain better?
A: Image of BANS on Root :: Image of BLOG on Root
Q: How do I use Widgets in the Sidebars?
A: Answer Pending
Q: Can I remove the search box from the header?
A: Answer pending
Q: Can I make the Header section shorter, its too tall!?
A: Answer pending
Q: Will this theme work with BANS or the Blog in the Root of the domain?
A: Yes - When defining the URL’s in the pathvars.php file, just use the correct locations. In addition, the theme was coded for the BANS store to be in the root, so if you do it with a BLOG in the root, you will need to edit the following code:
Q: How do I change the Text in the Header Area?
A: Answer pending
Q: If I move my BANS content to WordPress, What are the Risks?
A: Answer pending
Q: How do I change the header banner?
A: Answer pending
Q: Does it really only take 5 minutes to install?
A: Yes. The install is only 5 minutes… customization of the site itself may take much longer, depending on how you want your site to look. I converted an older site to this theme and literally spent 3-5 hours making everything look the way I wanted with a custom header graphic, different content pages etc. The install portion however, only took 5 minutes.
BANS-WordPress Theme BugList
None yet…
206 Responses to “New BANS-WordPress Theme Ready for Action!”
Way cool!! This will be great for all of my existing BANS sites that I want to convert asap and postpone the “decorating” and logo/color matching etc til later.
Couple of questions: what is a “flyout horizontal menu”? I clicked on the sample and thought I’d get something cool flying around the room, but guess that’s not it… ;-)
The other thing is BreadCrumb navigation - what is that and why is it good?
Thanks again Mark, you’re awesome!
Oh - one more question… will we be able to use this as the base of our site, and add different WP themes that we like, or is that going to require a lot of code-torture on someone’s part?
Nice theme, I might actually get this one when I have some time to work on the installation. Even though I only need 5 minutes. :smile:
Mark,
This is the one, a perfect blend of a blog and using BANS without losing the store feel, I like the keyword tags too! Thank you!
D navarro
What a great looking template! I love it! I especially like the drop-down menu when my mouse hovers over the ‘Shop’ menu link. Well done!!!
Rochelle
Mark,
Your like red wine - you just keep getting better and better. Besides your age (lol).
This rocks, I just gotta pay you and test it out. It’s moola in the bank. Dam, it’s as good as those chimera templates. And thanks for your efforts in making bans addons a great affiliate marketing tool.
>>>First, you don’t really want to convert templates on your own due to the technical aspect and second<<<
Does this mean your dropping the template series? I hope not, I’m learning a lot from it.
Bob
@ Bob -
NO! not at all… I will actually pick right back up again tomorrow.
I needed to step back and figure out a way to make it easier to understand for everyone, from those with no html experience, to those with a wide array of html, php skillsets etc.
The result is a single post… 16 sections long (so far) that walks through each individual step, one by one.
Mark
Cool! I love the template and I’ll have something to look forward to when I get back from visiting my daughter in Brooklyn. Thanks once again Mark. I still don’t know how you get so much done in the same amount of hours I have every day.
Sherrin
Hey Mark, how tough is it to switch out the blog categories and BANS categories? I’d prefer the store categories on one of the rails and the blog cagetories on the horizontal bar (or maybe archives).
How tough would that be with this template? I’m hoping it would be as simple as swapping a couple lines of code.
@ Josh -
Do you mean… Showing the store categories on the left-sidebar, like it does when you are in the store pages?
Mark
Well, seeing the widgetized sidebars, maybe I’m asking for a lot. Too bad. I’d really like to get those store categories a bit more prominent from the homepage…
@ Josh -
Easy to do Josh… I will email you for testing purposes, then we can post the file to the FAQ section above.
Mark
Whoops, I think our comments overlapped. Yes! Like it is on the store pages.
This has got to be the easiest set of instructions - and yet I messed up - somewhere .. somehow .. i have the wordpress blog installed on my existiing domain. Have unzipped and uploaded all the files-changed the pathvars.php file, done step 2. Step 3 - can’t see the template and the message at the bottom that says Broken Theme - stylesheet missing .. but I see it in the Cpanel .. any suggestions? Ive redone it a few times.
thanks
I don’t understand the widgets thing. I get the part about having to add them to see the sidebars, but it seems the only things we can put in them are the same old lame WP widgets, many of them repetitive.
Are there other widgets we could be adding into the sidebars, like there are a zillion plugins out there, and I want more choice of widgets. Does this exist?
Got a couple of sites and have just got into playing around with the CSS files, so my experiance is pretty limited. Exactly how easy is itto install the template and tweek it to my own requirements (colours, pictures etc).
thanks,
Phil
I’ve learned so much from your site Mark that it’s long past time I bought something from you. This looks perfect for converting a lot of my existing stock.
I’ve taken a look at the test site and one thing I noticed is that the blog search does not appear to function correctly. Also, how easy is it to take this out altogether?
Going to buy this what I call a module now-plus your search module to find out what people are looking for-you are A MACHINE! do not stop!
John
@ Alice -
Thats the beauty of WordPress… ANY sidebar widgets will work sitewide!
@ Mike -
You are correct… I fixed it on the download files as well as a different test site I put it on. I guess I need to correct it there as well! LOL
Got the new theme last night and got it installed.. working great so far other than me needing to learn more about WP!!!
Mark, thanks for the answers on email… thought maybe posting this question here may help others..
There are 2 search boxes.. one for your products and one for the blog..
Is there any way, easy way, to label the search box on the top right column to read “Search Our Blog” or something simular?
Of course when you are on the Blog, it only has that one search box, but when you’re on your products page and the blog listings are on the right.. i’m wondering if people will get the 2 search boxes confused and search for products using the blog seach box?
any thoughts?
thanks!
@ Jeffleft -
You could actually change the word Search… to Search Blog…
You need to make the change in two places.
Blog header.php file inside the BANS-Wordpress theme and inc-bans-header.php inside the blog root.
Look for:
value=”Search…”
Within the form around line 19 in the blog header file and line 10 in the inc-bans-header file. Just change the word Search… to anything you want!
Great question - thanks!
Mark
Sweet, that worked!! BUT : ) I guess i should have been more specific.. I was talking about the box on the right side of the website.. not the one at the top.. but what you gave me worked great!
But is there a way to edit the one on the right? It’s actually a button.. here’s a pic of it..
http://i35.tinypic.com/2rg1fn8.jpg
Thanks for all your help!
@ Jeffleft -
I see… you have added the widget search to a sidebar. That is the WordPress search box versus BANS. It is actually the same as the top search box…
I have the code to put a small store search on the sidebar, just working on how to deliver the info easiest.
Mark
Found the free widget store! For others like me who are clueless about WP and widgets etc, I found a site with a whole lotta widgets that can be added. It’s here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/WordPress_Widgets
More can be found by searching on wp widgets. I don’t know why widgets aren’t as prominently displayed as plugins, but now I know where to go to get MORE MORE MORE! :)
UGGG>>>> Jeff slaps his head for about the 10th time today!! I totally missed that one Mark.. Sorry.. I need to just spend about a week making myself more familiar with WP.
Thanks for all your help!!!!!! Mucho appreciated!
Thanks for the find Alice!!
@ Jeff - I hear ya man… another new product to learn about!
Mark
This was very easy to install. But, of course, I have a question:
What code should I look for so I can make the header area shorter? I do not want to add any images so want to remove some of that white space.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
In your WordPress theme files, open the style.css file and find the reference for:
#top
It is the height attribute.
After you change the height, you should also add an overflow;hidden to the #top style reference. If your header image is still 180 tall, it will bump the menu position down.
Mark
Grabbed the template and have to say this one’s worth every penny. I couldn’t get on with the Studiopress themes at all and this one being fully widgetized is sweet and much more friendly. I think BANS is really suited to left and right sidebars.
@Mark,
Thanks! I played around with some of the other code, after starting with the #top, and now have my header just the way I want it :)
Rochelle
I am getting ready to setup a new BANS/Blog site and will use this template for it. Do I need to install BANS on the root for this to work? Or does it matter?
Rochelle
I’d be interested to know what you did Rochelle (beyond what mark mentioned.) I’d like to shorten my header some and I’m wondering what I might run into after shortening the height parameter.
@ Rochelle -
Glad it worked out! The location of the BANS or Blog software will not matter, but you DO need to check the header file for the links that are hardcoded. They are set for BANS on the root…
I just installed on a site with the blog in root, and just removed the Home and Blog links from the header.php on the blog theme, and inc-bans-header in the main root.
Mark
@Josh,
Here are the changes I made:
- #top height: 85px;
- #hdrleft margin-top: 10px;
I believe those are the only changes I made.
Rochelle
Mark,
I purchased this one late last night and got it running this afternoon after my Day Job! It works and looks GREAT! Way easy to set up! It really did take about 10 minutes total. Next time will take 5.
It will help me out alot because I do have several sites that have a seperate blog attached!
Thanks again!
Thanks Rochelle! I’m going to make some changes tonight.
OK, I haven’t uploaded or edited anything yet and I’m already in trouble. This particular site is my original BANS site so it’s the rootiest of root sites. I have BANS on the root and WP in the blog folder.
Am I supposed to upload the theme before I start editing? Because Step 1 says to edit pathvars.php and I have no clue where that is. It looks like its in the new set of files, but I didn’t read where I was supposed to upload anything.
And for this site, is its root file the public_html file itself? Someone please help - I have no idea how to even start this one!!
Thanks.
PS - did you know there’s only 133 days until Christmas?? LOL!
Hello Mark,
I wasn’t sure where to upload what because the instructions are not clear to me so I guessed. Loged into wp and the Bans wordpress theme when selected runs into a file not found. Look’s like I have some files in the wrong spots. Don’ t have a clue where to start. Help!
happytshirts.com is the site
Thanks,
Walt
Walt,
I went to your site and you have a “Internal Server Error”
I got a “Internal Server Error” yesterday when
I had http://domain.com where it should be http://domain/shop …I had them switched in the pathvars.php file.
Rick
How do I change the text In the header Title
“Garages Supplies
Garage Doors,Floors and Equipment”
on my site: garagesworld.com.
I wish this template came with default sidebars……I’m spending a lot of time figuring what and how to put stuff in the sidebars.
Rick
Mark…could you develop a template that writes its own content too…that would be pretty helpful.
After that…could you please design one that will mow my grass once a week too.
Thanks.
Can we make this a troll-free zone?? There’s plenty of that crap on other boards. Those of us who are new to this stuff paid our money and appreciate all the support we get from the wonderfully generous people who are so good with us newbies.
The rest of you who don’t like all the questions can STFU.
All I can say is wow.
My comment was meant as a joke but apparently some hyper sensitive people here.
Mark…I apologize…wasn’t my intention….of course feel free to delete whatever.
@Alice,
I’m not sure which post(s) you are referring to, but if it is Bill’s, I took his comment different than you may have. I took it as he meant Mark is so good at building helpful templates that perhaps he could make the next one better by doing what Bill asked for. I did not think he was criticizing people for asking questions.
Rochelle
Thank You Alice..
Thanks Rochelle…dead on.
Mark is the man…..no question…..in strictly a heterosexual sort of way of course.
Not that their is anything wrong with that. ;-)
@Mark, could you explain your comment:
” but you DO need to check the header file for the links that are hardcoded. They are set for BANS on the root…
I just installed on a site with the blog in root, and just removed the Home and Blog links from the header.php on the blog theme, and inc-bans-header in the main root”
I just installed it on a new site with WP in the root, and the site is messed up. Which lines exactly need to be removed from the header.php, and which header file needs to be checked for hardcoded links? And how do I tell which ones are hardcoded?
Thanks!
Moving content from BANS to WP - any risks??
My oldest BANS site is well-indexed with lots of content pages. I’d like to move them over to the WP side, but I’m worried about those empty pages in BANS, or missing pages if I delete them, will cause problems when the search engines come back and find that everything has moved.
Is there a risk of a duplicate content slap if I just move the content over to WP? Will I get dinged for broken links, missing pages, or whatever? What is the best way to handle the indexed content?
Thanks.
I have a 468×60 banner that I put into the spot for it in the BANS header as well as the blog header. It shows up fine in the store side, but not on the WP side. Identical code in the same assigned spots in the two headers, so I don’t understand why one works and the other doesn’t.
http://www.christmasvillagesonline.com
http://www.christmasvillagesonline.com/blog
Its the Xmas countdown in the header.
@ Alice
Re moving to wordpress all you need to do is use the redirect plugin once you’ve swapped over. Mark has a video on this site to show how it works.
@ Alice
Re the banner - most likely you’ve saved it to the wrong place. It should be in the wordpress images folder. If not try a different format e.g. if it’s a jpg try gif, for whatever reason this has made a difference for me in the past.
Thanks Mike. I don’t recall that video with the redirect info in it. Does anyone know which of the many many videos ;-) it is?? I thought I’d seen all of them, and that just doesn’t ring a bell. I guess I was so excited about “1. BANS or Blog on the Domain Root - no need to Redirect! ” above that I might have spaced over it?? Anyway, since it looks like redirects are needed after all, I’d appreciate it if someone could tell where the video is that explains it.
On the other thing, its my banner that’s the problem, not an image (haven’t gotten that far yet). Mark left spaces in the two header files for a 468×60 banner code to just get dropped in, which is what I did. I didn’t get the file wrong - he put in comments in both files that say PUT IT HERE so it’s kinda hard to get that wrong… I just don’t know why it looks normal on the store header and screwy on the BANS side. Any ideas on why that is?
I’m not finding this the 5 minute experience that others seem to have found…
@ Alice
http://www.thenichestorebuilder.com/dealing-with-404-errors-after-moving-bans-off-the-domain-root.htm
I’ve posted the link but I think its been trapped by Marks filter. The post was made August 12th Dealing with 404 Errors
Never mind - I found it! For those of us who were napping when the redirect video came out because we thought we wouldn’t need it, it’s here:
http://bansempire.com/redirect/redirect.html
Looks pretty simple to do once you set up the Redirect plugin. Too bad I already deleted some of my old content pages after I copied them into the WP side :(
well i have totally screwed up here-got blog looking ok-but when i view bans template i have half the site showing with http errors-Help Mark need one of your videos-have never messed up like this before-know it is something easy to fix-I am in Aussie at 9.30pm at night-maybe need to wait until the morning when we are half way up to the world–and my mind can surface-Thanks for your help in the past
John
@Alice,
You have done a really nice job with your Christmas village site. Well done on including a paragraph of relevant text on each store page.
Rochelle
Whew… Got some answering to do huh?
@ Alice - having shared many conversations with Bill, I don’t think he meant any ill will with his message above. When I read it late last night, I actually chuckled a few times and didnt take it as negative in any way.
@ All - It looks like the biggest issue is making the upload process easy to understand. Its such a hard process to explain and I got the same feedback from my wife Kim when she tested the template for me (With helmet on, of course)
I will put together a short video of it this afternoon to try and ease the process.
@ Alice - I am going to answer all of your questions as part of the FAQ above, in case others want to do the same thing. It will make it easier for everyone to see the answers in one spot.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed in trying to help all of us find the answers also!
Mark
@ All -
I have added the FAQ for the locations of the file uploads. Please review and see if that helps understand the locations better.
Mark
@ Rochelle - thanks for the compliment! This is my very first BANS site that I put together last Oct/Nov when I was starting my annual Christmas frenzy. I’m a card-carrying Christmas nut and Village addict so this site was easy and fun and I put tons of time into it (which really does pay off folks!!). Its one that I’m paranoid about messing with because its working so well.
@ Mark - thanks for all your time in explaining, and fixing, and explaining again, and videoing, and being so calm and professional about it all. The FAQ will be a real asset and hopefully reduce the frustration level that us newbies are feeling when things that seem easy don’t work they way they should. If I can be honest, I think the problem is that you’re so advanced at this stuff that you skip over the really basic obvious things. The file upload issue is a perfect example.
That really IS the easiest part, and even I eventually figured it out. But I have to laugh when I watch some of the videos and listen to you use more technical terms that sound scary but actually are pretty wooosie. For example, in quite a few you say things like “the file will resolve in the root of the blog” and I’m going “what the HELL does THAT mean??” And eventually I find out all it means that the file needs to be moved from A to B, and that’s where it will to do its thing.
With stuff like this, explanations really need to be tailored toward the lowest common denominator. This is hard to do if you’re an advanced player at this. You can’t take for granted that people will already know something, but as we have amply shown you, it isn’t the case. While it may annoy the more advanced users, most of them don’t even need instructions to figure out how to get it to work. And since most of them already have their sites up and running, while the rest of us are stuck with dead or malfunctioning sites, I’m not going to worry my pretty little head about them. ;-)
For most of us who have jumped on the BANS bandwagon, this is serious stuff that involves some real money. In my case some of my sites are contributing sizable portions of the income I live off of. So you bet I’m going to be tense when anything jeopardizes that. I suspect others are in the same position. We’re trying the best we can without the skills to do what’s needed,
@ Bill - I apologize for jumping on you. But look at it this way. You came from out of no where on this thread with bare-assed text with some sarcastic-looking remarks. There is no way to tell in this medium what a person’s intent was or what they really meant. I don’t know you so can’t judge whether you’re a nice guy or a jerk. All I know is that you haven’t offered any help to anyone on this thread, and obviously are one of the people who had no trouble with this stuff. Add it up and it looks and smells like a troll. Maybe if you’d thrown an emoticon in there it would have conveyed what you really meant…
Anyway, enough of me blathering. I’m still puzzled about why that 468 x 60 banner inside the headers isn’t working. Now the one that was working yesterday (the one in the store) has quit, so no Christmas countdown anywhere. :( The script for that banner is where it’s supposed to be, and it was working in the pre-change BANS store…
Mark,
I have figured out how to edit most aspects of this template, but I want to change the color of the navbar (the blue bar near the top that has the ‘Home,’ ‘Shop,’ and ‘Blog’ links). Where do I go to edit this?
I also thought it might be an image, but if so, I can’t find it. Please help…
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
I actually kept the NAV bar settings in a separate file in the /inc/ folder…
When you open the navdrop.css file (Must be edited outside wordpress) the first line, #nav, controls the background colors of the menu bar. There are additional styling options in there as well.
FYI - I kept them separate to segregate the functions of the navbar udring my testing and when merged with the main style sheet, the menus get jacked up.
Mark
Mark, the site I upgrated to this theme had your search mod to show popular searches installed.. I realize that is gone now but can I go back through the process with this theme and it still work as before?
Also, I wanted to add my sitemap to the bar as a “page” but the permalink is default to mysite.com/blog
would i just need to make a new page in WP with my sitemap contents or what would be the best way to do that if i wanted it in the top bar? As of now i have it as a link on the left side which i guess would work just fine..
Thanks!
@Mark,
Ah! I never thought to look in the other folder. Thank you! That did it : )
Rochelle
OK - So I have a whole friggin post typed in here and the screen refreshed on me! See, it happens to me also! LOL
@ Rochelle - In your wordpress theme folder, you will find an inc/ folder. inside, there is a second stylesheet (segregated on purpose) that controls the nav bar. navdrop.css . The first line, #nav, controls the menu background colors.
@ Alice - I completely understand being overwhelmed with different terms in regard to html, php and web hosting.
I try to use “Industry Standard” terminology as much as possible though for a reason. If you are going to do this type of work, you need to understand those terms. At any given time, I may have 3-5 different applications running on a site… most of them have to have a reference to the root of the domain or even the root of the application in order to function properly. i wont even get into database paths, file paths etc.
Imagine for a second that you grabbed a new application from somewhere else, even a forum or blog, and it said… “Must be installed in the root of the domain”! If I had been referring to it as the base, or the beginning point, or any other term… you would think I was a blithering idiot all this time for calling it something different! :-)
Root in the sense of websites is just the base file structure for whatever the root is being referenced.
For instance:
www .thewebsite .com/ = root of a website
www .thewebsite .com/blog/ = root of a blog
www . thewebsite .com /forum/ = root of forum
c:\ = root of your hard drive
Root is just a standard term… that is even referenced in the BANS manual for how to install the software.
@ Jeffleft
For the public sitemap, I would just shoot a url into the sidebar, or you COULD add a page in wordpress and then edit the permalink after the page is setup.
For the xml sitemaps… footer links only, if any at all! The xml sitemap is ONLY used for search engine spiders, thus once you have submitted it to them, there is no need to display publicly.
Mark
@Josh,
I just realized I did a lot more editing to make the top shorter. Here is a complete list of what I did (some are additions to the original code, others are edits):
#top {
height: 85px;
.blogtitle:hover{
padding:10;
top-padding:10px;
#hdrleft {
height: 50px;
margin-top: 10px;
/* #hdrad {
float: right;
height: 30px;
width: 468px;
margin-top: 15px;
margin-right: 0px;
} */
I hope this helps. Sorry about any confusion my earlier reply may have caused.
Rochelle
Mark - the file structure graphics are very helpful! You may want to note that the root file structure might look different, i.e., less clean, in real life. For example on my Christmas site, since it was the original site set up, it’s root is public_html which not only has the Christmas site’s BANS (and now blog) files but it’s also chock full of several dozen sub-domain folders.
And another point, the file structure graphics imply that if you just get the files into the right spots, it doesn’t matter if BANS is in the root or WP it will work either way. Your bullet points at the start of this suggest the same. However in response to Rochelle’s question above, you replied
but you DO need to check the header file for the links that are hardcoded. They are set for BANS on the root…
I just installed on a site with the blog in root, and just removed the Home and Blog links from the header.php on the blog theme, and inc-bans-header in the main root”
Which tells me that this ISN’T either/other as implied, that if you want to use it with WP in the root some file modifications are needed. I asked a question on this point earlier, and I know you’ve been busy with lots of other questions. But this is kind of important since a lot of us have both established BANS sites as well as new domains we’re setting up that have WP in the root. If we have to modify files for the latter scenario hopefully you can clarify what is needed. :)
I don’t have a problem with industry terminology - and it wasn’t the work “root” I had a problem with. I’d love to get a little more education on the technical side of this. I’ve looked at lots of websites that have descriptive info, but none of the ones I’ve found cover the subject well enough for newbies. They tend to be too specific on micro-subjects. I wonder if there’s a … For Dummies book on this? And just exactly what is “this”?? PHP? CSS? Something else? I’d definitely read something if it covered what I needed to know. I have no interest in spending a lot of time messing with code, but I sure wish I understood the basics of getting this tool working properly!
@Josh,
I just realized that after I edited the header using the above tweaking, it looks perfect in IE but the navbar doubles in height when seen in FF.
With some guidance from Mark, I have figured out (partially) how to resolve this. Go to blog / wp-content / themes / BANS-WordPress / incs and edit the navdrop.css file as follows:
#nav, #nav ul {
height: 31px;
This will make the navbar the proper height in both FF and IE. However, in IE, there now remains whitespace where the excess color previously was.
If anyone knows how to fix this, so there is no excess white space under the navbar in IE, please share.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
It looks like you left the hdrright div at 160 px.
Mark
Updated several of the FAQ.
Mark
Q: Will this theme work with BANS or the Blog in the Root of the domain?
The answer works great but more is needed. I assume the BANS header.php also needs to change?
@Alice
Regarding PHP and understanding some of the basics, I came across this site which has tutorials on PHP and other topics.
http://www.killerphp.com/
I can’t attest to the quality of the material, since I am just getting into it myself. Let me know if you find it useful.
OK, I found my problem and it was the pathpars.php file in the wrong place. It should be in the root of the site like Mark says. I couldn’t find the forest because of so many trees.
After that an error in the pathpars file took the site to a wet t-shirt contest so got some entertainment along the way.
Walt
Good php tutorials here also: http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627
@ Mike - You are correct.. the page title needs to be changed to the different addresses. I will update…
Thank you.
@ Walt - No wonder it took you so long to get back!
Mark
The FAQ is looking good Mark!
I actually have a code question (!!!!!). My sidebars have black font color and a deep red “visited” color which makes the text invisible. I’d like to change the text color when visited to white. I think the code should be here:
#sidebar { margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: right; width: 200px; }
.rsidebar { margin:0; padding:0;float: right; width: 180px; }
.rsidebar a, .sidebar h2 a:visited{ color: #990000; text-decoration: none; font-weight:bold; }
.rsidebar a:hover{ text-decoration: none; color: #000; }
.rsidebar ul{ list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0;}
in that third line I think? But I don’t know what to put into make it happen: is it
font color: #ffffff; or
font-color: #ffffff; or
????
I tried a couple of variations and it didn’t make the text change to white when the line was “visited.” I don’t want to change the color for hover or anything else, just the “visited” text color. Obviously its something really easy that I’m missing here…
Thanks!
Ok, Mark set me straight on how to resolve my white space issue. Along with the edits I explained previously, also do the following in styles.css:
#hdrright
height: 50px;
Rochelle
To anyone who wants to change the copyright date in the footer from 2007 to an autoupdating date (i.e. it will automatically update each January 1st to the new year), follow the instructions found at http://www.nichestorestrategies.com/how-to-have-your-sites-date-automatically-update-each-year/
Rochelle
Rochelle, wow. Sounds like the header change was a workout! Actually, I just followed the earlier instructions and it seems to look fine. Am I crazy? want to take a look at slot-car-auctions .com and tell me what you see (I know the header has an image in it right now and I pulled the feed/search. I’ll fix that stuff later)
Here’s all I did:
- #top height: 85px;
- #top overflow: hidden;
- #hdrleft margin-top: 10px;
Maybe it is screwed up in a platform I can’t see? (I’m at work with IE6. I also looked at it on my Mac at home in FF and Safari)
@Josh,
I tried to look at your site but I am not getting an actual site when I go to slot-car-auctions .com.
Your fix may work just as well as mine. Let me know if there was an error in your URL and I will take a look in IE7 and FF2.
Rochelle
Oh, sorry Rochelle. You need to take the space out. I put it there so it wouldn’t trigger the blog filter to await moderation.
Couple of problems.
One, the alinks plugin doesn’t appear on the plugin page when uploaded. I can see in ftp that the file uploaded, I’ve refreshed the screen, and it is NOT in the plugin list. This happened on both sites that I’ve convered with this theme. Any ideas?? I love that plugin!
The store cats that appear in the right sidebar - I guess there’s no way to get rid of them in Store view but let them show in WP view? Otherwise there are store cats in both sidebars and it looks weird.
Thanks!
Hi Mark,
Great job with the blending!
Any idea what’s going on here? I figured out a similar message but this one has me stumped.
Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.classicbritishcarauctions.com/shop/inc-store-menu.php) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found in /home/blbgator/public_html/inc-bans-header.php on line 38
My WP is in the root and BANS is in a “Shop” folder.
Plugin issue is common. It’s not FTP’d correctly, you need to go deeper into the folder structure.
Sidebar can be fixed by removing the appropriate code. It probably is something like inc-store-menu.php or something similar. Just take it out of whichever sidebar file you don’t want it in.
@Alice,
I have had similar experiences with plugins. In my case, it was because I uploaded the plugin that was contained in a folder.
In other words, this was the folder hierarchy that I uploaded, which was wrong: wp-content / plugins / name-of-plugin / name-of-plugin / contents of plugin folder
In the above example, the plugin is inside an extra folder. Sometimes extracting a plugin from its zipped folder will place the plugin inside an extra folder.
If that makes sense, check for this. The way to resolve it is to take the deeper (inside) folder and contents out of the extra (outer) folder, then upload it again.
Rochelle
@Josh,
Doh! I did not notice the space… I will take a look later (I’m getting ready right now to take my six-year-old to see the new Clone Wars movie).
Rochelle
@ Marty -
When I try to access the http://classicbritishcarauctions.com/shop/inc-store-menu.php file in the browser, it returns a 404.
Check in your cPanel to be sure it is there.
Mark
@ Alice -
In regard to the store categories in both sidebars… The BANS store menu is only coded to show in the left sidebar, and only on the BANS side of the site. (Not on wordpress pages)
Did you code it in using the FAQ above?
Mark
@ Mark-
I’m not sure if the code was in the FAQ or if you put it in a response to someone’s question because they wanted to add store categories to the WP sidebar. I thought it sounded cool too so I added it to mine. I like it in the blog side, but obviously don’t want in the the shop side since I’ve already got the store cats there. But I guess these are one-size-fits-all sidebars, and you can’t specify that it show a widget on the blog side but not on the store side. Right?
@ Bill & Rochelle -
You are right in that it seems to be a deep-into-folder-hell issue. I’ve noticed that with some of the plugins, additional layers somehow multiply in the night and was what initially a plugin/necessary files structure turns into plugin/plugin/plugin/necessary files structure.
Periodically I have to “de-layer” some plugins so I don’t upload buried app files. But this one seems pretty clean. It’s just the plugin folder which contains 3 additional necessary folders + the alinks.php file.
Well, I deleted it and am re-downloading it and see if that clears it up.
When I go to my website (http://www.garagesworld.com)
with the www it changes to (http://garagesworld.com)
The www drops out…I checked a couple of sites listed here and it does the same thing.
Is there anyway to fix this.
Also my site is looking a little better, I think, I still have a lot of content etc..to add. I’m still playing and experimenting, any suggestions would be appriciated.
I sure would like to know how to change the text in the header title.
Rick
Never Mind ..I found out how to fix it.
Mark,
That was it, thanks. I should have caught that one myself!
With that fixed another challenge reared it’s head.
Now I see my categories are listed on
http://classicbritishcarauctions.com/shop/inc-store-menu.php
page but clicking any link returns a 404.
I have installed the redirection manager in WP but none of my category links on my “shop” page return any path just 404’s so it’s not possible at this point for me to redirect.
Since moving my Bans from the root I haven’t been able to find the path to any of my pages except the main page in Bans.
What file controls linking to the proper page from the drop down menu?
@ Marty -
Reload your BANS .htaccess file intot he root of your bans store, this usually fixes it right up.
in your case, it will go into the shop/ folder.
Mark
Say, anyone know where I need to go to change the wording seen in the blog search box? It currently reads, “Search…” but I want to play around with the wording but I am not sure where to go to do this.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
Jeffleft had asked that also…
You could actually change the word Search… to Search Blog…
You need to make the change in two places.
Blog header.php file inside the BANS-Wordpress theme and inc-bans-header.php inside the blog root.
Look for:
value=”Search…”
Within the form around line 19 in the blog header file and line 10 in the inc-bans-header file. Just change the word Search… to anything you want!
Mark
Which files contain the code to edit the header? I uploaded my custom logo header, and need to move the navbartop, blog title, and blog description sections. I can’t find these in either the theme style.css or header.php files… what files are these in?
I want to move the text pieces around, change font colors/sizes, and move the navbartop preferably out of the header completely. I’m using Firebug so I know what the code is supposed to look like, I just can’t find anything similar in the 2 files I’m looking in.
Thanks for any help!
To change the name of the Search box in the header in the store to say Search Blog, so you have to change the name to Search Blog everywhere you see the word Search in those files? I just changed it where it said
but didn’t change of the “Search” references in the code just before it:
Should these be changed too? And do I need to do anything special because its a 2-word phrase now?
Thanks!
OK, I got most of the answers to my Search box problems worked out, except that I can’t figure out how to delete the blog search box and rss feed icon from the BANS header. I got rid of them on the blog side, but there are still remnants showing on the BANS store header and I can’t find where the code lives to get rid of it. Can anyone help?
Thanks!
Another website, another installation… This time I’m installing it on a site with the blog in the root and BANS in the shop folder. When I did the edits for this, and tried to activate the theme in WP, I got the following fatal error:
Can you tell me what this means? I haven’t even gotten into it to do the regular installation edits, so haven’t had a chance to mess up other files yet!
@ Alice -
In regard to:
It means you need to activate the plugins. The wp_ozh_wsa is included in the download and needs to be activated in your plugin admin of wordpress.
Mark
HELP! I just did another conversion of one of my older sites, and I didn’t notice that it was still BANS 2.0. I followed all the directions and when I got to the step about setting the store menu to Staggered (which 2.0 doesn’t have) that I realized what happened.
I took a look at the store, and there are these error messages all over the store home page:
Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/greatest/public_html/oldjeanshome/cont/Mysql.php on line 146
Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/greatest/public_html/oldjeanshome/cont/Mysql.php on line 146
Fatal error: Call to undefined method FRONTCONTROL::searchnoadvanced() in /home/greatest/public_html/oldjeanshome/inc-store-search.php on line 87
I have no idea what it wants, or how to fix it. Someone please please help!!
Thanks,
Alice
@Alice,
If I were you, I would backup my BANS database, then upgrade the site to v3. Then see if things are ok.
Or, you could remove the blog files, then try upgrading your site (still backup your database first).
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. This is one of my oldest stores and a good money maker and I can’t believe I did that! Hopefully the update will go well and I can pick up where I left off. :)
@ Alice -
I have done the same several times… Download the BANS 2.0-3.0 EPN update and install it.
BANS is still completely separate from WP on these sites and none of your files will be affected.
Mark
Hello,
Anyone else having “Internal Server 500″ errors after installing this template? I followed the installation instructions but since then all of my other sites (they’re all hosted with Hostagtor) have been returning either “Internal Server Error” messages or “Page 404″ error messages.
The site I was working on with the new template was a cruise site. After I installed etc: I took a break from that site and made a couple of posts to my http://www.simplegolfswing.org site and my http://www.fieldsofanfieldroad.com site. Both of these returned the error message. I have posted a “help” sort of message in the BANS forum but as yet I have not had a reply.
So I sent a support ticket to Hostagor to see if they could shed any light. Below is the second reply I got from them (I didn’t understand the first one fully). This is their response:
“Your rewrite rules are incorrect and you are getting a lot of hits to this file:
nicheinf 9996 0.5 0.3 25952 12952 ? S 17:07 0:00 | \_ /usr/bin/php /home/nicheinf/public_html/cruise-lines/index.php
Which is causing you to go over the 25 process limit. You will get a 500 internal server error if you go over 25 processes and this seems to be the issue along with the rewrite rules.
If you continue to see the error please give us the domains in question.”
In short it appears that trying to set up my cruise site has thrown all of my others (I have since checked three of my other BANS sites other than Simple Golf Swing and Fields Of Anfield Road and they have been affected as well).
I have since taken down the BANS/Wordpress cruise site and replaced it with something else temporarily.
Has anyone else had the same problem?
Regards
Frank
@ Frank -
I have not seen the problem myself… and have the template running on more than 6 sites right now.
If you want to shoot me over the info for the site via the contact form above, I would be glad to look into your cPanel and see if I can help.
Mark
Whew! All done, and all’s well. That’s a relief!! Its good to know I’m not the only one who does this kind of thing… ;)
I have 2 questions. Now that I’ve figured out how to get rid of the search box and RSS signup in the header, I’m uploading the custom headers for these sites. After adjusting the size to fit the smaller space in BANS-WP, it looks great and then I can decorate the rest of the site to match the colors of my original custom templates.
But one problem is what to do with blog titles and descriptions that are in the left header spot. I want that info left there so the bots can find it and use the info, but I don’t want to leave it stuck on my gorgeous custom header.
If I make it the same color as the header and/or make the font tiny so that its still there but invisible, won’t Google get suspicious and ding me? Can I relocate it without totally trashing the template (not sure how I’d do this - relocating it, I mean)??
Another issue has to do with the template. The store categories that show are all looking the same hierarchically. The bullet points all line up exactly, whether it’s on a high level cat or a sub category. And the background color is the same for everything, whether an h2 or a lower ranked heading. How can I fix this?
Thanks!
Alice
@ Alice -
In regard to downsizing your header text… or hiding it with the same color font. DONT DO IT. If you dont want it there, then remove it from the template.
Back in the days when search engines were not smart, you COULD do that stuff. I would not risk it anymore.
Either resize it to fit into your nice new header like I did on the getaracecar site, or remove it completely. The other methods you mentioned are very forbidden.
In regard to the menus, the site should use the closed or staggered look, otherwise it can carry on forever in some of the larger categories, purely your own choice though.
You can experiment in the styles..css o fthe theme with the sidebar styles to get the look you want in regard to staggered menu etc. But since you are not just a BANS site anymore, it may have an effect on the WP menus as well.
Mark
I know that hiding the title is bad, which is why I want to know how to “hide it in plain site.” :) It’s not that I don’t want it, its just that when I do a really cool header it’s a jpg, and the really cool fonts I like to use in the design of course aren’t readable since they’re part of the graphic.
Is there is min font size the title has to be? If I make it a little smaller it would be OK, but at the size it is in the template it fights with the title I have in the graphic header and looks awful.
I like your example, but I don’t have the skills to code it in such a way that it looks good like you did it. And I like something a little, ahem, FANCIER. ;)
@ Alice -
I know exactly what you mean about dressing up the header section… I used to use cool decorative fonts in my headers also. I decided to go with function over form for the search engine benefits truly.
In the style.css of your wordpress theme, you will see two classes that can be edited.
blogtitle - blogdescription.
Mark
My thought would be ditch the title and just make sure you have an H1 tag on every page that is keyword targeted to the page and make sure you use the All in One SEO plugin to customize your page title tags.
I don’t see a downside….am I missing something Mark?
How do I edit the top_wrap and bottom_wrap gif files that cap the top and bottom wrappers? I downloaded them into Photoshop and they refuse to change color to the one I want. No matter what colors I pick as background and foreground in photoshop, when I try to paint the white part all I get is that grayish background color that surrounds the whole site…
How do I edit these? Is there some special lock on them that prevents editing? I’ve changed the color of the wrapper, so I need them to match. and I haven’t had any luck in creating them from scratch myself. :(
@ Bill -
I agree 100% - use the onpage titles for the H1’s… it will actually carry more weight anyhow!
@ Alice -
Try viewing the file properties and make sure they are not opening in 16 color or something like that. If that doesnt work, see if you can convert them to a spd or png, then continue your editing.
The files themselves are just gif’s… but they were encoded/saved in 16 color format.
Mark
well I am lost here-boring for most people-and i really thought i could fix my problems-blog is fine but my bans site has these problems
Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /home/mag15533/public_html/themes/BANS_WordPress/header.php on line 12
Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /home/mag15533/public_html/themes/BANS_WordPress/header.php on line 24
Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.magicanvass.com/blog/inc-bans-sidebar.php) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Success in /home/mag15533/public_html/themes/BANS_WordPress/header.php on line 24
Any help would be appreciated
john
@ John -
From the way it looks, you may have the wrong url in the pathvars.php file.
What is the domain name of the site?
Mark
Thank you for your help Mark-must admit feel a little stupid about this
http://www.magiccanvass.com
Blog http://magiccanvass.com/blog
john
@ John -
Activate the theme i BANS real quick and I will see whats up with it.
Mark
Downloaded the template and installed it, but it hasn’t gone as planned. Its on a site I’m currently in the process of fleshing out, so nothing is lost, but I can’t work out how to get it going.
http://www.buyweddingdresses.co.uk
http://www.buyweddingdresses.co.uk/blog
The store template doesn’t seem to show properly (std bans templates are working fine on this store). On the blog the drop down menus aren’t working.
All the files seem to be the right place, pathvars has been changed and the widgets activated, but still no good. I don’t suppose there are any issues with using a .co.uk domain?
I’m sure I’ve done something wrong, but can’t tell what. Can anyone offer any pointers from looking at the site?
Thanks in advance!
Barry
@ Barry -
Check what you placed in the pathvars.php file.
It looks like you may have included a trailing slash.
Mark
@ Mark -
Thanks for the that.
You are right, there was a trailing slash. I’d changed pathvars so many times it had snuck in there the last time. Thing is I’ve removed them now and it makes no difference at all so it leads me to think the problem is something to do with pathvars.php
Hmmm…..
@ Bill & Mark - thanks for the good news on the name text. Now that I know there’s an alternative to placing it right in the middle of my gorgeous header by using the SEO plugin, I’m soooo happy!
@ Mark - I’ve converted that stupid wrap gif into every file form possible to try to get access to change the color and no go. The only color it will let me change it to is that gray background color. Very weird. I can’t figure out what is blocking access to it.
How did you make it so the curves and angles lined up with the wrapper? Maybe I could do it from scratch if it doesn’t take too much time. Otherwise, it will be square tops & bottoms for those sites!!
@Alice,
If you want rounded corners you will need to edit the images with a photo editor. I used Photoshop to do this.
If you are not familiar with doing this type of photo editing I would not attempt it. While not exactly advanced, it is much harder than basic photo editing.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
I do a lot of work in Photoshop, but just have never done this particular thing before. That’s why I’m asking Mark if there’s something weird about it that won’t let me edit his gifs. It would/should be so easy to just edit what he’s already done.
But that’s the problem - it won’t let me re-color those end-caps to match my wrapper. They are white, and the only color it will let me use is that background gray color.
Hmmm…. I’m wondering if there’s code in the css or something that controls the gif color? Is that possible? I’ve had a quick look and couldn’t spot anything, but that doesn’t mean its not there.
@Alice,
I’m not aware of anything in the styles sheet preventing modification of .gif files. I edited every one of Mark’s images and had no problems with it. But, it does require creating layers, which is why I say it is somewhat advanced.
If interested, you can read about working with rounded corners by searching for instructions on Google.
Rochelle
@ Alice -
It must be a setting on your end… I can open the wrap files and edit them easily without making any changes in my Graphics editor, they are just gif files. They are not protected or css controlled in any way.
I assume you are trying to change your site background color and then match the corners of the header_wrap and footer_wrap files?
You could go the route of making new ones by setting a new file background color to your desired bg color, then using a shape tool set to white, for the curves. Once you have it the way you want it, just flip the file vertically and save it as the footer when you are done.
The new file should be 964 wide by 20 tall.
Mark
Wow…this thread is long!
I REALLY, REALLY like this “seamless” WP/BANS conversion template…looks great.
I have to be honest, I was ready to purchase until I looked at the install instructions and that scared me because of this:
“Installation of this theme pack assumes you have already installed the WordPress blog platform to your new or existing domain. In addition, you have already installed your BANS site and have it working as well”
I’m not that advanced! :D
Eric
@ Eric -
Yes, very long!
The good thing about installing WordPress - is that I already have a video!
Click here.
Mark
@Mark -
What is that gray background that surrounds the website called, and what folder is it in? I want to edit the color and can’t find it anywhere… Thanks!!
Alice -
It is the “body” tag… it is the first entry on the style.css file.
Mark
With a all night work manage to get bans and blog working-however i see my site map on bans is not showing and also my privacy and contact me-i guess this has to be done through Wordpress-guess i need now somewhere to and learn about Wordpress-Bans took me awhile as a newbie-Wordpress looks a bit daunting-any body got any ideas where to go and learn-Thanks for your help Mark
John you now have two sitemaps….
one will be http://www.mysite.com/sitemap.xml
the other will be http://www.mysite.com/shop/sitemap.xml
WP won’t generate it automatically….you need to get and install the sitemap generator plugin. It’s quick and easy to install.
Wordpress is daunting….but you can find literally….12 tons of information on the internet on how to use it. Videos, manuals, blog postings etc. Just google how to use wordpress or wordpress tutorials etc.
Mark,
I like this theme! I think it will work great on a couple of niche sites I’m working on. One question:
How easy would it be to add Adsense to the template? I will be doing individual pages as opposed to a blog (I think). Any plugins you’d suggest to make it easier?
Keep up the great work!
Mark
@ Mark -
Very easy to add adsense! I have even included a plugin that can show ads in the center of each page/post etc.
Aside fromt hat section, you can easily add it via a text widget and apply it to a sidebar wherever you wish.
Mark
Hi Mark,
I purchased the theme and installed it per the instructions. Everything seems to work except I get this error when I click on the “blog” page:
Blog Home
Hello world!
Written by on August 4, 2008 – 8:38 pm -
Fatal error: Call to undefined function the_content_limit() in /home/ruleof72/public_html/MY-SITE-NAME/wp-content/themes/BANS-WordPress/index.php on line 26
Any Ideas? I modified the “pathvars.php” file to have my blog at the root and BANS in the /shop folder. BANS seems to work fine.
Also, how do I get the “HOME” tab to point to my blog instead of the BANS store?
Thanks!
Mark
Mark,
Ignore the first part of my question. I forgot to activate the “limit posts” plugin. Once I did that the error went away. It’s been a long day.
My second question about the “HOME” tab issue is still a question :)
I’m going to bed…Ignore the last question, I found the answer in the FAQ. It’s taken care of and everything seems to be working. Now I just need to pretty things up!
I have installed blog in the root folder and everything works fine only problem I am facing is when I post some articles its not showing the articles which I posted and also the pages I have created not responding. Can you please help me to sort this out? here is my BANS WP blog:
http://www.videogamesresources.com
Waiting for your response.
@ Harris -
Good job on the site!! The header looks great.
In regard to the articles… did you post them in your BANS/Content pages, or did you post blog posts?
When using the wordpress backend for sites, the content pages of BANS are no longer used. If they were already there, they will still be accessible to visitors who may have bookmarked them, but the content pages menu is not called from the blog.
Mark
Mark,
Ok, now that I’m fairly well rested, I’ve got a new question: I want to create a “static” front page called “Home” and have my blog on a seperate page. When I set the static page to “Home” (which I created) I get two home pages on the nav bar. I think I need to fix that by changing something in the header file under the “navbar” section to get the hardcoded “Home” page to go away, but can’t seem to get it to work. I’d also like to reorder the pages on the nav bar so that the “Shop” page is farther to the right.
Thanks!
Mark
Hey Mark, actually I have heavily modified BANS stores and would like to keep those themes. Is it possible to convert them over to WordPress as well? From two of my templates there are already WordPress themes out so I just have to integrate them. How much did you worked on core files of both systems?
I mean do I HAVE to use your theme or can I download any of free themes and it will work with BANS? Thanks for clarifying and have a nice day.
@ Mark -
I think I understand what you are trying to do… use the contact fom and shoot me over a link to the site so I can see it.
@ Manuel -
Almost ANY theme will work with BANS… but if its not been coded yet, it will have to be converted over to wrap the bans platform.
Both applications are 100% independant of each other and the store menu is the only part that gets pulled into WP. Aside from that, they are literally 100% separate. Additionaly, the core file are not touched. :-)
Mark
So I can buy yours, and use the code to put the store pages into any new theme I am doing laters?
@ Manuel -
No… unfortunately, if a bans template is coded for “This wordpress theme” it is the only theme that particular template will work with.
I am always open for theme suggestions… :-)
Mark
Hey Mark Nice template. I Purchased it last night. I have it installed fine but I’m having a problem getting the blog to come up as my front end and have the store come up on the back end! I left the bans in the root and installed WP in a folder. I can access the site fine but the home is the store I want home to be my blog. I changed the pathvar.php file and I tried it both ways bans=blog and bans=bans, but I still can’t get the blog to show up as my home page. Any help would be great.
Mark-
I’ve been catching up on the WP and BANS integration and I’m struggling with a decision and would like your bottom line input.
For my first WP/BANS site, do you recommend I convert and existing non-WP BANS site that’s already up and running (indexed, etc.), or start fresh with a new site? I’m perfectly able to do either as I have some ideas for new sites, but also would love the additional kick a blog would give an existing site.
So from a learning, ease of implementation, etc perspective, if someone is on the fence, which would you recommend?
thanks much
@ Glenn -
If your plan is work on converting your own template.. I would definitely start out with a new domain, with no risk of downtime during the conversion.
If on the other hand, you are going to use a drop in template like this one, the process can go very quickly.
Yesterday, I took an established BANS site off the domain root and moved it to a folder (shop/), added WordPress to the root and had the site completed from start to finish in about 1.5 hours.
There is still additional work in completing the redirects, due to pages being indexed, but aside from that… it was pretty smooth.
Mark
I am having the same problem as Dave (Aug. 24) above. BANS is in root, blog in folder blog but BANS still shows up as index. I have edited pathvar.php but no luck.
As well, the theme seems to break down when you go to the various store pages.
Any thoughts?
Site is at: http://www.guitarsforsaleonline.com/
Doug
Hi Doug -
If BANS is on the root, it is the root application and will always be… The only way to get the blog appearing as your homepage would be to put BANS into a shop/ folder and move the blog to the root of the domain.
Regardless, your blog posts show in the sidebar and will help provide deep indexeing.
In regard to the theme content section being moved down, it is something within your actual BANS code that is set to a width higher than the theme allows. In this case, the image mapped out on your MAIN CONTENT page in BANS is 560 pixels wide, where the div for the content is only 500 wide, so it is bumped down…
Mark
This is a great theme Mark. Really lets me play and modify it to my own needs. So if I understand you correctly I don’t need the content pages anymore from the bans admin but instead using the pages from wp. Also I only use the store page feature of the bans admin…
What I like of this convertion is the use of the headspace2 plugin for wp to set own meta title/descriptions and no more use of the bans admin features.
Hi Mark,
I have been trying to install WP on my BANS site and have been having a terrible time.
I am throughly confused. I think I install the BANS theme in the themes folder of my BANS site, the pathvars.php file on the root of my BANS site.
I am really confused about the WP part of it. I tried copying the folder into my BANS site, but got an error message when I tried to log on. I deleted everything I had added. Are these WP files an add on to WP or is this the whole thing??? I think that this may have been part of my problem, if so. If not, do I need to rename the WP folder to “blog”???
Help!
Yael
Yael -
If you want to shoot me the site info, I am happy to help out.
Mark
Hey Mark, do you mind helping me out finishing my blog? On the home of my blog the store links aren’t showing up. As soon as I click on a shop section the links are there.
Also I have a problem with the logo which is only showing on my home of the blog but not on the store pages…<