WordPress for Dummies – Putting a theme together

stefanjan
(@stefanjan)

15 years, 1 month ago

Hi, I am trying to follow an example in the book “WordPress for Dummies” to create a Theme by creating my own index.php with following files from Twenty ten theme.

I am getting following error when I try to activate or preview my theme.

HTTP Error 500.0 – Internal Server Error
The page cannot be displayed because an internal server error has occurred.

This error message is not very helpful! Is the problem with my code or something else? How do I identify and correct the lines in my code which are causing the problem?

In the book there are differences between the code shown line by line and final version so it’s quite confusing to know what is right.

I am currently hosting locally using Microsoft WebMatrix.

This is the index.php file I created in D:\Documents\My Web Sites\WordPress1\wp-content\themes\mytheme

http://wordpress.pastebin.ca/2045527

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

coopersita
(@coopersita)

15 years, 1 month ago

That type of error is usually a server misconfiguration error. It could be permissions, or setup errors. Can you login to D:\Documents\My Web Sites\WordPress1\wp-admin? Is the TwentyTen theme working?

I doubt it has anything to do with your code.

esmi
(@esmi)

15 years, 1 month ago

That type of error is usually a server misconfiguration error.

But could also easily be caused by a faulty theme/template file. Try looking in your server’s error log for clues.

Thread Starter stefanjan
(@stefanjan)

15 years, 1 month ago

Can you login to D:\Documents\My Web Sites\WordPress1\wp-admin? Is the TwentyTen theme working?

Not sure exactly what you mean.

I can view published site using Twenty Ten theme OK at http://localhost:18542/

I can also open the dashboard fine at http://localhost:18542/wp-admin/index.php

I can also copy the TwentyTen Theme to D:\Documents\My Web Sites\WordPress1\wp-content\themes\twentyten – Copy and that works OK.

But could also easily be caused by a faulty theme/template file. Try looking in your server’s error log for clues.

Where would I find the server error log?

esmi
(@esmi)

15 years, 1 month ago

That depends up your server. Try looking through the server documentation.

Thread Starter stefanjan
(@stefanjan)

15 years, 1 month ago

Thread Starter stefanjan
(@stefanjan)

15 years, 1 month ago

I found a trace file in this location: D:\Documents\IISExpress\TraceLogFiles\WordPress1\fr003516.xml

When I open the file I see this screen.

I have had a dig around but can’t see anything which points me towards a problem!

I am inclined to think that the cause is the code in my index.php file because if I edit the file and paste in the code from 2010 index.php I don’t get an error!

blacktom
(@blacktom)

14 years, 8 months ago

I can see this is a fairly old post, but for what it’s worth by now, I’ve also had problems with this book. Possibly the same problem. Are you referring to the code in the section ‘Putting It All Together’ starting on page 508? Because you’re right, the code in the line by line version and the complete version is different, and neither version is correct. It took me the best part of an hour to debug it. I’m ******* furious.

If it’s still relevant, I can give you the right code.

mmikeinla10
(@mmikeinla10)

14 years, 6 months ago

Hey Blacktom,

I may not be StefanJan, but I presently am having the exact same problem. It’s kind of annoying when you get a “how to” book and it doesn’t work. Makes you wonder if the author knows “how to”.

I can get the theme loaded onto my server and can see the theme in my dashboard. The problem I have is that my website is completely blank:

http://www.lacarbuyingservice.com

The appears to be absolutely no code at my site.

Anyway, if you could please put the code here in this thread, I’d greatly appreciate it. If I knew how to message you or email you about this, I’d have done so.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Mike