Title: user theme editing
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# user theme editing

 *  [jalien](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jalien/)
 * (@jalien)
 * [15 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-theme-editing/)
 * I know this has been discussed many times, but I have a slightly new twist on
   it (I think). As a educational tool, I would like to allow students to edit their
   themes, not just css.
 * Would it be possible to allow blog administrators (students) to
    -  only
 *  be able to edit a child theme that is activated on their blog. Each student 
   could be given a unique child theme that was only activated on their blog (site)
   and only be allowed to edit that. Is this possible and what are the security 
   concerns that this would bring up?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [David Sader](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dsader/)
 * (@dsader)
 * [15 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-theme-editing/#post-1636217)
 * Yes it is possible. My concerns are grave and many.
 * I feel like an ex-smoker telling a smoker to quit. I used to use/develop a plugin
   that did exactly what you want. But I’ve quit supporting it.
 * Don’t allow users other than the SuperAdmin to edit files – especially on a live
   multisite. In my install in school, I don’t even allow the SuperAdmin to edit
   files, and I’m the SuperAdmin. I get nervous about the very existence of theme-
   editor.php in the wp-admin folder in the first place.
    1. Userthemes Revisited plugin for WPMU could do that. But was primarily intended
       for faculty to edit themes. It has not been updated for WP3 multisite. I no 
       longer have a download link for the version that worked with WPMU2.9.2.
    2. How are you going to stop editors from using something like a [php unlink](http://php.net/manual/en/function.unlink.php)
       command on the entire file structure?
    3. And thats just the files, the database is global so anything can be inserted/
       deleted by an enterprising theme-editor as well.
    4. The php the editor allows to be inserted into theme files is unfiltered. I know
       of no php filter. CSS filters yes, PHP filters none.
    5. Have you ever tried to trouble shoot the cause of a php/apache core dump? It
       is frightening to see a server hard drive swell with core dumps to the crack
       of doom. Not so much fun figuring out how(who) to make them stop.
    6. There are many reasons the theme editor has been disabled, your proposed use
       is one of the biggest reasons I would not enable the theme editor.
 * Ok, having said that, an alterative is to install a WAMP/MAMP/LAMP in a student
   account of a local workstation(use Deep Freeze or some other deployable lab solution
   to lock/rebuild the file dirs after logout). Install a single wp3 there(or a 
   multisite as a theme-editor may as well be a SuperAdmin anyway). Let them tinker
   with theme building/editing to their hearts content: theme editor, text editor,
   whatever. Then have students submit completed themes to the SuperAdmin so you
   can inspect the code for nasty bits and test them on your own localhost install,
   all before uploading them to a live site.
 * Sorry, but I’m a teacher myself and I just can’t encourage you allow php file
   editing on a shared live server-type machine. I’d be an uptight Dad, if some 
   Johnny Fairplay deleted my son’s weekend/term/year project/portfolio/blog, or
   whatever else is installed on the machine.
 *  [Andrea Rennick](https://wordpress.org/support/users/andrea_r/)
 * (@andrea_r)
 * [15 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-theme-editing/#post-1636243)
 * This is the best advice ever.
 * I gotta say, someone asked this in another thread, they did get an answer how,
   and I should’ve given them all the reasons not to.
 * Will bookmark this post & use as a reference. (Thanks, D.)
 *  Thread Starter [jalien](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jalien/)
 * (@jalien)
 * [15 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-theme-editing/#post-1636273)
 * Thanks to both of you. I actually found a copy of Userthemes Revisited for 2.9.2
   in pastebin and a method for making it work with 3.0 before posting, but still
   wondered if there was a safe way to do this. I think I’ll try using Portable 
   Apps XAMPP with an individual install of WordPress, that way I can customize 
   it, then simply give each student a copy the whole setup to add to their usb 
   drive. Then I’ll see if I can get it working with MAMP (saw someone did a neat
   job getting it working cross platform with Windows and Mac (Windows Portable 
   Apps should work with Linux using Wine, so this could work on all three platforms).

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘user theme editing’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [child theme](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/child-theme/)
 * [css](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/css/)
 * [html](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/html/)
 * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/)

 * In: [Networking WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/multisite/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [jalien](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jalien/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-theme-editing/#post-1636273)
 * Status: not resolved

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