Installing Thesis without confusion

Useful questions and remarks from readers have prompted me to revise this post by adding content on FTP and setting file permissions. The intent is to make this a more helpful guide to installing Thesis, without making the article overly long.

In my time on the DIY Themes support forums, I’ve seen a number of new users tripped up at a couple of points during the Thesis installation process. These hiccups are avoidable. I’ve posted here a slightly revised installation guide for Thesis that should safely guide the new user past those sticking points.

Many Thesis users may be new to blogging – or new to running a ‘self-hosted’ WordPress installation – and so concepts like file transfer protocol (FTP) and file permissions may seem foreign and intimidating. In fact, understanding FTP and knowing how to set permissions are basic skills that must be acquired by anyone running his or her own site, and they are required for installing and configuring Thesis. Fortunately, these skills are not hard to learn. We’ll touch on FTP first, then do a brief introduction to file permissions. After that, we’ll walk through installing Thesis. (Readers already familiar with FTP and permissions should skip on down to the Thesis installation steps.)

FTP: Transportation for your files

The notion that files have to somehow get from a desktop computer to some mysterious “remote server” confounds some folks. In fact, though, FTP is just a set of rules determining how files can be exchanged and manipulated over a network (like the internet), and is the simplest way to transfer files between computers on the net.

You’re doubtless familiar with the idea of downloading programs; in that procedure, you are transferring files from a ‘remote server’ (someone else’s computer) to your local computer. To install Thesis, you do the reverse: you upload files. That is, you transfer Thesis from your local computer to your account on your web host’s server.

Whichever FTP client you choose, you will need to give it some info so that it can connect you to your web installation:

• your server name
• your username/login
• your password

This info is usually given to you by your web host in a welcome email when you first set up your hosting account. If you don’t know it and have already thrown away that welcome email, ask your host for the info. Your web account’s knowledgebase can be of general help here with any FTP configuration tips particular to that hosting service. Also, remember that your FTP client will have help files either built-in or located at its website.

Permissions: What can be done, and by whom

Servers that run Unix (and similar operating systems, like Linux; let’s call then *nix for short) need to be told what can be done with any given file or folder. Permissions (or attributes) are settings that give this information to the *nix server. That’s it. It’s not occult knowledge, but it is highly necessary in order to run scripts, and Thesis and WordPress itself are essentially just bundles of scripts.

(In dealing with permissions, you may run across the term chmod, which stands for ‘change mode.’ Chmod is a command, and is just another way of saying ‘change permissions.’ It’s *nix talk. That’s all you need to know about that.)

For our purposes, there are three kinds of permissions that apply to files/folders. Each permission has a plain language description, as well as a letter designation and a numeric (also called octal) value:

• read it – r – 4
• write (to) it – w – 2
• execute it – x – 1

And in the *nix universe, there are three ‘groups’ of users who can act on a file/folder. The terminology for these groups varies a bit depending on who you talk to, but fundamentally we’re talking about:

• owner (that would be you)
• group (other files in your setup, basically)
• public (visitors, bots, the world at large)

So you’re telling the server whether a given ‘group’ can read/write/execute a file or folder. Sometimes a group is allowed to perform one of these actions to a file; sometimes it can perform two actions, or all three. Good news: Permissions for files and folders on *nix servers can be set using the same FTP program that you’ll use to upload Thesis, which is very handy.

Let’s apply the science: According to the install instructions, the Thesis folder named cache requires a setting of 775. That’s three digits, one for each of the three ‘groups’ of users: 7 for owner, 7 for group, and 5 for public. Each digit is a total of the numeric values for the permissions which each ‘group’ has for the cache folder:

Both owner and group can read, write, and execute: that’s r-w-x, or 4 + 2 + 1 which means 7

Public can read and execute: that’s r---x, or 4 + 1 which means 5

Depending on your FTP program, you may need to give the permission setting by ticking boxes, typing in letters, or by typing in the numeric values. And now you know how!

(The Thesis file layout.css requires a setting of 666. I will leave the application of this for you as an exercise. )

Exceptions: Some things to consider

Moving now from the very general overview to a few specific points to keep in mind before the install. Consider it advice born out of experience and other people’s mistakes.

Uploading using WordPress/Uploading the Thesis ZIP file: Some users use the Manage Themes feature in WordPress to upload the zipped Thesis package. They do this because that’s what they are used to doing. Other users use an FTP program to upload the Thesis ZIP package and then expand it on the server. These are both pretty good ways to screw up your Thesis install with incomplete file arrangements. I strongly recommend that you unzip the Thesis ZIP package on your local computer first, and not use WordPress to upload it at all.

Using your host’s online tools: You may prefer to use tools provided by your web hosting account instead of a stand-alone FTP program for uploading and configuring Thesis. That’s fine, as long as the tool does these two things: 1) easily uploads both files and folders, and 2) easily sets permissions. Here are two examples of web host-based tools that either fall short of these two needs, or require an extra step for successful use:

cPanel – Possibly the most-used web admin panel, it has many strong features. Uploading is not among them. The specific shortcoming is that while file uploading with cPanel is straightforward, you have to jump through hoops to get it to upload folders. It’s not impossible, but it is harder than it should be, and so at this time I cannot recommend it over an FTP program for installing Thesis.

GoDaddy Hosting Control Center – The web hosting service GoDaddy provides an FTP client in its Hosting Control Center which allows for uploading Thesis. However, this FTP client does not allow for setting permissions. This can be accomplished using a separate feature of the Hosting Control Center, the File Manager. A guide to its use is provided later on this page.

Renaming the custom-sample folder: This is the point that eventually led me to write this alternative install guide. Life is much simpler if you rename the custom-sample folder to custom while the Thesis files are still on your local computer. Unzip, rename, then upload.

Installation: Ten steps, three pictures

Okay, let’s get to it, eh? The images below were captured while using FileZilla for Windows, and the usage I describe is based on FileZilla. Other FTP programs will vary slightly.

1. Using your DIY Themes login info, access the Thesis Theme Download Area page. Click the link that says ‘Download Thesis 1.6 now.’
2. The file thesis_16.zip should be on your local computer in the area where downloads normally go. Move thesis_16.zip to your desktop (unless it’s there already).
3. Expand (that is, unzip by double-clicking) the thesis_16.zip file to produce a folder named thesis_16. That folder is what you’ll work with from this point forward.
4. Open the thesis_16 folder to find the folder named custom-sample. Change the name of that folder to custom.
5. Start your FTP client and access your web installation. Locate on your server the folder named wp-content; open it to find the folder named themes. Open themes. You will see folders for the two themes that come with WordPress (default and classic). Use your FTP program to upload the thesis_16 folder from your local computer into the themes folder on your server, so that it is located alongside the default and classic folders.

   

6. Use your FTP client to open the thesis_16 folder, then open the custom folder which is just inside. You will see the file named layout.css. Select that file and set permissions for it to 666 (or its letter or plain English equivalent, depending on what your FTP program asks for).
   

   (FileZilla/Windows: Select and right-click to bring up menu; select ‘File permissions…’)

   
   (FileZilla/Windows: Enter numeric value directly, or tick off boxes; click OK.)

   

7. Also inside the the custom folder, locate the cache folder. Set permissions for that folder to 775.
8. Now log into WordPress. Go to Appearance > Themes, and then activate Thesis 1.6. (If you click ‘Preview’ first, you may see a Thesis site with no content. This is normal for Thesis in preview mode; pay it no mind and proceed to activate.)
9. View your site, and familiarize yourself with the Thesis Options and Thesis Design Options pages in your WordPress admin.

Configuring Thesis on GoDaddy Linux hosting

(These notes assume that you have already uploaded the thesis_XX folder to the appropriate location on your GoDaddy Linux account.)

The FTP client provided by GoDaddy does not allow for the setting of permissions. Instead, GoDaddy customers must set permission by using the File Manager feature of their Hosting Control Center by following the steps below:

Log into your GoDaddy account by clicking the ‘My Account’ tab at the right end of the upper menu of the GoDaddy site.

Under the ‘My Products’ header in the left-hand GoDaddy navigation bar, click on ‘Hosting.’

A list of your GoDaddy hosting accounts should appear. Click the ‘Manage Account’ link beside the domain where your Thesis installation is located.

Your Hosting Control Center page should appear. Click the ‘Content’ link in the vertical dropdown menu, then click on the File Manager icon which should appear.

In the green left-hand navigation bar of the GoDaddy File Manager, open your online folders (wp-content>themes>thesis_XX) until you have opened the Thesis custom folder and exposed its contents in the right-hand side of the File Manager display.

In the right-hand side of the File Manager display, select layout.css. Click the Permissions icon in the upper horizontal menu, which will reveal the Set Permissions panel. Click the Advanced Permissions tab.

Under Advanced Permissions, check these boxes:

Web user permissions
[x] read [x] write

Owner permissions
[x] read [x] write

Click OK to save settings.

In the right-hand side of the File Manager display, select the cache folder. Click the Permissions icon in the upper horizontal menu, which will reveal the Set Permissions panel. Click the Advanced Permissions tab.

Under Advanced Permissions, check these boxes:

Web user permissions
[x] read [x] execute (directory)

Owner permissions
[x] read [x] write [x] execute (directory)

Click OK to save settings.

If you prefer, you can always use a standalone FTP client to set permissions for files and folders on your GoDaddy Linux account, following the steps listed earlier on this page.

Installing Thesis on Windows hosting

Installing Thesis on a Windows server – whether through a dedicated FTP client or through file managers or other tools provided as part of web hosting accounts – follows the same guidelines as installing Thesis on a *nix-type server. Setting permissions, however, is not required or even possible when working on a Windows-based host, as *nix-type permissions do not exist are are not recognized on a Windows server.

When tested on a Windows IIS 7.0 web server, Thesis functioned without issue and without the need for permissions.

Tagged as: Installation