In my brief time spent helping Thesis users solve problems on their sites, I have seen some web installations that are – to put it kindly – a complete mess. Images scattered loosely and without order, zipped archives of databases and entire domains abandoned in the website root, duplicates of WordPress files and multiple versions of Thesis all over the place. It is a wonder that such sites function at all!
Some of this is due to confusion over the proper installation or upgrade procedure for Thesis. More broadly, however, the fault lies in users not understanding how and why to organize their file and directory structure. This is more than a matter of being tidy. Proper file structure can save your site from conflicts and breakdowns; can protect you from the loss of images and other valuable attachments during a move to another server or domain, or in the dire event of site loss; can help you (or your hired professional) more easily locate a file that needs to be edited or deleted.
As Thesis is the subject of this blog, we’ll start by looking at an example of a properly organized Thesis site – this one. In a later post, we’ll step back for a couple of notes about WordPress organization in general.
Organizing your Thesis install
Here is a look at the basic path-to-Thesis here at ThesisLab.
At my web host, web files for a site are stored in a directory named after the domain – in this case, thesislab.net. Your host may have you locate your web files in a directory called public_html; as the name indicates, it is meant to contain files for use on the visible (public) web. People who place their Thesis install outside of public_html wind up with a non-functioning website. The red arrows in the picture show the proper path of a Thesis installation. In this case:
site root/wp-content/themes/Thesis_16
Let’s take a closer look inside the Thesis folder itself.
The directory arrangement inside your Thesis folder should look something like this. (In the interest of clarity, I’m showing only the folders, not the individual files.) The lib folder is a lind of library which contains many of the core files that make Thesis run. You have no business editing anything in this directory. You can look, certainly, but don’t touch. 
The custom folder, on the other hand, is exactly where you should do your editing work, and store those images, scripts, or files that are particular to your tailored Thesis structure. Background or accent images used in the presentation of the site, for example, would be stored in the custom/images directory. Images intended for rotation in the multimedia box would go, as you might guess, in the custom/rotator folder. (Not shown here are the two basic files for style and code customization, custom.css and custom_functions.php; they are, of course, located inside of the custom folder.)
Note that I have inside the custom folder a non-default Thesis directory called fonts. This is where I store files for the @font-face implementation of Orbitron, a free, open source font provided by The League of Movable Type. I located the font files here in the custom folder which is meant to never be overwritten by future Thesis upgrades. This is the fundamental value of the custom folder.
Note that you should have only one current and working Thesis folder (and only one current and working custom folder). If you choose to retain an older version of Thesis in your web install, make sure that its folder name retains the older version number or some other signifier.
Remember: The only proper location for a working Thesis installation is inside of wp-content/themes.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
omdog, Thank You!
My 1.6 upgrade does not look at all like this.
My 1.5.1 that a classroom teacher installed does look like it.
I had hired a tech helper to upgrade and move files & folders.
My Mac ‘man’ and I have an appt. to clean up my Finder next week.
Finder, along with Transmit and iDisk , I have asked him to explain how they work separately and together, now you have added this as a dilemma.
I guess I should start at wp-content/themes and go from there. Will I be able to sort it out?
I am concerned about too many uploads and downloads using Cyberduck, with a public site and a test site, controlled by me, a newbie.
Thanks again.
I’m sure you will be able to sort it out. Proper organization just requires a little thought in the beginning in order to save yourself headaches down the road. As a Mac user, I heartily recommend Transmit as an FTP client.
By studying my Finder I see that neither Thesis 151 nor Thesis 16 contain a folder called Fonts.
When I began in Nov., I put my download of Thesis 151 into “Macintosh HD” technically it’s Devices, I realized later/now.
Then I upgraded and made a Thesis 16 folder under “Places” however I see it is also contained, identically in my “Home/joandetlefsen” Places section.
Opened, the Thesis 151 folder lists first 2 files, archives.php and comments.php before the folder Custom.
Whereas the Thesis 16 looks like this (is it my Cyberduck snafu?):
Archive
Archive 2.zip
Archive.zip
next the files archive.php, comments.php, before Custom folder.
Question, should I rename the folder “Archive” to Thesis 16?
+ Should I delete the duplicated zip files?
+ Did I need one of the zip files when I uploaded it to WP if so, should I just delete the duplicated one?
Next, is the Thesis 16 folder I put under Places, simply holding it all together in one easy to see spot whereas the identical list under Home is the downloaded pileup? Or, Is that duplicated too, and I should be deleting the Home Thesis 16?
I will spare you any of my justifying, rationale, etc. Just Thanks!
Joan
Thesis does not come with a directory called ‘Fonts.’ I stated in the post that ‘Fonts’ was a non-default folder, but since a couple of people have asked about it, I need to make more clear that I created the folder. Sorry for any confusion.
Regarding the rest of your comment: It sounds as though you are describing what’s on your local computer, your Mac. If so, I’d suggest that you no longer need to keep any copies of Thesis 1.5.1, since it’s been superceded by Thesis 1.6.
Your description of what’s on your Mac was a little hard to follow. I will describe to you what’s on my MacBook; perhaps this will help you.
When I download files, they automatically go into the Downloads folder, which is easily accessed through the Dock. In my Downloads folder, I keep the ZIP package for Thesis 1.6; the name of that file is
thesis_16.zip. If I double-click on that ZIP file, it produces a folder namedthesis_16. That’s the Thesis folder for version 1.6. I then drag that Thesis folder out of the Downloads folder and onto the desktop. I always leave the ZIP Thesis package in the Downloads folder. The only reason I will take it out will be to discard it when a new version of Thesis comes out.I might suggest that you start over to get clear of any confusion – pitch all your Thesis folders and ZIP files that you presently have on your local computer, then go and download Thesis 1.6. Leave the ZIP package in the Downloads folder, or else in some other location that you’ll remember, and expand it only when you need to get a fresh unzipped Thesis folder.
WOW, Thank you. Really?
I did read the fonts post and forgot, you were clear.
Great guidance.
Very useful information… I have a question around the site uploading. You mentioned that “At my web host, web files for a site are stored in a directory named after the domain – in this case, thesislab.net. Your host may have you locate your web files in a directory called public_html; as the name indicates, it is meant to contain files for use on the visible (public) web.”. Do you advice to store all the web files directly under public folder instead of creating a sub folder? When do you usually create a sub folder? how to manage two or three blog post separating the interests? How to get all of them accessed in one single site? Sorry, I got lot of questions to ask. Thanks in advance. ~JK
“…duplicates of WordPress files and multiple versions of Thesis all over the place.”
Hi Philip, you’re doing an awesome job helping people IMO.
My comment’s based on the above observation of yours. My host is hosting my multiple domains from the one account, and most of them are WP based sites. [experimented with a Joomla install yesterday and freaked out]. Wouldn’t it be a simple world if you could do that with ONE only WP install and ONE only Thesis install. Seems inefficient to me to have to install a fresh copy of both each time I create a new site for a new domain. And wasteful of hosting space. No wonder there are over 7000 data centers in the US alone!
Maybe I’m more picky than Philip, but I would recommend always putting all of the wordpress files into a subfolder – not in the public root of the hosting.
There’s a couple more steps to the set up, sure, but if you’ve got installs of forums, e-commerce, or just want an area that is non-WP, it makes sense to have these outside of the all the WP files that sit at the same level as wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes.
Such useful information.
Thank you for creating a wonderful site, I wish I had found it prior to installing Thesis myself but I did manage to do it.
I am very new to WP, Thesis and website creation overall.
I have managed well and enjoyed the learning curve allthough it has also been overwhelming.
I understand much more following the infromation available on your site. I found it whilst looking for a solution to a problem I have.
I was experimenting with the Rotator File Images, substituting the default for my own and I named the sample ones so I know exactly what they are as I want to use some of them.
I noticed on the files arrange themselves alphabetically so renamed the photos I wanted to use A picture, B picture etc so they displayed in the order I want – not yet knowing if there is a better way to do this which I am sure I will find.
When I had begun I realised I should have resizied the images and saved them at a lower quality prior to uploading them in to the Rotator file for display on my website.
I went back to delete them and succeded with all but one, which for some reason I can not delete. I receive the following message when I right click and delete (on the image)
Failed. A file with that name may already exist, or you may have mis-typed the folder name.
I have also noticed if I try right click and open, this does not work it is just a white space with a red cross in the corner very similar to those e-mails where you have to right click to download image.
On the actual website the image is too large and is on every page single page and I can not seem to find a way of deleting it.
I have also noticed that the Icon next to the image title is different to those of the default JPEGS. It is unclear but it is green where as the icons next to the other titles are the standard JPEG icons.
I hope that makes sense, but please do bear in mind I have just started. If any one is able to supply a solution even if it reinstalling or similar please could you kindly explain in very basic terms and step by step.
I need to delete this photo or restore the folder to its original state to start again, but without loosing what I have done so far if possible
Thank you in advance
Best Wishes
Valerie
Valerie, it sounds as though the image may be corrupt, or perhaps it has (for some reason) odd permissions attached to it which are preventing you from deleting it. That has happened to me once in a great while.
That image can eventually be deleted, though, even if you have to ask your webhost to do it for you (they should have no problems doing so). In fact, I’m going to suggest that option as the most direct and time-saving way to handle this. Contact tech support at your host; make sure they know exactly which image is the problematic one that needs to be removed. Please let me know how you get on!
Thesis 1.6 is little bit different of this screenshot.
I made a comment on your previous post about how to change the custom-sample folder after installing the thesis. Would you please look there ?
Thank you both, very much. Web host is looking into it.
Thesis Theme Design thank you for posting, I am not sure which post you mean?
thanks again
Best Wishes
Hi again
it is all sorted now, but thank you again for the effort you went to, to help me. The problem really was my lack of typing skills, I had inadvertently left a space in the name of the image which the servers did not like.
I have learned alot and thank you again.
Best Wishes
I saw a tweet the other day about needing to change the name of your thesis_16 folder to thesis. They said that when you upgrade to a newer version all of your work would be lost. My first thought was that this is incorrect information but was curious about your thoughts since I had just read this post.
I also saw that tweet, Christine, and replied to the author (a smart guy) my disagreement with it. In my early days with Thesis, I changed the name of the Thesis folder to simply
thesis, then realized that I was just making work for myself with no actual benefit. Moreover, keeping the version numbers reduces the chance of my inadvertently throwing away or overwriting any previous customizations. Only when I’m sure I no longer need the previous Thesis version do I throw that folder away – and I keep the version number on the new folder.Great to know! Thanks for responding!
Hey there! I am new to Wordpress and Thesis and have not had much luck getting started (bought 1.6 a couple months ago). Today I made a bad situation worse. Tried to upgrade to 1.7. I downloaded then unzipped the 1.7 folder from the DIY website, following the “upgrade” instructions, FTP’d it using GoDaddy. I was not able to copy and paste the 1.6 custom folder into the new 1.7 custom folder. There doesn’t seem to be a way to do it. But my real problem is I am unable to activate 1.7. I see it in my file manager, but when I go to the WP Dashboard/Appearance to activate, there is no 1.7, just 1.6. Should I delete the 1.6 folder from my GoDaddy file manager? It is there under Themes, then the 1.7 folder is after that. I could just as easily dump everything and start over since I never got very far anyway. Really want to learn how to do this and so far I am very frustrated with the entire process. Never expected it to be so difficult! Help?
Cat, I’m assuming that this is your site. The first issue I see is that you have Thesis installed inside of a Thesis folder, which should not be. You can tell by looking at your page source and seeing the path to your
custom.css:http://cathyannsauerinc.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/thesis_16/custom/custom.css
You’ll need to make sure that your Thesis 1.6 installation is better arranged (like the graphic near the start of this post) before you can successfully upgrade to 1.7.
Because you’re pretty much at the beginning of progress with this site, you don’t have much to lose in starting over entirely. This would give you the advantage of not dealing with an upgrade at this time, and simply installing 1.7. If you do, I’d like you to read my post on installing Thesis. It’s valid for 1.7 as well as 1.6, and I think you would find it helpful.