As the author of Essential I am proud of this theme and what people are doing with it. It is not perfect (what code ever is) but it is certainly stable.
I get two to three emails a week now of users asking:
"Is Essential safe to use? I see so many complaints and issues in the forums?"
to which I have to reply:
"Have you read the whole thread?"
as over 90% of the issues have nothing to do with the theme at all.
I'm not saying don't ask for help. I'm not claiming Essential to be perfect. I just ask that you do your DUE DILIGENCE first before posting.
What do I mean by this? Follow these steps.
- Check the Plugins database and make sure you are running the CURRENT version of Essential.
No code is perfect. That is a key reason why I release new versions. To fix issues. Running old code is a first step towards guaranteeing you will have issues. - Switch to the Clean theme and test there.
Clean, like Essential, is built on what is called the "Bootstrap theme engine". They both inherit the same code provided by the core of moodle for their main layout styling (for those interested, a theme called "bootstrapbase"). Bootstrap is still pretty new for Moodle and full of copious minor formatting bugs. By checking the Clean theme, built into every Moodle, you can determine for yourself if your bug is the fault of Essential or not by replicating it in this other theme. - Have you cleared your cache?
This is one of the most common issues encountered. Did you know Moodle caches themes? Very heavily in fact? With this enabled (as it is by default) you could delete the entire pix directory and Moodle will still serve up the old ones. With the Essential theme purging just the theme cache is not enough! We need to clear out all of them. When testing ALWAYS make sure you click Purge all caches which is found in the Administration Block=>Site Administration=>Development=>Purge all caches. - Disable 3rd Party Blocks or plugins while testing
Third party code is not written and tested by the crew at Moodle HQ. It is created by others all around the world. Some of these creators are experts/pro's with perfect code that could blind an angel with it's beauty. They however are about 2% of the population. The rest of us write flawed code (to various degrees) tested in only certain environments. When testing the theme be sure you do it in a "standard" moodle. If you cannot do this on your live site then maybe install moodle on your desktop/laptop and test there. We have found many issues i themes are created by unintended consequences of buggy plugins. - Check out my LIVE demo site.
My demo site can be found at http://features.demo.moodle.com.au/. It is always running the current STABLE build of Essential. If your problem is not occurring on my demo site, then the problem is not the theme but something isolated to your install.
If you do find an issue that the testing above shows IS a problem with Essential then please feel free to seek help. The best way to do this is via the following.
- Check the Moodle Tracker to see if the problem has been reported already
The tracker is where users can lodge issues with Moodle code. It is also where users of Moodle plugins can do the same. Click this link to see all the current listed Essential issues and their status - Check the forums before posting to see if the issue has been posted already
Don't ask the same question that has already been asked by others. A quick search often uncovers what you are looking for as others have probably already hit the same issue if you have.
Following these tips should get you the answer you seek quickly. Thank you again for your interest in Essential. Hope you continue to use the theme.
Julian