When that new theme doesn’t work for you, no matter how much you want it to, when is it time to call it a day? For some months now I’ve been trying to work through the kinks of adapting Anselm’s Quest to a new theme. It was a frustrating process from day one. Reluctantly, because I have both time and money invested in it, I’m going to cut my losses. What is the thinking behind this kind of decision?
First, a theme needs to be easy to work with. It should do everything I want it to without my needing to code. It should be relatively easy to switch into from the old theme, especially when both are created by the same shop.
Second, the support needs to be there when I need it. With a small shop, I don’t expect to have answers in minutes or even hours. In fact, being a natural procrastinator, I’ll give more slack that that. It’s this lazy hazy approach that’s partly to blame for the lack of progress over the past few months.
My first request was about buying the theme in the first place. It was answered on the same day. The second was asking for clarification on how to install the theme. Nearly three weeks later I asked if anyone had seen my question,. There was a reply to that, but it was ultimately my hosting company’s support (which is always stellar) that came up with an answer.
I installed the theme successfully, but the result wasn’t pretty. At some point I put in a support request and received an answer (now forgotten), but still my site limped along. A follow-up question went unanswered and time passed. I worked at putting together a print resource from the theme’s video documentation, hoping to make up for my technical deficiencies, to no avail. Christmas was coming, with plenty of other things to do. Sadly, a family loss added to my lack of focus on the website.
In the new year I decided to tackle the theme problem once and for all. On the website for the theme provider, I found the documentation videos unavailable. In went a support ticket asking about this and my unanswered ticket from the fall. I thought if there was no answer in two days, I would look around for a new theme. A week later, that’s what I did.
I hope working with the new theme will not be like banging my head against a brick wall. It’s partly my own fault for not being a squeaky wheel, but a technophobe’s theme has to be simple and functional enough not to require squeaking in the first place. I’m swallowing the cost of that designer theme and opting for something a little more democratic. When it’s up and running (being optimistic here), I’ll be happy to hear of your theme experiences. Thanks for your patience!