Title: Template is missing error
Last modified: August 31, 2016
---
# Template is missing error
* [rgwhitaker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rgwhitaker/)
* (@rgwhitaker)
* [10 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/template-is-missing-error-1/)
* I’m designing and developing a theme from scratch. No parent/no child. Just a
simple theme based on the HTML code.
* After getting absolutely nowhere with XAMPP to do things locally, I uploaded
to the server.
* When I go into the WP admin > Appearance > Themes, my theme doesn’t appear, but
down at the bottom I have the following error:
* Broken Themes
* _The following themes are installed but incomplete. Themes must have a stylesheet
and a template.
Name Description eztile/css Template is missing. Delete
* So, why?
* My style.css is in the root folder, not in a styles folder.
* The folder for my theme, under the /wp-content/themes folder, is called /eztile,
after the name of the company I’m designing the site for.
* Here’s the top portion of the styles sheet:
* ```
/*
Theme Name: eztile
Version: 1.0
Description: A magazine-style theme for WordPress
Author: rgwhitaker
*/
body {
background-color: #fff;
}
/** MAIN WRAPPER **/
#wrapper {
width: 950px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 0;
}
/** TOP BAR **/
#top-bar {
height: 140px;
margin-bottom: 0;
background: none;
display: table;
width: 950px;
margin: 0 auto;
position: relative;
border-bottom: 2px solid gray;
}
```
* Here’s the top portion of the header.php file:
* ```
<?php wp_title( '|', true, 'right' ); ?>
```
* And here’s the index.php file:
* ```
>
```
* The error says that the template is missing. I thought that a template file was
merely an index.php file?
* Any ideas?
* Thank you.
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
* Thread Starter [rgwhitaker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rgwhitaker/)
* (@rgwhitaker)
* [10 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/template-is-missing-error-1/#post-6914201)
* OK. Something I noticed in the Appearance > Themes screen.
* Why is it calling my theme eztile/css? It should be just eztile. I thought I’d
force it to look at my root directory for the css file so I named the css folder
to /old.
* Then, when I logged back into WP Admin, the Appearance > Themes screen showed
the name of my theme as eztile/old.
* What’s going on?
* [girlieworks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/girlieworks/)
* (@girlieworks)
* [10 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/template-is-missing-error-1/#post-6914293)
* > My style.css is in the root folder, not in a styles folder.
* It’s supposed to be located _directly inside_ the theme’s own folder (e.g., `/
wp-content/themes/eztile`), not in the _root folder of your site_.
* > Why is it calling my theme eztile/css?
* If you actually put the `style.css` file in a folder named `css`, and **that**
folder is located inside the `/wp-content/themes/eztile` folder, then the name
would be displayed that way (because again, the `style.css` file belongs right
inside the theme’s own folder, so having it in a subfolder confuses WordPress).
* > The error says that the template is missing. I thought that a template file
> was merely an index.php file?
* The `index.php` file and the `style.css` file have to be in the **same folder**(
which, as already explained above, is the `/wp-content/themes/eztile` folder)
in order for them to both be recognized as belonging to the same theme.
* See also [Theme Development: Anatomy of a Theme](https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development#Anatomy_of_a_Theme).
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
The topic ‘Template is missing error’ is closed to new replies.
* In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
* 2 replies
* 2 participants
* Last reply from: [girlieworks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/girlieworks/)
* Last activity: [10 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/template-is-missing-error-1/#post-6914293)
* Status: not resolved
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