Template is Missing error – no help in forums

[alexsteninge]

Hi,

I have created a theme more or less from scratch. When using it I get the error “Template is missing”. I originally only had the index.php and style.css files as ths should be enough for a theme. It still did not work, so I have been extracting code in different files like header.php, footer.php etc. Currently I have the following files and only one folder (images):

images/
footer.php
functions.php
header.php
index.php
screenshot.png
search.php
searchform.php
sidebar.php
style.css

You can see the test site at itleader.steninge.eu. I more or less activate one theme, delete the current theme files and keep the folder empty, copy my files to this folder and presto – my theme works. However, when I add my own folder with my own files, I get the error in wordpress and cannot activate the theme…

I tried to search, but the top two topics did not present a solution: ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/333980 and ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/305055

styles.css has the following commented code as the first part of the file:

/*
Theme Name: steninge
Theme URI: http://alex.steninge.eu
Description: Steninge-template: minimalistic template in four colors with one coloum and vertical expanding menu
Author: Alex Steninge Jacobse
Author URI: http://alex.steninge.eu
Tags: minimal, four colors, vertical menu, one coloum
Version: 1.0
*/

What am I doing wrong?? Any help is much, much appreciated! I am going bonkers.

[alexsteninge]

arggg – nothing? The amount brainmass in here hopefully can give a suggestion.

[Michelle Langston]

That is weird. It’s treating your theme like a broken Child theme, when I assume that you mean for it to be its own theme.

But I think I have found the source of your problem, and it’s VERY subtle.

In your Description in the CSS, you have this:

Description: Steninge-template: minimalistic template in four colors with one coloum and vertical expanding menu

This is a colon after the words “Steninge-template.” Delete that colon. (If I were you, I would just delete the words “Steninge-temmplate:” and have the description start from “Minimalistic template…”) and then put the theme in your own folder. See if it works. I think WordPress is choking on that extra colon.

If it doesn’t work, let me know and we can try something else.

[alexsteninge]

OMG!! It worked.

I have been on this issue for about 1½ month and been totally puzzled. I cannot believe (yes, the finger is pointing straight at me) that a simple syntax error caused this.

Thank you chellycat. You are awesome!

[Michelle Langston]

Glad it worked! I know, isn’t it crazy how one tiny, obscure error can cause so much havoc?

Here is the logic behind that error. When WordPress saw this:

Description: Steninge-template: minimalistic template in four colors with one coloum and vertical expanding menu

WordPress read it as:

Description: Steninge-
Template: minimalistic template in four colors with one column and vertical expanding menu

So WordPress thought, oh, ok this is a child theme, whose parent theme is “minimalistic template in four colors with one column and vertical expanding menu”. But there was never any theme with that name, so it threw you that template is missing error.

I have no idea why it worked fine when you placed it in another folder, however.

But I’m glad it’s working, after all that time of finding a solution!