How To: Upgrade to Thesis 1.6 (in 15 minutes)

by Greg Rickaby on September 13, 2009

Like it or not, Thesis 1.6 is here. While it may take a little time to tweak your older sites, fear not!
I will show how to do it in less than 15 minutes.

Thesis 1.6: Upgrade in 15 Minutes

Step 0.5: Back-up Thesis 1.5!

Step 1: Upload Thesis 1.6 (for more instructions see the Dev Site)

Step 2: Log-into your WP Dashboard and click, “Thesis Options”

Step 3: Click –> Upgrade Thesis

Click the big green button!

Step 4: Verify the Upgrade (the ‘Oh Crap’ part) by viewing your homepage

The 'Oh Crap' Part

Step 5: In the WP-Dashboard: Thesis Options –>”Design Options”

Now you can re-style your navigation and background using the new visual interface!

Restyle your navigation

For some of you that was is it. You’re finished! For others…

Step 6: Open your favorite CSS editor

Did you have an image for a background? Now it’s white? Snuff out the white background with this code:

If you have: Full-Width Framework:

.custom .full_width > .page {
	background-color: transparent;
}

If you have: Page-Width Framework:

.custom #page {
	background-color: transparent;
}

Snuff out the White Background

Good work. Now we have to nix the borders and white background on the nav:

.custom .menu {
	border:none;
}
.custom .menu a {
	border:none;
	background-color: transparent;
}
.custom .menu a:hover {
	background-color: transparent;
}

Nix the borders and white background

Optional: Get rid of the extra letter spacing, underline the links, de-underline the hover, and make the ‘current’ page bold:

.custom .menu {
	border:none;
}
.custom .menu a {
	border:none;
	background-color: transparent;
	text-decoration: underline;
	letter-spacing: normal;
}
.custom .menu a:hover {
	background-color: transparent;
	text-decoration: none;
}
.custom .menu .current {
	font-weight: bold;
}

Done! Ta-Da!

Step 7: Sigh and repeat after me: “That wasn’t bad…”

While a pain-in-the-butt this is, you’re now rockin’ Thesis 1.6. Bring on 1.7!

Don’t Have Thesis? Download a copy!

Related posts:

  1. Oh Crap: Your Thesis Customization isn’t Future Proof
  2. How To: Create a Print Friendly Thesis Website
  3. How To: Upgrade to WP 2.8 and Thesis 1.5.1 in TWO Minutes!
  4. Thesis Theme: 3 Golden Rules
  5. 7 Hours In: Thesis 1.6b Review

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

Kath July 15, 2010 at 08:06

My problem is that there’s no support for thesis. You have to be able to get into their membership forum. I bought a developers option license and can’t get zip out of them for an upgrade. I have my details paypal etc, but they’re such a closed book as far as support. So all I can say is bitterly disappointed in THESIS ! $164 for nothing.
Anyone offer any help all I want is an upgrade for Petes sake!

Reply

Nancy February 23, 2010 at 09:34

Hi Greg, I was just about to upgrade to “developer” so that I can use thesis on another site but received the DIY email about 1.7 and got kind of worried. My site is pretty simple so I’m not sure how big of a deal the upgrade will be for me. Still, don’t want to spend too much time on it/them right now – got work to do!
If I upgrade to developer before 1.7 upgrade, and upgrade to 1.7 when it comes out, would all sites have to be adjusted?
Thanks
Nancy

Reply

Greg Rickaby February 23, 2010 at 15:12

The difference between the Dev Option vs Personal Option is licensing. There aren’t any “cool” features or options inside Thesis that are only available for devs. Developer option is geared mostly for web designers who build Thesis sites for clients.

Dev = You can use Thesis on unlimited sites (that you own) and remove the back-link on the footer. You also get first crack at beta versions and can re-sell Thesis at a discount.

Personal = One copy on one site. Back-link stays. No beta’s. No discounts.

You care read about all the options here

Upgrading in the past has been easy, however when v1.6 came out you had to re-code your nav menu. From what I hear, 1.7 is focused mainly on back-end improvement and more SEO options – not any design changes. This means you should be able to upgrade without having to change any CSS or HTML.

Hope this helps!

Reply

Kevin Worthington @ kevinworthington.com June 16, 2010 at 18:11

This article has been up for a while, but for the benefit of your readers here is a link for upgrading Thesis 1.6 to Thesis 1.7.

Reply

fred1st January 23, 2010 at 06:28

Greg et al… I’ve “used” thesis for about a year, but not one to go under the hood very much after things were set as I wanted–until upgrade a few days ago (according to original official instructions) and things went haywire. I got to changing permissions in the upgrade, then on final step “go to design options and hit the bigass save button” — now I am not seeing DESIGN options and have lost my second column, rotating headers etc. If anyone is willing to help, I can send screen shots of the ftp structure as it exist now or other files and hopefully a simple tweak will set things right. Wish I’d seen your instructions, Greg, but that ship has sailed. Thanks for any guidance, folks.

Reply

steven adjmi December 30, 2009 at 15:21

i am new to thesis and am using version 1.6. i am trying to make my own multimedia box as described above but can't seem to find the custom.functions.php file. please help.
thanks!

Reply

gregrickaby November 4, 2009 at 20:54

It only shows up if you upload and overwrite your existing Thesis files. Apposed to uploading to a whole new folder e.g.; thesis_151 vs thesis_16.

Personally, I just uploaded thesis_16 separately and left thesis_151 alone…in which case you would NOT see an 'upgrade button'.

Reply

andimac November 4, 2009 at 16:22

there's no upgrade button in Thesis Options. ?

Reply

gregrickaby November 4, 2009 at 14:54

It only shows up if you upload and overwrite your existing Thesis files. Apposed to uploading to a whole new folder e.g.; thesis_151 vs thesis_16.

Personally, I just uploaded thesis_16 separately and left thesis_151 alone…in which case you would NOT see an 'upgrade button'.

Reply

andimac November 4, 2009 at 10:22

there's no upgrade button in Thesis Options. ?

Reply

Tinh October 26, 2009 at 08:01

I really love Thesis 1.6b2 as it is a good preparation for the release of Thesis 2.0.

Reply

Name October 22, 2009 at 08:51

Hi

Thanks for sharing.
Why not to make video about the upgrading process.
I would need it. :) )

Thanks,
Riina

Reply

gregrickaby October 20, 2009 at 08:33

You're welcome. I hope it takes some of the sting out of the upgrade

Reply

gregrickaby October 20, 2009 at 08:32

Thanks Berchman. Means a lot. Also, I feel ya on other sites taking longer. Not looking forward to spending a day doing it either…

Reply

Roseli A. Bakar October 20, 2009 at 00:26

Thanks for sharing this Greg.

Reply

berchman October 20, 2009 at 00:21

Almost… I have some extensive custom work on navigation for many sites (rollovers using position statements on backgrounds). And while I agree that most sites that are not very customized will take 15 or less, what I just ran into on one of my many Thesis based sites is going to take some time (30mins-1hr). BTW, like the re-brand, re-design of your site. Changed since my last visit. Good work.

Reply

David September 25, 2009 at 01:49

Nice tutorial. I've not tested 1.6 yet but those features look cool. Just found your site!! Lots of reading to do here :)

Reply

David_Frosdick September 25, 2009 at 00:49

Nice tutorial. I've not tested 1.6 yet but those features look cool. Just found your site!! Lots of reading to do here :)

Reply

gregrickaby September 16, 2009 at 11:50

Lol! I find myself coming back to this post to copy/paste :) Glad I could help!

Reply

Harsh Agrawal September 15, 2009 at 13:06

Hey Greg ..Great ..it took only 10 minz :)

Reply

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