The WordPress theme browser is back up and running again after ~48 hours of downtime. For those who are curious, here is what happened:
Last week, I had to rewrite the theme switcher plugin because it was killing the server it was running on. The original theme switcher code was traversing every directory in each of the 135+ theme directories looking for themes, which basically keeps the disk working way too hard. I’ve basically cached that information now, so the poor other folks on one.textdrive.com won’t have to suffer because of it.
Right after that change was made, the cookie domain got messed up in the code. That was at exactly the same time the servers were being moved to the new TextDrive data center, so I wrote it off as a migration bug that would probably get fixed. When it didn’t get fixed, I dug further and found the problem (now fixed).
Now you can go on and get your fix. 
UPDATE: Strange, it works fine if you click on the theme links on the page, which use the same URL as the theme browser code, but it doesn’t seem to want to work in the frameset. Unfortunately, I can’t get into the server right now, so I’m not able to debug or fix it.
UPDATE #2: Finally got in and was able to “fix” the problem - commented out a header call that has been there since the theme browser was first brought online. No idea why it needed to be changed now, but it seems to work again.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Weiran@tastydirt.co.uk adds this Comment:
Whenever I select a theme, it just defaults back to the standard theme (Kubrick). I’m using Safari?
August 31st, 2005 at 10:36 am
Rubin Safaya adds this Comment:
Nope, not just Safari… Firefox on Windows, too…. same problem… selecting any theme defaults back to the standard theme.
August 31st, 2005 at 11:59 am
Alex adds this Comment:
I don’t suppose either of you read the update above?
August 31st, 2005 at 12:23 pm
Joshua adds this Comment:
Working fine on my firefox/winxp
August 31st, 2005 at 12:56 pm
Andrew adds this Comment:
Thanks for all the work in maintaining the themes.
Its great to have such a resource.
August 31st, 2005 at 8:36 pm
paul adds this Comment:
There is still something wrong with it, it’s not going through all of them, its staying on the blue default one …… i cant get to any others. like before.
September 1st, 2005 at 2:12 am
Cyd adds this Comment:
I tried the theme links, the drop down, and the arrows using WinXP and Internet Explorer. Still goes back to the default.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the creativity here and then figuring out how to do my own!
September 1st, 2005 at 7:43 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Since it appears people aren’t reading the update in the post itself, here it is again - please read it:
September 1st, 2005 at 7:49 am
Jeff adds this Comment:
I read your post, I just haven’t ever commeted on anything…You are the dude Alex.
September 1st, 2005 at 8:01 am
Nils adds this Comment:
The links aren’t working either, Alex. Firefox 1.06., Windows XP, but don’t think my system is at fault here
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:24 am
Lauren adds this Comment:
Well, **I** read the update. The whole post in fact….
Thanks for getting it back up so quickly….I do enjoy picking themes from your viewer!
September 5th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
CountZero adds this Comment:
maybe a silly question, but: how can i submit a theme for your theme browser? and maybe silly question #2: can your theme browser handle wp 2.0 themes with options pages?
March 10th, 2006 at 1:51 pm