[Resuelto] Courses in Toolset

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[christerA]

Hi.
I develop web sites, and always with Toolset.
But i also sometimes hold courses. If people are interested in a course about Toolset, what's the easiest way of doing that. And, of course, in a way that's OK with you.

The participants most likely do not have a license of Toolset.
So i suppose one way would be to have them register a Training site, like the Blank starter site.
WooCommerce:
Since you can not add more plugins from the Blank page, i suppose they have to register again with the WooCoomerce site.
(it would be nice with a Blank site with everything in it...)

Or do you have another solution of holding courses in Toolset for people without licenses?

[Christian Cox]

Hi, great question. I can think of a few ways to do this, but I think a WP Multisite installation might be ideal. I'm assuming that you have purchased an Agency or Lifetime account, both of which allow unlimited site registration. Here's how this would work.

Create a WP Multisite Installation on a localhost or a live server somewhere, anywhere all your students can get access. Preinstall any Toolset plugins and required themes at the network level. Registrations can be handled in advance of the class, so students wouldn't need to bother. If your individual site URLs are generic and reusable, like numeric values, you would only have to register each site once and you can reuse those URLs/registrations for later classes. Create a separate site for each student, and give each student admin access to their individual site. You can manage each site through the traditional WP Multisite interface or via WP-CLI.

This approach gives you a good bit of control the environment of each student's setup, but also gives each student the ability to enable / disable plugins as needed without modifying other students' sites. It gives students access to any features you would want to explain to them. It's fairly quick to get up and running, you could even write a shell script or something that automates the site creation process with WP-CLI.

On the other hand, since plugins and themes are installed at the network level in this approach, it's not practical to let students do any coding in plugin or theme files. These are all shared across all sites. If you need to allow students to have more hands-on experience modifying their own site's theme or plugin code individually, another option would be to become a Toolset-based Theme Author and create a Toolset-based Theme:
https://toolset.com/home/toolset-for-theme-authors/
This custom theme can be distributed to your students. A Toolset-based Theme will automatically download the required plugins for them; no registration is required by the students. This approach doesn't account for hosting or domains, so your students would have to set that up on their own or you would have to provide it for them.

Let me know if you want more information about either of these approaches and I'll be glad to advise.

[christerA]

Hi.
Thank you for that detailed answer, great suggestions.
About the 3 solutions:

1. Have the students register their own Training Site. Not perfect, but it would still work, right?

2. Multisite. Better solution. But no PHP-coding. That might be OK though, for a starter course.

3. Author account. Seems to be the best solution in the long run.
And who knows, i might even start developing themes in the future.

A lot of questions about the Author account:

1. Price: For me it would be "Author, upgrade from Agency", $500. And that means lifetime, no yearly fee?
Still a lot of money, do you have a 30 day trial period, if i try it and come to the conclusion it's not for me?

2. If a client buys the theme. I don't understand the update policy, you say in the documentation:
"Your clients will receive Toolset plugins automatically and will get updates any time we release a new version of Toolset plugins."
You mean for all future? Even if i were to, let's say, downgrade my account to Agency again? Or is it even connected to me at all?

3. Before i buy it, i would like to test the whole distribution process (with my current Agency account). I just follow what's in this page, right?
https://toolset.com/documentation/user-guides/how-to-build-toolset-based-themes/
And the process would be exactly the same with the Author account?

This might be a stupid question, but how exactly do i import the theme in the new site? Does it work like any other theme?
Is this the process?
- Install a clean WordPress site.
- Go to Themes, and just upload the zip file and activate?
- Will then the "installer" do the rest? Install and activate the Toolset plugins and all the rest, like WooCommerce?

[Christian Cox]

Have the students register their own Training Site. Not perfect, but it would still work, right?
Yes, as far as being able to use the WP Admin area and have access to the Toolset reference sites, this is a practical solution. No FTP access, no additional plugins as you mentioned.

For me it would be "Author, upgrade from Agency", $500. And that means lifetime, no yearly fee? Still a lot of money, do you have a 30 day trial period..."
This is a one-time fee, and the 30 day trial period does apply to the Author account upgrade.

"Your clients will receive Toolset plugins automatically and will get updates any time we release a new version of Toolset plugins." You mean for all future?
I'll reach out for some clarification here. I believe this is the case but I want to be 100% sure. Please standby for an update.

Before i buy it, i would like to test the whole distribution process...And the process would be exactly the same with the Author account?
It's not exactly the same because the Author account allows distribution to unlimited sites, but it's very similar. The distribution process is described in more detail here:
https://toolset.com/documentation/user-guides/how-to-build-toolset-based-themes/delivering-toolset-based-themes-to-clients/

...Is this the process?...
Yes, with the exception of automatically installing WooCommerce, this is the process for users. Only Toolset plugins will be included, so any other 3rd party plugins must be installed separately.

[christerA]

Hi.

Great, it's getting more and more clear.
I will now try to export a test theme i've created.
I've never created a theme before so a have a few basic questions:

1. On my development site i'm using "Toolset Starter" theme and "Toolset Starter Child" theme (which is active). Is that right, can i use the child theme? Or should i only use "Toolset Starter".

2. I then should rename the folders, right? Let's say my theme is called "Mytheme". And the same with the child theme folder? Like "Mytheme Child"?

3. And then update the style.css in both folders to match the new name?

4. Anything else before i export?

You wrote
"...Is this the process?...
Yes, with the exception of automatically installing WooCommerce, this is the process for users. Only Toolset plugins will be included, so any other 3rd party plugins must be installed separately."

So the customer install and activate WooCommerce themselves. Just to be sure, there won't be an automatic creation of WooCommerce Layouts that will be created, that will overwrite my own Product Layouts?

[christerA]

Hi again.

I tried to import it into the new site but got:
"Fatal error: Cannot redeclare toolset_themes_installer() (previously declared in............"

Can i send you the WordPress login information of both sites in a private mail?

That is, both the development site and the production site.
I assume you can get to my account and look at what's been uploaded to "Toolset-based Themes".
If you want, you can delete that theme and export it again.

And also, FYI, i deleted the child theme and only used the Toolset Starter Theme.

[Christian Cox]

Sure, private reply fields are enabled here. Sorry, I'm still trying to get some more information to answer your other questions.

[Christian Cox]

Well, I'm actually getting the same Fatal Error after attempting to activate my own custom theme, so it appears there is a problem with that right now. I'm escalating this to our second-tier supporters for some additional assistance.

I followed the tutorial, but I didn't include any CRED forms or Access settings. I used Toolset Starter theme, and I modified the theme folder and style.css file to use a unique name. The theme was generated online without any errors, but when I attempted to activate it on my development URL I saw "Fatal error: Cannot redeclare toolset_themes_installer()". Please standby and I will update you as soon as I have some more information about that.

[Amit Kvint Supporter]

Hi there, my name is Amit and I am the support manager for Toolset,

Related to your question about your clients' state of subscription if you ever downgrade your license, I think there's some misunderstanding: author accounts are lifetime accounts so I see no point in downgrading 🙂

Maybe I missed something(?) - if I did please let me know if you want we have more information here: https://toolset.com/buy-toolset-author/

Cheers!

[christerA]

Hi Amit.

Yes, you're right, there's no point in downgrading.
I was just wondering if there was a connection to me, or if they will have the updates for all future.

If i say, stopped developing sites and becomes a filmmaker, or something........
That is, if i have no account of my own.

I assume someone will get back to me concerning the other question i have, about creating a theme.

[christerA]

Hi again.

Just to clarify, i just want to be clear with potential customers of the theme and don't promise anything that is false.

So, what i mean is, if it is connected to me, then i can NOT say "You will get updates for all future", right?

In that case, i have to say "You will get updates, as long as i have my Author account. If i don't have it, you must buy your own license to get updates".

[Christian Cox]

Hi just a quick update to let you know our developers are now aware of the theme activation issue. I'll continue to update you here with information about that, and Amit can follow up with further information about accounts. Thank you for your patience 🙂

[Christian Cox]

Hi, our developers have released an update to the Toolset Based Theme architecture that should resolve the problem activating custom Toolset Based Themes. Please take a moment to update your files and try to activate your custom theme again. Let me know if the problem is not resolved and we can take another look. Thank you!

[christerA]

Thanks