I’m sure this is not the right place to ask but I’d prefer not to throw the money down the drain…
I’m not clever enough to use the Envato complicated hub, probably.
I’m spending my free time going back and forth through pages and links as a desperate monkey without getting to the point…
So, bear me and forgive me, if you will.
This is my issue.
I’m a web developer (generally I work with Bootstrap stuff or Joomla… not so experienced with WP).
Anyway… a new customer of mine argued with his original web developer for economic discordances, and then asked me to recover his website (exported by the previous developer) on a hosting of mines.
It’s an Envato pre-organized website with BeTheme, WPBakery Visual Composer, Rev. Slider etc… included in the package…
I almost succeeded in totally recovering it (with several “search & replace” sessions to correct the old domain references/links) but there are still some issues affecting it (in my chrome console, while loading it in real time, old references still appear and some images result missing).
The most serious issue, anyway, concerns the WPBakery Visual Composer addon… When I try to use it, it simply keeps on freezing… (I was trying to access those missing elements on the page through the front-end editor of Visual Composer… but no chance).
Ok. This is what technically’ s occurring to my possibly serene evening.
Sure I don’t want you to solve my mess, of course… but, please, suggest me how to contact the Visual Composer Author to ask him or her or them directly what’s going on…
The old developer bought the package paying Envato but, as you can imagine, he’s not willing to co-operate.
On the other side, Is not very clever (so probably is right for me ) to entirely pay the package once more just to know, right after, that I need to update the WPVC addon because is not compatible with the last WP version installed (I don’t have the credential to access this kind of information, neither to upgrade it).
Since you’re surely smarter than me, what would you do if in my shoes?
Thank you so much for not flooding me with insults.
Any constructive suggestion (my low IQ permitting ) will be taken in serious and operational consideration…
It would be useful to know how old the theme and plugin is?
If it’s an outdated version of VC the that could well be the cause of your problem (also check the PHP version on the hosting is up to date).
Unfortunately if the purchase was made by someone else then the author is unlikely to help you to protect their items. While your case may well be genuine, you can imagine the exploitation potential otherwise.
You basically have a two options:
You get the old dev to play nicely or at least share the latest download of the theme and plugins
You purchase a new version of the theme OR of just VC (bear in mind that it’s not necessarily the plugin causing your problem).
Honestly I would argue that it’s the client who needs to buy a new license of theme or plugin not you.
I know it sounds harsh to make them pay for a new theme but really you/they want to be using the most up to date version of VC AND the theme itself.
If the old dev is not going to share then you don’t really have any alternative, and if the client cares about their site and security then it is a no brainer and up to them to take it up with the other dev.
As my colleague said, your options are quite limited to getting a new license and asking the developer for support or contacting the dev that modified it and requesting assistance from him… there isn’t much else that can be done in this case.
Thank you very much for your replies.
And thank you for moving my post to the right place.
Since you’ve been so kind, here there are the elements you pointed out in your replies.
Of course, as you noted, I can’t be sure that problems I outlined are due to my lack of expertise or to a voluntary sabotage from the previous webmaster (don’t think so, anyway).
They are a Mexican team and, a part from some chauvinist considerations (for them I need an expert developer to support me … but I was prepared for something like this, knowing the Mexican perspective about “women at work”…) I’ve been very kind and provided them with an admin account to check the site out on the back-end.
They stated, anyway, that it can’t be the deprecated component/addon version and I have to keep on investigating on the SSL side, then on the database consistency (but they were clearly deceiving me…or maybe not expert enough to support me…why not? ).
So, coming to the point.
My choices at this time seem to be:
to pay a service like the ones proposed by some devs in their search & replace tools/addons/plugins (on average 30 USD)
Buy a subscription from Envato (which kind of I have to understand, really)
Loose the customer and give up with everything, since my main mistake has been to accept this kind of fiddly job
Keep on fighting and buy a subscription for the BeTheme so I can ask WPBakery to recover its component/plugin (Visual Composer) and make it work (if possibile)
The features of my environment are these:
### Begin System Info ###
-- WordPress Configuration
Site URL: http://milenium.stefania.us
Home URL: http://milenium.stefania.us
Multisite: No
Version: 4.6.1
Language: en_US
Table Prefix: Length: 3
WP_DEBUG: Disabled
Memory Limit: 40M
-- Better Search Replace Configuration
Plugin Version: 1.3
Max Page Size: 50000
-- Server Configuration
Operating System: Linux
PHP Version: 5.6.27
MySQL Version: 5.6.32
Server Software: Apache
-- PHP Configuration
Safe Mode: Disabled
Memory Limit: 256M
Post Max Size: 64M
Upload Max Filesize: 64M
Time Limit: 0
Max Input Vars: 1000
Display Errors: N/A
-- WordPress Active Plugins
Better Search Replace: 1.3
CM On Demand Search And Replace: 1.1.5
Contact Form 7: 4.5.1
Duplicate Post: 3.0.3
Easy Google Webmaster Tools: 1.0.0
Envato WordPress Toolkit: 1.7.3
Force Regenerate Thumbnails: 2.0.6
LayerSlider WP: 5.2.0
Recent Tweets Widget: 1.6.5
Revolution Slider: 4.6.5
Search & Replace: 3.1.0
Search and Replace: 1.1
UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore: 1.12.23
Velvet Blues Update URLs: 3.2.7
WordPress Importer: 0.6.3
WP-FileManager: 1.4.0
WP-Polls: 2.73.1
WPBakery Visual Composer: 4.4.3
Yoast SEO: 3.8
-- WordPress Inactive Plugins
Akismet: 3.2
Hello Dolly: 1.6
WP Customer Feedback: 1.3.0
YOP Poll: 5.8.0
### End System Info ###
About the BeTheme and the Envato Market subscription what follows are two links to screenshots that may better show the situation:
Some plugins are fresh installs (the search & replace kind). The basic ones were already present.
The previous Devs provided a zip file with the WP full content + the MySQL database file.
I imported everything manually and I didn’t use any *.xml or scripts to do it.
I’m willing to pay, not too much, just to know if I’m drowning in a water glass (Wordpress is not my favorite environment as I said) or if it is normal (due to the deprecated version of WPBakery plugin) not to be able to full recover some old references that break the page look (CSS and missing JPGs) and the use of Visual Composer (I already deactivated it and activated it back with no positive results).
One Last Thing
This won’t be the final domain of this unfortunate site… is a personal subdomain for test purposes.
I already own the final domain where the site will be up, then (if I succeed in making it work properly).
Thanks again for your infinite patience (I’m in Italy, the customer and the old web developers are in Mexico, don’t know where you are but you’re the only one I can rely on, not to loose my self-esteem ).
You are WAY (that version was around March 2015) out of date with the VC plugin and that really needs updating.
I would guess that based on the version of VC then that the version of the theme you are using is also very out dated.
In terms of your options:
I wouldn’t recommend this as given the age of these versions there are likely to be a lot more to doing this than you may think
envato doesn’t offer subscriptions for WordPress themes etc. (Yet)
that’s your discretion
even if you buy a license there’s no obligation for the theme or plugin author to fix your issues if they are not the result of their code.
As it happens both VC and BE’s authors are great but it sounds like a fair amount of what you have discussed is way beyond the scope of product support.
Without a shadow of doubt the right thing to do is go back to the client and explain how outdated their theme and plugins are and that they (NOT you - in case the relationship goes sour as before) need to buy an updated version.
It’s not professional, you are wasting your time, not to mention potentially leaving their site open to all sorts of other issues by trying to salvage a set up from almost 2 years ago.
Once up to date then potentially you can look at what’s needed to fix the site properly. It’s a big theme plus you have several third party assets installed so until then a degree of it is guesswork.
Personally if the client isn’t willing to protect their site properly then you will probably save a massive headache by letting them go especially if you are not comfortable with WP.
How you accepted the project and even started without completely looking into it? Hope your customer understands where his website is currently standing. Because such things if we tell them after taking the project, chances are that they can get pissed off. Let us know what happens. Good Luck!
How you accepted the project and even started without completely looking into it? Hope your customer understands where his website is currently standing. Because such things if we tell them after taking the project, chances are that they can get pissed off. Let us know what happens. Good Luck!
The website was dead. Don’t know exactly what happened but the domain expired… maybe due to the webmaster/developer lack of responsibility… but I’m not sure… I don’t want to rock the boat more than this…
So, must be honest, I fronted this job with my left hand… but, in any case, I don’t like to leave open files eternally…
And finally yes… Have to be self-critical… I didn’t check the real situation before accepting/committing to this job.
CMS ever seemed to me more and less equivalent and I’m quite old fashioned (code and dreamweaver)…never thought a plugin could turn into such an obstacle (saw the site up and working a year before…quite basic and simple…).
I made a mistake.
Since they have the working credentials and they paid for the BE theme and the VC plugin, yesterday I sent them another email pointing out that for professional deontology they should have update etc etc…and I count on their precious support etc etc… (used some feminine prerogatives this time )
Sent the Carbon Copy to the Site Owner, of course…
Let’s see…
Anyway, thanks again for your support… on IT matters you never stop learning…
) to entirely pay the package once more just to know, right after, that I need to update the WPVC addon because is not compatible with the last WP version installed (I don’t have the credential to access this kind of information, neither to upgrade it).
️
… but I was prepared for something like this, knowing the Mexican perspective about “women at work”…) I’ve been very kind and provided them with an admin account to check the site out on the back-end.
).
).
Good Luck!