Just so you know, if your theme fucks up, it’s not just you.
I’ve been seeing this happen to a few of my followers now so I decided I would make a post about it in case any of you are panicking and also so others can prepare.
Glitches
There’s a Tumblr glitch at the moment that’s destroying themes. Signs this has happened are numerous and this list might not be extensive, but here are some of the things I’ve spotted:
- icon and mobile header will vanish – icon is not visible on the dash or appears as an error, and the mobile header has reverted back to one of the defaults
- special characters and html in the sidebar will mess up: links will break and mobile emoticons will be a jumble of characters
- theme colours change. they will either revert to the unedited version of the colours, or they will just go completely different colours.
- custom pages (about pages, character pages, tag pages, etc) will vanish. clicking them will result in a “page not found” error, and trying to edit them from the appearance editor is impossible as you can’t click on them. they’re completely inaccessible.
- if you have a custom ask box, this will also be inaccessible, but the regular ask will still work.
If this has happened, don’t panic.
There are a few things that you can do:
- changing your icon and mobile header is easy – you just have to redo it manually and they will be back.
- same with everything in the sidebar. just redo it, though it’s easier to do it from scratch (as in, manually program the html in rather than copy-pasting)
- if your theme has messes up, you might not have to reinstall the entire theme. head on over the the theme recovery page and select an older version. you might have to do some minor edits if you’ve edited since the last backup, but all your colours, custom images, and backgrounds will be restored with one click
As for the custom pages, at the moment I haven’t worked out a fix. mine are still inaccessible as of now, but I’ve seen other people say that theirs came back after simply waiting. Leave it for a few days and if there’s no change, you might have to remake them. This is annoying, but can’t be helped.
Finally, for those of you who haven’t experienced this yet, prepare.
This seems to be a widespread glitch that is happening more and more frequently. Take the following steps if you can:
- back up a copy of your layout code and any code for your custom pages. there is the theme recovery option and custom pages seem to be coming back on their own, but on the off chance that yours doesn’t, it’ll save you a lot of hard work. please make a copy now, especially if you’ve put a lot of work into your custom pages.
- make sure you have a copy of your icon, mobile header, and other custom images saved to your computer for easy upload. it’ll save you from spending hours trying to find the right pictures again.
So far most of these things seems fixable, but this will make it easier for you.
Again, this is a glitch, and it’s happening to a lot of people. It’s not a virus or a hack, it’s just a Tumblr glitch. Don’t panic if you sign on and find your theme ruined – it’s not just you and it is reversible. And for those of you reading this who are unaffected so far, please back your stuff up!