Custom Background and Header links in admin panel redirect to Customize page
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I vastly prefer the old custom background and header pages to the cramped versions of them at Customize, a page which takes approximately forever to load on my primary website. Today was the first time I noticed the classic dashboard panel links no longer go to the old custom background and header pages. Can we still reach them? If so, how?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I can only add to the general dismay over yet another change, but it looks like this was implemented in WP core, so….
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Hi, justjennifer
I hadn’t noticed until today (27 June) that while both the custom header and custom background links in the classic dashboard admin panel now go to the customize page (the pages they used to link to having been, the custom header options are evidently still free there while the custom background feature has been made a part of the premium plan. I’m astounded that this is not presently one of the major issues being brought up in the forums. Did I miss the wave of disapproval? Perhaps it hasn’t hit yet.
I haven’t used the default background for years on the Koi theme. It seems that the only free option I have left is to switch to the default background image. However, if I do that then evidently I will have to pay to use the background image that I’ve been using, with minor modifications, for most of the past few years.
I don’t remember the admin URL extensions for the old custom header and custom background pages. Does anyone know them? Perhaps the oages are still available.
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C-Believe me I tried getting to those pages yesterday before I posted in this thread. I even looked at archive pages of the Codex and my old WP for Dummies to see if I could spot the URLs. No go.
Apparently Community outrage over this particular issue has yet to come.
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And no, I didn’t notice initially that the ability to change color or image of your site’s background now requires a paid upgrade, so thanks for bringing this up.
I’ve tagged this thread for Staff input.
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Thanks, Jennifer
Another correction to my previous post:(the pages they used to link to having been…removed, I guess)
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I considered tagging it for staff, but decided not to because I suspect staff may close the thread soon.
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There’s no mention (yet) on the Support doc on Custom Backgrounds that a paid upgrade is required, so let’s wait to hear back from Staff.
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As you saw, the changes to the Header and Background settings came from WordPress core — those pages were deprecated and now redirect to the settings in the customizer. However, you don’t need an upgrade to change your background color or image. You can do that in the “Colors & Backgrounds” section in the customizer, by clicking the “Change” button on the background you have set there.
If you’re previewing the custom design features in your customizer, you’ll need to exit that preview first. Once you exit the custom design preview, you’ll be able to make changes to the background color/image and save them without a paid upgrade.
If you run into trouble with that let me know, and please feel free to tag threads for staff if other users are having trouble making those changes.
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@rachelmcr-thanks for that explanation, but it is misleading since it explicitly states in the Customizer>Colors & Background that a paid upgrade is required to save these changes.
This feature is a part of the Premium Plan. Purchase to make it live or exit the preview.
FWIW-I tested whether I could change my test site’s background to an image and it would not save/display after I exited the Customizer.
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Thanks for that feedback. It definitely isn’t meant to be misleading, and I’ll pass along your feedback to see if there’s a clearer way we can distinguish between the premium features in the preview and free features that you can use with or without upgrading.
FWIW-I tested whether I could change my test site’s background to an image and it would not save/display after I exited the Customizer.
Which site did that happen on? I’d like to take a peek and see what’s going on there.
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Great! Thanks so much.
ablogdemo. Have a look at the Customizer and you'll see that the background image “saved” but it's not appearing on the site.
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Ah, I see what you mean. As long as you are still previewing the custom design features, any changes you make in the customizer won’t be live on your site. You have to exit the preview using the link in one of the Colors & Backgrounds, Fonts, or CSS sections (rather than just exiting the customizer) first.
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@ rachelmcr,
However, you don’t need an upgrade to change your background color or image. You can do that in the “Colors & Backgrounds” section in the customizer, by clicking the “Change” button on the background you have set there.
I agree with justjennifer’s observance that Colors & Background is explicitly identified as a feature which is part of the Premium Plan, and therefore would appear to require a paid upgrade to use.
Second, having the link to the old custom background page go to the Customize preview screen by default, and then requiring that one “exit the preview” to use the free option, is rather counterintuitive. That’s what happened when I tried to change the custom background yesterday. I had not chosen to enter the preview at Customize > Colors & Background, but was automatically redirected there when I clicked on the admin panel Background link (at Appearance). As justjennifer reported above, my attempts to change the background yesterday failed, but I hadn’t noticed that I’d been redirected by default to a preview version of Customize.
Today, I find that the Background link in the admin panel now goes to the free version of the Customize page. I presume WordPress made a design correction since my tests of yesterday. I was able to change the background image today without any difficulty.
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Colors & Background is explicitly identified as a feature
This should have been changed to “was yesterday explicitly identified…” after I noticed Customize page no longer presented Colors & Background as a premium plan feature by default.
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Wow, that is so unclear. Even as an experienced user here, without your explanation I wouldn’t have a clue what I have to do to change my background for free.
Even after I clicked the exit preview and successfully changed the background color, my natural tendency was to click the “Save and Publish” button, but it didn’t change to “Saved” when I clicked it and clicking the X to exit brought up a warning in the browser that I was about to leave the page without saving my changes.
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@ justjennifer,
…and clicking the X to exit brought up a warning in the browser that I was about to leave the page without saving my changes.
So, I guess you’d have to reupload the new background after exiting the preview. Yes, that’s going to result in a lot of confusion among users. Hopefully they’ve removed the default preview for good. Each time I used the Background link yesterday, and my first time or two today, the Customize page had Backgrounds & Colors as a premium feature. It was corrected, I think, as I was typing my first post here today.
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FWIW-overall, it’s been my experience that the term “exit the preview” in the other custom design features (fonts and the like) means that you cannot use that feature without the paid upgrade. So for the moment, yes, this is misleading.
If you’re previewing the custom design features in your customizer, you’ll need to exit that preview first. Once you exit the custom design preview, you’ll be able to make changes to the background color/image and save them without a paid upgrade.
Also, no mention of this in the updated Custom Backgrounds Support doc.
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