Joomla 3.10 template loaded wrong JSON config file

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR

I have accidentally loaded a template setting that I can't seem to reset.

I am helping my sister with her dive club's Joomla site. It is live and it is currently messed up (by me), so time is of the essence.

Back story:
The club's IT guy has been AWOL for, like, a year.
My sister stepped in to update a simple banner image.
She tagged me to help change the colour of the text overlay.
In my exploration, I loaded a .json template configuration. I did not save. It implemented the configuration anyway.
There is no ability to load any other .json template configuration, or otherwise undo the loaded one.

The site is euc.ca.
At the moment the big problems are

• the "Meet Gavern" logo in the upper left, which should be EUC,
• the repeating image of the turtle.
• there may be lots of other problems introduced by this template that I am not aware of yet.

I am(was) a web dev, so I know a few ways I can kludge some changes - if I can find the right file or configuration that affect the live site. (I embedded some CSS right in the text editor to override the title text to render it white).


This is where I went awry by loading that .json file over there on the right side:

There are no other options to choose from.

If I back out to the list of templates, there are others:

(I've tried setting each of these to default here in the list. None seem to have any effect.)

When I go into these other ones, in the hope of loading a .json. config file, it turns out they all seem to be empty. The feature for loading anything does not exist:

I've tried everything.


What do you think might happen if I delete the .json config file? Do you think Joomla considers "delete" to be the inverse of "load"?

 

[jedishrfu]

Seems like its time your sister gets a new brother. :-)

 

[jack action]

Isn't this helpful?

 

[pbuk]

In my exploration, I loaded a .json template configuration. I did not save. It implemented the configuration anyway.

Oh. From looking at the dialog you posted I would guess that load here means "overwrite my current configuration with the configuration in default-config.json"; save means "save my current configuration as {filename}.json"; and delete means "delete my current configuration and revert to some fall-back state".

Given that you did not save the current configuration before you overwrote it I can see 3 options:
1. Find out if someone else saved the theme configuration previously.
2. Restore from a backup.
3. Recreate all the changes that were made to the default configuration.
4. Persuade the dive club that their site really needs a design overhaul and start again from scratch.

1. is probably your best bet: is there someone you can ask, or can you see any json files that look hopeful? Is 2 an option?

 

[jedishrfu]

The Internet Archive at archive.org may have a version of this website's home page from which you can extract the necessary JSON files.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://euc.ca

The last snapshot shown was in September 2024

 

[DaveC426913]

1. Find out if someone else saved the theme configuration previously.

Alas, there's no one to ask.

2. Restore from a backup.
3. Recreate all the changes that were made to the default configuration.

Like most of these CMS's, they are so hugely complex and non-intuitive, having new features bolted on top of old features over decades. I've been all through it and am none-the-wiser. And I am sure whatever-the-opposite-of-motivated-is* to become the local "expert" in this club's business.

*loath, the word is loath

4. Persuade the dive club that their site really needs a design overhaul and start again from scratch.

Perhaps, but there's no one to do it.

1. is probably your best bet: is there someone you can ask, or can you see any json files that look hopeful? Is 2 an option?

Nope.