Suffusion Not Available Any More

On 22nd June, Suffusion was removed from the WP themes directory all of a sudden. Someone decided that a theme whose last version was released and approved 5 months back and whose users had been generally happy did not meet requirements, and yanked the theme.

My response to the comment was simple:

However, given that I have always come out at the losing end of these discussions, please feel free to keep the theme suspended. I have neither the inclination nor energy to get drawn into this again, particularly since the customizer implementation is back-breaking, and the users of the theme had been perfectly happy with the theme in its current state and the once-in-a-while critical updates that they were getting.

If any of you is interested I can provide the rebuttals here, but it is not worth the time and effort. Stay assured that the all “concerns” about security are unadulterated rubbish. All options are written into the database in a secure manner using the recommended functions and via WP’s standard APIs and then retrieved. If they are really concerned about security, they have to look at the WP platform itself and ensure that none can access options stored in the database for any theme or plugin (not just Suffusion).

As for the rest, the sole deal-breaker is the Customizer implementation. Switching to it is akin to writing a new theme, and that is something I just cannot do.

Anyway, this has been a long and satisfying ride. Thank you for all your support in helping this theme get to the pinnacle of WP themes multiple times over. For those who have the theme currently installed, don’t worry – it will still work as it has; I just will not be able to release any updates for it and it will no longer be available as a theme from the WP directory. In case you are concerned about the “fatal error” on the ticket, the Suffusion Shortcodes plugin addresses it.

105 Responses to “Suffusion Not Available Any More”

  1. Just registered a new domain after only a little while away from the internet, and come to find out my rock Suffusion is no more.

    The world is worse than it once was.

    The very best of luck to you in your future endeavors, and thank you for all your hard work over the years.

  2. Dear,

    Kindly release even paid version for suffusion lovers. we will buy and upload manually. plz plz plz

    Regards..

    Shafiq

  3. I’ve been using your theme for my website for probably 5 years. Thank you for your service.
    http://willyborichardson.com/

  4. Hi Sayontan,
    like lots of people here I am so sorry and sad to see the end of Suffusion. I have numerous sites using your theme and love it.
    But I have a question for you.
    If WP did not ban suffusion theme, you would still be updating Suffusion as it was needed. We know there is thousands of users who needs updates. What if you still updated Suffusion, put it in zip form and users pay, say 2 usd for the updates.
    You have said you never wanted money for it, which I truly believe, but I am sure you have a favorite charity that would love donations a couple of times a year, that could run into the hundreds of thousands.
    Think of the good work that could be done with this money.
    So think about it.
    you would still be updating, as you would have been.
    users, for a very very small nominal fee, themes would be kept updated.
    Charities could do very good work with the money you would donate, directly or indirectly.
    What is going to happen, someone is going to take it over and make money from it. You could help a lot of people with this theme.

    No matter what you do, thank you for a great theme.

  5. I’m very sorry to hear it, Sayontan! I have used Suffusion for years, and I so appreciate how generous you have been with your time.

    I am still back on 4.4.7 because I have not had time to fix some things that break on mobile – but coincidentally I was going to start working on these this week. Can I still update to 4.4.9 if I’m not ready to move to a new theme?

  6. Thank you for all the work that I know goes into creating and maintaining a WP theme. It made my website work much easier.
    Take care,
    Alan

  7. This is such a sad day. The best theme ever. I am not ready to let it go…

    As a designer I look for maximum flexibility and the power to control and mould every aspect of a site look. I find Suffusion to be the ONLY theme that truly provide this level of control over every detail – the more I use it the more I appreciate it’s genius and how a head of it’s time it has been… To be honest I was dreading this day where it is no longer available and here we are. I still can’t believe it…

    Is it really the end of the road? Is it not possible to have a community working together to bring it back? what would it take – In terms of man hours and cost?

    For now I downloaded the last version of the theme from here in case others are looking for it too: https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/29988

  8. I protested : https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/29988
    I hope other follow with their own views,
    maybe if all the millions of users do the same we get it back?

  9. Thank you for all your work on Suffusion.

    I was able to build a public library website, http://www.bergenfieldlibrary.org, with it and I think it looks good.

    I was a complete novice at web design when I started using Suffusion. (Well I did a very simple website about 15 years ago by hand coding HTML.)

    I love Suffusion and its elegance. I am very grateful for all you put into such an outstanding theme.

    Thank you very much.

    Bill Fischer

  10. Suffusion has been an excellent theme. Would you consider changing it to “pay-to-use”? I would gladly pay a yearly fee for an updated and maintained version of Suffusion.

  11. Hi Sayontan,

    I installed Suffusion on a few sites and loved it.

    As for the translation, living in Quebec, (the only French people in an English continent), I can assure you translating the admin interface is a must here).

    As for the Customizer: I HATE it and I wanted to install Suffusion on yet another site because… it can be customized WITHOUT that (insert a bad word here) Customizer.

    I’m sorry Suffusion can’t be found on WP anymore (not even the old versions !!!!), and I’m sorry you won’t be maintaining it, but I do undestand your decision.

    I want to thank your for all those years of pleasure with Suffusion.

    Love and blessings to you!

    Marie

  12. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. Love this theme and I will keep using as is for as long as I can.

  13. I learned to use WordPress with Suffusion. It is really sad that Suffusion is gone. Does anybody know any alternative theme? And Sayontan, I beg you to continue with Suffusion. Is there problems coming with websites using Suffusion?

  14. I echo the previous statement. I appreciate what Mr. Sayontan has done. I started an engineering company 2 years ago while maintaining my current job. I used the suffusion theme in way that allows me to compete well. I owe a debt to Mr. Sayontan and one day I will repay it…hopefully soon.

    I agree with the last post ”
    This is a total disaster!!!!!
    It is the best theme ever…
    Nothing else really compares.
    Love the ability to control every aspect of the site design it provides, like no other.
    Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back….
    Please please please…

    If you can bring it back do you have any recommendations for other resources when WP can no longer support any site with the

  15. Great theme, as simple as complete for every need.
    Me too I add myself to the list of people who’d like to buy a premium version in the case you decide to keep updating it.
    Thanks for everything, I have lot of sites (of mine) with the Suffusion theme installed.
    All the best Sayontan, good luck!
    Pietro Messa

  16. I’m so sad to see this theme discontinued. Is there any other them similar to it? I’d do anything to have it back in use. Any interest in re-activating it?

  17. A really brilliant theme, thank you kindly for all of your hard work.

  18. Best theme hands down. I am really disappointment to see it gone 🙁

  19. please transofrom it in a premium theme, I want to buy it becuase it is perfect for me. It is a fantastic theme, really useful for the one like me that want to build an informative website

  20. Just now I learn this news about Suffusion’s end. For my purposes, Suffusion is actually the one theme I can work with, as it allows me to customise those things that other themes do not allow. For sure, the sites I’m doing are quite simple. Yet, other themes just don’t let me do some simple things that make these simple sites work. So thanks to you, Sayontan, for all the work you’ve done, and sorry that it seems the end for now.

  21. What about moving version control and updates to github – integrating one click WP updates?

    Perhaps you could post a request for help to the forum moderators to help with updates?

    regards Jason
    (Long term Suffusion user)

  22. […] have stopped working on Suffusion (and supporting it in any form) after it was pulled from the WordPress repository. However, there were several requests for the code to be made available for download. I have […]

  23. Great Job Sayontan,

    Thank u for Great Job, and Great Theme.

    Sincerely,

    MohAVe Studio

    http://www.mohave.rs

  24. So, I followed the link from one of the above replies and SUCCESSFULLY DOWNLOADED AND INSTALLED SUFFUSION.

    In the “Tickets” page you can get the .zip file, download it, then install it in WP and get it activated just like any other theme.

    https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/29988

    I still have not jumped into it to see if WP is somehow limiting or sabotaging its use, but I kinda’ doubt it.

  25. Thanks so very much. I have been using the theme for many years now. Ace!

  26. Yes, please stay with it and make a premium version. I would gladly pay for it. I have Suffusion on almost 20 sites. Nothing else compares.

    Is there a place to download Suffusion Shortcodes?

  27. I am very saddened by the news that regardless of whether or not wordpress will maintain this theme in their depository, you should not discontinue building upon your success. I would never have known of its’ demise had it not been for my request to siteground hosting to upgrade to PHP 7.0 which is apparently incompatible with Suffusion. I’d very sad that I will have to completely revamp two websites that were running nicely with this Theme if I want to take advantage of the latest version of PHP. I am willing to make a donation if you can fix this particular issue.

  28. Does anyone have an error log showing what would happen if we ran Suffusion on PHP 7.0?

  29. Hello
    I have had the first error ever with Suffusion. It is the best. Yes I too would gladly pay something to see it updated. I have the latest version of WordPress and I cannot figure out why using the WP Customizer does not allow me to crop or even skip cropping a picture for my header.
    Has anyone had that problem?
    Maybe it is some other conflict but I cannot figure out why it will not let me use this fall scene picture.
    Anyone any ideas?

  30. Hi Rob, i got this error message after i changed to PHP 7

    Warning: Declaration of Suffision_MM_Walker::start_el(&$output, $item, $depth, $args) should ne compatible with Walker_Nav_Menu::start_el(&$output, $item, $depth=0, $args=Arry, $id=0) in /home/.sites/76/site4099018/web/wp-content/themes/suffision/library/suffision-walkers.php on line 39

  31. Dear Sayontan,

    Many many thanx for all your work! Never knew that there is such a bureaucracy at WordPress organisation. To fight bureaucracy is indeed fruitless: it sucks energy and one looses always. So I understand you very well!
    Only today I discovered that Suffusion is banned and I’m very sorry as I still use it and did so for many years. Over 330 pages on my site pareau.nl So hopefully we fans all can continue for some time. All the best to you!

  32. well damn. I found out about this when I migrated to a new hosting service today.

    I for one would be willing to pay a subscription fee for this theme. I love it and totally have the sads now.

  33. I just discovered the news today 🙁 @Sayontan, what you did with this theme for years was an amazing service, thank you. I haven’t followed the ins and outs of it but it seems absolutely nuts that you would be forced into a rewrite to continue supporting WordPress, I assume in 2018 the situation is the same 🙁

    Looking at what https://weavertheme.com/weaver-xtreme/ have done with a yearly licence for https://plus.weavertheme.com/ could that model be an option for you, or has that boat sailed now? I would pay a licence fee. You deserve to be compensated!

    There must be a way of measuring how many instances of Suffusion are still active out there?!

  34. Hi Sayontan,
    I’ve used your theme Suffusion various times. I’ve always found it to be really good looking and highly configurable. So sorry to see that it is not available in the WordPress theme installer anymore.
    It’s probably because it was free and competed with other payable themes. When I looked recently, I found that 4 out of 5 themes in the WP installer were payable.
    Suffusion was always a remarkable theme framework right from the start. It was always much more than just a simple theme. It was hugely configurable back in the days when such frameworks were not yet widely available for WordPress. And you always maintained it superbly well – and regularly.
    Thank you very much for all your dedicated work on Suffusion. I’m glad to see it’s still available in Git.
    I wish you great success in whatever you are doing now,