Front-end editing not enabled by default for P2 theme
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 338
- Forks
- 56
- Avg merge
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- Merged PRs (30d)
- 16
Description
When the P2 theme is activated, front-end editing is not enabled in the Customizer.
**What I expected**
I expected the front-end editing setting to be automatically enabled when I activated the P2 theme.
**What happened**
Front-end editing was not enabled. I had to do this manually in _Customize_ -> _Theme Options_, after the theme had been activated.
Without front-end editing enabled it is not possible to add the specialized widgets and posts have no front-end editing functionality.
**Steps to reproduce**
- Click My Sites
- Click Themes
- Search for P2 theme
- Activate theme
- Visit site — front-end editing wasn't enabled
- Click My Sites
- Click Customize
- Click Theme Options
- Tick Enable front-end editing
- Save & Publish
To test if this was just a one-off issue I switched themes and then activated P2 again, using the following steps:
- Click My Sites
- Click Themes
- Activate another theme
- Click Back to themes
- Activate P2 theme
- Click Customize
- Click Theme Options
Enable front-end editing was enabled this time.
The issue only seems to appear when activating the theme for the first time — I've tested this across multiple test sites.

I was unable to replicate this issue on my WordPress.org test site.
Issue reported in 834799-f
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
Research direction
Start by reproducing first-time P2 activation and inspect the Customizer > Theme Options path for the Enable front-end editing setting. Trace where theme activation establishes its defaults, then compare first activation with reactivation after switching themes. Done means front-end editing is enabled on first activation, allowing the specialized widgets and post editing to work.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- frontend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100