The error message in your second screengrab means you need the php ZipArchive extension installed or enabled. Its a server setup thing, so you will need to talk to your web host's support desk.

Details of php's zip extension:
http://php.net/manual/en/book.zip.php...

Its a php extension that is pretty much taken for granted in any php installation these days. I am surprised you managed to install the c5 core without this.

Your other problems may be arising as secondary issues as a consequence of this (or may be completely separate problems). Anyway, get ZipArchive installed/enabled on your web server and hopefully the other problems will go away.

Thanks John,
I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
But there are problems ... with the documentation and with the your webseite itself ...and I already fixed your site's errors myself using workarounds (which I employed myself, no thanks to the forum or the documentation).

Here's an interesting fact: Once I was able to locate a real link to a real .ZIP file ... had to use Google to find them ... then it took less than 4 minutes to download + install over 8 addons.
» The problem is not with your website design/construction.
» Rather the problem is with the *incorrect word choice* used by the your webmaster.
Period!

The problem is that your website is written in "open source JARGON" instead of in English. Yes, I am familiar with the culture of open source (that's one reason why you do not have a manualpage ... er, "manual." It's too hard + time-consuming and does not interest the typical Open Source (i.e. "free labor") geeks.

Unfortunately, this superior CMS ... the first in history which actually is WYSIWYG ... will never take off because of its poor documentation and its "open source culture" upon which it relies for support.
1. Yes, your software application is vastly, VASTLY superior to WordPress, JOOMLA, Drupal et alii.
2. No, your application will never replace them, or even make a thin scratch into them, until the website is correctly web mastered. That means: you must design it for BRAND NEW customers, not for people who already know how to use your application.

I. Re: "Its a php extension that is pretty much taken for granted in any php installation these days. I am surprised you managed to install the c5 core without this."
John, it’s not a problem with the pHp, and I had no problem whatsoever installing the application (about 15 seconds, start to finish).
If it were a pHp problem, the correct reply would have been something like this: Mark, you must be running pHp version XX.XXX or newer.
I can change the pHp which I am running on the site(s).
But I do not have the time to read through the + 5,000 pages of documentation you referred me to.


II. Re: "The error message in your second screengrab means you need the php ZipArchive extension installed or enabled. Its a server setup thing, so you will need to talk to your web host's support desk."
Doubtful that is the case, and it did not answer my question regarding HOW TO DOWNLOAD a file which apparently does not exist, or is obscured behind inaccurate or insider-jargon-laden documentation?
The most likely it is a problem with your website.
What exactly does this mean: "... you need the php ZipArchive extension installed or enabled."
Did you mean to write, "The pHp your server is running must have the file extension .ZIPARCHIVE installed or enabled."

III. Re: " Click the link below to view the discussion:https://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/installation/themes-plugi...
John, you're sending me a PLAIN TEXT e-mail. There is no link unless my Local E-mail Client converts it into a link. That's how plain text e-mails work (always have).
Okay, I found your comment, abridged.

Oh hell, now I have to wind this up.
Thanks for making me sound like an idiot.
No, your advice is wrong. It did not even answer the question, perhaps you did not hear the question?
I needed to find the .ZIP files to download, that's all.

If ONLY you would change the inaccurate words on your website, then this problem would entirely disappear.
May I suggest that, instead of using any other word, when you provide a downloadable link to a file, that you use the word "Download" instead of the word "Archive?"
Yes, the word linked to the downloadable files may also have - beneath a separator - links to OLDER versions of the .ZIP files.
No, the word "Archive" does not mean in English "Download."


Wow and WTF?
John, I've been doing this stuff since the LAST century, since before many of today's "open source culture" volunteer support were even potty-trained.
Have seen thousands of good applications fail, simply because they cannot get the really simple things right: Word Choice!

FACT: When I was 17 years old, I received a US Congressional Appointment to West Point.
Do you know how hard those are to get?
Do you even know what it is?
In sum breve: I am not stupid, I was performing college graduate level math at the age of 9, and studying the Lorentz Translation and Einsteinian Relativism at the age of 12. I think I know how to read English by now, what do you think?

Thanks for the "help."
Famous quote about computers + technik, from the 20th century: “The problem with allowing the engineers who create a program also to write its Help and Tutorials is that you get people who cannot write, writing Help for people who do not need help.” — Mark Rector, ca. 1998.

If you need help understanding why this is even more true today than it was in the last century, please do not hesitate to contact me personally.

Yes, your efforts will fail unless you engage a real UX/UE advisor.
There is no doubt that your *real* WYSIWYG application which SHOULD replace WordPress, JOOMLA, Drupal and 99% of the current CMS-driven websites in the world (all crap in my professional opinion).
But until you fix the problems, you are only driving customers away — without even knowing it.

With kind regards/all due respect,
Mark Rector




-----Original Message-----
From: concrete5 Community [mailto:discussions@concretecms.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2017 2:21 PM
To: mark.rector@bestfooting.net
Subject: Themes + Plugins, Download + Install : Installation Help

The 'invalid token' business is indeed very unfortunate. My guess is that the forum only allows a limited amount of time in which to compose and submit a post. This is for security reasons (I assume). After a period, the security token expires.

I've been bitten by this many times. It would certainly be good if the timeout were extended to allow complex issues to be typed, if the error message were comprehensible, and ideally if a warning could be popped up somewhat before invalidating the token.

Thanks Gondwana, but this is only one more instance of "anti-intuitive" webseite development.
They don't seem to be able to get the word choices right.
I think that the real problem was that my account was new (that day), therefore I was not "sufficiently expert" - had not accumulated enough karma points - in order to allow me to comment on somebody else's post.

I may be wrong, but frankly Godwana I copied + pasted my comment a few more time, after completely closing my browser and clearing all cached cookies.

This is only one more instance of the Top-Tier, World-Class, One-of-a-Kind CMS application insisting that it must fail.

Why they have decided to fail, I have no idea. I think it must be one more (of thousands) of case of the "culture of open source" making them hate themselves ... to do what is bad for themselves.

Wow, I can't believe that after trying out hundreds of WYSIWYG editors and generators over the last 12 years ... since Dan Bricklin's Trellix was taken off the market ... that I finally found one that works.
Now I must realize that it won't be around much longer, only because they refuse to use plain English instead of jargon.

Oh well, I don't own it.
I guess they might decide to forestall the inevitable, unfortunately I do not have confidence that open-source geniuses are able to kneel down and humbly bow their heads in submission to the truth. Instead they always want to take the ship down with them, anything to save their pride.

We'll see, won't we?

Mit freundlichen grüßen/etamwah nepi ne nakamoa,
Mark
(just an old mathematician/cowboy-poet/theoretical physicist ... not somebody who would know anything relevant)

-----Original Message-----
From: concrete5 Community [mailto:discussions@concretecms.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2017 3:47 PM
To: mark.rector@bestfooting.net
Subject: Themes + Plugins, Download + Install : Installation Help

Thank You