Windows Live Writer – Genesis Pro (HTML5) Themes Problem

If you’re anything like me you just finished upgrading your site or setting up a new site using Genesis and a Studio Press Pro child theme.  In this case News Pro.  And I suspect that this will apply to many new HTML5 sites as well.  You fired up Windows Live Writer, told it to download your new theme and kaboom!  It’s completely mangled, broken, the formatting is barely recognizable.

Before we delve into fixing this mess, here are some of the things that DID NOT fix the problem to save you a little time:

• Disabling Plugins
• Changing the Default Post Category
• Removing SEO Yoast to Re-enable Genesis SEO Settings and Enable Windows Live Writer
• Disabling Caching

Have I told you lately how much I loath Internet Explorer?  I know what you’re saying.  What’s Internet Exploder got to do with this?  Well, ultimately, It is what exploded your fancy new WordPress theme in Windows Live Writer.  You see, Live Writer uses an Internet Explorer function called Browser Emulation to render your theme in both the “edit” and “preview” tabs.  By default, it uses Internet Explorer 7 emulation.  Yes, IE7, released in November of 2006.  Just a short nine years ago.

The solution to our problem is to tell Windows Live Writer to use a more current version of Internet Explorer to do the rendering.  Follow me to the registry:

Click Start > Run > Type regedit in the box > Hit Enter.  You should see something like this:

Navigate to:

• If you have a 64 bit Microsoft Windows System

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION

• If you have a 32 Bit Microsoft Windows System

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION

Create a new DWORD Value:

Name the Value WindowsLiveWriter.exe

Set the Value to 10000 (Internet Explorer 10) or 9000 (Internet Explorer 9)

Close the Registry Editor and update your theme in Windows Live Writer.  It will now be using a more current version of Internet Explorer for emulation.  Your theme should now correctly display.

Happy Blogging!!!