Change WordPress Theme Guide
Before You change WordPress theme, WP site owners need to consider numerous things in this manner. When they choose a WP theme, they should remember the website’s look and feel defines the way their audience perceives their business, brand, company, or entity.
Hence they should have a proper checklist that can help them find a theme best suited to their needs. Here are some of those tips that are part of that checklist:
- It should be relevant to the company’s line of work: The theme’s appearance and functionality should be in line with the business’s content. Whether it is an eCommerce site, a pharmaceutical site, or a different kind of blog, a wide array of themes are available.
- It should have an intuitive design: The theme needs to be easily navigable and must have a simple design. It must emphasize the items which the brand wants to highlight.
- The theme must adapt to the brand easily. The chosen theme should satisfy the color scheme, layout, fonts, logo and widgets. Page builders add more to the arena of flexibility.
- It should be responsive and attractive across all devices. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help optimize the theme nicely.
- Developers must regularly update the chosen theme. A lot of WP plugins need updates to remove vulnerabilities and fix bugs so they can keep up. This prevents websites from hanging.
- The plugins need to be compatible. Those who plan to use platform-specific plugins to add certain functionalities to the website should check if the theme can work or not.
- The new WP theme should be SEO-friendly. It will form the basis of the way web pages appear. Search engine bots crawl pages. A badly coded web page will hence rank low in search engines.
- The theme should be compatible with all major browsers ( Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, etc.). This ensures the site has a consistent look and feel across all of them.
- The theme should perform quite well. Heavy themes with a lot of functionalities will slow down the website’s speed.
- A lot of themes are present, including premium ones. If companies have calculated their budget then they know which theme they should go for. In case they need something premium, they can stretch their budget but not to the point of no return.
- Checking ratings and reviews of each theme is compulsory. This helps determine whether or not it is viable.
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Will WP site owners lose content if they change the theme?
WordPress helps keep existing content on the website in the database, especially blog posts, web pages, products, and their pages too. In fact, To change WordPress theme does not involve any changes in the actual content but in the way a website looks. Such a change does not cause a loss of content as it only changes the website’s appearance.
It should be noted that if companies have theme based plugins, widgets and other customized codes then they won’t be carried over to new WP themes.
Then again, to change WordPress theme can affect the way certain parts of a website are either displayed or deteriorated in an untoward fashion.
What are the prerequisites for changing a theme on WordPress whilst preventing loss of data?
Let’s be honest, the process to Change WordPress Theme isn’t straightforward. Most websites have been in existence for a considerable period of time. The longer it existed, the more content it held as it built them over time. Here are some prerequisites to follow in this regard:
- Backing up all WP website data and content.
- Copying custom code from the active theme.
- Copying tracking codes.
- Testing the website theme’s loading time.
- Limiting access to the website while it is under development.
Read more: How To Create A WordPress Theme With A Local Host?
Change WordPress Theme without going live – some handy tips
Before switching theme for a WP website, site owners must install the new theme in their WordPress. Here are some handy tips to change the theme without the website going live:
Using the live preview option
There is one good thing about WordPress themes. They allow site owners to preview the theme before installation. The dashboard’s themes section has the option.
There, site owners can see the active theme and the installed ones. They can hover over the theme and click on the live preview option. They can even see the customize section and test it to see how the theme works.
It should be kept in mind that site owners can have numerous themes installed yet one is active for the website at a time. Hence site owners can only preview those which they have not activated. If they have found the theme they desire, they can activate it by clicking on the activate button.
Once the theme is active, the site owners need to test it to see how it works with the website’s content. They should see that everything is being displayed correctly. Those who wish to hide the work in progress from website visitors need to keep the maintenance mode on for a bit long. Once the website is ready, the maintenance mode can be disabled.
Activating the new theme in the staging grounds
If the site owners have based the WP hosting in the staging area, they can use it to change the theme and test it thoroughly. This staging tool makes an exact replica of the website. Site owners can carry out the theme switch in that area without affecting the live version of their site.
Themes can be activated in the staging copy mode. Both bug detection and theme testing can be done. That staging can be deployed live once the results are proven to be the best fit.
Tips for changing a WordPress theme on a live WP site
Those who have decided to start their website and would like to change the theme in real time can do it on the live site with ease. They can go to the dashboard and then to the appearance section where the themes section is present. Once they have activated it from there, the theme can be used with immediate effect. The features can be changed.
Conclusion
The theme should be thoroughly tested after installation. This helps ensure it is consistent on all devices. Checking cross-browser compatibility is also compulsory before the website’s loading speed can be checked. Adding tracking codes helps with search engine optimization (SEO). Site owners also should take feedback from their loyal customers.
