Themes and plugins are necessary components of the WordPress platform. Fortunately, they’re generally simple to set up and run. Changing the active theme, on the other hand, isn’t as simple as pressing a button. In reality, there’s a lot to think about before you start using a new theme. For example, you’ll need to carefully choose the theme you’ll use and take important actions including backing up your current site.
Changing themes will not change the majority of the site’s standard elements. That is, apart from the new style that your new theme will include, nothing will be changed.
When you switch themes, nothing awful happens to your posts and websites and if you switch WordPress themes, if you have a static homepage, it will remain the same. Also, all the plugins will continue to work normally as long as they aren’t tied to the current theme. The name and description of your website will stay the same as well.
The answer to how to change WordPress theme is, it’s a simple process, however, you might need to take some precautions before getting started.
Precautions to take before changing WordPress theme
To ensure that the process of modifying anything on your WordPress theme goes smoothly and that you don’t lose any valuable data, we suggest that you go through the following checklist.
Copying code snippets
Some intermediate WordPress users choose to configure their websites by directly inserting code snippets to their theme’s functions.php file.
People seem to forget about these changes as they are done only once.
If you or your web developer make these updates, be sure to go through the files of your new theme and make a list of all the extra coding you’ve added. This will allow you to use them in the functions.php file of your current theme or a site-specific WordPress plugin later.
Secure Tracking codes
Most users specifically use their analytics tracking code for their website. Also, some WordPress themes have a settings panel where you can apply Adsense or Analytics code.
One of the most frequent blunders made by newcomers is failing to acknowledge these codes.
You can copy all of the tracking codes so that you can paste them into your new site after switching the theme. To ensure that this is future-proofed, we advise users to use a plugin like MonsterInsights to install Google Analytics and the header and footer plugin for other monitoring code.
Take backup
Before changing your theme, always make a backup of your posts, images, plugins, and database. To make a copy of the entire site, you can use a WordPress backup plugin, we recommend UpdraftPlus Plugin. UpdraftPlus lets you make a full backup of your WordPress site, which you can either save to the cloud or download to your device. Both scheduled and on-demand backups are supported by the plugin. You also have the option of selecting which files to back up. Before proceeding, make sure you have downloaded this backup. This move ensures that you can quickly restore your website if anything goes wrong.
Sidebar content
Sidebars are used to show social media links, ads, subscription forms, and a contact form, among other things. Make a list of these modifications. If some custom coding has been attached to a widget, make a copy of it and save it to your computer so you can reuse it in your new theme.
Maintenance mode
When making updates to the website, it’s a smart idea to put it in maintenance mode. You don’t want your guests to see your site as it’s being built. For this, we suggest you use the SeedProd plugin. It’s a common WordPress plugin that makes it simple to build attractive coming soon and maintenance mode pages for your website. Install and activate the SeedProd plugin to hold your site in maintenance mode.
Monitor Website Load Time
Before switching your theme, you can review your website’s load time so that you can conveniently compare the differences in page load time after making adjustments. Remember that website’s speed is a key factor in both user experience and SEO, so make sure the latest theme is better than the old one. You can use a tool like GTmetrix to verify the pace of your website. Be sure to test the homepage’s load time as well as any of the internal pages.
How to Change WordPress Theme without losing Content
WordPress themes are important to the betterment of the website. They give your whole site a new look and feel in just a few clicks, with no coding involved. Free themes can be found in the directory WordPress ( themes-wordpress.org), or premium themes can be downloaded from third-party websites like theme forest, templatemonster.
Many free themes are good for those who want to mess around with their coding but it gives you less chance to break down the website and limited support is provided but paid themes to come with more assistance and functionality, resulting in a website that is adapted to your needs. Free themes are less likely to meet a website’s specific need compared to paid themes. But if the free theme meets your website needs or you can make coding tweaks to improve you can have a fully functioning, well-designed website with free themes, so most WordPress users choose free WordPress themes.
If you know the name or design of a theme you like, use the theme search bar. The theme search function’s Feature Filter can help you narrow down the results. You have the option of choosing your favorite layout format, which features you need, and the topic idea of your website. For eg, you may be searching for a single-column layout for a blog with a parallax effect. Once you find the right theme for your website, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Backup Your Site
Make sure you have a full site backup in place if you’re doing something else. This is important because you will have a clean restore point to operate with if anything goes wrong. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can backup your WordPress website.
Step 2: Navigate WordPress Themes Section
To begin, navigate to Appearance > Themes in WordPress:
A list of all the newly configured themes can be found there. Your working theme will be prominently displayed:
If you have found your latest theme in the WordPress Theme Directory or purchased a premium theme, press the Add New button and proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Install Theme
Simply search for a theme using the drop-down menus on the Add Themes page to select from the thousands of free themes available:
On the other hand, if you purchase a premium theme, you receive a ZIP file. This can be done by going to the same page’s Upload Theme connection and then using the Choose File dialog to find the file:
In any case, once you’ve discovered or imported your preferred theme, all you have to do now is press the Install button. WordPress will do its magic, and you’ll be ready to go.
Step 4: Activate WordPress Theme
The activation of your theme is the final move. After the installation process is complete for premium themes, you’ll see an activation button on a confirmation page.
Return to the Appearance > Themes tab if you don’t see any of the newly loaded themes. Hover over it and press the Enable button to apply a new one.
When that’s over, go to the front end of your site and try out your latest theme. You can also customize the theme from Appearance>Customize. After that, It should be up and going, and it should look great.
You now know how to change the theme of your WordPress website dashboard. Check out our blog to learn more about WordPress.
How to change WordPress theme on live site
The process of switching the theme on your WordPress site after you’ve reviewed the latest theme is to, go to Appearance » Themes in the WordPress admin panel’s left sidebar.
To adjust the WordPress theme, hover the mouse cursor over the theme you wish to use on this page and then click the Activate button.
You will also see the new theme in action on the website’s homepage.
Things to check after you install new WordPress theme
One of the advantages of this open-source platform is the freedom to modify WordPress themes. The overall appearance of a website is determined by the theme. As a result, changing the theme will result in a full site redesign with minimal effort. Before you switch off the maintenance mode on your website after changing the theme, there are a few things you can do.
Check out the list below for what to do after changing the WordPress theme:
Check the SEO
Check the SEO to see if the ranking is affected after you have installed the theme for your website.
Cross-Browser Compatibility
Certain things are shown differently in different browsers. You can try the website in a different browser, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer, to ensure that it looks fine in all of the major browsers.
Plugin, sidebar, and widgets functioning
You should check if the plugins, sidebar, and widgets you integrated while on your old theme are functioning fine on the new one.
Whether shortcodes of plugins are functioning properly
Some of the plugins and shortcodes that you used might be theme specific and when you change the theme the shortcodes might not work. Make sure that the shortcodes of plugins are not disturbed and are functioning properly.
Tracking codes if you have previously installed
You should restore your google analytics, search console, Facebook pixel, google tag manager, Adsense, and other tracking code to your platform after you’ve checked the functionality and cross-browser compatibility. To install the Google Analytics tracking code, you can use the MonsterInsights plugin. This will allow you to better configure analytics and display accurate website statistics directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Restore code
Restore code snippets if you had any. Added code with the “code snippets” plugin as well. You should also double-check if there is a problem with the plugin’s support, but the code added by plugins stays mostly unchanged after a theme change.
Turn off maintenance mode
To make your site live, you should turn off the maintenance mode if you have turned on the maintenance mode during the new theme installation.
Load time
After updating the theme, you can monitor the loading time of your homepage on the Pingdom website once more. Then, compare that to the time it took to load your old theme. Examine if the load time is better or worse than the old theme.
Check bounce rate
After changing themes, stay updated on your site’s bounce rate. If your new theme is imprecise and difficult to use, it will increase your site’s bounce rate. To minimize bounce rates and maximize page loads, you should have linked links, a common posts widget, and breadcrumbs.
Ask for feedback
You should also solicit comments and advice from your customers about how to better the functionality of your website. To collect customer feedback, you can use survey forms or an online or offline vote. You should use an email marketing tool to send the latest template to your subscribers and ask for feedback. This will assist you in obtaining suggestions on what they would like to see changed.
Wrapping Up
Most users would choose to change themes at some point during their time with WordPress, so knowing how to do so is something that every WordPress user should be aware of.
Color schemes, layout options, header styles, and other features, you can examine these choices and customize them to your taste.
Although the process is straightforward, doing so correctly ensures that you not only switch styles but that your site works just as well with your new theme as it does with your old one. We hope this article has given you some ideas on how to change the WordPress theme by installing WordPress.
Final Recap Steps for Changing WordPress Theme:
- Backing up a website or setting up a staging website
- Install new theme–> preview -> verify the site
- Activate and publish theme
- Resolve errors and replace missing elements
- Turn off maintenance mode and your website is good to go
FAQs on Changing WordPress Theme
Will the content be lost after you change a theme?
Changing themes will not change the majority of the site’s standard elements. That is, apart from the new theme that your new theme will include, nothing will change with your posts and pages. When you switch themes, nothing should happen to your posts and websites.
Do I need to install plugins after changing the themes?
Certain plugins are sometimes required by themes in order for them to run properly. If your theme needs plugins to function, you’ll either see a note after installing the theme in your WordPress Dashboard or details can be found in their documentation.
How can I customize a WordPress theme?
The WordPress Customizer is the simplest way to make changes to the WordPress theme. This can be accessed by: Click the Customize icon in the admin bar at the top of the page while browsing your site Tap Appearance > Customize in the admin windows.