How To Change A Wordpress Theme In A Quick And Easy Way?

By Author: brainbell10
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There are tons of free and premium to change a WordPress theme available in the official theme directory and various marketplaces. Users on a budget may opt for a free WordPress theme, while performance-oriented users may want to look for a theme built with speed in mind.

Change a WordPress theme

Before changing the theme

Code snippets

Includes any code that is not part of your plugins or core WordPress software. Install a code snippet plugin and track your existing code with just a few clicks.

Google analytics tracking code

This step is especially important if you have added analytics code to your current theme. Otherwise, you won’t be able to track your site’s performance after changing themes.

Sidebar and widget content

Each theme has different sidebar and widget areas, so changing WordPress themes may disrupt their visibility or placement. This step involves making notes of any custom code previously added to these areas.

Site backup file

Backing up your WordPress site is not necessary if you are working in a trial environment.

Additionally, ...
... check your website’s current load speed and performance to ensure that the new theme performs better than the previous one.

Steps to change a theme

Enable maintenance mode

WordPress into maintenance mode, you tell your site visitors that the site is down for maintenance. This status helps maintain your brand’s credibility during the transition, especially if the changes cause some features to not work.

The easiest way to do this is with a plugin like WP Maintenance Mode. Create a maintenance mode page using a landing page builder plugin or enable maintenance mode from your web host’s control panel. These methods do not require coding.

Install the new WordPress theme

This is about installing free themes available in the WordPress theme directory. To install a premium theme, you will need to upload the theme files manually.

Code snippets include any code that is not part of your plugins or core WordPress software. Alternatively, install a code snippet plugin and track your existing code with just a few clicks.

Preview and activate your theme

After the installation process is complete, you’ll see Live Preview and Activate buttons when you hover over the theme.

Clicking Live Preview will open the theme in the WordPress theme customizer, allowing you to preview how the website will look with it. To use the theme right away, select the Activate button.

Fix errors and re-add the custom code snippets

The new theme will be free of modifications, you’ll need to restore all the data, custom code, and settings from the previous theme.

Code

Add code snippets, theme-specific short codes, tracking code, and sidebar content. The layout of the sidebars might also change, so check and re adjust the positioning of widgets accordingly.

Pages

Check and re adjust the layout and formatting of the widget areas across the WordPress site.

Favicon

Make sure the favicon is working properly, re add it via the WordPress customizer.

Schema markup

Used a plugin to add and manage the data, the theme transition shouldn’t affect the schema markup. Otherwise, need to re configure the new theme manually.

Plugins

Some themes come with pre-installed plugins and theme specific features; you’ll want to ensure they don’t clash with your existing plugins.

Website content

Changing themes shouldn’t affect the site’s existing content, but you should still make sure everything is in its place.

Cache

Open your WordPress website in several browsers and clear the cache. Doing so will flush out any static files of the site before the theme change, ensuring a good user experience once it goes live.

Installing new WordPress themes can give more than just a new look for your site.

Conclusion

Sticking with the same WordPress theme for an extended period may be simple, but switching to a new theme will bring many benefits to your site. Changing your WordPress theme can optimize your site’s performance. Make sure to also optimize your site speed by using a high-quality WordPress hosting plan.