{"id":1422,"date":"2021-07-26T07:01:08","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/?p=1422"},"modified":"2023-03-10T11:51:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:51:19","slug":"how-to-change-wordpress-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Change WordPress Theme"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 ez-toc-wrap-right counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #212121;color:#212121\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #212121;color:#212121\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/#before_changing_themes\" >Before Changing Themes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/#making_the_wordpress_theme_change\" >Making the WordPress Theme Change<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/#after_you_change_wordpress_theme\" >After You Change WordPress Theme<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>Although changing a theme in WordPress isn&#8217;t incredibly difficult, there are a few risks associated with doing so which must be addressed before making any changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"before_changing_themes\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"before_changing_themes\"><\/span>Before Changing Themes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Note performance metrics &#8211; you&#8217;ll want to compare page loading times and bounce rates on the old theme vs the new one, so make note of the current performance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make a backup &#8211; great advice in case things don&#8217;t go as planned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check customizations &#8211; if you&#8217;ve got tweaks via <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/article\/editing-wp-config-php\/\">functions.php<\/a> in the main or child theme or any hacks you&#8217;ve done to make the current theme work, note these down somewhere<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consider maintenance mode &#8211; rather than showing the world you deploying and modifying the new theme to suit, fire up maintenance mode and let them know good things are in progress, then activate the theme once it&#8217;s ready to go<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"making_the_wordpress_theme_change\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"making_the_wordpress_theme_change\"><\/span>Making the WordPress Theme Change<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Login to WordPress admin area<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click Appearance, then Themes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click Add Themes &#8211; by either selecting the theme from the WordPress themes repository, or by uploading a custom theme [see our separate guide on adding a custom theme for the step by step process]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click Install<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confirm by clicking Activate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create and activate a child theme &#8211; so that customizations don&#8217;t get overwritten whenever the main theme gets updated [see our separate guide on child themes]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t forget those customizations in functions.php that need added<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"after_changing_themes\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"after_you_change_wordpress_theme\"><\/span>After You Change WordPress Theme<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Check plugins &#8211; make sure all your plugins are working properly &#8211; all of them<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check sidebars, menus and widgets &#8211; again, confirm things appear as they should and function as intended<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check analytics &#8211; be certain that visitors are being tracked as before and that website analytics are working well<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check in other browsers &#8211; you can&#8217;t rely on just confirming the site works on a desktop or laptop\u2026. it needs to work on mobile devices as well<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make a backup &#8211; snapshot the new working theme in action<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check performance &#8211; it&#8217;s time to compare the new theme page load times and bounce rates, to see how old vs new theme performance varies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Notify your audience &#8211; rather than waiting for people to find out you&#8217;ve made a big change, post about it on social media and pop a note to your subscribers via email, then listen for their feedback and impressions<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a WordPress website? Check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/wordpress-hosting\"><strong>Managed Hosting for WordPress<\/strong><\/a> and see if we are a good fit for you. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\">KnownHost <\/a><\/strong>offers 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, all 7 days of the week best in class technical support. A dedicated team ready to help you should you need our assistance. You\u2019re not using KnownHost for the best webhosting experience? Well, why not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although changing a theme in WordPress isn&#8217;t incredibly difficult, there are a few risks associated with doing so which must be addressed before making any changes. Before Changing Themes Making the WordPress Theme Change After You Change WordPress Theme Conclusion Have a WordPress website? Check out our Managed Hosting for WordPress and see if we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[251,252,106],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordpress","tag-blogs","tag-cms","tag-wordpress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Change WordPress Theme - KnownHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this guide, we will show you how to change themes on WordPress websites, and what to do after you activate the new theme.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Change WordPress Theme - KnownHost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this guide, we will show you how to change themes on WordPress websites, and what to do after you activate the new theme.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-change-wordpress-theme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KnownHost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-26T12:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-10T17:51:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan K. 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