A Comprehensive Guide to How to Change a WordPress Theme

Are you bored with the WordPress theme that you have been using? Want to change it to something new? WordPress has very easy steps to change the themes and manage them. The WordPress theme customisation system is easy to use and offers the maximum help that you need to get your desired themes. But it is also very necessary to be careful while making the changes, as even a slight mistake can make you lose all your data and content.

Changing the theme of a live website is a very big task and requires consideration in every detail with the utmost care. There are some things that you need to take care of before and after changing the theme in order to get your new theme and also keep your content and data safe. Let’s have a look at everything that you need to change your WordPress theme here.

Effect of theme change on the content

The change in theme and WordPress theme customization and change have some effect on the content that you already have on your website. Some aspects of the content change but most of them remain unaffected. Let’s look at it in detail.

• Posts and pages: The posts and pages that you have already posted on your website will not be affected by the change in theme.
• Core WordPress settings: The core settings of WordPress like a static homepage remain unaffected if you change your website theme. 
• Plugins: Even when you switch your theme your plugins will work normally but only if they are not linked with the current theme that you are using.
• Basic information: The basic information about your website like name and description don’t change with the change in theme.
• Theme-specific short codes: If the short codes that you are using came with your current theme and not as a separate plugin, they will stop functioning after changing the theme. 
• Theme-specific homepage: If you are using a customised homepage that didn’t come with the normal WordPress page system, it will disappear once you change the theme for your website.
• Theme-specific widgets: The widgets that you are currently using will cease to work after changing the theme if they came combined with the theme that you are currently using.

Points to consider before changing a WordPress theme

In order to make a smooth change and not lose any data or content, you need to consider some important points such as:

• Copy snippets: Sometimes a website is customised by adding some code snippets to the functions.php file of the theme directly, with the help of developers. So, it is important to note all the additional codes that have been added previously by the developers, before making any change into the theme, so you can use them in the functions.php file or the site-specific WordPress plugin of your new theme. If you forget to do so, you will lose them completely and will have to work on them again.
• Full backup: You should always make a backup of all your posts, plugins, databases, etc. before making any changes to your WordPress theme, to make sure that you can recover them after the changes. In order to create a backup of your entire website, you can use a WordPress backup plugin. Just remember to download the backup on your computer before going any further.
• Turn on the maintenance mode: It is very important to keep your website on the maintenance mode before making any changes, as the under-construction tag for your website is not good for your customer base. WordPress provides you with some plugins to create coming soon or maintenance mode pages for your website easily. 
• Load time: Check the loading time of your page before making any changes and then compare it to the load time of your page after the theme change. The load time of a page affects the user experience and the SEO for the website. Along with your homepage, also check some inner pages load speed and make sure that the new theme is faster than the older theme.

Steps to change your WordPress theme

Let’s now talk about the steps that you need to take, in order to change your WordPress theme.

• Install a new theme: Install the new theme that you want for your website. You can install a new theme from WordPress itself or purchase it or even use a ZIP file, but don’t activate the theme just yet.
• Preview new theme: You can make changes to the theme that you want to use with the help of WordPress customizer. It allows you to preview and customize your theme, before making it live. You can also convert website to WordPress theme of your like.
• Activate the new theme: Once you have installed and customized the website, there are some things that you need to do such as:
• • Test it if the functionalities, plugins and widgets are working properly
  •  Check your website if it works properly across various browsers and platforms
  • Turn off the maintenance mode of the website
  • Add tracking code for analytics and Adsense of your website
  • Check your website loading time
  • Monitor your website’s bounce rate

When you have checked all the above points and are satisfied with the theme that you are going to use, activate the theme from WordPress. 

Now you are all set with your new website theme, as per the need and requirements of your business. 

Summary

Almost everybody wants to convert website to WordPress theme at some point of their business. Even though it is a simple task but it is necessary to do it with the utmost care as even a small mistake can temper your website. Make sure that your website works properly and better than your previous theme.