Best way to test a new theme & questions about 'Selecta'

  • Unknown's avatar
    blackcurrantphotography · Member ·

    Hi,
    I currently use the Structure theme on my blog but I hate the standard serif fonts and would like to try out Selecta to see if it’s suitable. A friend suggested I clone my blog – as in create a second blog, try everything out then save, export and reimport to my original blog (so I keep the address).

    Just wondering if this is the best way to do this?

    Also, one thing I like about the Structure them is blog posts are presented as a preview rather than one continuous stream of the whole post (like Selecta is). Is there a way to change this in Selecta without any upgrade purchases?
    I can’t afford to self host right now so WordPress.org isn’t an option.

    Looking forward to your ideas. =) thanks.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    I don’t think it’s necessary to export and import content. It takes only a few minutes to change themes and reposition widgets in the new theme. Provided your images are not larger than the space in the theme you change to you will not have to resize them to fit into the maximum displayed image width on the new theme. The same goes for images in your sidebar as sidebar widths vary. If you do have to resize images then do that before changing themes.

    Also be aware that not all themes display widgets on each and every page in the blog. See here and type in the name of your theme to find out whether or not your theme does display widgets on single post pages > http://theme.wordpress.com/

    Comparison of features:
    Introduction to Structure
    Selecta

    To install any theme simply type the name in the box here > Appearance > Themes and click the “activate” link on the thumbnail image when it appears. Each time we change themes what we see is a default display of suggested widgets – they are NOT actual widgets. When we switch themes all our existing widgets are not lost. They automatically migrate into the Inactive Widgets box > Appearance > Widgets.

    After we change themes we simply go here > Appearance > Widgets > Inactive Widgets and install them again in the sidebar/footer areas for widgets in the new theme.

    Also, one thing I like about the Structure them is blog posts are presented as a preview rather than one continuous stream of the whole post (like Selecta is). Is there a way to change this in Selecta without any upgrade purchases?

    You can insert “the more tag” into your posts on any theme to get excerpts only on the front page of the blog. Only a few themes provide this option built into the theme.

  • Unknown's avatar
    blackcurrantphotography · Member ·

    Hi Timethief,

    Thanks for the info re the More tag, sounds exactly what I’m looking for.

    I’m a little hesitant to make changes and do testing whilst my site’s live as I have guest posts etc referencing my site address and don’t want potential clients seeing it in a messy crossover phase. I guess I can test things on a cloned blog then copy the changes over. I just think I’ll be doing a lot of tweaking to get it right.

    Thanks so much for your feedback and links, I think it’ll help a lot. =)

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