previewing themes

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  truthinreligionandpolitics · Member · Jul 24, 2011 at 6:06 pm

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  I see you can preview what your site generally will look with the new theme. However, I never will have my site look like the preview. Is there a way to play with the widgets and layout in preview mode without having to activate it? It would be a pain to re-do the theme back to how I have it now.

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  timethief · Member · Jul 24, 2011 at 6:10 pm

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  No there isn’t.

  You can register as many free blogs as you wish at WordPress.com and then use them as you wish. Once you have registered a test blog and set the visibility to “private” to keep out search engines. Then you make it into an exact replica of your main blog AKA a “mirror blog” and use it for testing themes, lay-outs , widgets, and any other new items you are considering adding to your main blog.

  The benefit of having such a test or mirror blog is you will feel no sense of urgency or concern when testing other themes and items because your readers will still be viewing the main site. After testing you can switch to your main blog, select the theme you have tested, click the “activate” button, and reinstall widgets in moments. http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/05/19/how-to-select-a-wordpress-com-theme-part-1/

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  timethief · Member · Jul 24, 2011 at 6:14 pm

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  Also note this helpful guide on The Morning After theme > http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/the-morning-after/