Test site for testing Themes
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I am getting a little bored with the current theme for my blog. I used to use the “try and customise” function, but this is no longer available for most of the new themes. Looking back through the forums, I see a mention of using a “test site” to trail different themes.
I am currently on a “personal” plan and have no desire or need to change this. So my questions are: can I create a test site on my current personal plan or would I have to start a separate free site to do the testing? Could I copy my present site onto a new free site so that I can test the theme against my current layout?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Yes, you can create another free site under this account. It would only take moments to do so. Using import/export you could copy over your existing site, but if you did that it would be advisable to keep the fre site set to private so you don’t confuse search engines. If it was me I would just copy/paste a few posts and pages to the free site if you just want to experiment and see how your content looks under different themes.
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A guide to do what exactly? I enjoy messing round with my test site more than posting to my main site. And it doesn’t matter if I mess things up as no one sees it. The black box at the bottom of this page links to many resources.
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Hi there!
@themagicrobot’s suggestion is great! Because of how new themes work and the flexibility they provide, it’s best to activate them on a free site to check out how they work. We don’t have any specific guide for this, but you may find this useful for when you’re ready to change the theme on your main site:
You can change the theme of your site to give your existing content a fresh look. This guide explains how to switch to a new theme. How to Switch Themes To change the theme of your site, follow these steps: Visit your site’s dashboard. Go to Appearance → Themes. Your site’s current theme will be first in the list, labeled as Active. Browse through the available themes and choHope that helps!
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I was looking for some kind of guide to assist me in creating the test site. I’m quite happy with switching themes as I’ve done this before.
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Hey there,
Many thanks for that extra information!
I was looking for some kind of guide to assist me in creating the test site. I’m quite happy with switching themes as I’ve done this before.
On the WordPress.com Business plan, it’s possible to have a staging site: https://en.support.wordpress.com/how-to-create-a-staging-site/ which is really handy for testing third party plugins and themes from outside of WordPress.
For other themes, already on WordPress, there’s nothing stopping you from creating a new WordPress site for free and activating a new theme on the site.
I hope this helps! :)
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Just expanding a bit on what @themagicrobot mentioned in his reply. So the way you would do this is to:
1. First create your free test site
You can conveniently manage multiple websites under one login. This guide will show you how to create and switch between different sites in your WordPress.com account. Sign Up to WordPress.com When you sign up to WordPress.com, we’ll automatically create your first site for you. If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, fill out this signup form to provide an email address, a2. Export some or all of your existing content from your Public site, which creates a downloadable .XML file
You can move your WordPress.com site’s content to a new home on the internet using the Export tool. Your site’s content is downloaded into an XML file (a type of file used to transport data) that you can then import to another WordPress.com site, another WordPress host, or even another platform. This XML file (also referred to as WXR file) contains your posts, pages, comments, categories, t3. And lastly import that .XML file to your new free test site.
If you want to move content to WordPress.com from another WordPress site (either WordPress.com or a WordPress.org site), use the Import Content option. This option will import a copy of your pages, posts, and media to your new WordPress.com site, but not plugins, the theme, or other design elements. Import the Content To import content from another WordPress site: Export your site’s coDon’t forget to make your test site Private, like @themagicrobot mentioned. Now you can start testing themes without danger to your public site.
Keep in mind that with full site editing themes, any changes you make to a template on your test site, won’t show up on your Public site if you later decide to enable that same FSE theme there.
Check these out too:
Webinar: https://wordpress.com/learn/webinars/fearless-theme-switching/
Support Guide: https://wordpress.com/support/themes/changing-themes/
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I also just spotted @justjennifer’s response that was moderated for some reason. Excellent advice there!
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Thanks for all your useful information. I’ve not been able to start for a variety of reasons, but I’m grateful for your help.
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