Test Themes Before Using Them
-
You can customize a theme to an extent before choosing it as your blog theme, but this does a bad job of showing how the new theme will effect all your blogs. How does it display widgets which you might not have on your blog already? Does it use featured images? If your last layout didn’t, how can you see how those featured images are displayed before choosing it as your theme?
For all these reasons and more, I think it would be a good idea to have some kind of experimental area where you could try out a different theme on your blog without changing what the public currently sees.
On a smaller scale, the same can be said for each widget. I wish there was a way I could preview how a widget will look on my site before making it public.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
Hey tkvrba,
With regards to the widgets, depending on your theme you may be able to do this via the customizer. See below, from the support docs –
The options available in the Customizer depend on your theme. Most themes have these Customizer controls:
- Header – add a header image using the Media Manager
- Menus – select which custom menu to use on the site
- Front – choose whether to display a static page or your latest posts on the front page
- Site Title – set the site name and tagline
- Widgets – add, remove, and modify widgets in the theme’s designated widget areas
- Featured Content – customize which tag is used for featured content, such as post sliders, if the theme supports it.
Does this help at all?
-
Regarding themes – from the same help doc:
You can also preview what your site content would look like in a different theme, by clicking the Preview button on any theme in Appearance → Themes. When previewing another theme, you can also change other Customizer features, and then decide whether to keep them (by clicking Save) or getting rid of them (by clicking Cancel).
Hope this helps! :)
-
Regarding your questions –
Does it use featured images? If your last layout didn’t, how can you see how those featured images are displayed before choosing it as your theme?
One way around this would be to add a featured image to some of your old posts prior to previewing the theme. They won’t show up on your old layout, only in preview, assuming your old layout doesn’t use featured images, as you’ve mentioned.
-
@tkvrba I have several test blogs that I use to test-drive new themes (for all the reasons you mentioned) but I agree, it would be great to have the option to do the work needed to transfer a new theme behind the scenes–especially now that the new themes have so many great options. I’ve been eyeing the motif theme for awhile, but several hours of work would be required to make my current content look good in the theme. I’m happy to do the work, I’d just rather not do it in public.
I know some people also set their sites to private while they do that kind of work–but again, a built in solution would be nice.
- The topic ‘Test Themes Before Using Them’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 