Transfer from old theme to new?

  • Unknown's avatar
    musingsofadisciple · Member ·

    Hi folks,

    What do I need to know to transfer my old theme to a new theme?

    I have tons of content: blog posts; testimonials, bio, contact — all the usual.

    I want to keep the same address.

    Is there a way to back up the existing content first?

    I’m afraid if I just change the theme, things will get moved all over, and totally re-formatted, and it will be a ton of work to clean it up.

    Are there tips or shortcuts?

    Thanks!

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

  • staff-doublebassd · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    What do I need to know to transfer my old theme to a new theme?

    I see the current theme that you are using is Sela which we have retired. However, since you have had the theme activated before, you can still activate it on a new site by typing the name of the theme in the theme search field under wp-admin.

    Is there a way to back up the existing content first?

    We handle backups for you site on our end, but if you want to manually do it yourself, you can do so by exporting the site. For more information on backups, please visit our support page:

    Export Your Website’s Content

    Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

    Thanks,

  • Unknown's avatar
    musingsofadisciple · Member ·

    Hi staff-doublebassd

    Thanks for your answer. And — I think you may have misunderstood.

    Yes my existing site is using the Sela theme. I want to update my existing site to a new theme. I don’t want to create a new site.

    But my fear is if I just select a new theme for my existing site, it will mess up the formatting and placement of all the existing content.

    Are there “right ways” and “wrong ways” to change themes on an existing site?

    Thanks!

  • staff-blorbo · Staff ·

    When switching themes, you only have to worry about re-positioning widgets and menus, and not always. Overall it should just take a few minutes to put everything back where it belongs. :)

    And, if you’re not happy with the new theme, you can switch back just as easily.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi,

    But my fear is if I just select a new theme for my existing site, it will mess up the formatting and placement of all the existing content.

    Anything that’s specifically related to Sela and its settings will be lost, so the front page with the three HTML sections, and the testimonials below that, will both be gone. The footers and sidebars will be different. You won’t necessarily have a big front page hero image.

    If that’s the layout you’re interested in keeping, you might try making a new page and re-creating the front page layout with a block editor. Then, when you change themes, you can make that your new front page.

    If that isn’t what you have in mind, can you let us know more specifically what you’re hoping to change and what you’re hoping to keep? Then we can make more relevant suggestions.

  • Unknown's avatar
    musingsofadisciple · Member ·

    These answers really help.

    One other question — if I switch, and then switch back, will it look the same as when I started? I guess it depends on how much I mess around with it in the new theme, before I switch back…

    I’ll sit with this a while, and then maybe write back with more specific Qs.

    TY!

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    I guess it depends on how much I mess around with it in the new theme, before I switch back…

    Exactly, so if you do all of your changes on a new test page, it shouldn’t affect that much. You could just switch back and then set the old page back to the front page. Does that make sense?

  • Unknown's avatar
    musingsofadisciple · Member ·

    @supernovia — yes makes sense. Thanks so much.

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