📖 WordPress Themes

WordPress themes provide developers an easy way to apply a wide variety of layout and color pallet options with just a few clicks. They install quickly and provide a great variety of possible customization features. You can find a good explanation for using themes in the Using WordPress Themes article.

  • Themes consist of a set of files and folders used to display your WordPress website in a specific style and format.
  • WordPress has many free templates available for use.
  • WordPress comes with some default themes already installed. You can use one of these or select a different one.
  • Themes are stored in a folder with the theme name.
  • All themes must have at least an index.php file and style.css file.
  • You can search for themes directly from the Themes tab in the Dashboard (under Appearance).
  • You can also search themes from http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/.

Theme Installation

Search for theme through Dashboard
  • Click Download link for the selected Theme
  • This will download and unzip the theme
  • Click activate to apply the theme to your site
Download from WordPress dot org
  • If the system won't install a theme from the dashboard, go to WordPress.org to get a copy of the theme.
  • Download the theme of your choice to your local computer.
  • In the WP admin dashboard, click upload in the Install Themes tab and find the downloaded folder on your computer.
  • Click on Install Now and it should install just as for one downloaded from the Dashboard.
Manually Uploading a Theme Using Through FTP
  • If the upload fails through the WP admin dashboard, you can manually upload the theme using FTP.
  • Find the theme file locally and unzip the file.
  • In the unzipped version you should see a directory with the name of the theme.
  • Open a connection to your server account and navigate to the theme folder located in wp-content > themes.
  • Upload the entire contents of the theme folder from your local computer to the themes folder on the server.
  • Check your available themes in your WP admin dashboard. The new theme should be available.
Activating a theme will automatically deactivate the currently installed theme.
  • You can use the Customizer to tailor the theme to your site.

WP Beginner Tutorials