Themes are very important for every website. The theme decides the style and looks of your website. It is the medium your users utilize to interact with the functionality of your website. So, selecting the right theme always deserves its own importance. Once you got the best theme of your choice, how to install it? Here is the answer to the question. In this article on How to install WordPress themes, we are teaching you how to install the themes on your WordPress platform.
Things to consider before installing a WordPress theme
Installing a new theme will entirely change the look and feel of your website. Before selecting any theme for installation, carefully analyze the theme and check for the search engine friendliness of it. A neat and clean design is also important. So, be aware of them. These are the things you should consider before installing a WordPress theme –
- Make sure that the theme is well-known and has pretty good reviews.
- The theme should be listed in a trusted theme repository such as the WordPress theme repository, or a marketplace such as Theme Forest. It is safer to use such themes as they are checked for vulnerabilities.
- Use a simple theme without any unnecessary features unless you absolutely need them.
- Make sure it is compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and its Plugins.
How to Install WordPress Themes?
There are several methods you can follow to install a WordPress theme. Follow the below given methods in the same order. It will help you avoid trying complex ones first.
Method 1. Install a theme using WordPress theme search
WordPress contains hundreds of themes in its warehouse. The WordPress theme search let us buttons the theme of our choice and install them directly using the theme search itself. To do this, follow the simple steps given below:
- Go to Appearance > Themes from your WordPress dashboard. You will see a list of installed themes there.
- Click ‘Add new‘ button.
- You will Be reached in a theme search window.
- Browse any themes from the window by filtering the appropriate categories as per your needs. If you already know the name of the theme. You can directly search it by typing in the search area.
- Once you found the desired theme, Simply mouse over it and you will see three options, namely:
- Details and Preview: To get the details of the theme alongside with the review.
- Install: To directly install the theme.
- Preview: For Previewing the theme.
- Click the ‘Install‘ button. The installation will start now, and you will be redirected to the Theme activation page.
- Click the ‘Activate‘ link to activate the theme right now, or you may preview the theme once again by clicking on the ‘live preview’ link. If you decide to activate them later, you can do so.
- Now your theme is activated, and you can see the changes to your website.
Note: The themes can be customized with the available options by going to Appearance > Customize section. If you are expert in CSS and PHP. Hurray. You can completely customize even free themes as you need them.
Method 2. Install a theme using WordPress theme upload feature
- Go to Appearance > Themes from your WordPress dashboard. You will see a list of installed themes there.
- Click ‘Add new‘ button.
- You will Be reached in a theme search window.
- Click the ‘Upload Theme‘ theme button.
- Browse the theme file by clicking the ‘Choose file‘ button.
- Once you chose the theme file, click on the ‘Install Now‘ button.
- The theme will be uploaded automatically and once the upload complete you will be redirected to the Theme activation window.
- Click the ‘Activate‘ link to activate the theme and start using it.
Note: If you got any error messages, you might need to check the theme again or re-download it.
Method 3. Use FTP to upload the theme
- Open your website’s server using a good FTP client. If you are not familiar with such tools, you can read our article on “how to access WordPress with FTP“.
- Download the theme from the WordPress themes repository. You can use the “Download” button next to each theme.
- Navigate to “/var/www/yourwebsite/wp-content/themes” directory in the FTP software.
- Drag and drop the Zip file in there. The file will start uploading.
- Once the upload has been completed, you have to extract it –
- Open an SSH software such as PuTTY and login with your credentials.
- Navigate to your themes folder with the command “cd /var/www/yourwebsite/wp-content/themes”.
- Unzip the theme files with the command “unzip themename.zip”.
- That’s all. Your theme will be listed under Appearance > Themes on your WordPress backend.
Once the theme is installed, you may also need to install a WordPress child theme if you want to make changes to its files.
