Changing your WordPress theme can be an exciting opportunity, but it’s essential to understand what to expect. With a wide variety of fantastic themes available, the temptation to switch is strong. However, there are several factors to consider before making this change.
In this article, we will outline what occurs when you change your WordPress theme. This comprehensive guide will help you grasp the changes involved and prepare for a smooth transition.
You will discover the potential effects on your site’s layout, widgets, and custom settings. Being informed about these changes can save you time and ensure a seamless theme transition.
What Happens When You Change Your WordPress Theme?
When contemplating a theme change for your WordPress site, it can be challenging to determine which features and functionalities your current theme provides.
This is because some WordPress themes are designed to be simple and minimalist, lacking many features beyond basic aesthetics. In contrast, other themes are multipurpose, offering various templates, customization options, and features to enhance your website’s appearance.
Depending on your theme’s features, you might worry that changing it could result in lost content or even the deletion of your entire site.
Fortunately, that’s not the case. You will not lose any of your site’s content when you switch themes.
However, you may lose more than you expect. It’s essential to understand the implications of changing themes and how to switch your WordPress theme without losing any content.
Now, let’s guide you through what to anticipate when you change your WordPress theme.
The Navigation Menus Will Change with Your New WordPress Theme
WordPress includes a built-in navigation menu system, and each theme has its unique way of displaying and utilizing these menus.
This means that new menu locations will be created when you change your WordPress theme.
If you had previously assigned a menu to a specific theme location, you will need to reassign it after changing your theme.
If you are using a block theme that supports the full site editor, you can manage menus by going to the Appearance » Editor section.
This will open the site editor interface.
On the left panel, click the Navigation tab to modify or create menus.
Easily edit a menu item by clicking on it or add a new item by pressing the Add (+) button.
Once you are done, remember to click the Save button to apply your changes.
If you’re using a classic theme that doesn’t support the full site editor, you can manage your menus from the Appearance » Menus section.
Select your desired menu from the drop-down menu at the top to load it.
Next, check the box for the location where you want the menu to appear.
You can assign multiple locations to a single menu.
For more information, refer to our beginner’s guide on adding a navigation menu in WordPress.
Changes to WordPress Widget Settings
Widgets allow you to incorporate various elements into your WordPress theme’s sidebars, footers, and other areas that support widgets.
When you switch your WordPress theme, these widget areas will change, and your currently active widgets will be deactivated.
You can restore these by navigating to Appearance » Widgets and checking the ‘Inactive Widgets’ section.
For further information, see our guide on adding and using widgets in WordPress.
If your theme includes its own widgets, these will not be available after you change themes.
WordPress Theme Settings Will Be Removed
Each WordPress theme offers unique customization features. While some themes utilize the standard WordPress theme customizer, others provide a dedicated theme options panel for more control.
A theme options panel can manage various elements of your website, including:
- Website logo
- Favicon image
- Header and footer layouts
- Background image
- Font selection
- And additional features
For instance, here’s a look at the options panel for the Sydney theme.
This panel may also include any analytics, advertising, or tracking codes that you have directly added.
All settings configured through your theme’s options panel will be lost.
If you documented your WordPress theme settings before switching, you can attempt to replicate those settings in your new theme. Keep in mind, though, that your new theme might offer different features.
Generally, the loss of design settings should not affect your website’s speed, performance, or search engine rankings.
However, if your theme includes analytics or SEO settings within the options panel, you will need to use a plugin to integrate Google Analytics and enhance your WordPress SEO.
For website analytics, we recommend using MonsterInsights, the top analytics plugin for WordPress. By opting for a plugin rather than relying on theme settings, you can preserve your data even when changing themes.
For search engine optimization, we suggest AIOSEO, the leading WordPress SEO plugin trusted by over 3 million websites.
It allows you to effortlessly optimize your website for search engines without needing any advanced technical knowledge.
For further information, check out our guide on properly setting up All in One SEO for WordPress.
Code Snippets in functions.php Will Not Function
Many website owners enhance their themes’ functionality by inserting code into WordPress.
If you have added code directly to your functions.php file or other theme files, this code will not be active when you change themes.
Ensure you document any code snippets you’ve added to these theme files so you can transfer them to your new theme.
A more effective approach to adding snippets to your site is by using a code snippets plugin like WPCode.
Refer to our guide on how to paste snippets from the web into WordPress for detailed instructions.
Theme-Specific Post Types and Taxonomies Will Be Lost
In addition to altering your website’s appearance, many WordPress themes include unique post types and taxonomies.
These features are typically used to showcase content such as portfolios, books, testimonials, and more.
When you change themes, any custom post types and taxonomies from your previous theme will no longer be accessible.
Although they remain in the WordPress database, you will need to customize your new theme to display them properly.
For this reason, we suggest using a WordPress plugin to incorporate those features instead of relying on a theme. This approach allows for easier access when switching between WordPress themes.
To locate a plugin that meets your needs, check out our expert selection of top WordPress plugins, or search Google with ‘CanadaCreate’ included in your query to find our trusted recommendations.
Theme-Specific Sliders Will Be Lost
Many WordPress themes feature built-in settings for adding a full-screen homepage slider. However, these sliders will be lost when you change themes.
If you wish to add sliders anywhere on your site, we recommend using a WordPress slider plugin. For more information, refer to our comparison of the best WordPress slider plugins.
Shortcodes Specific to Your WordPress Theme Will Be Lost
Shortcodes provide a method to enhance your posts, pages, and widget areas with additional features.
Many well-known WordPress themes include their own shortcodes for adding functionalities such as:
- Buttons
- Image galleries
- Sliders
- Column layouts
- And more
When you change your WordPress theme, these shortcodes will cease to function, and they will simply display as plain text in your content areas.
To ensure your theme shortcodes remain functional, consider implementing the code through a site-specific plugin. This approach allows you to maintain customizations that persist even when you change themes.
For further information, refer to our guide on creating a site-specific WordPress plugin.
What Remains Unchanged When Switching WordPress Themes?
Certain elements of your WordPress blog will remain intact after changing themes. For instance, your WordPress posts and pages will not be affected by the theme change.
However, depending on how your previous theme presented posts, images, attachments, and pages, their appearance may vary slightly.
Your media library will remain intact, but your new WordPress theme may require different image sizes for featured images and thumbnails.
In this case, you might need to regenerate thumbnails to ensure the correct image sizes are displayed.
All your general WordPress settings, including permalinks and display settings, will stay unchanged.
The same applies to any WordPress plugins you have installed, though they may behave differently with your new theme.
How to Prepare for Switching WordPress Themes?
Before changing your WordPress theme, there are several steps you should take to ensure a seamless and error-free transition.
First, it’s crucial to create a complete backup of your website using a WordPress backup plugin. This will save a copy of your posts, pages, plugins, media, and databases.
We recommend using Duplicator, one of the top WordPress backup plugins available.
Need assistance? Check out our guide on how to back up your WordPress site using Duplicator.
After backing up your site, take some time to review your current theme.
Make a note of any customizations you’ve implemented, such as custom CSS, widgets, and other elements that can be transferred to your new theme.
For more information, check out our essential checklist of tasks to complete before switching your WordPress theme.
Prior to activating your new WordPress theme, utilize the built-in preview feature to visualize its appearance. WordPress allows you to install and preview themes in real-time without making them live on your site.
Simply navigate to Appearance » Themes and hover over the desired theme, then click the ‘Live Preview’ button to see how it will look on your site.
While previewing your theme, pay attention to any visual changes that will occur.
You can explore your website’s homepage, posts, other pages, archives, and more using the menu on the left.
Afterward, evaluate if you can modify the new theme settings and layout to retain the features of your previous site that you want to keep.
For further information, refer to our comprehensive guide on how to effectively change a WordPress theme.
We hope this article has helped you understand the changes that occur when switching WordPress themes. You might also want to check our guide on selecting the best web design software and our recommendations for top business phone services for small businesses.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.
